Postgraduate student interviews: Claire Whyte (PhD)

This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme for 2023-2024.

What has your academic journey looked like so far? What did you study during your undergraduate and previous postgraduate experiences?

I undertook my PhD in Spanish as a mature student. For my undergraduate degree I did Languages and Latin American Studies [at the University of Essex]. After university I didn’t go straight on to postgraduate study. I travelled after my degree and I lived abroad for several years, teaching in a number of countries (South Korea, New Zealand). In 2016, when I was made redundant from the language program I was teaching on, I applied for a Master’s in Modern Languages at Queen’s. I then had a year between finishing my master’s and applying for the PhD. I enjoyed the return to studying and university life. So, I put a proposal together, applied for the PhD, and got accepted, which I hadn’t really expected! I just finished my PhD in November [2023] – there were some interruptions to my studies, especially because of the pandemic, so my journey was a bit more protracted.

Would you be able to give a brief explanation of your PhD research?

I will try! My broad area is Mexican Studies; in my thesis, “Frida Kahlo and Astrid Hadad: Performing Woman and Nation in 20^th Century Mexico”, I look at artist Frida Kahlo, and cabaret político [political cabaret] performer Astrid Hadad. I examine how they perform, resist and contest the hegemonic constructs of Mexican womanhood. So, I look at Kahlo’s self-portraits against the background of cultural nationalism in post-revolutionary Mexico (the period following the Mexican revolution of 1910-1920). I contextualise her work against the art history and discourse of the period. In relation to Astrid Hadad, I examine her work against the backdrop of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was signed towards the end of the 20th century. I look at how she uses her cabaret performances as political commentary and how she performs womanhood in that context.

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Travel Experiences and Illness in Early Modern Female Religious Communities, 17 April 2024 – Seminar write-up

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This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme for 2023-2024.

On Wednesday 17th of April 2024, Dr María D. Martos Pérez (UNED, Madrid-Bieses) delivered a seminar on the topic of “Travel Experiences and Illness in Early Modern Female Religious Communities”, based on her research into female religious pilgrimages from Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Her research for this seminar focused on recovering female authors. She considered themes of female authorship and the history of female participation in the production of literary works.

Dr Martos Pérez began the seminar by explaining how she used women’s writing about their travel experiences to further understand the Early Modern female experience. The majority of the texts she examined were written by nuns travelling from the Iberian Peninsula to establish new convents in Spanish colonies. Their writings took the form of biographies, autobiographies or letters. The aim of this research was to compare the nuns’ individual experiences, investigate what these texts emphasise about the travelling conditions, study descriptions of the illnesses that the nuns’ endured while travelling, and consider how their suffering was transmitted through discursive rhetoric in the texts. She noted that the majority of female written manuscripts were addressed to the members of their religious community for informative purposes, while male-written texts were more often used as propaganda.

Dr Martos Pérez outlined three main purposes of the travel narratives: they acted as points of reference for the other nuns, established the social role of religious women, and depicted a model for women’s writing. The manuscripts provide subjective accounts from the nuns, and give authority and legitimacy to their experiences, therefore legitimising women in public and scholarly roles.

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Seoda i bhFolach: Fráseolaíocht agus Cultúr na Gaeilge, Dé Céadaoin 31 Eanáir 2024 – Scríbhinn an tSeimineáir / Hidden Gems: Phraseology and Culture in Irish, Wednesday 31 January 2024 – Seminar write-up

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Tá an post seo mar chuid dár Scéim Tionscnaimh Taighde do 2023-2024.

This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme for 2023-2024.

(ENGLISH SUMMARY PROVIDED BELOW)

Frásaeimí & frásaíocht

“Hidden Gems: Phraseology and Culture in Irish” cé a dhiúltódh níos mó a fhoghlaim faoin teideal mealltach seo? Ní mise cibé ar bith!

Katie Ní Loingsigh ó Choláiste na hOllscoile, Corcaigh a nocht na seoda ar 31 lá Eanáir agus í ag plé na nasc idir cúrsaí cultúir agus nathanna na Gaeilge ó thaobh na frásaíochta agus réimse na teangeolaíochta. Ar Chearnóg chlúiteach ilteangach Ollscoil na Banríona i mBéal Feirste a chruinnigh idir mhic léinn a dhéanann staidéar ar an mhodúl, An Béal Beo (CEL3001), agus roinnt léachtóirí Spáinnise, Gaeilge, Portaingéilise agus Fraincise. Ócáid iltíreach!

Cé nach bhfuil mórstaidéar cuimsitheach déanta go fóill ar an dlúthcheangal idir cúrsaí cultúir agus nathanna, glactar leis go forleathan go bhfuil tábhacht ar leith ag baint leis an chultúr san anailís a dhéantar ar nathanna. Ábhar dochtúireachta aon duine?

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Postgraduate student interviews: Isabel Buckley (MRes)

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This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme for 2023-2024.

