Endangered Archives from Sufi Shrines of the Afghan-Pakistan Frontier

The Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier region has served as the site of some of South Asia's most enriched spiritual movements. Sufi monastery archives show the persistent spiritual practice amidst militant attacks. Selected materials are vernacular products produced by and for local communities and represent a diversity of thought.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries, in partnership with Peshawar University Librarians, will catalogue and digitize endangered archives of Sufi monasteries and shrines within the Pashtun tribal regions on the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. These are unexplored collections revealing a rich sacred tradition in a region embroiled in one of the most brutal conflicts in recent history. This team will work at four religious sites in Waziristan, Peshawar and Malakand. Using a post-custodial model, the project will empower local stakeholders to preserve their collections, train them in digitization and cataloguing, and build preservation infrastructure for sustainable community-driven archiving.

Project Details


Location: Pakistan, Southern Asia, Asia Organiser(s): Modern Endangered Archives Programme (MEAP) Project partner(s): University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: $49,850.00 Commencement Date: 02/2022 Project Status: Active
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