Fiona P. McDonald (she/her/elle) completed her PhD (2014) in the Department of Anthropology at University College London (UCL) in visual anthropology & material culture (Supervisors: Professor Susanne Kuechler and Professor Christopher Pinney). Her dissertation is entitled, Charting Material Memories: a visual and material ethnography of the transformations of woollen blankets in contemporary art, craft, and Indigenous regalia in Canada, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the United States . This project was undertaken as both an historic and contemporary visual and material ethnography of the material nature and transformations of woollen (trade) blankets that were produced in the United Kingdom since the seventeenth century. Her work addresses both historical and contemporary uses of woollen blankets through a direct examination of the pluralistic histories that things and objects have when re-worked and recycled by contemporary artists and customary makers in North American and Aotearoa New Zealand. Fiona is currently translating this research in to a book project.

Fiona is also the co-founder of Ethnographic Terminalia Collective (ETC) (est.2009), an international curatorial collective that curates exhibitions at the intersections of arts and anthropology. ETC have curated and organized exhibitions and workshops across North America (Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, Montreal, New York, Austin, Chicago, Denver, and Vancouver) where they aim to move academic research beyond the academy through public engagement.

Madelaine Lekei (she/her/hers) completed her Bachelor of Arts degree (2020) with a major in Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus. As an ethnographer and anthropologist, Madelaine studies the intersections of visual, material, and digital culture with an emphasis on sensory knowledge, critical disability studies, and community-based methods. Madelaine’s research is influenced by her previous work in the early education field as a community support worker. Her current research explores (1) how people articulate their experience of disability, accessibility, self-advocacy, and community, and (2) how these activities influence advocacy and activism in offline environments. While currently non-disabled, Madelaine navigates the world with complex trauma and multiple forms of chronic pain that influence her daily physical, mental, and emotional capacities. As a queer and feminist scholar, this embodied lived experience is central in her research, writing, and living.

Use these keywords to search below for related publications with ICER Press.

Visual anthropology, critical disability studies, sensory ethnography, accessibility and public space, community based research, public engagement and knowledges