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Centre for Creative Ethnography

Susan Wardell

Dr Susan Wardell

susan.wardell@otago.ac.nz

Susan Wardell is an anthropologist, writer, artist, and poet, based at the University of Otago, in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her research interests cluster around care, affect, embodiment, health and disability, and digital worlds. Most recently this has generated recent projects focused online medical crowdfunding (https://crowdfundedcare.org/), and on ecological emotions and climate grief. As well being committed to writing and communicating to the public, Susan publishes across multiple literary genres. She has been awarded nationally and internationally for poetry, essay, and flash fiction. She is the current Poetry Editor for the Anthropology and Humanism journal, and chair of the prize committee for the SHA Ethnographic Poetry Prize. Her recently published a children's book has also a number of several accolades. Susan incorporates experimentation with visual mediums (photography, film, drawing, painting, and stained glass) into her creative practice alongside the written word. She has furthermore begun to explore cross-disciplinary and collaborative spaces, to produce multimodal installations and performance works.

  • Creative and Literary Accolades
    • 1st place, NZPS International Poetry Competition, Open Section (2023)
    • Longlisted, National Flash Fiction Day Competition, Open Section (2023)
    • Finalist, NZCYA Book Awards (for The Lighthouse Princess) - Best Picture Book Category, Best First Book Category (2023, announcements pending)
    • Nomination, Visual Art Award, Dunedin Fringe Festival (for ‘Cartographies of a Future) (2023)
    • Nomination, Dance/Physical Theatre Award, Dunedin Fringe Festival (for ‘Cartographies of a Future) (2023)
    • Nomination, Technical Excellence Award, Dunedin Fringe Festival (for ‘Cartographies of a Future) (2023)
    • Shortlisted, New Zealand Booklovers Award – Children’s Book category (for The Lighthouse Princess) (2023)
    • Storylines Notable Book Award (for The Lighthouse Princes) (2022)
    • Whitcoull’s Kids Top 50 (for The Lighthouse Princess, Penguin Random House New Zealand 2022) (2022)
    • Shortlisted, National Flash Fiction Day Competition, Open Section (2022)
    • 3rd Place, Dunedin National Poetry Day competition (2021)
    • 3rd Place, Landfall Essay Competition (2021)
    • Longlisted, Monica Taylor Poetry Competition (2021)
    • 1st Place, Headlands Tāne a Māra Creative Nonfiction Prize (2021)
    • 3rd Place, NZPS International Poetry Competition, Open Section (2021)
    • Honourable Mention, Creative Ethnographic Prose Competition - Society for Humanistic Anthropology (2021)
    • 1st Place, National Flash Fiction Day Competition, Open Section (2021)
    • Shortlisted, National Flash Fiction Day Competition, Open Section (2021)
    • Longlisted, Micro-Madness International Micro Fiction Competition (2021)
    • 1st Place, Ethnographic Poetry Competition - Society for Humanistic Anthropology (2020)
    • 1st Place, ‘Writer’ Competition, Staff Poetry category – University of Otago (2020)
    • Commended, NZPS International Poetry Competition, Open Section (2020)
    • Best Animal Appearance, Flash Fiction Competition – NZ Young Writers’ Festival (2020)
    • Commended, National Poetry Day ‘Given Words’ Competition (2020)
    • 2nd place, Micro-Madness International Micro Fiction Competition (2020)
    • 1st Place, Sir John Graham Lecture Essay Competition (Maxim Institute) (2019)
    • 2nd Place, NZPS International Poetry Competition, Open Section (2019)
    • 1st Place, Micro-Madness International Micro Fiction Competition (2019)
    • 2nd Place, Landfall Essay Competition (2018)
    • 3rd place, ‘Who Cared? Otago Nurses in WW1’ Poetry award – Otago Museum (2016)
    • 'Standout' National Winner, in The Outlook for Someday Sustainability Film Awards (2011)National Winner, World Vision Tertiary Research Essay Award (2009)
    • National Winner, RSNZ/UNESCO Humanities Essay Competition (2007)
    • National Winner, RSNZ & Freemasons Big Science DVD Adventures Competition (2007)
  • List of Creative and Public Works - Poetry & Flash Fiction

    Poetry:

    Wardell, S. (2021). Southern/Cross. Sites: a journal of social anthropology and cultural studies, 18(1), 168-169. 2 pages.

