CRYSTAL BOSON, PHD
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ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

September 2014 - August 2015         
Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University


EDUCATION

May 2014             
PhD in American Studies
The University of Kansas

Dissertation Title: Digital Loa and Edible Faith: Hoodoo and the American  Imagination

May 2008          
Masters of Arts in English
 Texas A&M University

Thesis:  Decolonization, Post-Postmodernism, and Syncretism in Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo

May 2005           
 Bachelors of Arts in English- University of Missouri-Columbia

Minor: History

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

“ ’Can you Blush?”- Teaching the Undead of Colour”. Out of the Coffin, Into the Classroom:        Essays on Teaching The Vampire. Ed. Lisa Nevarez. MacFarland and Company Inc. 2014. Print.

“Decolonization, (Post) Postmodernism and Syncretism in Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo.” On the Aesthetic Legacy of Ishmael Reed: Contemporary Reassessments. ed. Sämi Ludwig. Huntington Beach, CA: World Parade Books, 2012. 150–171. Print.


PUBLIC HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL COMMENTARY

 “On Black Women in the Academy and Suicide”-The Black Bottom- March 7, 2011- theblackbotttom.com- Monday Commentary

 Writer for The Project on the History of Black Writing. The University of Kansas. 2009-2010.

 
REVIEWS


 Review of My dear Boy: Carrie Hughes’s Letters to Langston Hughes, 1926-1938. Women, Gender, and Families of Color. Spring 2015. Vol 3. No. 1. Pg. 110-12.


HONORS AND AWARDS

Graduate Summer Research Fellowship- The University of Kansas- 2013

Global South Fellowship- New Orleans Center for the Gulf South- Tulane University- 2013

Finalist- Snyder Book Collection Award. The University of Kansas. April 23, 2013

 Office of Graduate Studies Presentation Travel Award- The University of Kansas- 2013

 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship: Haitian Creole- The University of Kansas- 2013-2014

 Honors designation- Comprehensive examinations- American Studies- The University of Kansas- October 17, 2012

Vic Contoski Creative Writing Award -University of Kansas- 2010

Nancy Stockwell Scholarship (Honorable Mention)- University of Kansas- 2010

Maxwell Nature Writing Contest (2nd Place)-University of Kansas- 2010

Diversity Fellowship- The University of Kansas- 2010-2011

2011 Callaloo Creative Writer’s Fellowship- Callaloo- Texas A&M University

Gordone Award- 2nd place-Texas A&M University – 2008

Gordone Award-2nd place- Texas A&M University- 2007

Brooks Scholarship- The University of Missouri-Columbia- 2001-2005

Coca Cola Scholarship- The University of Kansas- 2001-2005


PAST ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

Graduate Teaching Assistant-
Department of American Studies

The University of Kansas- August 2011-May 2014

Lecturer- Department of English-
Texas A&M University- August 2008-2010


 Graduate Teaching Assistant- Department of English -Texas A&M University-
August 2007- May 2008


 Graduate Research Assistant- Department of English-Texas A&M University-
August 2006-May 2007



PAPERS, TALKS AND WORKSHOPS


REVIEWED PRESENTATIONS                        

Kansas Up South”- North-East Modern Language Association- Toronto , Ontario- May 1, 2015 

“The Magic is in the Hole”: Predatourism, Hoodoo, and Voodoo Donuts” – Popular Culture Association- New Orleans, LA- April 2, 2015

“Blackness and Femme Visibility”- National Women’s Studies Association- San Juan, Puerto Rico- Nov 14, 2014

“The Magic is in the Hole”: Predatourism, Hoodoo, and Voodoo Donuts. – Conference on College Composition and Communication- Indianapolis, IN, March 20, 2014 

“ ‘Let Him Sop You Up’: The Black Queer Body as a Religious Body” - National Women’s Studies Association- Cincinnati OH, Nov 10, 2013

“Altars as Embodied Negotiation: Reimagining Encounters with Privilege and Oppression Through Creative Spiritual Practice”- National Women’s Studies Association- Cincinnati OH, Nov 8, 2013 

“Effecting Change in the Classroom: ‘Outness’ as a Pedagogical Tool ”- National Women’s Studies Association- Cincinnati OH, Nov 9, 2013 

