{"id":372,"date":"2024-06-28T13:35:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T12:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/?p=372"},"modified":"2025-06-05T18:55:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T17:55:20","slug":"postgraduate-student-interviews-claire-whyte-phd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/2024\/06\/28\/postgraduate-student-interviews-claire-whyte-phd\/","title":{"rendered":"Postgraduate student interviews: Claire Whyte (PhD, Spanish)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post is part of our Research Initiation Scheme<\/a> for 2023-2024<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has your academic journey looked like so far? What did you study during your undergraduate and previous postgraduate experiences?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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\u2019s in Modern Languages at Queen\u2019s. I then had a year between finishing my master\u2019s 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\u2019t really expected! I just finished my PhD in November [2023] \u2013 there were some interruptions to my studies, especially because of the pandemic, so my journey was a bit more protracted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you be able to give a brief explanation of your PhD research?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will try! My broad area is Mexican Studies; in my thesis, “Frida Kahlo and Astrid Hadad: Performing Woman and Nation in 20th<\/sup> Century Mexico”, I look at artist Frida Kahlo, and cabaret pol\u00edtico<\/em> [political cabaret] performer Astrid Hadad. I examine how they perform, resist and contest the hegemonic constructs of Mexican womanhood. So, I look at Kahlo\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Claire Whyte, personal archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Why did you decide to choose this topic?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My PhD really grew from my Master\u2019s dissertation, where I looked at Kahlo. I had studied art and drama at school as well as practising both in an extra-curricular capacity, and have always been interested in performance. So, my PhD was sort of a combination of those interests with my love for Mexican Studies. Frida Kahlo is a global icon, and one of the most written about artists in the world, so she can be hard to write about. But I hit on this idea that she performs her identity in various ways, and when I got that in my head, I couldn\u2019t let it go. I couldn\u2019t believe that no one else had written about how performative Kahlo\u2019s self-portraits are, and I felt that somebody should be writing about it. So, I ended up being that person, and trying to fill that gap in the scholarship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did you find to be the most interesting part of your PhD project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was very fortunate to be able to do very interesting and exciting things \u2013 I got to go on a research trip to Mexico. The second performer that I looked at [Astrid Hadad] is still performing, so I got to interview her in her home in Mexico City, which was really great, and I was able to see her perform in France a couple of times as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any advice for anyone considering postgraduate research? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would say absolutely go for it! If you have an original idea, research the area thoroughly for your proposal, but be confident \u2013 going into research can be a bit intimidating.\u00a0Also, I would say if you\u2019ve been in university for a long time, take your time! Don\u2019t rush into it. But I would thoroughly recommend it. I’ve had a brilliant experience with Queen\u2019s, I had wonderful supervisors in Dr Ricki O’Rawe<\/a> and Professor Sarah Bowskill<\/a>, as well as support from people in the department and everyone working in the postgraduate research office.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interview by Cara Reid, final-year undergraduate in English and Spanish.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Editor’s note:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire Whyte’s PhD research<\/em> was funded by the Department for the Economy (DfE).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,162],"tags":[54,172,107,79,171,87,30],"class_list":["post-372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-postgraduate-student-interviews","category-research-initiation-2023-2024","tag-gender","tag-identity","tag-latin-america","tag-mexico","tag-performance","tag-phd-students","tag-spanish"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions\/468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/cdrgmodlangsqub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}