Vera S. Candiani

Vera S. Candiani is an Associate Professor of History at Princeton University, affiliated with the History Department and multiple interdisciplinary programs including the Princeton-Mellon Urban Studies Program, the Princeton Environmental Institute, and the Latin American Studies Program. She holds a leadership role on the Executive Committee of the Center for Architecture, Urbanism, and Infrastructure.

Her research focuses on pre-modern environmental transformations, colonization processes, and historical material culture. She completed her studies at UC Berkeley under prominent historians like Tulio Halperín Donghi and Carla Hesse. Her first major work, Dreaming of Dry Land: Environmental Transformation in Colonial Mexico City (2014), examines the ecological and social impacts of large-scale drainage projects in colonial Mexico, winning the Elinor Melville Prize. Current projects explore feral livestock in Spanish America and the role of commons in early modern colonization.

Candiani emphasizes pedagogy addressing contemporary crises, integrating material analysis and historical materialist methods. She advises graduate students across disciplines and collaborates on innovative projects like Listening to Colonial Latin America, a digital resource linking music to historical sources.

Her work bridges environmental history with socio-political analysis, aiming to highlight historical lessons for present-day challenges. She is actively involved in expanding public history initiatives and interdisciplinary scholarship.