Prof Jennifer Deger ~ Adjunct Professor

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

• Anthropology (4401)
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, language and (4501)

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

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

• Otto T, Deger J and Marcus G (2021) Ethnography and exhibition design: insights from the Moesgaard inaugural. Design Studies, 74.
• Deger J (2016) Thick photography. Journal of Material Culture, 21 (1). pp. 111-132

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

• Deger J (2020) You are here. In: Feral atlas: the more-than-human Anthropocene. Stanford University Press, Redwood City, CA, USA
• 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

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 65+ research outputs authored by Prof Jennifer Deger from 1996 onwards.

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.

Completed

• The call of lineage: A living epistemology (2021, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Wayfaring: place and painting in the tropical far north (2018, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Sounding the reef: comparative acoustemologies of underwater noise pollution / Pejling af revet: komparativ akustemologi af undersøisk støjforurening (2020, PhD , Primary Advisor)

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

• Buttacavoli, M. (2020) Sounding the Reef: Comparative Acoustemologies of Underwater Noise Pollution—Album. James Cook University

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.