A/Prof Jennifer Deger - Research Portfolio

JCU > Research Portfolio > A/Prof Jennifer Deger

About

Jennifer Deger works at the intersection of art and anthropology. She writes on photography, aesthetics, film, contemporary Aboriginal societies, digital culture, art and ethnographic film, and experimental museology.

As a founding member of Miyarrka Media, a collective based in the community of Gapuwiyak, NT, Jennifer's practice-led research claims creativity as a critical mode of social engagement and anaysis. In collaboration with her Yolngu colleagues from Miyarrka Media, she has co-dircted several award winning films and co-curated experimental installations and exhibitions in Denmark, the US and Australia. In 2015 Jennifer established the Visual, Digital, Material: Experimental Screen and Museum Ethnography program at JCU together with Prof Ton Otto and Prof Rosita Henry.

From 2015 to 2018 Jennifer has been appointed as Smithsonian Research Associate with the National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC.

In 2017 and 2018 Jennifer will be a Visiting Research Fellow in with the transdisciplinary AURA project (Aarhus University Research on The Anthropocene).

Interests

Research

Visual Cultures
Digital Anthropology
Experimental Ethnography
Contemporary Indigenous Societies
Art and Anthropology
New Media
Indigenous Media
Creative and Practice-led Research Methods
Material Culture
Film and Anthropology
Photography
Ecological Aesthetics
Sensory Anthropology

Experience

2016 to present - Tropical Leader (Principal Research Fellow), James Cook University (Cairns)
2016 - Visiting Professor, The Eye and Mind Group, Aarhus University (Aarhus, Denmark)
2014 to 2016 - Australian Research Council Future Fellow, James Cook University (Cairns)
2012 to 2014 - Australian Research Council Future Fellow, The Australian National University (Canberra)
2010 to 2011 - Research Fellow, Centre for Religion and Media, New York University (New York)
2009 to 2011 - Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales (Sydney)
2005 to 2008 - Research Fellow, Macquarie University (Sydney)

Research Disciplines

Socio-Economic Objectives

Honours

Awards

2012 - Special Commendation from Margaret Mead Film Festival for Manapanmirr, in Christmas Spirit
2009 - College of Fine Arts, UNSW Early Career Researcher Grant
2004 - Vice-Chancellor's Commendation for a Thesis of Exceptional Merit, Macquarie University
2015 - Honourable mention, CHASS Australia Prize, Distinguished Work
2015 - Commendation, Ringtone, Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival, UK
2015 - Best Short Film, Ringtone, Society for Visual Anthropology

Fellowships

2017 to 2018 - Visiting Research Fellow AURA (Aarhus University Research on The Anthropocene)
2016 - Visiting Professor, Camera as Cultural Critique Research Group, Aarhus University
2012 to 2016 - Australian Research Council Future Fellowship
2015 - Flaherty Professional Development Fellow, Flaherty Seminar
2010 to 2011 - Research Fellow, Centre for Religion and Media, New York University
2008 to 2011 - Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
2005 to 2008 - Macquarie University Research Fellowship

Memberships

2008 - Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
2005 - The American Anthropological Association
2005 - Society for Visual Anthropology
2004 - The Australian Anthropological Society
2015 to 2018 - Smithsonian Research Associate, National Museum of Natural History

Publications

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

Deger J (2016) Thick photography. Journal of Material Culture, 21 (1), pp. 111-132, DOI:10.1177/1359183515623312.
Deger J (2013) The jolt of the new: making video art in Arnhem Land. Culture Theory & Critique, 54 (3), pp. 355-371, DOI:10.1080/14735784.2013.818277.

Books

Gurrumuruwuy P, Deger J, Gurunulmiwuy E, Balpatji W, Balanydjarrk M, Ganambarr J and Djingadjingawuy K (2019) Phone & spear: a Yuṯa anthropology. Goldsmith Press, London

Book Chapters

Gurrumuruwuy P and Deger J (2020) The law of feeling: experiments in a Yolngu museology. In: The Routledge International Handbook of New digital Practices in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums and Heritage Sites. Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, UK, pp. 335-344
Lowe S, George L and Deger J (2020) A deeper deep listening: doing pre-ethics fieldwork in Aotearoa New Zealand. In: Indigenous Research Ethics: claiming research sovereignty beyond deficit and the colonial legacy advances in research ethics and integrity. Advances in Research Ethics and Integrity, 6. Emerald, Bingley, UK, pp. 275-291
Deger J (2018) Pink cake, red eyes, coloured photos: desire, loss and Aboriginal aesthetics in northern Australia. In: Rematerializing Colour: from concept to substance. Sean Kingston Publishing, Canon Pyon, UK, pp. 45-65
Deger J (2018) Phone-made poiesies: towards an ethnography of call and response. In: Linguistic and Material Intimacies of Cell Phones. Routledge Studies in Anthropology. Routledge, Abingdon, UK, pp. 128-147
Deger J (2017) Curating digital resonance. In: The Routledge Companion to Digital Ethnography. Routledge Companions. Routledge, New York, NY, USA, pp. 318-328
Deger J (2016) BarkTV: portrait of an innovator. In: Imaging Identity: media, memory and portraiture in the digital age. ANU Press, Canberra, ACT, Australia, pp. 117-140
Deger J (2016) Christmas with Wawa: a video experiment with Yolngu aesthetics. In: Beyond Text? Critical practices and sensory anthropology. Manchester University Press, Manchester, UK, pp. 163-169
Deger J (2013) In-between. In: Anthropology and Art Practice. Bloomsbury, London, UK, pp. 105-113
Deger J (2011) Participatory vision: watching movies with Yolngu. In: The Handbook of Media Audiences. Global Handbooks in Media and Communication Research. Wiley-Blackwell, London, UK, pp. 459-471

More: ResearchOnline@JCU stores 58+ research outputs authored by A/Prof Jennifer Deger from 1996 onwards.

Supervision

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

Kuku Yalanji Artefacts and Traditional Knowledge in the Past and the Present (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
Dreaming Story Way: A practice-based exploration of the creative Voice as a mode of healing grounded in Wik and Wikway ontology (PhD , Primary Advisor)
Digital Networks and the Trans-Image: A Multi-Sited, Multi-Mediated Ethnography of Assemblage and Activism (PhD , Primary Advisor)
Designing Regenerative Cultures for Sustainable Futures: Living-in-Place in Costa Rica (PhD , Primary Advisor)
Ecological Rights and Indigenous Sound Worlds (PhD , Primary Advisor)

Completed

Sounding the reef: comparative acoustemologies of underwater noise pollution (2020, PhD , Primary Advisor)
Wayfaring: place and painting in the tropical far north (2018, PhD , Secondary Advisor)

Data

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit the JCU Research Data Catalogue.