Dayna Bowker Lee, Ph.D.
Senior Historian/Cultural Anthropologist/Ethnographer
Dr. Dayna Bowker Lee holds a B.A in Anthropology and a M.A. in History from Northwestern State University. Dr. Lee obtained her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma in 1998. She has also received specialized training in archival management and archaic French. Dr. Lee currently serves as Senior Historian for Earth Search, Inc. She is also an adjunct professor at Northwestern State University. Dr. Lee’s training in Anthropology and History has allowed her to serve as an ethnologist, folklorist, and historian for cultural resources management projects conducted over the last 25 years.
The Masters Degree in History from Northwestern State University was conferred in 1986. Dr. Lee’s thesis research explored the social and economic ramifications of Indian slavery during the French and Spanish Colonial administration of Louisiana, with an examination of the persistence of this practice on the colonial borderlands. Her dissertation research examined the population health of protohistoric and historic Caddo based upon bioarchaeological evidence to discover if presumptions of protohistoric demographic collapse are supportable. Further, historic and ethnographic observations were reexamined and reinterpreted to discover adaptive responses to extreme biocultural stress. This research also examined community formation after 1859, when the Caddo merge into one tribal entity, as well as how the Caddo have adapted culturally to maintain a unique identity
Dr. Lee served as assistant director of the Louisiana Folklife Center at Northwestern State University for seven years. During this period, Dr. Lee worked in numerous ethnic and occupational communities throughout the state identifying and documenting traditions. Dr. Lee organized and facilitated public outreach venues where community representatives educated the local and regional population about their particular traditions, crafts, or occupations.
From 1991 until 1996, Dr. Lee served as the traditional arts director for the state of Oklahoma through the State Arts Council. Dr. Lee continued her field studies of ethnic and occupational communities during cultural resource surveys. She also served as a consultant for several communities on economic issues that included marketing strategies and grants. During her tenure at the State Arts Council, Dr. Lee produced three videotapes and books exploring Oklahoma’s traditional arts. She also produced an audiotape and book detailing traditional music among Oklahoma’s Native American communities.
Returning to Louisiana in 1996, Dr. Lee served as a private consultant on cultural resource management and ethnographic projects. She served as ethnohistorian for Coastal Environments, Inc. on the Lake Verret Levee Expansion project, the Angola Prison Levee Expansion project, and the Bayou Fountain-Dutch Highlands watershed flood control project. These projected were funded by NODCOE. Dr. Lee also served as ethnohistorian for projects funded by VDCOE. These projects include the Mayersville Levee Expansion project, the Sicily Island Levee project, Item Two, and the Sicily Island Levee project, Item Three.
Dr. Lee has served as an evaluator for programs funded for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and other agencies. She has participated in the development of the Master Plan for the Development of Cultural Tourism in the Isle Brevelle Cane River Creole Community, collected oral history and occupational folklore associated with the McNeill Street Pumping Station in Shreveport, Louisiana, served as the long-range planning and development consultant for the Louisiana Creole Heritage Center, and served as co-curator for the Louisiana Folk Art Related to Spanish Colonial Louisiana exhibit for the Museu de Prehistorica I de les Cultures de Valencia in Spain. Dr Lee had conducted several ethnographic and ethnohistorical projects for the National Park Service, including the ethnographic overview of Magnolia Plantation, Natchitoches Parish; Ethnographic Overview and Assessment, Cane River Creole National Historical Park; Reconnecting the Present with the Past: The Caddo People Return to the Red River Valley. Dr. Lee continues to work as a pro bono consultant for Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Creole Heritage Center.