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Krystal Perkins

Associate Professor of Psychology

Chair of Global Black Studies

Research Interests

I am a social psychologist by training with a background in classic and critical theories as well as quantitative and qualitative methods. I teach in the psychology department and chair the interdisciplinary program of Global Black Studies. In various projects, I explore minority/ized subjectivities, not grounded in an implicit deficient model, but minorities/tized subjectivities as complex and multifaceted, negotiating histories-nation-ideologies-identities, etc. My research also considers constructions and discursive contexts of racialized, nationalist, and diversity discourses; the intersection of collective memory, Black identity, and Black radical/liberation movements; and critical sustainability/environmental justice. More broadly, I draw from psychological theory and research for doing counter-storytelling work.

Representative Courses

  • Psychology of Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination
  • Psychology of Stigma 
  • Cultural Psychology 
  • Health Disparities in America: Poverty, Race, and Medical Care
  • Qualitative Methods and Lab
  • Research Methods II
  • Senior Seminar 

Publications

Selected Publications:

Goodman, S., Perkins, K., & Windel, F. (2024). All Lives Matter (ALM) discussions on Twitter: Varied use, prevalence, and interpretive repertoires. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology.

**Abi-Ghannam, G., Perkins, K., & Fine, M. (2023). The comrade on the crossroads of scholarship and struggle: Troubling the exile of Franz Fanon in Social and Political Psychology. Social and Personality Compass, 17(2), e12727.

**Windel, F., **Than, N., Perkins, K., & Rodriguez, M. (2023). Color-blind and racially suppressive discourses on German-Speaking Twitter: A mixed method analysis of the Hanau White nationalist shootings. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 33(3), 587-607.

Munguia, N., Perkins, K., Romero, A., Rios, C., & Velazquez, L. (2023). Global warming in the minds of Mexican higher education students: An exploratory study. The International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 24(2), 317-338.

Perkins, K., Kurtiş, T. & Velazquez, L. (2022). Progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals: Insights from the Global South. International Perspectives in Psychology, 11(3), 197-205.

Perkins, K., *Toskos Dils, A., & Flusberg, S. (2022). The perceived threat of demographic shifts depends on how you think the economy works. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 25(1), 227-246.

**Windel, F., ** Balaram, A., & Perkins, K. (2022). Discourses of the Willkommenskultur (Welcoming Culture) in Germany. Critical Discourse Studies, 19 (1), 93-116.

Perkins, K. & Balaram, A., Editors. (2021). “Critical studies/perspectives on migration and the migrant experience” Special Issue of Societies.

Perkins, K., Velazquez, L., & Munguia, N. (2021). Editorial: The impact of COVID-19 on sustainable consumption. Frontiers in Sustainability, 2, 721384.

Perkins, K., Velazquez, L., & Munguia, N. (2021). Reflections on sustainable consumption in the context of COVID-19. Frontiers in Sustainability, 2, 647542.

Perkins, K., Velazquez, L., & Munguia, N. Editors. (2021). “The impact of COVID-19 on sustainable consumption” Special Issue of Frontiers in Sustainability.

Munguia, N., Perkins, K., Romero, A., Rios, C., & Velazquez, L. (2020). Beliefs and concerns about global warming among higher education students. In W.L. Filho (eds), Handbook of Climate Change Management. Springer Nature.

**Yoong, D. & Perkins, K. (2020). Flowing between the personal and collective: Being human beyond categories of study. Societies, 10 (4), 94-107.

Perkins, K., Munguia, N., Ellenbecker, M., Moure-Eraso, R., Velazquez, L. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic lessons to facilitate future engagement in the global climate crisis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 200, 1043-1052.

Perkins, K., Kurtiş, T., & Velazquez, L. (2020). What it means to be “one of us”: Discourses of national identity in the United States. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 87, 43-52.

Steele, G. L. & Perkins, K. (2019). The effects of perceived neighborhood immigrant population size on preferences for redistribution in New York City: A pilot study. Frontiers in Sociology, 4:18 doi: 10.3389/fsoc.

Perkins, K., **Chan-Frazier, M., & Roland, **Y (2019). Discursive constructions of race talk among Black men and women living in the United States. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(7), 1-19.

Perkins, K., Slim, D., & Velazquez, L. (2019). Sustainable literacy. In W. Leal Filho (eds.). Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education. Springer, New York.

Steele, G. L. & Perkins, K. (2018). The effects of perceived neighborhood diversity on preferences for redistribution: A pilot study. Societies, 8(3), 82-106.

Perkins, K., Munguia, N., Gianneti, B., Delakowitz, B., Gengyuan, L., Moure-Eraso, R., & Velazquez, L.(2018). International perspectives on the pedagogy of climate change. Journal of Cleaner Production, 200, 1043-1052.

Flusberg, S. Toskos, Dils, A., & Perkins, K. (2018). Folk economic beliefs moderate the effects of majority group threat. Proceedings of the 40th annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Madison, WI.

Velazquez, L., Perkins, K., Munguia, N., & Slim, D. (2018). A COIL-enhanced course on international perspectives of climate change. In Ulisses M Azeiteiro, Walter Leal Filho and Luisa Aires (eds.), Distance Learning and Climate Literacy and Innovations in Climate Change Education in Higher Education Institutions.

Perkins K., & Kurtiş, T. (Co-Editors) (2017). Social Psychology Subsection. Appears in Turner, B., Kivisto, P., Outhwaite, W., Kyung-Sup, C., Epstein, C. and Ryan, J.M. (Eds.). The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory. London, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. 

Perkins, K. (2016). The integration of “bottom-up” approaches to race talk for the future of discourse analytic research. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10, 329-336.

**Denotes student contribution; *The first 2 authors contributed equally to this work