Dr. Isabel O'Keeffe

Isabel O’Keeffe is a linguist and musicologist who has worked with communities in western Arnhem Land to document manyardi/kunborrk song traditions, languages, and multilingual practices in the region. She received her PhD from the University of Melbourne on multilingualism in the manyardi/kun-borrk song traditions of Western Arnhem Land, under the supvervision of Professor Linda Barwick and Professor Rachel Nordlinger. During her PhD, she lived at Warruwi (South Goulburn Island) for a year, travelling and collaborating with communities, songmen and performers across the western Arnhem Land region. She has collaborated on various interdisciplinary and intercultural projects related to language, music, emotions, ear health, hearing and multilingual children’s language development. Recent projects have involved working with community language workers and young people on building an archival collection of Kunbarlang as well as digital language resources and an online Kunbarlang dictionary. Isabel now works as a Project Officer and Linguist for the BKRLCC.