Kate Hennessy
[home]

PhD Candidate
Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia
6303 N.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver B.C. V6R 1H3 Canada
E-mail: hennessy@interchange.ubc.ca
Education
2009 (exp) PhD, Anthropology, University of British Columbia
Dissertation Title: Repatriation, Digital Technology, and Culture in a Northern Athapaskan Community
2002

MA, Anthropology of Media (with Distinction), University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies
1999 Media Intensive Program, Gulf Islands Film and Television School
1999 Intermediate Mandarin Certificate, Beijing Language and Culture University
1996 BA, Anthropology (First Class), University of British Columbia
Scholarships and Grants
2006-2009 Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarship (see profile)
2005-2008 Canada Graduate Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
2005-2006 Canadian Polar Commission Scholarship (see profile)
2005 Sentinel Prize in Anthropology, University of British Columbia
2003 Graduate Entrance Scholarship, University of British Columbia
2002-2001 Canada Commonwealth Scholarship
2000 British Columbia Heritage Trust Oral History Grant
Honors and Awards
2001 “Best of Rough Cuts” Screening, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; for Bread (Video, 5 min.)
2000

Best Documentary, Vancouver Island Film, Video and New Media Festival for Bread (Video, 5 min.). 
2000 Best Documentary, Eyelens Film and Video Festival for Bread (Video, 5 min.).
1992 Canadian Student Delegate, UN Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro
Publications
2008 (In Preparation) Kate Hennessy. Decolonizing Geographies: Digital Cultural Heritage and
Participatory Media Production in a Northern Athapaskan Community. In Experiencing
Community-Based Research: Realities of the Situated Researcher. Colleeen Davidson, Ken
Caine, Emma Stewart, eds.
2008 (In Preparation) Robin Ridington, Jillian Ridington, Amber Ridington, Kate Hennessy, and Pat
Moore. Ethnopoetic Translation and New Media. In Translating Native American Literatures.
Brian Swann, ed.
2008 (in Press) Kate Hennessy. The Whale Hunt (Interactive Media Review).
Museum Anthropology Review.
2008 (in Press) Kate Hennessy. A Ituvatuva Ni Vakadidike E Sawau: The Sawau Project DVD
(Interactive Media Review). Visual Anthropology Review.
2008a Amber Ridington and Kate Hennessy. Building Indigenous Agency Through Web-Based
Exhibition: Dane-Wajich – Dane-zaa Stories and Songs: Dreamers and the Land.
in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2008: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives
& Museum Informatics, published March 1, 2008 at
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2008/papers/ridington/ridington.html
2008b (in Press) Kate Hennessy. "You Tell Them the Important Stories": Participatory Digital
Ethnography in Northeastern British Columbia. Visual Anthropology Review, Special Issue: Beyond e-Text: Exploring the Possibilities and Challenges of Digital Ethnography.
2006a

Patrick Moore and Kate Hennessy. New Technologies and Contested Ideologies: The Tagish

First Voices Project. American Indian Quarterly, Special Issue: Indigenous Languages and Indigenous Literatures 30 (1-2):119-137.
2006b Kate Hennessy. Repatriation and Collaborative Digital Media Projects in Northern Athapaskan Communities. Meridian, Newsletter of the Canadadian Polar Commission, Spring/ Summer.
2006c Kate Hennessy and Patrick Moore. Language, Identity and Community Control: The Tagish
First Voices Project. In Information Technology and Indigenous People. E. Dyson, M. Hendriks
and S. Grant, eds. Hershey, PA: Idea Group.
2004a

Peter Biella, Kate Hennessy and Peter Orth. Essential Messages: The Design of Culture-Specific

HIV/AIDS Media. Visual Anthropology Review 19 (1-2):13-56.
2004b

Kate Hennessy (web author). Visual Anthropology Review 19(1-2), companion CD-ROM.
2002 Kate Hennessy. Techthonic Space: Chungking Mansions, Media, and Hong Kong.
MA Thesis, University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies.
Interactive Media:
2007

Dane Wajich- Dane-zaa Stories and Songs: Dreamers and the Land (Virtual Museum Exhibit).

Role: Co-Curator, Producer, Project Coordinator, Community Consultant (with Amber Ridington)
2004 Hadaa ka naadzet: The Dane-zaa Moose Hunt (Virtual Exhibit).
Role: Youth New Media Mentor, Videographer, Community Consultant.
2003 Visual Anthropology Review 19(1-2). An CD-ROM companion to Volume 19(1-2) of the Visual
Anthropology Review. Role: Assistant Editor of Journal, Web Design and HTML Programming, Video
Editing (with Peter Biella).
Documentary:
Radio
2000

The Foghorn (15 min.) for Out Front, CBC Radio One—islanders reminisce about the sound of a

British Columbia foghorn, now decommissioned. Role: Director, Producer, Sound Recording, Editor.
Video
1999a

Memories in Focus—The  Galiano Archive Project (22 min.) Galiano Island “Old-timers” tell

stories related to historical photographs. Role: Director, Producer, Camera, Editor.
1999b Bread (5 min.)-  explores changes in the making, sharing, and consuming of bread as a reflection
of alienation from our own bodies, each other, and our environment.
Role: Co-director, Producer, Camera and Editing (made with Anahid Dashtgard,
Angela Hemming, and Roger Howard)
Festival Screenings
Dane Wajich- Dane-zaa Stories and Songs: Dreamers and the Land (2007)
2008 Demonstration, Museums and the Web Conference, Montreal, QC.
2008 Göttingen Ethnographic Film Festival, Göttingen, Germany.
2008 Anthropology Film Festival, University of British Columbia, Vancouver B.C.
Bread (1999)
2002a     

Institute for Contemporary Arts, London    

2002b  Cambridge Film Festival, U.K
2000a   Canadian International Film and Video Festival
2000b  Regina Film and Video Festival
2000c   Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival
2000d Vancouver Island Film, Video and New Media Festival
2000e Eyelens Film and Video Festival, Galiano Island, B.C.
Select Conference Papers and Presentations
2008a Conference Co-Organizer, Co-Chair (with Mike Ananny, Stanford University Trudeau Scholar),
"The Future of Public Institutions: New Media, the Press and the Museum". The Liu Institute for Global
Issues, and the Museum of Anthropology and the University of British Columbia, May 2-3 2008.
Sponsored by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and the Association for Canadian Studies.
2008b Session Paper, "Re-thinking the Real: New Media, Representation, and Rights" in Session
"Technology and Identity: Representing Self and Other in Media". University of British
Columbia Anthropology Graduate Student Conference, Vancouver B.C.
2007a Panel Presentation, "Intellectual Property Rights in the Age of Digital Reproduction”. Society
for Visual Anthropology Special Event, “Ethics and Examples: A Discussion Regarding Visual
Data”. Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Washington D.C.
2007b Invited Session Paper, “New Media, New Relationships: Participatory Digital Ethnography in
Northeastern British Columbia.” Society for Visual Anthropology Invited Session, “New Media
Anthropology.” Jay Ruby, Chair. Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Washington D.C.
2007c Workshop Co-Presenter, Co-organizer, (with Mike Ananny, Stanford University Trudeau
Scholar). "New Media, Your Research". Trudeau Foundation Summer Institute.
Banff Center for the Arts, Banff, AB.
2007d Session Paper, “Repatriation and New Media in Northeastern British Columbia” in
Session “Technical Translations and Digital Dilemmas”. Kim Christen, Chair. Media in Transition 5:
Creativity, Ownership, and Collaboration in the Digital Age. Massachusetts Institute

of Technology, Boston, MA.
2006a Conference Presentation, "Repatriation, Digital Media, and Community Collaboration:
The Doig River First Nation 'Dane Wajich' Website Project." Visual Research Conference,

Society for Visual Anthropology, San José, CA.           
2006b Session Paper, “Decolonizing Geographies: Language, Place, and Participatory Digital
Ethnography” in Session “Beyond e-Text: Exploring the Possibilities and Challenges of

Digital Ethnography.” Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, San José, CA.
2006c Session Paper, "Repatriating Process: The Doig River First Nation Dane wajich Website Project".
Session Organizer, "Applied Visual Anthropology: Theory, Practice, and Collaboration".
Meetings of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Vancouver B.C.
2005a

Session Paper, “Repatriating Cultural Resources and Negotiating Representation: The Dane-zaa

and the Virtual Museum of Canada.” Session co-organizer, “Reptriation and Digital
Technologies: Discourses on Authority and Representation”. Meetings of the American
Anthropological Association, Washington D.C.
2005b

Participant, member of Beaver Language Documentation Team. DOBES (Dokumentation

Bedrohter Sprachen) Training Workshop, Volkswagen Foundation Endangered Languages
Program. Max Planck Institute, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
2005c Session Paper, “Beaver Language DVDs and the Volkswagen Foundation’s Endangered
Languages Program.” Session co-organizer, “Repatriation and Digital Technologies”. Stabilizing
Indigenous Languages Symposium, Victoria, B.C.
2005d

Session Paper, “Recording the Tea Dance: Representation, Technology, and Moral Authority

Among the Dane-zaa of Northeastern British Columbia.” Panel Presentation, Society for the
Anthropology of Religion Conference, Vancouver B.C.
2004a Co-presenter (with Peter Biella, San Francisco State U), “Dissemination of Interactive Visual
Anthropology: CD-ROM and Web Versions of Visual Anthropology Review.”. Society for
Visual Anthropology, Visual Research Conference. Meetings of the American Anthropological
Association, Atlanta, GA.
2004b Co-presenter (with Peter Biella, San Francisco State U), “New Directions in Digital Visual         
Anthropology. Society for Visual Anthropology Workshop. Meetings of the American        
Anthropological Association, Atlanta, GA.        
Invited Lectures and Presentations
2008a "Digital Technologies and Community-based Research". Problems in Method and Theory in Anthropology
(ANTH 200). Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia
2008b Co-chair (with Marie-Joie Brady, Trudeau Scholar), Trudeau Foundation Thematic Session "Social Justice and Human Rights". Trudeau Foundation Mentor-Scholar Meeting, Munk Center, University of Toronto.
2008c "Virtual Museum Exhibits and Participatory Production". Museum Studies (ANTH 431)
Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia.
2007a "Participatory Media Production with the Doig River First Nation (Dane-zaa)".
Musqueam 101, Musequeam First Nation and the University of British Columbia.
2007b "Oral Traditions and New Media Anthropology". Culture and Communication (ANTH 217).
Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia.
2007c "New Media Anthropology". Museum Studies Graduate Seminar (ANTH 516) Department

of Anthropology, University of British Columbia.
2006a "Collaborative Media Production in Northern Athapaskan Communities". Ethnographic Film

Seminar, Visual Anthropology Program, San Francisco State University.
2006b

"Visual Anthropology and Video Documentation". Ethnographic Methods

(ANTH 506), Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia.
2006c "Decolonizing Geographies: Digital Media, Repatriation, and Language Revitalization in Northern
Athapaskan Communities". Interdepartmental Seminar, sponsored by the Departments of Anthropology,
Linguistics, and Geography, University of Victoria.
2005a "Reptriation and Digital Technologies in Northern Athapaskan Communities". Meetings of the Association
for Canadian Universities for Northern Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa.
2005b   "Issues in Collaborative Ethnographic Research". Ethnographic Methods (ANTH 331). Simon Fraser University.
2004   "Visual Repatriation". First Nations People of British Columbia (ANTH 221). University of British Columbia.
Professional Experience
2007 Sessional Lecturer, ANTH 431 (Studies in Museum Anthropology), Department
of Anthropology, University of British Columbia.
2005-2007 Co-Curator, Producer, Project Manager, Community Consultant (with Amber Ridington), Virtual Museum
of Canada Website Project "Dane Wajich: Dane-zaa Stories and Song".
Doig River First Nation, Rose Prairie, B.C.
2005-2004 Teaching Assistant, Anthropology 100, University of British Columbia
2004 Field Audio and Video Documentarian/ Technician, Northern British Columbia and Alberta.
Projects: Literacy and Orality: Shifting Traditions in Northern Athapaskan Communities (Principal
Investigator, Dr. Patrick Moore, University of British Columbia); and, Beaver Knowledge Systems:
Documentation of a Canadian First Nations Language (Principal Investigator, Dr. Dagmar Jung, University
of Cologne).
2004-2003 Multimedia Mentor, Canada's Digital Collections Website Project "Hadaa ka nadzat- The Dane-zaa
Moose Hunt." Doig River First Nation, Rose Prairie, B.C.
2004-2003 Visual Anthropologist/ Project Assistant, (Dr. Peter Biella) Department of Anthropology, San Francisco
State University.
2004 Associate Producer, The Environmental History Project. Kitchell Films, San Francisco, CA
2002 Avid On-line 2nd Editor, Crewcuts (Advertising Post-Production), San Francisco, CA
2001-2000 Documentary Video Instructor, Gulf Islands Film and Television School, Galiano Island, B.C.
2000-1998 ESL Teacher and curriculum developer, Taichung American School, Taichung, Taiwan.
1997 Community Development Worker/ Project Manager, Environmental Youth Alliance, Vancouver B.C.
Public Service
2006-2008 Annual Meeting Program Co-Chair (with Aaron Glass) and Website Committee Co-Chair (with Craig
Campbell), Society for Visual Anthropology
2006-2008 Board Member, Society for Visual Anthropology
2006-2004 PhD Student Representative, Anthropology Caucus, Department of Anthropology and Sociology,
University of British Columbia.
2004-2003 Assistant Editor, Visual Anthropolgy Review, Journal of the Society for Visual Anthropology, San Francisco State University.
2000-1999 Visual Anthropologist, The Galiano Archive Project, Galiano Island, B.C.
2000-1999 Community Mapping Coordinator, Galiano Island. Islands in the Salish Sea Community Mapping Project.
1998 "Springfest" Community Festival, Arts Coordinator, Vancouver, B.C.
1996-1993 Chairperson, Refugee Coordinator, UBC Chapter of WUSC (World University Service of Canada).