A Will to Adorn: Dr. Ayana Omilade Flewellen

That Anthro Podcast

Today we have Dr. Ayana Omilade Flewellen, an assistant Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University, on the podcast. Dr. Flewellen is a Black, non-binary, feminist, archaeologist, who works with collections originating from the African diaspora, and focuses on small finds and the extraordinary stories those items tell. They work at plantation archaeological sites as well as underwater sites of slave shipwrecks.

We begin by discussing their background in anthropology starting with their undergrad at the University of Florida and their first anthropology class there. From that first cultural anthropology class they were hooked, and their second class in Anthro was a class cross listed class with the African Studies department called “Archaeology of African American Life and History” taught by Dr. James Davidson. Ayana speaks about the profound impact this class on their archeological journey and the uniqueness of the subject matter that allowed Ayana to see themselves in archaeology. This class, and Dr. Davidson, would end up shaping Ayana’s subsequent career in archaeology.

Next, we discuss their first field school at Kingsley Plantation on Fort George Island, working with Dr. Davidson. We then speak about their favorite class to teach as a Professor called, A Will to Adorn: an anthropology of dress. Ayana describes this class as an ode to Zora Neal Hurston, and her piece where she described characteristics of negro expression and their “will to adorn.” Then we dive into their PhD research which examined small finds in a collection from the Levi-Jordan plantation. Ayana describes passionately the value in small finds being able to tell extraordinary stories. Lastly, we talk about their ongoing project at the Princess Plantation and the importance of community based archaeology projects.

Check out Ayana's other amazing work here:

https://www.ayanaflewellen.com/

Princess Plantation Project: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/a69f20809be64ed8aef1b7329c5dbd5e

https://divingwithapurpose.org/

Check out the amazing Society of Black Archaeologists: https://www.societyofblackarchaeologists.com/