welcome to dee'archives

Hi, welcome to Seahorse Gyal at Dee’Archives!

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My name is Dr. Dorothy Nana Adwoa Boatemaa Attakora-Gyan, Ph.D. (she/her). My pen name is Dee Archives. Daughter of the Akan and Asante by birth, I am a storyteller, writer, and mental health advocate specializing in shame research. Dee'Archives was a nickname gifted to me over a decade ago by an old friend. This website is my archive. Dee’s Archive. Or you can consider this my online portfolio, that works too.

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A neurodivergent artist, I write creative fiction, romantic comedy, non-fiction essays, blog posts, and dabble in poetry. My writing has been featured in Fodors, The Feminist Wire, Ottawa Citizen, Canadian Women Studies, and Climate Chaos: Ecofeminism and the Land Question. I write themes related to shame, trauma, fear, and other difficult emotions. As well as on feminism, mental health, neurodiversity, my healing journey, and spiritual practices that touch on intuition, African Indigenous spirituality, and what I call telepathic solidarity. I also indulge in random musings. In the words of Alanis Morissette, "you've never met anyone as everything as I am sometimes."

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Meaning not only am I an expert on shame, I am also a trauma and violence-informed educator trained in community health, sexual health, HIV prevention education, pleasure, and sex positivity. I have over 10 years of research experience in HIV, food sovereignty, and emotions research. My doctoral thesis was called "Octavia Butler's Parables and Black African American Hyper-Empathic Neurodivergent Feminists: On Shame and Solidarity." The emphasis was on understanding how shame obstructs interpersonal relationships within the feminist movement.

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Here on this website, you’ll find a collection of my writings, photography, artwork, childhood photos, and other random posts from social media that I share here. I ran my own business from 2009 until 2013, as the Founder and Creative Director of Mina Danielle Designs, an African clothing line. You can view my lookbook here.