The Perks of Teaching Global Black Studies

By Arielle Telfort

Kyrstal Perkins was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, and grew up with two older sisters. “I wasn't a big talker when I was a child. I have two older sisters that are big talkers,” said Perkins. “When you're not a big talker, you do a lot of observing. You do a lot of non-vocal forms of communication.”

Kyrstal Perkins smiling after a Global Black Studies event at Purchase College. (Photo by Arielle Telfort)

Today, Perkins does a lot of talking as the chair of the Global Black Studies department. Perkins teaches courses throughout each semester and maintains and coordinates all the Global Black Studies events that take place on campus.

“I would say on both of my parents' side, I saw and experienced a cultivation of beauty through blackness,” Perkins said. “On the other side of my family—what people often think of blackness as, you know, the stereotypical, ghettoized, version of blackness.”

She added, “I'm a psychologist, and the kinds of questions that I'm interested in psychology intersect with questions related to race, related to black subjectivity, related to all things related to blackness. That's where I also find an identity and a home in Global Black Studies as well.”

Orion Morgan, a screenwriting major with a minor in Global Black Studies, is a student in Perkins' “Health Disparities in America” class, “She is empathetic, compassionate, and attentive,” he says, “I really enjoy the structure of her class; she gives us new information while allowing us to come to our own conclusions.”

Perkin’s willingness to support her students and help them create a space where their education is valued is a quality she emphasizes about her teaching. Keira Fleming, a sophomore dance major, said, “She won't move on until we're all on the same page; her way of teaching and her passion for it is different than a lot of teachers I've experienced.”

“I always tell students when I am teaching that you are not just learning from me, and every time I teach it's different," said Perkins. "We're cultivating knowledge together and one of the best ways to cultivate knowledge is when you have interdisciplinarity in your classrooms.”

Senior Chanelle Mckenzie said, “I never had a class with her, but she saw me all the time, so we struck up a conversation. She is deeply passionate about what she teaches, especially within the Global Black Studies program.”

Mckenzie continued, “Honestly, out of all the professors I have met, she is one of the few that I know who has a good character. She is not a teacher just to teach a subject and get a check. She is a teacher because she is passionate about what she does.”

Krystal Perkins speaking at a Global Black Studies event. (Photo by Arielle Telfort)

Within the Purchase community, Perkins has immersed herself in the lives of students and faculty. Journalism Professor Anna Ozbek said, “She’s always my first call when I am struggling with how to handle a situation at the college. She’s been a true mentor to me during my six years at Purchase College.”

While Perkins is a professor that is fully immersed in her job and the Purchase community, she finds comfort in areas outside of her expertise. Perkins said, “I am weird, eclectic. While I am a social scientist, I also love and appreciate and admire all aesthetics, art, dance, aesthetics in all life.”

“My office is on the third floor, and is by the math professors. I constantly hear them describe math as beautiful, and I don't quite understand that, but then I thought, yes there's beauty everywhere and that's particularly something that I see and feel at Purchase,” she continued.