Shana Klein

Shana Klein is an art historian trained in the history of American art, with sub-specialties in African-American and Native-American art.  She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of New Mexico, where she completed the dissertation—and now book—“The Fruits of Empire: Art, Food, and the Politics of Race in the Age of American Expansion.”   Klein has been awarded several fellowships for her research at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, American Council of Learned Societies, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, among others.  She has published research in journals such as American Art, Public Art Dialogue, Southern Cultures, and more.  Her explorations of art, food, and racism have also been featured on a number of digital publications and podcasts.  Her next book project, “Spoiled Milk,” examines the intersection of race and motherhood in Victorian American art.  Klein’s research interests include: American visual and material culture, food studies, race and post-colonial studies, and art and social justice.