“Drag Races and Crash Sites: Drag Queens and the Queer of Colour Body as Performative Crash Sites”- Queer Studies Conference- University of North Carolina- Asheville- April 6, 2013

  “Hoodoo and the American Imaginary”- Graduate Research Competition- The University of Kansas- March 13, 2013

“’Let Him Sop You Up’” The Queer of Colour Body as a Religious Body” Writing Gendered Bodies Symposium- The University of Kansas- February 23, 2013

“Race-ing the Queer Classroom”- National Women’s Studies Association- Oakland California- November 11, 2012

“Occupy the Classroom”- Mid-American Humanities Conference- University of Kansas- March 9, 2012

“Conjuring Respectability: Marie Laveau(s) as Vocal Subalterns”-Graduate Symposium on Women’s and Gender Studies- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign- March 4, 2012

 “We Do Not Catch the Spirit, We Will Not Fall Down: Black Victorian Propriety and the Rejection of Folk Faith”- The Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of the Western United States-Houston Texas: October 15, 2011

“Speaking with a Fire-Tongue: The Soucouyant as a Vocal Subaltern”- The Langston Hughes Center- The University of Kansas- September 12, 2011

“We Can Drown Here Too: Houston, Hurricanes and Black Dystopic Migration” -Postcolonial   Actualities: Past and Present- Austin, Texas: October 16, 2009

 “Keepin’ it Real: Authenticity, Voodoo and Popular Culture”- 19th Annual AYA Spring Conference for Graduate Students- Temple University: April 11-13th 2008

“New Ways for Old Words: Retelling Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo as a Hoodoo and Post-Postmodern Text”- 2007 ALA AALCS Symposium- St. Louis, Missouri: October 24-27th 2008

 
LECTURES AND PANELS

Panelist. “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Change”. 33rd Annual Martin Luther King Jr.Celebration. Oregon State University. January 12, 2015

Panelist. “Queer and Trans in the Workplace”- Oregon State University- January 8, 2015

 “You Unzip Your Body and They Slide Right In: Hoodoo, Possession and Gender Performance”  Ideas Matter Lectures- Oregon State University- November 5, 2014

“Academic Tumblr: Using New Technologies for the Classroom and Social Justice” – Faculty Development Session- Difference, Power and Discrimination – Oregon State University -June 26, 2014

“Intersectional Embodiment” – Department of Western Civilization- The University of Kansas – November 18, 2013

“Word Work- Crafting Language and Narrative” – Department of English- Creative Writing- Northwestern State University- Sponsored by Dr. Christina Cedillo- October 31, 2013

“Academic Tumblr: Using New Technologies for the Classroom and Research” – Department Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies – The University of Kansas – October 16, 2013

“What It Means To Be ­­­­­­______ in America”. Panelist. The Institute of Interfaith Dialogue.  The University of Kansas. November 26, 2012

“The Primacy of Place: Writing about Location” -Trinity Valley High School Creative Writing    Workshop- Ft. Worth Texas- Feb 27, 2012

“The Help: Race, Image, and Performance”- Langston Hughes Center-- University of Kansas-    December 3, 2011

"Masculinity, Vampire Culture, and a Culture of Violence”- Commission on the Status of Women- University of Kansas- October 27, 2011


POETRY READINGS

Reading- Kansas Up South/Queer Texas Prayerbook – Wonderland Books – Martin TN – October 26, 2013

Visiting Poet- Washington High School – Kansas City, Kansas – October 2, 2013

Reading/Interview- Kansas Up South  Wednesday Midday Medley – July 17, 2013 – 90.1 KKFI

The Queer Texas Prayerbook and Kansas Up South- The Writer’s Place Kansas City MO- June 27, 2013

Reading/Interview- The Queer Texas Prayerbook- Wednesday Midday Medley- August 10, 2012- 90.1 FM KKFI

The Queer Texas Prayerbook - The Big Tent Reading Series- Lawrence KS- July 26, 2012

