Draft:Ayana Omilade Flewellen

• Comment: Unfortunately, I'm not seeing sourcing here that would indicate that the subject passes GNG, NBIO, or NPROF. The only unaffiliated source I'm seeing is Trowelblazers. I haven't assessed its reliability, but a single source isn't enough to demonstrated notability. Anerdw (talk) 06:01, 9 June 2025 (UTC)

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Ayana Omilade Flewellen is a Black feminist archaeologist, artist-scholar, and storyteller whose work combines anthropology, African and African Diaspora Studies, and public archaeology. They are currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University and is a leading advocate for equity and representation in the archaeology field.

Early Life and Education

Born and raised in the state of Georgia, Flewellen has deep familial roots in the American South that dates back to the mid-19th century. They earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with a minor in African American Studies from the University of Florida in 2011, graduating summa cum laude. Flewellen continued their education at the University of Texas at Austin, obtaining a Masters of Arts in African and African Diaspora Studies in 2014 and a Ph.D. in Anthropology in 2018.

Academic Career

Flewellen began their academic career as a University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow at University of California, Berkeley from 2018 to 2020. They then served as an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Riverside, before joining the anthropology department staff at Stanford University in 2022.

Their research and teaching interests include Black feminist theory, historical archaeology, maritime heritage conservation, public and community-engaged archaeology, identity formation, memory and representation of slavery and its aferlives.

Research and Projects

Flewellen is the co-founder and current Board Chair of the Society of Black Archaeologists (SBA), established in 2011 to advocate for the proper treatment of African and African dispora material culture and to promote diversity within the field of archaeology. They also serve on the Board of Diving with a Purpose, a nonprofit focused on maritime archaeology and heritage preservation.

Flewellen is also the Co-Principal Investigator of the Estate Little Princess Archaeology Project in Saint Croix, Virgin Islands, which centers community-engaged archaeology and the Afro-Caribbean experience. Their current book project, The Will to Adorn, investigates the post-emancipation sartorial practices within the African American communities in the American South.

Honors and Media

In 2020, Flewellen was named to The Explorerers Club's EC50 list for their groundbreaking work. They have received fellowships and funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Wenner Gren Foundation. Their work has been featured in National Geographic, CNN, PBS, and Science Magazine.