M. Hayden, Ph.D.

Lecturer of Art History
Department of Communication Media and the Arts

M. Hayden, Ph.D., teaches in the Art History Program at Seton Hall with research interest in the arts of the African Diaspora. Her fieldwork spans southern Africa, and current projects are focused primarily on rock paintings associated with the Mapungubwe National Park in South Africa. Her most recent work explores an interdisciplinary approach to rock art studies through color symbolism, the creative process, and the intersectionality of Indigenous visual and literary aesthetics. The following conference papers foster continued engagement with her doctoral research, The missing locusts: conservation and management of San rock art at Kaoxa's Shelter, Mapungubwe National Park (2022), Savanna Science Networking Meeting, Kruger National Park and Inverted Rainbow: the aesthetics of San celestial phenomena at the rainbow mystery shelter in the Cederberg, Western Cape (2019), European Association of Archaeologist. She has also enjoyed a professional career managing art collections and facilitating preservation practices in regional art institutions and advocating visual arts education at local colleges.