Madelaine Lekei (She/Her)

UBCO MA STUDENT (2020-2022)

Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (Community Engagement, Social Change, and Equity)

University of British Columbia | Okanagan Campus | Sylix Okanagan Nation Territory

2022-2023 Canadian Anthropology Society Award for Outstanding Master’s Student

Personal Website: www.madelainelekei.ca

Email: madelaine.lekei@alumni.ubc.ca

Research Interests: Visual Anthropology, Critical Disability Studies, Digital Ethnography, Sensory Ethnography, Accessibility and Public Space, Community Based Research, Public Engagement and Knowledges

Madelaine Lekei is a graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program, in the Community Engagement, Social Change, and Equity theme at UBCO. Her Master’s Thesis project entitled, Collective Margins: Curating Inclusion within Emerging Digital Landscapes, addresses gaps in digital accessibility by seeking to understand how individual users and governing institutions are collaborating to develop, improve, and encourage more equitable access and practices for people with disabilities within digital environments (this project is funded by SSHRC).

She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree (2020) with a major in Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus (UBCO). As an ethnographer and anthropologist, Madelaine studies the intersections of visual, material, and digital culture with an emphasis on sensory knowledges and community-based methods. Madelaine’s research is influenced by her previous experience in the early education field supporting children with Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as speech, language, and developmental delays. Her anthropological undergraduate research project entitled “The Enabled Environment: Understanding Bathrooms as Sensory Inclusive Public Spaces,” (Supervisors: Dr. Fiona P. McDonald and Dr. Christine Schreyer) focused on accessibility and public policy applications, with an emphasis on less visible disabilities like Autism Spectrum Disorder. This project is an ongoing collaboration with the Okanagan Regional Library and continues to actively respond to federal and provincial accessibility legislation in Canada today.

Education

University of British Columbia, Okanagan (UBCO), Bachelor of Arts (Major Anthropology), June 2020.