What has your university journey been like so far?

During my A-level studies I au-paired in Spain and I really enjoyed using the language there. I did History and Spanish for my undergraduate degree [at Queen’s] because I didn’t want to lose my Spanish and I found the Spanish side more interesting for me and that’s how I have come to do an MRes [Master of Research] now.

So, tell me about your current research project: ‘Genre and gender in female authored narco-novelas’.

It looks at female narco-novelas which are women-authored books about drug trafficking. I’m looking at Perra Brava by Orfa Alarcón, who is a Mexican author, El Leopardo al Sol by Laura Restrepo, who is a Colombian author, and Pistoleros by Paula Castiglioni, who is an Argentinian author. So, my scope is across Latin America. From what I have seen, most of the productions on drug trafficking, like TV series, focus on male figures so I thought it would be interesting to look at a female-narrated point of view and the portrayal of women and see how that is different.

Where did your interest in this topic come from?

I enjoyed Sarah Bowskill’s module on US/Mexican border issues during second year and then in final year I did Sarah’s other module, on Roberto Bolaño’s 2666, which touched on the issue of drug trafficking. I really enjoyed the further readings that were set within these two modules and believe the good grades I achieved were down to how much I enjoyed the content. Then when I heard about the MRes and how flexible it was, I decided to do that, and I also got funding which has helped.

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Postgraduate student interviews: Lauren McShane (PhD)

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This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme for 2022-2023.

What has your academic trajectory been so far?

I really enjoyed languages at school. I studied Spanish at GCSE and took French just before GCSE, and I decided to continue them. I did an undergraduate degree in French and Spanish, and decided that I hadn’t had enough of French. I really wanted to keep going so I decided to continue on to MRes because I wanted to work in a research-led, more heavily dissertation-weighted kind of course, and I didn’t think the taught programs, like the MAs, were as good a fit. I did an MRes on medical humanities and French culture, even though I had never studied medical humanities before. The MRes is a good space to discover something completely new. I really wanted to keep this going, so I decided to apply for a PhD (which you absolutely do not have to do if you get an MRes!). The MRes sets you up well for it; you get the chance to explore other areas of the School and get a chance to experiment with some more independent work.

What are you currently working on, and why did you choose the topic?

I’m still within the medical humanities, I really enjoy it. While I was doing my MRes, I got really interested in broader networks of people. So, for example, I was looking at one person suffering with alcoholism, but I became interested in what the experience for other people around them might be like and what their lived experience of care is like. I decided to put together a PhD project with my supervisor on narratives of family alcoholism. I’m looking at people who have grown up with an alcoholic mum or dad and how they write about their lived experience and have come to understand health care and their parent’s experience. For me, it really grew out of my MRes project. I will say that that the project did change post-proposal, so there’s nothing wrong with you or the project if it has to change. The research evolves and grows with you.

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Postgraduate Research in Progress Showcase, Friday 24 March 2023 – Seminar Write-up

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This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme for 2022-2023.

On 24 March 2023, the Queen’s University Belfast Modern Languages Core Disciplinary Research Group hosted the Postgraduate Research in Progress session as part of their ongoing seminar series. The seminar was chaired by PhD candidate Ciara Gorman, with fellow PhD researchers Sijie Mou (Linguistics), Rebecca Gosling (French), and Laura Kennedy (French) presenting their work. The main theme of the seminar was addressing the challenges that arise when trying to complete a piece of work as substantial as a doctoral thesis.

Laura, Rebecca, and Sijie at one of their preparatory meetings for the seminar

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The Metropole, the Diaspora, their Books, their Circuits: Reading English Drama in Spain 1640-1808, Friday 10 March 2023 – Seminar write-up

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This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme for 2022-2023.

On Friday 10^th March 2023, Dr John Stone (Serra Hunter Fellow in English Literature, Universitat de Barcelona) delivered a seminar about his latest research on diasporic populations in Spain between 1640 and 1808 and their libraries, particularly English language dramas and poetry.

Dr Stone opened the seminar by introducing us to the diasporic populations he would be focusing on in the paper. A diaspora refers to a network of ethnically and linguistically related peoples who are often geographically separated from one another. Dr Stone referred primarily to the communities of British and Irish immigrants, mainly Catholics, who were forced from the newly Protestant Great Britain following the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and moved to Spain. They became “islands of English culture”, in Dr Stone’s words. Books and other literary works in their native tongue acted as tools to preserve and further their cultural heritage in a foreign nation.

These communities were incredibly close-knit, and the solidarity between their members was evidenced in the work of the Royal Scots College, a seminary founded in Madrid in 1627. As Dr Stone explained, ordinary families could not import books into Spain. The Scots College, however, had a licence to import almost any text they wanted, and so would take requests from British and Irish diasporic communities to provide them with this connection to their natal land.

