Prof. Justin Dunnavant, Occidental’s 2022 Stafford Ellison Wright Black Alumni Scholar-in-Residence, will be joined by Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina in a panel discussion, entitled, “New Approaches to Caribbean History and Heritage" at 5 p.m. on Thursday, February 17.
Professor Dunnavant—archeologist, assistant professor of anthropology at UCLA and co-founder and president of the Society of Black Archaeologists—is Occidental College’s 2022 Stafford Ellison Wright Black Alumni Scholar-in-Residence.
Prof. Dunnavant will be joined by Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina, founding Director and faculty of the Virgin Islands and Caribbean Cultural Center in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of the Virgin Islands.
This virtual event is free and open to all students, staff, faculty, alumni and the general public.
About Justin Dunnavart
Dunnavant is an archeologist and assistant professor of anthropology at UCLA. His current research in the U.S. Virgin Islands investigates the relationship between ecology and enslavement. In addition to his archeological research, Dunnavant is co-founder of and president of the Society of Black Archeologists, consults for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and is an AAUS Scientific SCUBA diver. His work has appeared in American Archeology,Science, Antipode, International Journal of Historical Archeology, and Nature. Read more about Professor Dunnavant.
About the Stafford Ellison Wright Endowment
Created by Occidental’s Black Alumni Organization (BAO), the Stafford Ellison Wright Endowment enables distinguished Black scholars from a variety of fields, artists, elected officials and others to spend time in residence at Occidental each year. BAO members believe that a student’s educational experience will be enriched by in-depth contact with individuals who serve as symbols of excellence.
The Endowment honors Occidental’s first Black graduates, all members of the Class of 1952: Dr. Janet Stafford, George F. Ellison and Barbara Bowman Wright.
