Krystal A. Smalls

Krystal A. Smalls is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and African American Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her work focuses on the semiotics of race in young people's lives, particularly within the Black diaspora, using ethnographic methods. She holds a Ph.D. in Africana Studies and Educational Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania (2015).

Her research explores intersections of race, language, and identity in digital and urban contexts. She has published extensively on topics like anti-Blackness, fat studies, and colonial legacies. Notable works include Race, Signs, and the Body (2020) and FAT, BLACK, AND UGLY (2021), which analyze how structural processes and discourse shape racialized identities.

Smalls co-edited special issues on language and anti-Blackness (2021) and White supremacy (2021). Her writing critiques anthropological traditions of dispossession and advocates for abolitionist frameworks. She has also conducted studies on Gullah/Geechee cultural identity and transnational African youth experiences.

No formal awards or grants are explicitly listed in the provided texts.

Labs/Teams: While not explicitly named, her work engages with interdisciplinary teams in linguistic anthropology and critical race studies.