Zakiya is an Afro-Carolinian archivist and memory worker exploring the role of cooperative thought and improvisation in the preservation and sustainability of im/material cultural memory—particularly in African-diasporan, queer, and community-based organizations and cultural heritage institutions. She is passionate about uncovering ancestral memory-keeping traditions and developing archival practices that account for the material conditions of Black life.
Ethical memory work is not just archival labor, it’s an approach to everyday life. Keeping Black people alive is memory work. It's about building a better world—one in which everyone has access to a full life—and equitable archival collections will follow.
– Zakiya Collier