Alicia V. Stevens

Dr Alicia V Stevens is Co-ordinator of the Heritage Pillar at MIT’s Center for Comparative Global Humanities. A Gates Cambridge Scholar, she earned a DPhil and MPhil in Archaeology from the University of Cambridge, an MSc from Columbia University, and a BA from the University of Michigan. She is currently writing a monograph on liminal heritage in Myanmar under contract with Routledge (2025).

Education

• DPhil (PhD) Archaeology – University of Cambridge (Gates Cambridge Scholar)
• MPhil Archaeological Heritage & Museum Studies – University of Cambridge
• MSc – Columbia University
• BA Comparative Literature – University of Michigan, Residential College

Research Interests
Her work sits at the intersection of cultural heritage and political anthropology, focusing on how heritage is mobilised under repressive regimes—from colonialism to authoritarianism. She introduced the concept of ‘liminal heritage’, arguing that in times of extreme transition heritage takes on characteristics of ambivalence, deception, creativity and danger.

Publications Trajectory
Across her recent articles and book chapters, Stevens interrogates heritage as a political instrument: from colonial manipulation of the sacred Shwedagon Pagoda in British Burma, to the appropriation of culture by contemporary hate movements, to the pedagogical power of global museum collaborations.

Awards & Fellowships

• Gates Cambridge Scholar
• Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

Professional Experience
Before joining MIT, she spent fifteen years directing international programmes at Columbia University, the Smithsonian Institution and the American Museum of Natural History, curating exhibitions that have travelled to over 130 countries and forging cross-cultural museum-education partnerships.

Current Activities
She leads the Heritage, Memory & Identity pillar within MIT’s new Center for Comparative Global Humanities and is completing her forthcoming book Liminal Heritage and Political Transition: Culture, Power, and Uncertainty in Myanmar.