Adrienne Brown

Adrienne Brown is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Chicago, specializing in Race, Diaspora and Indigeneity. Teaching since 2011, she also serves as Faculty Director of Arts + Public Life, a South Side Chicago initiative fostering neighborhood vibrancy through arts and community engagement.

Her educational background includes:

• Ph.D., Princeton University, 2011

Professor Brown's research centers on Critical Race Studies, African American Literature, and Urban Studies, with a focus on the twentieth century. She examines how architecture and spatial environments shape racial perception, drawing on Harlem and Chicago Renaissances, Modernism, and Post-45 literature. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates cultural studies, visual culture, sound studies, and the history of property to analyze the racial sensorium in American cultural production.

Her publications reveal a trajectory from skyscrapers (The Black Skyscraper, 2017) to mass homeownership (The Residential is Racial, 2024), investigating how built environments mediate race. Articles like "Appraisal Narratives" and "The Architecture of Racial Phenomena" dissect midcentury racial dynamics in urban spaces. She employs literary and bureaucratic archives to trace race's evolving definition, value, and perception, contributing to fields of American Studies, Critical Race Theory, and Architectural History.

Awards:

• Modernist Studies Association’s 2018 First Book Prize for The Black Skyscraper

While specific graduate students are unlisted, Brown has mentored through her courses and co-edited volumes. Her leadership in Arts + Public Life suggests significant community grants, though detailed funding sources are not specified in the provided text.

As Faculty Director of Arts + Public Life, she spearheads a dynamic hub on Chicago's South Side that cultivates neighborhood vibrancy through arts programming, community partnerships, and public space activation.