[1][3] His doctorate was titled Haere whakamua, hoki whakamuri, going forward, thinking back : tribal and hapū perspectives of the past in 19th century Taranaki.
[4] Keenan is a founding member of Te Pouhere Kōrero a society focusing on Māori history that started in 1992.
Others who were involved included Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, Aroha Harris, Buddy Mikaere and Dr Miria Simpson.
[3][1] In 2023 Keenan received the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writer's Fellowship to write a book currently called, In Sickness and In Health a Cultural History of Three Māori Pandemics 1895-2021.
(Arihia McClutchie, Creative New Zealand 31 Mar 2023)[6] Keenan in a 2023 interview states his philosophy as a writer of history is to focus on his own family lineage, to 'write about your own'.