Biography

Asiyah Kurtz is an applied anthropologist and graduate researcher in the field of cultural sustainability. Through her research at Goucher College, she partners with groups to keep their traditions vital by documenting meaningful cultural markers. A self-taught quilter, Asiyah is accustomed to taking seemingly disparate items and weaving them together to create solutions that address macro-issues.

Originally from Memphis, TN, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology at the University of Memphis. In 2016, Asiyah moved with her family to New Jersey where she quickly became involved in the community. She is currently serving her second term on Council in the Borough of Haddon Heights where she has budget oversight for the Departments of Administration and Parks/Recreation.

Asiyah subscribes to Octavia Butler's school of thought that "There is nothing new under the sun but there are new suns." Her belief is that sustaining a community requires a new constellation of thought and a revisiting of the elemental ways of being.