    Wardell, S. (2021). Fingeryeyes; Social Scripts; Flow (Three Poems Exploring Digital Affect). Anthropology and Humanism 46(1). 7 pages.

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘Wed’. Kissing a Ghost (NZPS Anthology).

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘Every woman I have ever know lives by the sea’. Mayhem, 9.

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘And in this way I give birth to my mother’. Mayhem, 9.

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘Scent’. Mayhem, 9.

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘Plastique in Brazil’. Not Very Quiet Anthology 2017-2021. Recent Work Press.  

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘Write What you know.’ A Fine Line (Spring Edition).

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘Waiora on December 31st’ A Fine Line (Spring Edition).

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘Stars Cluster.’ A Fine Line (Autumn Edition).

    Wardell, S. (2020). ‘The Glass Teacher’. Haumi ē! Hui ē! Tāiki ē! Stay Well Here (NZPS Anthology).

    Wardell, S. (2020). ‘Fill-in Family Pop Quiz’. Ko Aotearoa Tatou: We are New Zealand (anthology). Otago University Press.

    Wardell, S. (2020). ‘Rearview’. http://nzgivenwords.blogspot.com/

    Wardell, S. (2020). ‘High Country Hallelujah’. Landfall: literary journal, 239.

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘A selection of papers translated from birdsong’. The Perfect Weight of Blankets at Night (NZPS Anthology).

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘All the trees’. Plumwood Mountain: An Australian journal of ecopoetry and ecopoetrics.

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘Little ‘berg goes to the Big City’. Not Very Quiet: A Journal of Women’s Poetry.

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘Toitu’. A Fine Line (Spring Edition).

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘My Therapist is Blind’.  A Fine Line (Spring Edition).

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘Soliders Making Snowcastles’. A Fine Line (Spring Edition).

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘Evening in Creswick’. A Fine Line (Spring Edition).

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘Sunday, call me a squid’. Cordite Journal.

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘Red Carpet Interview’. Not Very Quiet: A Journal of Women’s Poetry.

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘Plastique in Brazil’. Not Very Quiet: A Journal of Women’s Poetry.

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘A nice café’. Takahe: literary journal.

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘Tūrangawaewae’. Takahe: literary journal.

    Wardell, S. (2018). ‘Grain of her Voice’. Landfall: literary journal, 235

    Wardell, S. (2018). ‘What Yellow Means’. Takahe: literary journal.

    Flash and micro fiction:

    Wardell, S. (2023/forthcoming). ‘The harvest’. Flash Frontier: A Journal of Flash Fiction.

    Wardell, S. (2022). ‘New year’. Flash Frontier: A Journal of Flash Fiction.

    Wardell, S. (2022). ‘The grief of bees’. Flash Frontier: A Journal of Flash Fiction.

    Wardell, S. (2022). ‘Data/daughter’. Flash Frontier: A Journal of Flash Fiction.

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘One Bedroom, Sky’. Flash Frontier: A Journal of Flash Fiction.

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘The Bottom of the Cliff’. Flash Frontier: A Journal of Flash Fiction.

    Wardell, S. (2020). ‘Confessions’. NZ Young Writers Festival.

    Wardell, S. (2020). ‘Ikateq’. Love in the Time of Covid: A chronicle of the pandemic.

  • List of Creative and Public Works - Creative Nonfiction, Performance, and More

     

    Creative non-fiction (essays and prose):

    Wardell, S. (2023). ‘Mary, Me, and the Bees: In Search of the Good Settler’. Strong Words III. University of Otago Press.

    Wardell, S. (2022). Walking Memories: from the Red Zone to the City on the 10th anniversary of the Christchurch Earthquake. Anthropology and Humanism 47(1). 14 pages.

    Wardell, S. (2021). Dividing the Light: Personal reflections on anthropological becomings. Commoning Ethnography, 4(1), 79-102. 23 pages.

    Wardell, S. (2021). ‘Red Zone Pie’. Headlands. https://headland.org.nz/issues/issue-16/red-zone-pie/.