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Monsters and Killjoys: Feminist Activism in Galician Audiovisual Culture, Friday 4 November 2022 – Seminar Write-up

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This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme for 2022-2023.

On Friday 4^th November 2022, Dr Catherine Barbour (Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Spanish Peninsular Studies, Trinity College Dublin) delivered a seminar on the Galician webseries Monstras, directed by Eire García Cid, and how its feminist perspective compares with work more typical of what is known as Galician noir.

At the beginning of her presentation, Dr Barbour introduced the concept of Galician noir, a media genre sharing the key characteristics of Scandi noir with a strong sense of culture specific to the Galician community. There is frequently an undercurrent of rebellion, with anti-state sentiments mirroring the feelings of the region towards the Spanish state. Programmes and novels are almost exclusively in the Galician language – Monstras takes this a step further by having English subtitles rather than Spanish.

Still from *Monstras.*
Image credit: Corentena Producións 2020

Dr Barbour then turned more specifically to Monstras itself, which was made available exclusively on YouTube from July 2020, the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. It follows a group of women hiding out in their friend’s apartment after a violent act of revenge upon the man who sexually assaulted one of their friends. The production itself exudes anti-institutionalism; it was completely crowd-funded, with an exclusively female team.

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Modern Languages CDRG Research Showcase 2022: A Celebration of Recent Publications in Modern Languages panel

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This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme for 2021-2022.

On Friday 20 May 2022, Queen’s University Belfast hosted the annual Modern Languages CDRG Research Showcase. The event emphasised the wealth of research recently undertaken by the Core Disciplinary Research Group at Queen’s. The Celebration of Recent Publications in Modern Languages panel session in particular highlighted some recently published work from three Queen’s lecturers, Dr Dominique Jeannerod (French), Dr Síobhra Aiken (Irish) and Professor Maeve McCusker (French). The panel was chaired by Laura Kennedy, a current PhD student in French.

Image: cover of Dominique Jeannerod’s monograph

Dr Dominique Jeannerod, interviewed by Mark O’Rawe, a PhD student in French, provided an overview of his monograph entitled La Passion de San-Antonio: Frédéric Dard et ses lecteurs (Presses universitaires Savoie Mont Blanc, 2021). La Passion de San-Antonio considers the readers of San-Antonio book series by French crime writer, Frédéric Dard. Dr Jeannerod explained how he, like millions of others, grew up in France reading the San-Antonio books. However, these novels were perceived as anti-literature due to a variety of socio-cultural factors, ranging from their aggressive market orientation to Dard’s grotesque humour and idiosyncratic use of French slang. As a result, the San-Antonio books were to be read outside of the classroom. Despite or indeed because of this lack of institutional recognition, the collection of novels has enjoyed a very diverse readership. Dr Jeannerod’s research work on this topic focuses on the relationship between the reader and the author, asking questions about who the readers of San-Antonio are, how they read, and what their assumptions or prejudices might be. In the interview, Dr Jeannerod discussed the varying trends in the San-Antonio readership across generations, which saw the novel’s popularity decrease around the 1990s. The conversation with Dr Jeannerod concluded by looking forward to the return of San-Antonio in multimedia form, with the anticipated release of a TV series, based on the book series.

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Postgraduate student interviews: Rochelle Marsh (MRes)

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This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme for 2021-2022.

Hi Rochelle, what has your university journey been like?

Its’s been a very long one! I studied French and Spanish at A-Level and carried on with those two languages here at Queen’s [in my undergraduate degree]. In my third year, I went to Asturias and took the risky decision to stay there during the Covid pandemic to complete my year abroad. I later returned to Queen’s to complete my final year and started thinking about my next steps. Initially, I wanted to do a PGCE [Postgraduate Certificate in Education] but after speaking to my lecturers I learned about the Master of Research [MRes]. Intrigued, I submitted a proposal, then I was awarded a scholarship to help with funding, and now I am at the end of my Masters with a dissertation deadline this September.

Your dissertation is entitled ‘Female Voices and Testimonies From the España vacía/vaciada’, can you tell me more about this?

The female voices refer to these texts written by contemporary female Spanish authors: Tierra de mujeres, by Maria Sánchez, Feria by Ana Iris Simón and Un amor by Sara Mesa. They each focus on a unique aspect of the countryside, a motif that has long been discussed in Spanish literature but was recently brought into conversation after Sergio del Molino’s book La España vacía. The title means ‘empty Spain’ but critics challenged that La España ‘vaciada’, meaning ‘Spain emptied’, would have been a more accurate title to describe the changing countryside. His book explored the portrayal of the Spanish countryside and rural to urban migration trends in literature, film and press articles. My dissertation therefore analyses how these three texts dialogue with the concept of ‘España vacía’ and how these texts challenge the mistreatment of the countryside and rural women. I also look at the extent to which these texts can be a form of provocation or activism and if there is a correlation between the success of these texts and the fact there is a wide female readership in Spain.

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