Crystal M. Fleming

Fleming’s work considers the meaning of the slave trade for the identities and world views of people of African descent, an area about which little is known despite frequent assumptions that the legacy is one of cultural trauma. Her dissertation contributes to recent advances in the study of cultural sociology and collective memory by examining how ordinary people and mnemonic entrepreneurs conceptualize the legacies of slavery in the United States and France. Through in-depth interviews, content analysis of media coverage and participant observation at commemorative events, she aims to examine how people of color in these two national contexts construct their identities in relation to this historical heritage and the interpretive frameworks through which they understand the contemporary significance of this “difficult past.”