    Wardell, S. (2019). Weaving together: Aroha as capacity and work. Sites: a journal of social anthropology and cultural studies, 16(2), 1-10.

    Wardell, S. (2019). ‘Shining through the Skull’. Strong Words. Otago University Press.

    Wardell, S. (2018). ‘Shining through the Skull’. Landfall: literary journal, 236.

    Performance:

    Wardell, S., Kagelorpoloou, S., Halba, H., Cattermole, J., and Roberts, M. (2023). ‘Cartographies of a Future’ – An interactive performance installation about climate grief. Dunedin Fringe, March 25th & 26th  – Allen Hall Theatre.

    Wardell, S., Kagelorpoloou, S. (2022). ‘The Air We Breathe’ – A dance and spoken/word performance piece.  Art+Science Exhibition (“Air”), October 1st – 8th – Dunedin Community Gallery.

    Wardell, S. ‘Soundscape of evening at Hawk Lane’, ‘Music of Poetry’ event on National Poetry Day, Dunedin Public Libraries (August 2022).

    Wardell, S. ‘Per Ardua’. 'Poets in Space' event on National Poetry Day, Dunedin Public Libraries (August 2019).

    Academic papers on creative topics:

    Wardell, S. (2022). Marking Pandemic Time: Introduction to the Special Section ‘Writing Ethnographically During a Pandemic’ (Part Two). Anthropology and Humanism 47(1). 3 pages.

    Trundle, C., Wardell, S. (2020). The meaning of pain: exploring the intersections of poetry and ethnography. Irish Journal of Anthropology: Special issue, 22(1), 238-253.

    Creative conference contributions (workshops, performances, and visual exhibits):

    Wardell, S. (2022). ‘The Glass Witness: exploring tactile, visual, and material elements of empathy in online medical crowdfunding’, Visual exhibit at the Visual Research Conference, Seattle Washington, November 2022. (Also shown at the ASAANZ conference, Wellington New Zealand, November 2022, and the ‘Performing Global Crises conference, Dunedin New Zealand, December 2022).

    Wardell, S., Fry, R., Weston, C., & Herbst, P. (2022). ‘Grounding: photographic windows on the materiality of personal, social, and systemic crisis’, Visual exhibit at the ASAANZ conference, Wellington New Zealand, November 2022. (Also shown at the ‘Performing Global Crises conference, Dunedin New Zealand, December 2022).

    “Experiments in ethnography poetry: the sensory, the personal, and the more-than-human” – AAA Virtual Workshops (January 2022).

    Wardell, S., Herbst, P. (2019). ‘Look at what you have done (to yourself)": Suffering at the intersection of the individual and the global.’ Creative performance and paper presented at the SOMAA symposium, Raglan NZ, December 2019.

    Wardell, S., Trundle, S. (2018). ‘Conversation – Ethnographic poetry and the poetics of ethnography in medical anthropology’. Paper presented at the SOMAA symposium, Wellington NZ, December 2018.

    Children’s Books:

    Wardell, S. (2022). The Lighthouse Princess. Penguin Random House New Zealand.

    The Lighthouse Princess book cover

  • Public Anthropology

    Wardell, S., Hall, R., Wheeler, B., de Bock, M., Mann, J. (2023).  “We can’t let the ball drop on Diabetes.” Newroom. 13th March. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/we-cant-let-the-ball-drop-on-diabetes

    Wardell, S. (2022). “The 25th anniversary of Diana’s death and its extraordinary memorialisation”. Newsroom. 31st August.  https://www.newsroom.co.nz/the-25th-anniversary-of-dianas-death-and-its-extraordinary-memorialisation

    Wardell, S. (2022). “The intriguing social media response to the Christchurch mosque attacks”. Newsroom. 19th May.  https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/the-intriguing-social-media-response-to-the-christchurch-mosque-attacks

    Wardell, S. (2022). “Meet Aotearoa’s cyborg kids”. The Spinoff. January 18th. https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/18-01-2022/meet-aotearoas-cyborg-kids?fbclid=IwAR2WbWqbaqP2KUs7JjqPDY0O_uj2SNfQkPgN2jEqVj3fTejcWCBEJbn-9RU

