Kathleen James-Chakraborty is a Professor of

Art History Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

and Architectural Historian at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

. She is an expert in American and German modernism, and is interested in modern sacred architecture. In 2018 She was awarded the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...

Gold Medal for Humanities.

Early life and education

James-Chakraborty grew up in Chestertown on the Eastern Shore region of Maryland. In 1966 she attended Chestertown Elementary, where she was in the first year of

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

. She spent three semester at a boarding school in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, where she spent time in a library designed by

Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...

. She remained friends with her elementary school teacher, Mrs Wilson, until her death at the age of ninety-one. She earned her bachelor's degree at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1982. She earned an MA and PhD at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1990. She moved to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

School of Architecture as an Assistant Professor.

Research and career

She served as the

Gambrinus Gambrinus ( ) is a legendary European culture hero celebrated as an icon of beer, brewing, joviality, and ''joie de vivre''. Typical representations in the visual arts depict him as a rotund, bearded duke or king, holding a tankard or mug, ...

Fellow at the

Technical University of Dortmund TU Dortmund University (german: Technische Universität Dortmund) is a technical university in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with over 35,000 students, and over 6,000 staff including 300 professors, offering around 80 Bachelor's an ...

. She became an assistant professor of Architecture at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1992, a tenured Associate Professor in 1997, and a full professor in 2006. James-Chakraborty was appointed Professor of

in 2007. She was Head of the School of Art History from 2007 to 2010. She spent the fall semester in 2015 and 2016 at

Yale School of Architecture The Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University, and is generally considered to be one of the best architecture schools in the United States. The School awards the degrees of Master of Arc ...

. Her work considers modern art, modernism and nationalism. She has extended the received perspectives of German modernism. James-Chakraborty has investigated the role of women in architecture and design. She also studied the

Ruhrgebiet The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

and recent German architecture. In 2016 she arranged the European Architectural History Network, which was held in

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the se ...

. Her 2017 book ''Architecture since 1400'' was a global survey of architecture, described by Murray Fraser as a "scintillating overview". While others have characterized contemporary Berlin’s museums and memorials as postmodern, Kathleen James-Chakraborty argues that these environments are examples of an “architecture of modern memory” that is much older, more complex, and historically contingent. She reveals that churches and museums repaired and designed before 1989 in Düren, Hanover, Munich, Neviges, Pforzheim, Stuttgart, and Weil am Rhein contributed to a modernist precedent for the relationship between German identity and the past developed since then in the Ruhr region and in Berlin. She helped organise the 2019

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...

conference ''Bauhaus Effects''. She served from 2016-2021 on the board of the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thre ...

. Professor James-Chakraborty has criticised Ireland's obsession with university rankings, particularly QS rankings and the way in which this skews the allocation of resources.

Awards and honours

* 2011 Elected to the

* 2018

Gold Medal for Humanities

Publications

* * * * * * *
Conclusion
The Kolumba Museum in Cologne, ''Modernism as Memory : Building Identity in the Federal Republic of Germany''. :237-244

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James-Chakraborty, Kathleen American women architects American art historians American women art historians People from Chesapeake, Virginia Academics of University College Dublin UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design faculty Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women academics Historians from Virginia Historians from California 21st-century American women