Crystal Anderson, an associate professor of English and coordinator of the American Studies Program and Faculty Fellow for the Multicultural Center, presented her research on Orientalism and the Harlem Renaissance at the 2011 MELUS (Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literatures in the United States) and USACLALS (United States Association for Commonwealth LIterature and Language Studies) Joint Conference in Boca Raton, Fla.
Her paper, “‘A Small Oasis In a Desert of Darkness: Orientalisms in Nella Larsen’s Quicksand,” argues the author uses Orientalist aesthetics in the form of luxurious and extravagant objects from Asia to underscore her protagonist’s struggle to define a female modern black self against African American conformity in the United States.