Rebecca Ginsburg,
Assistant Professor
Education
Ph.D., Architectural History, University of California at Berkeley, 2001.
J.D., University of Michigan Law School, 1987.
B.A., English, Loyola Marymount University, 1984.
Dissertation title: "At Home with Apartheid: The Cultural Landscapes of Suburban Johannesburg, 1960-1976."
Academic Experience
Assistant Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2004-present.
Affiliate Faculty in African-American Studies, African Studies, Architecture, and Art History
Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer, African and Afro-American Studies Program, Architecture, and History, Washington University in St. Louis, 2002-4.
Instructor, Patten College at San Quentin State Prison, California, 2000-2.
Research
Landscapes of apartheid; geographies and landscapes of the Atlantic slave trade; domestic landscapes; public history; interior space; material culture.
Awards and Honors
Course Development Grant. 2006. Awarded by the African Studies Center, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign for further development of undergraduate general education course, "African Architecture and Urbanism."
Special Grant Request. 2005. Awarded by the College of Fine and Applied Arts to support international symposium on African architectural history.
Scholars Travel Fund. 2005. Awarded by the UIUC Campus Research Board to deliver a paper at the Society of Architectural Historians International Symposium, Paris, France.
Faculty Conference Travel Grant. 2005. Awarded by the African Studies Center, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, to chair a session at the College Art Association conference in Atlanta, GA.
Course Development Grant. 2005. Awarded by the African Studies Center, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign to develop a new undergraduate general education course, "African Architecture and Urbanism."
Postdoctoral Fellowship. 2002-4. Washington University in St. Louis, African and Afro-American Studies Program, Architecture, and History.
Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship for Minorities. 1995-8. One of fifty three-year fellowships awarded nationally across all disciplines to beginning graduate students.
Andrew and Mary Thompson Rocca Scholarship, UC Berkeley. 1997-9. Renewable fellowship for graduate students who show exceptional promise of advancing scholarship in some field of African Studies.
Publications
Books
Forthcoming:
Slave Space: The Landscapes of North American Slavery, co-edited with Clifton Ellis. Yale University Press. 2008
At Home With Apartheid: The Racial Geographies of Everyday Life. University of Virginia Press. 2008
In progress:
African Architecture Reader
Journal Articles and Chapters
"The Slave Landscape of Thomaston, Maine," Slave Space: The Environments of North American Slavery, eds. Clifton Ellis and Rebecca Ginsburg (Yale University Press,2007) (forthcoming).
"The Fugitive Slave Landscape," Landscape Journal, vol. 26 (1), 2007 (forthcoming).
"Expanding the Repertoire: Oral History as a Means for Understanding Historic Landscapes," African Architectural History Unbound: Assessing New Directions inPost-Apartheid Research on South African Architecture, eds. Jonathan Noble, Hannah le Roux, and Frederico Freschi (in review).
"The View from the Back Step: Black and White Children Learn about Race in Johannesburg’s Suburban Homes," Designing Modern Childhoods: History, Space, and the Material Culture of Children. An International Reader, eds. Marta Gutman and Nind de Coninck-Smith (Rutgers University Press, 2007) (forthcoming).
"Native Daughter: Home, Segregation, and Mental Maps," Home Cultures, Vol. 1(3), 2004.
"‘Come in the Dark’: The Place of Domestic Workers’ Rooms in Apartheid-Era Johannesburg," Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Vol. VIII, eds. Annmarie Adams and Sally McMurry (University of Tennessee Press, 2000).
"Serving Apartheid? Domestic Workers and the Racial Geographies of White Suburban Households, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1960s-1970s," in Historical Geography, vol. 27, 1999.
"‘Don’t Tell, Dear’: The Material Culture of Tampons and Napkins," Journal of Material Culture, vol. 1(3), 1996.
"‘Now I Stay in a House’: Renovating the Matchbox in Apartheid-Era Soweto," Journal of African Studies, vol. 55(2), 1996.
Book Reviews
Craig E. Barton, ed. Sites of Memory: Perspectives on Architecture and Race, in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 61 (1), 2002.
Presentations and Lectures
Select Classes Taught
African Architecture and Urbanism
American Cultural Landscapes
Sugar and Slaves: Plantations in World History
Slavery Sites: Preservation, Commemoration, and Controversies
Selected Invited Talks
"What Slaves Remembered: Exploring African Retentions in the Americas," Guest Lecture, Patten College at San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA, April 1, 2005.
"The Black Landscapes of White South African Homes," at On the Edges of Development: Critical Interventions, University of California, Santa Barbara, October 15, 2004.
"White Children’s Construction of Racial Landscapes in Johannesburg, South Africa During Apartheid," Constructing Race: The Built Environment, Minoritization, and Racism in the United States, Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, March 5, 2004.
"Black and White Interviews on Apartheid-Era South Africa: A Personal Account of Oral Historical Research," National Black Graduate Student Association Forum, UC Berkeley, March 5, 1997.
"At Home With Apartheid: White Families, Domestic Workers, and the Racial Geography of the White Suburban Home, Johannesburg, 1960s - 1980s," Stanford Africa Table, Stanford University, February 12, 1997.
Lectures
"Secrets in the Landscape: The Role of Geographic Knowledge in Antebellum Slave Escapes," Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians, April 2006.
"Expanding the Repertoire: Oral History as a Means for Understanding Historic Landscapes," Changing Boundaries—Architectural History in Transition: Second Society of Architectural Historians International Symposium, Paris, September 2005.
"Indian Apartheid? The Geographies of Caste in an Urban Chennai (Madras) Home," Annual Meeting of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, Harrisburg, PA, May 9, 2004.
"Living in a Matchbox: Interpretation of South African Township Houses," Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians, Richmond, VA, April 18, 2002 (presented in absentia).
"Serving Apartheid? Domestic Workers and the Racial Geographies of White Suburban Households, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1960s - 1980s," Annual Meeting of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, Annapolis, MD, May 9, 1998.
"‘Getting to Know the Corners’: Black Rural Women in the Apartheid City, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1950s-1970s," Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians, Los Angeles, CA, April 18, 1998.
"The View From the Back Step: White Children’s Backyards and Racial Relations in Apartheid-Era Johannesburg," Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians, Baltimore, MD, April 19, 1997.
"White by Night? Domestic Workers and the Landscape of Apartheid-Era Suburban Johannesburg," Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, San Francisco, CA, November 23, 1996.
"‘Now We Making Our Styles’: Interior Decoration and Urban Identity in Apartheid-Era Soweto," Africa's Urban Past, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK, June 20, 1996.
"‘Come in the Dark’: Domestic Workers’ Shelters in Apartheid-Era Johannesburg," Annual Meeting of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, Lawrence, KS, May 25, 1996.
Professional and University Service
Vernacular Architecture Forum
President (2005-2007)
Board member, 1999-2002
Chair, Fellowship Committee, 2000-2002
Member, Papers Committee, 1999-2000
Member, Fellowship Committee, 1997-1998
Society of Architectural Historians
Board member, 1999-2002
Other Activities
Academic Sessions Chaired and Symposia Organized
African Architectural History and the Undergraduate Curriculum, symposium co-sponsored by the Center for African Studies and the Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, December 1 – 3, 2005.
"Recent Developments in African Architectural History," College Art Association Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, February 19, 2005.
"‘What a Lovely Place. Do You Think They Had Any Help?’ Restoring Slaves and Slavery to Historic American Landscapes," Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians, Providence, RI, April 17, 2004.
