Laurajane Smith

Laurajane Smith is Professor of Heritage and Museum Studies at the Australian National University's Research School of Humanities and the Arts, where she heads the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies. A Fellow of the Society for the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and CNRS Fellow-ambassador (2023-2025), she holds a PhD from the University of Sydney and a Graduate Diploma in Higher Education from UNSW.

Her research critically examines heritage as a cultural performance and meaning-making process, with foci including:

• The politics of heritage and identity construction
• Intersections of class, memory, and multiculturalism in heritage
• Community heritage practices and tourism
• Affective dimensions of cultural policy

Her publications consistently explore themes of emotional heritage, decolonization, and the socio-political dimensions of cultural memory. Recent work emphasizes repatriation ethics, populism, and peacebuilding through heritage.

Awards:

• Doctor Honoris Causa (University of Antwerp, 2018)
• European Archaeology Association Heritage Prize (2021)
• CNRS Fellow-ambassador (2023-2025)

She leads major projects including 'Heritage and Reconciliation' (2020-2025) and 'Temporalities of Andean Heritage Landscapes' (2022-2024), supervising research through the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies.