This Spring, the OA will focus on food.

Through fresh reporting, in-depth profiles, and daring personal essays, this issue will explore what we eat: people, industries, and tastes that both build and challenge our ideas of Southern food.

Become A Member Shop Login

Ayana Contreras


About

Ayana Contreras is a cultural historian, radio DJ, and archivist. An avid collector with more than 8,000 vintage vinyl records, she hosts the Reclaimed Soul program on WBEZ and Vocalo Radio in Chicago. She is also a columnist for DownBeat magazine, and her book on post–civil rights era cultural history, Energy Never Dies: Afro-Optimism and Creativity in Chicago, is forthcoming from the University of Illinois Press.

Articles