Shannon Lee Dawdy is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago who has worked as an archaeologist and historical anthropologist in Louisiana for the last 12 years. She was the founding director the the Greater New Orleans Archaeology Program at the University of New Orleans.
Dr. Dawdy, who received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan's Program in Anthropology and History in 2003, has archaeological experience in a variety of settings, including CRM, public outreach, and academic research.
Her past projects have included some of the most publicized excavations in the city, including the National Historic Landmark site known as Madame John's Legacy. Current fieldwork focuses on sexuality and tourism in post-colonial New Orleans during the early 19th century based on excavations at the Rising Sun Hotel site and the Tivoli Gardens amusement park, located at the present site of another local landmark, the Pitot House on Bayou St. John.
Dawdy's research interests include topics such as race and ethnicity, maritime culture, urban planning, food and agriculture, the formation of creole societies, and the development of colonial strategies of rule. She has published articles on New Orleans' creole culture and urban landscape, and on the social and intellectual history of the French colonial period. She is preparing a book manuscript tentatively entitled "The Devil's Empire: French New Orleans and the Shadows of Colonialism."
Other fields of interest include Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico. She has co-edited a volume entitled "Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology" with Antonio Curet and Gabino La Rosa Corzo (University of Alabama Press, 2005).
