Graduate Student
Shaolin Lee grew up in South Central Los Angeles, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology & African American studies at UCLA. During this time, Shaolin took interest in slavery and uprising, studying the combating elements of carceral vs resistance ecologies. His social ecological research aims to investigate global marronage & science of marronage as shaped by ecology and ecocide.
As a student, Shaolin assisted archaeological excavations in St Croix, uncovering the lives and material histories of enslaved people on Estate Little Princess Plantation. From there he joined the coral research lab at UCLA, studying marine species die off in St Croix as caused by slavery and plantation society. Upon graduating, Shaolin joined the Compton Museum Archive Fellowship, where he documented archaeological resistance against ICE in Los Angeles, relating modern carceral violence and rebellion to legacies of slavery and slave insurrection. He gained valuable experience in archiving and field photography, and additional training in community ethnography. Through his studies at UCSB, Shaolin intends to continue his study on global resistance ecologies, specifically maroon geographies in the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina & the Mesopotamian marshes in Iraq.