Daniel O. Sayers

Daniel O. Sayers is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at American University in Washington D.C. with over 30 years of professional experience in archaeology and anthropology. His research focuses on politically significant areas of U.S. history through the study of material culture, artifacts, historical records, and landscape, with particular emphasis on marginalized communities and resistance narratives.

Education:

• PhD in Historical Archaeology, College of William & Mary
• MA in Anthropology, Western Michigan University
• BA in Philosophy and Anthropology, Western Michigan University

Dr. Sayers's research centers on the Great Dismal Swamp Indigenous American-and-Maroon communities (1600-1865), the Underground Railroad, human-and-animal social dialectics, and the study of homeless and unhoused populations. He approaches these topics through a political economic perspective indebted to Marx and Sartre, examining issues of diasporas and exile, labor and class, marronage, rural cultures, and multispecies power dynamics. His work challenges dominant historical narratives through archaeological evidence and critical theory.

Sayers's publications demonstrate a consistent focus on marginalized communities throughout American history, with recent work increasingly addressing animal rights and emancipation. His research combines archaeological evidence with historical analysis to create counter-narratives about American history, particularly regarding resistance and survival in marginal spaces. His 2023 book received the Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award from the American Library Association.

Awards:

• 2023 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award (American Library Association) for The Archaeology of the Homed and the Unhomed

Dr. Sayers has collaborated extensively with undergraduate and graduate students to help them gain practical knowledge in anthropology, filmmaking, historiography, Cultural Resources Management, and museum studies. He has received over $$280,000$$ in proposal-based grants for his research, including an NEH 'We the People Collaborative Grant' with Canon/National Park Service/American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Sayers is actively involved with the Great Dismal Swamp Stakeholder Collaborative and maintains partnerships with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. His current projects include developing a roadkill-focused research project and an archaeological investigation of farming and animal exploitation in the Mid-Atlantic region.