Sheila Crane

B.A., Smith College;
M.A., Northwestern University;
PhD, Northwestern University

Assistant Professor

Sheila Crane has a long-standing interest in the architecture and urban history of modern Europe and the Mediterranean region. Her research has examined how urban landscapes in France and Algeria have been shaped by the history of colonialism and its aftermath. Recent publications have explored the dynamics of memory and forgetting in postwar and postcolonial contexts, new conceptions of historic preservation that emerged during the rebuilding of cities after World War II, the movements of architects and translations of built forms between Marseille and Algiers during decolonization, and how everyday processes of dwelling and occupying space help to shape individual identities and to invest sites with new meanings. She is currently completing a book entitled Mediterranean Crossroads: Marseille and the Remaking of Modern Architecture that has been supported by a publication grant from the Graham Foundation. Crane has been a Fellow at the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies at Princeton University (2004?2005) and at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal (2006), where she began work on a second book project. Previously she was a recipient of a Chateaubriand Fellowship from the Cultural Service of the Embassy of France and a Samuel H. Kress Travel Fellowship in the History of Art.

Awarded a University Teaching Fellowship for the academic year 2008?2009, Crane regularly teaches an introductory course on the history of architecture and urbanism from the 15th century to the present as well as a more focused examination of the history of modern architecture. Recent seminar offerings include Memory & Architecture: Rebuilding and Remembering after Trauma, Transnational Modernisms, and 1968: Architecture, Urban Space, and the Politics of Everyday Life. Prior to joining the faculty at UVa, Crane taught in the History of Art and Visual Culture Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz.