Celeste Pedri-Spade
Associate Professor and Queen's National Scholar in Indigenous Studies (on leave as of September 1, 2022)
PhD (Visual Anthropology), University of Victoria
Mackintosh-Corry Hall, B409
Queen's University
Global Development Studies
On leave as of September 1, 2022
I am an Anishinabekwe sociocultural (visual) anthropologist and practicing artist interested primarily in Anishinabe culture. I am particularly interested in the role of Indigenous visual and material culture in decolonial praxis. I currently conduct Indigenous community-based research that draws on Indigenous-based photographic archives and other visual/material culture to create performative and transformative spaces that privilege the voices, marks and bodies of Indigenous women. I have also taken up research on using art as a means to re-assert Anishinabe sovereignty, reclaiming land-based practices, Anishinabe women’s oral and visual histories, Anishinabemowin language revitalization, Indigenous research methods and northern Indigenous health.
I welcome graduate students interested in topics related to Indigenous art, identity, histories, decolonization and community well-being. Additionally, I supervise in broader topics related to visual ethnography, autoethnography, and visual/material culture.
Note: Dr. Pedri-Spade is on leave as of September 1, 2022.
- Queen's National Scholar in Indigenous Studies
- Jointly appointed to the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
- Cross appointed to Cultural Studies
Selected Articles
2019 Pedri-Spade, C. Preservation and the Denial of Life: Towards the Emancipation of Our Sacred Relatives in the Mus(mausol)eum. Fwd Museums, 4, 100-110.
2017 Pedri-Spade, C. ’The day my photographs danced’: Materializing photographs of my Anishinabe ancestors. Visual ethnography, 6(1), 133- 172.
2017 Pedri-Spade, C. ‘But they were never just the master’s tools’: The Use of Photography in Decolonial Praxis. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 13(2), 1-8.
2017 Pedri-Spade, C. The Drum is My Document: Decolonizing Research Through Anishinabe Song and Drum. International Review of Qualitative Research, 9(4), 385-406.
Major Art Exhibitions
September 2020 C. Pedri-Spade. 'Material Kwe'. IFWTO2020. Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.
May 2017 to August 2017 C. Pedri-Spade with R. Favel. Kweok. Ojibwe Cultural Foundation, M’Chigeeng.
October 2016 to January 2017 C. Pedri-Spade with L. Marshall. The Teaching is in the Making, Sudbury Art Gallery, Sudbury, Ontario.
Selected Book Chapters
2020 Pedri-Spade, C. Centring the Lived Struggle of Indigenous Women in the Academy: A Performance Autoethnography. In S. Cote-Meek and T. Moeke-Pickering (Eds.), Indigenizing the Canadian Academy: Critical Reflections.
2019 Pedri-Spade, C. Caring for past/present/future through Anishinabe photography on the land. In M. Hankard (Ed.), The 'Clean Place:' Honouring the Indigenous spiritual roots of Turtle Island.
Curatorial Work and Art/Photography Catalogues
2020 A Geography of Grief-Love: A Solo Exhibition of Angelene Humphrey. Curated by C. Pedri-Spade. McEwen School of Architecture, Sudbury, Ontario.
2016 Waasaabikizoo: A Gathering of Ojibwe Photographs. Community-based catalogue, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.