Crystal R. Pérez

Crystal R. Pérez is an Assistant Professor of Multiethnic Literature in the Department of English at California State University, East Bay (CSUEB) where she specializes in Latinx and Chicanx literature. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English and Chicana/o Studies from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and deepened her interest in Latinx literature, art, and film as a student worker at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. She continued her graduate studies at the University of California, San Diego, and received a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Literature and Cultural Studies. Her research focuses on questions of the visibility and invisibility of Latinx and Chicanx communities in American culture, history, and the literary canon. Through an analysis of the novel and visual culture, she explores how Latinx and Chicanx authors and artists intervene in and shape literary and cultural forms of the U.S. in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Her teaching and research interests also include Latinx detective and mystery fiction, women of color literature, comparative ethnic literature, and border narratives. At CSUEB, Crystal serves as a mentor and teacher for Gaining Access 'N Academic Success (GANAS), an access and retention program that supports transfer students through a culturally responsive model of advising and teaching.