Professor of Architecture & AAADS Mabel O. Wilson – DT011 The Dean's Table Podcast

Mabel O. Wilson is the Nancy and George Rupp Professor of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and a Professor in African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University, where she also serves as the Associate Director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies. Her research specializes in space, politics and culture in Black America, as well as race and modern architecture and visual culture in contemporary art, media and film. She is the author of the books Negro Building: Black Americans in the World of Fairs and Museums and Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture, as well as two forthcoming books, entitled Reconstruction Architecture for America and Race and Modern Architecture. In addition to her scholarship, Professor Wilson is also a practicing architect and is a member of the architectural team tasked with designing the Memorial to Enslaved African American Laborers at the University of Virginia. In honor of her path breaking work in the field, she received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award for her work on the African diaspora. 



Professor Wilson speaks with Dean Harris about how she decided on becoming an architect, reflecting on her work which explores the history of Black exhibitions and museums, and shares insights into scholarship and practice of race, space, and culture.