About The Project - Project Team : Amber Ridington

About The Project | PROJECT TEAM

 

Below is a collection of community members and participants that made this project possible. Click on each photo thumbnail to learn more about each person.

  • Amy Acko
  • Sam Acko
  • Robin Acko
  • Starr Acko
  • Eddie Apsassin
  • Mark Apsassin
  • May Apsassin
  • Johnny Askoty
  • Billy Attachie
  • Chief Gerry Attachie
  • Margaret Attachie
  • Tommy Attachie
  • Peter Biella
  • Brittany Brinkworth
  • Charmayne Brinkworth
  • Chief Kelvin Davis
  • Madeline Davis
  • Rosie Field
  • Kate Hennessy
  • Verena Hofmann
  • Julia Miller
  • Margie Miller
  • Patrick Moore
  • Chief Gary Oker
  • Madeleine Oker
  • Amber Ridington
  • Jillian Ridington
  • Robin Ridington

Amber Ridington
Co-curator, Project Co-coordinator, Folklorist, Youth Production Mentor

Amber Ridington
Amber Ridington, Charlie Lake Cave, 2005. Catalog # DZVMCDPKH-7-17-05-E33

I am a folklorist with experience producing and facilitating exhibits, websites, and documentaries that showcase oral histories. The projects I do tend to draw together aspects of the physical and cultural landscape to provide a wide ranging and contextualized view of peoples' sense of place and identity. My approach is grounded in an awareness of the politics of cultural representation and I strive to facilitate community self representation.

I have an M.A. in Folk Studies from Western Kentucky University, a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia and I am currently working on my Ph.D in Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland. My dissertation will explore how Dane-zaa people articulate their cultural experiences through their narrative traditions.

I was born in Fort St. John on the third day of a Dreamers' Dance which my parents attended at Doig River. Most summers throughout my childhood, I returned to Doig River with my parents and spent time hanging out with my friends here and exploring the bush around the Doig River reserve. Because of my life-long relationship with the Doig River community, it has felt natural for me to bring some of my skills back to this community where I have maintained close friendships over the years. In many ways this place and these people feel like home to me.

Having conducted oral history work in Kentucky, West Virginia, Alaska, and British Columbia since 1995, I began working with the Doig River First Nation in 2002. Since then, I have collaborated with the Doig River First Nation to create the Dane-zaa Digital Archive; establish the Museum at the Doig River First Nation Cultural Centre; and to prepare numerous grant applications for cultural heritage funding, including this virtual museum project Dane Wajich - Dane-zaa Stories and Songs: Dreamers and the Land.

This project has been a true collaborative effort between its directors within the Doig River First Nation, whom you hear from throughout the exhibit, and a team of documentarians with diverse specializations including linguists, anthropologists, videographers and educators. Throughout this collaboration, I have learned valuable lessons and skills from each and every one of the team members, and I thank them all for their work and friendship.

My thanks to the Doig River Community for their support, guidance, friendship and humour throughout this project and for trusting me as I brought together a team of documentarians and collaborators to work with them. Thanks also to my parents, Robin and Jillian Ridington and Antonia Mills, for bringing me into this community and sharing their knowledge and understanding of Dane-zaa culture with me over the years as part of our everyday lives.

Showcased in this new digital storytelling medium, I hope that visitors to this web exhibit enjoy learning from the Dane-zaa about their stories and songs and their relationship to their lands.

You can find more about me at: www.amberridington.com