    Wardell, S. (2021) “Diagnosing Anne: Now that I finally see ADHD in myself, I see it in books, too.” The Spinoff.  May 31st. https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/31-05-2021/diagnosing-anne-now-that-i-finally-see-adhd-in-myself-i-see-it-in-books-too/?fbclid=IwAR3aENtzWKrSRnE0dSHhOUB6o_Lq3K-XfxvbKBGEnUuY2xXG9F5wLMDeTNA

    Wardell, S. (2021). “Companion planting: the art and history of gardening”. The Spinoff.  April 30th. https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/30-04-2021/companion-planting-the-art-and-history-of-gardening/?fbclid=IwAR01QubjxMccqDBsEeIumNvd74GbUss7uTW6E1yI_wblJZUBrV-bs4fmoa0

    Wardell, S. (2021). “Christchurch remembers: the politics of memory on the anniversary of tragedy. The Spinoff. February 22nd. https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/22-02-2021/christchurch-remembers-the-politics-of-memory-on-the-anniversary-of-tragedy/

    Wardell, S. (2020). “The uncomfortable truth about medical crowdfunding in New Zealand.” The Spinoff. September 16th. https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/16-09-2020/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-medical-crowdfunding-in-new-zealand/#:~:text=The%20uncomfortable%20truth%20about%20medical%20crowdfunding%20in%20New%20Zealand,-Susan%20Wardell%20%7C%20Guest&text=New%20research%20into%20online%20crowdfunding,the%20failure%20of%20the%20state.%E2%80%9D

    Wardell, S. (2020). “A review of the overstory, a knockout novel that speaks for the trees.” The Spinoff. April 9th. https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/06-01-2021/a-review-of-the-overstory-a-knockout-novel-that-speaks-for-the-trees-2/

    Wardell, S. (2019). “The Responsible teacher: Thoughts of Emotion, Trauma, and Safety in the Anthropology Classroom”. ASAA/NZ blog. https://www.asaanz.org/blog/2019/4/11/theresponsibleteacher?rq=wardell

    Wardell, S. (2019). “They are us: Practices of care in digital environments after the Christchurch mosque attack”. ASAA/NZ blog.  https://www.asaanz.org/blog/2019/5/23/they-are-us-practices-of-care-in-digital-environments-after-the-christchurch-mosque-attack?rq=wardell

    Wardell, S. (2019). “Is it me or is it us?”. Landfall review online.

    Wardell, S. (2019). “10 questions with… Susan Wardell”. ASAA/NZ blog. https://www.asaanz.org/blog/2018/11/15/10-questions-with-susan-wardell?rq=wardell

    Wardell, S. (2019). “Growing up is hard to do: Philip Pullman's The Secret Commonwealth, reviewed”. The Spinoff. November 14th. https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/14-11-2019/growing-up-is-hard-to-do-philip-pullmans-the-secret-commonwealth-reviewed/

    Wardell, S. (2019). “A crash course on the anthropology of evil.” In(corrigibly) Plural – Social Anthropology blog.  https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/inplural/a-crash-course-on-the-anthropology-of-evil/

    Wardell, S. (2019). “Fire and Flood: Grounding disaster, trauma, and emotion”. In(corrigibly) Plural – Social Anthropology blog. https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/inplural/fire-and-flood-grounding-disaster-trauma-and-emotion/

    Wardell, S. (2018). “Speaking to Socks: An Anthropologist gets KonMari-ed” In(corrigibly) Plural – Social Anthropology blog. https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/inplural/speaking-to-socks-an-anthropologist-gets-konmari-ed/

    Wardell, S. (2018). “When Ritual is the Best Vessel.” Corpus: Medical Humanities Blog. Otago. https://corpus.nz/when-ritual-is-the-best-vessel/

    Wardell, S. (2017). “The Ethnographer’s Stomach.” Corpus: Medical Humanities Blog. Otago. https://corpus.nz/the-ethnographers-stomach/

    Wardell, S. (2017). “Vaccination and the Pain of Dividuality.” Corpus: Medical Humanities Blog. Otago. https://corpus.nz/vaccination-debates-pain-dividuality/