Posts

Incoming UCLA Professor Justin Dunnavant Selected as a National Geographic 2021 Emerging Explorer

, , ,

Dr. Justin Dunnavant, an incoming professor in the Department of Anthropology, has been selected as one of “15 global changemakers” for the National Geographic 2021 Emerging Explorer cohort.

National Geographic Society states: “These 15 individuals are conducting innovative work focused on a range of topics such as inventing space technologies, ocean exploration, understanding the past through archaeology and anthropology, species conservation, storytelling, and elevating young voices for the future of education.”

Dr. Dunnavant is currently a provost’s postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University’s Spatial Analysis Research Laboratory and will be an assistant professor in UCLA’s Anthropology Department starting this fall. His current research in the U.S. Virgin Islands investigates the relationship between ecology and enslavement in the former Danish West Indies. Dr. Dunnavant is also co-founder and president of the Society of Black Archaeologists, an American Academy of Underwater Sciences scientific diver, a consultant for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and a 2021 inductee to The Explorers Club. His research has been featured on Netflix’s Explained and Hulu’s Your Attention Please and in American Archaeology and Science magazines.

To read Dr. Dunnavant’s latest article, “Craft an African American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,” in NATURE, click HERE.

/by

Incoming UCLA Professor Dunnavant’s Work With the Smithsonian in Africatown Featured in the News

, , ,

Dr. Justin Dunnavant, an incoming professor in the UCLA Department of Anthropology, recently had his work with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) featured on WUSA9 news in Washington, DC. Dr. Dunnavant’s research seeks to share the whole truth about the experience of African Americans by unearthing artifacts from some of the highest and lowest places on earth. The Slave Wrecks Project is focused on salvaging artifacts from the wreckage of slave ships around the world. Dr. Dunnavant states that there is history, particularly underwater history, that hasn’t been uncovered. “Dunnavant has done work in Africatown, Alabama, a city that was formed by African Americans after the emancipation of enslaved people. Many of those in the town crossed the Atlantic on a ship named the Clotilda — the last known slave ship to reach the United States.”

To learn more about this important research, check out WUSA9’s print and video coverage HERE.

/by

Incoming UCLA Professor Dunnavant’s Research Featured in ‘American Archaeology Magazine’

, ,

The research of Dr. Justin Dunnavant, an incoming professor in the UCLA Department of Anthropology, and his colleagues was recently featured as the cover story for American Archaeology Magazine. Dr. Dunnavant consults for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture Slave Wrecks Project, which is chronicled in the story. It covers their research at the Estate Little Princess in St. Croix and their forthcoming research in Africatown, Alabama.

The American Archaeology Magazine article features an excerpt HERE, and the full printed article is available HERE.

 

/by