Jessica Kirkness

Jessica Kirkness serves as an Academic Casual at Macquarie University's School of Communication, Society and Culture, focusing on interdisciplinary research at the intersection of Deaf studies, hearing culture, and creative expression. Her institutional affiliation centers on the Hearing Research Centre within the university's communication and society framework.

Her research explores Deaf identity formation through narrative frameworks, particularly examining how deafness manifests in hearing families via creative nonfiction and life writing. Core themes include intergenerational communication across Deaf-hearing divides, cultural transmission within Deaf communities, and spatial belonging in Deaf spaces. She employs autoethnographic methods to analyze personal and familial narratives, revealing how "the hearing line" functions as both cultural boundary and narrative device in childhood experiences of deafness.

Publication trends from 2018-2024 demonstrate consistent evolution from spatial belonging ("Our place") toward nuanced examinations of Deaf childhood narratives through the "hearing line" concept. Her 2023-2024 works increasingly integrate visual/digital media with textual analysis, bridging academic research and artistic expression to represent Deaf-hearing cultural interfaces. This trajectory reflects growing emphasis on multimodal storytelling for capturing complex identity negotiations at cultural intersections.