What does it mean to steward cultural memory in moments of fragility and loss?
This lecture argues that archives are not neutral repositories, but sites of consequential human judgment—where decisions about preservation, access, and interpretation shape what endures and what disappears.
Drawing on the founding of the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT and sustained engagement with cultural heritage across the SWANA region, the talk examines archival work under conditions of conflict and uncertainty. It challenges the adequacy of technological solutions alone and reframes archival practice as a form of stewardship—an ethical commitment grounded in care, responsibility, and institutional purpose.
At stake is not only the survival of cultural materials, but how they are held, understood, and entrusted to the future.
Sharon C. Smith, Ph.D., is an art and architectural historian whose work examines transregional connections across the Mediterranean. She is Assistant Director of the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics, and Culture at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.
Smith is the founding director of the Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT, which she developed into a globally recognized hub for research, teaching, and digital scholarship on Islamic architecture and urbanism. Her work has been shaped through international collaborations with organizations including UNESCO, ICCROM, and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
She has held academic and curatorial roles at Arizona State University and has taught at the Boston Architectural College and Boston College. Her research and public humanities practice engage archives, exhibitions, and digital platforms to address questions of cultural heritage, ethics, and stewardship in a global context.