 The Queer Texas Prayerbook- The Writer’s Place Kansas City MO- June 15, 2012

Visiting Poet-Trinity Valley High School -Ft. Worth Texas- Feb 26, 2012

The Queer Texas Prayerbook- Taproom Poetry Series- An Evening with Aldon Nielsen and       Crystal Boson- Lawrence, Kansas- July 15, 2011

2010 Callaloo Creative Writer’s Workshop- Callaloo- College Station, Texas- Summer 2010

2008 Callaloo Writer’s Workshop- Callaloo- St Louis, Missouri- Summer 2008


SERVICE

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY


M.A Graduate Admissions Selection Committee- Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies- 2015

Fellowships and Research Committee- Women Gender, Sexuality Studies- 2014-2015

Search Committee- Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center- 2015


​UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS


Guest Lecturer- “Black Queer Identities” – WGSS 333- Politics of Physical Appearance-University of Kansas-October 8, 2013

Guest Lecturer- “Race and Gender Performance- Narratives of ‘Out-ness’”- WGSS 333- Politics of Physical Appearance-University of Kansas-April 15, 2013

Guest Lecturer- “Black Wall Street”- AMS 334-The Black Experience in America Since  Emancipation- The University of Kansas- March 11, 2013  

Creator and Panelist- LGBTQ Panel- The University of Kansas- March 9, 2013

Guest Lecturer- “Intersectionality: Black Queer Bodies”- WGSS 204- Introduction to Women’s Studies-University of Kansas- March 3, 2013

Guest Lecturer- “Race and Women’s Bodies”- WGSS 333- Politics of Physical Appearance- University of Kansas-February 13, 2013

Recorder, American Studies Graduate Student Association, Department of American Studies, University of Kansas- 2011-2013

Guest Lecturer- “James Baldwin and the Black Body”-AMS 334-The Black Experience in America Since Emancipation-
The University of Kansas- April 11, 2012  


Creator and Panelist- LGBTQ Panel- The University of Kansas- October 18, 2012

Film Selection Committee- Africa World Documentary Film Festival at KU- The University of Kansas- April 25-28, 2012

Creator and Panelist- LGBTQ Panel- The University of Kansas- March 19, 2012

Guest Lecturer- “Black Women and Hip-Hop”- WGSS 204- Introduction to Women’s Studies-   March 3, 2012

Guest Lecturer--“Racism and Feminism”-WGSS 204 -Introduction to Women’s Studies- The  University of Kansas- February 2, 2012

Guest Speaker and Panelist- Commission on the Status of Women- The University of Kansas- 2011-2012

Guest Lecturer- “The New Negro and the Politics of Representation”- AMS 334- Black Men in America- The University of Kansas- Oct 18, 2011

Panel Moderator- Posing, Possessing, and Performing- Mid-American Humanities Conference- The University of Kansas-March 12, 2011

Guest Lecturer- “Performing Black Masculinity”- AMS 334- The Black Experience in America Since Emancipation- The University of Kansas-March 8, 2011

Secretary- Black Graduate Student Association- The University of Kansas- 2010-2011


TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY 

 Social Chair, English Graduate Student Association, Department of English, Texas A&M University- 2007-2008

Student Committee Member- English Department Hiring Committee Selection Board- Texas   A&M University, 2006-2007


SERVICE TO COMMUNITY

KANSAS CITY/LAWRENCE, KS


Visiting Poet- Washington High School- Kansas City, Kansas- October 2013

Visiting Poet- Washington High School- Kansas City, Kansas- May 2013

 Gay/Straight Alliance Guest Speaker- Lawrence High School- Lawrence, Kansas- Feb 6, 2013

COLLEGE STATION, TX

Aggie Allies- Texas A&M University- 2006-2010

Big Brothers, Big Sisters- 2007-2009

Habitat for Humanity- 2007-2009

Brazos Valley Quest- 2008

 
MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS
​
Popular Culture Association

National Women’s Studies Association

 American Studies Graduate Student Association- The University of Kansas

Black Graduate Student Association- The University of Kansas

Aggie Allies- Texas A&M University- 2006-2010

English Graduate Student Association- Texas A&M University- 2006-2008

Black Graduate Student Association- Texas A&M University- 2006-2008

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated

                  

 

 
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