Department/College/UnitSocial Sciences Division

TitleDoctoral Candidate
Teaching Assistant

AffiliationGraduate

Web Site

Primary Office LocationSocial Sciences 1
404

Office HoursSubject to change

Mail StopDivision Of Social Sciences

Biography, Education and Training

Boluwaji AJAYI (Bolu)  is a Nigerian archaeologist and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology. Bolu's research interest primarily focuses on the nature of social complexities that engendered everyday life of settlements on the margins of early cities and empires in the Yoruba-Edo region of Southwestern Nigeria ca. 18th -20 century. 

His research adopts agency theory coupled with the theory of practice to address questions about how quotidian life was structured and the active role of social actors within these local and regional spaces. Bolu is an experienced archaeologist in field and laboratory techniques; he is a mentor to several Young African archaeologists and a member of several archaeological associations. On days when he is not in the lab or classroom, he volunteers in a local pantry in Santa Cruz and goes hiking while listening to solemn R&B instrumentals.

Research Interests

Historical Archaology, Urbanism, Materiality, Social Complexities, Household Archaeology and GIS Application.

Awards, Honors and Grants

2024-25 TLC, Graduate Pedagogy Fellow

2024 First Generation Graduate Group Award- Research Grant

2023-24 Milam-McGinty-Kaun Award for Excellence in Teaching.

2024 Honorarium: Black Archaeology, Stanford Archaeology Center.

2024 Archaeological Research Center Research Grant.

2023 Archaeological Research Center Research Grant.

Selected Presentations

https://anthro.ucsc.edu/news/anthropology-chronicle/2024/9th-biennial-graduate-student-conference-in-anthropology.html

https://archaeology.stanford.edu/events/black-archaeology-intersection-black-studies-and-archaeology

Guest Lecturer ANTH 175: African Archaeology, Cities and Empires in the Forest Zone.

https://safarchaeology.org/resources/Documents/Student%20day%20program%205.27.pdf

Selected Publications

Babalola, A. B., & Ajayi, B. D. (2022). Of glass, stone, shell, and metal: Ecologies of beads in medieval and post-medieval West Africa. postmedieval, 13(1-2), 197-221.

Ajayi, B.D. (2020). The Past Lost in the Present: Reinvigorating Heritage Management in Southwest Nigeria. Artifacts, Bone, Disourse. 7, 11-25.