SUNDAY 1ST FEBRUARY, 2015 – UWI TODAY
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OUR PEOPLE
deep Caribbean grounding that I needed to complete
such an ambitious doctoral project. I was given the
opportunity to participate in regional conferences
such as the West Indian Literature Conference at
the Mona campus, and I was also fully involved in
graduate activities such as the SEPHIS seminar in
Jamaica. Meeting graduate students and scholars from
all UWI campuses during these events has allowed
me to confront my research findings and to widen my
perspectives in terms of methodology and theoretical
frameworks.
How did spending time between two universities in
two completely different environments work out?
MM:
Spending time between two different universities has
tremendously enriched my doctoral work. My time at
the Sorbonne has allowed me to develop my research
methods and reinforce my writing and communication
skills by submitting articles and book chapters to
scholarly editors. My numerous connections with
Europe-based researchers have helped me to deepen
my sense of feminist and postcolonial theories.
My time at UWI has represented an invaluable input
because the numerous seminars, graduate courses,
conferences and discussions with UWI scholars have
constantly incited me to dig into “Caribbeanness” and
to experiment a greater sense of my “Afro-Antillean”
identity. My knowledge of African cosmology,
Caribbean-based theories, black feminist thoughts and
Caribbean poetics overall has truly expanded and my
doctoral dissertation is the result of this collaboration
between two strong academic communities. In fact,
my work proposes a boundless examination as it
goes beyond genre through its inclusion of a variety
of prose and poetry works, and beyond space as it
does not limit the selection of authors to one location
and transcends the traditional emphasis on the USA.
It is also transversal as it allows literature, discourse,
culture and multi-located theoretical frameworks to
overlap and resonate.
What would you say were the best moments
and the worst?
MM:
Among my best moments were my meetings with
writers, first Olive Senior whom I met in Paris at the
international conference “Voice and Vision” organised
by Marta Dvorak, and secondly, M. NourbeSe Philip
whom I met at St. Augustine when she was the writer-
in-residence. Although I did not manage to interview
all the writers of my selected corpus, interviews
with Senior and Philip allowed me to get a better
grasp of these two authors’ strategies and expanded
my research perspectives. Meeting Caribbean
authors through events organised by the university
represented a major asset as I had the chance to
hear Philip read from her latest poetry book at a UWI
literary event, to attend a full creative writing seminar
with Olive Senior at the Sorbonne and to have long
discussions with Lorna Goodison at Mona, at the 2010
West Indian Literature Conference.
Among the most stimulating moments were also
some of the UWI graduate courses, more particularly
Dr Jean Antoine’s class Caribbean Poetics, out of
which I would come out, every Thursday evening, with
a wealth of new ideas and theoretical frameworks
to investigate. Meeting prominent scholars in
my research field has also represented a series of
invaluable opportunities, more particularly meeting
Professor Carole Boyce-Davies in St Augustine,
Professor Myriam Chancy in Louisiana at the African
Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars Conference,
and Professor Benedict Ledent in Paris and in Liege…
If I were to think about the worst moments, I would
surely cite the stressful organisation of the printing/
binding of the thesis following the two universities’
respective requirements and the multiple copies of
the thesis to be submitted at the Sorbonne and UWI,
but this was just final stage stress!
The graduate seminars I had to deliver were among
the best and worst moments of my UWI experience.
Presenting the progress of my work in front of the
UWI community was such a challenge to me that fear
and excitement intermingled every time I had to go
through this process. While my first graduate seminar
was enriching and allowed me to give more focus
to my research project, I do keep quite a stressful
memory of my final seminar, during which I ended
up submerged by anxiety to quite a ridiculous extent.
The tears I desperately tried to hide on that occasion,
and the many tears I have shed during my doctoral
studentship can be considered the fluid embodiments
of my worst memories, but I guess every doctoral
student goes through moments of crisis and doubt.
I must admit that I keep an extremely positive overall
memory of my joint degree at the Sorbonne and
UWI. Among my very best moments is definitely the
thesis defence which was organised at the Sorbonne
in video-conference with the UWI St Augustine.
Elaborating on questions and comments from jury
members, explaining my research findings and
discussing my doctoral work for over three hours
represented the most challenging and fulfilling
moments to me. At some point, I felt that I should
have been presenting my work being physically
present on the other side, at St Augustine campus,
among UWI scholars. Beyond my status as a shared
PhD student and the fact that the Sorbonne was my
university of origin, I feel that I belong as much to the
UWI and I genuinely wish to be considered as a full
UWI graduate, which I am of course!
Martinique is your celebrated French Caribbean home.
How did you come to attend UWI St Augustine and what
was the transition like?
MM:
Martinique is indeed my celebrated French Caribbean
home, but the transition with Trinidad was a smooth
one. I always joke with my Trinidadian friends telling
them that I could easily be taken for a Trinidadian
as long as I keep quiet, and they all agree! We have
shared so much and learned a lot from each other
and I must say that I now consider Trinidad as an
alternative home. Whenever I come to Trinidad, I
now feel at home and as Jamaican poet Olive Senior
writes: “home is a place where there is a condition of
resonance, or sound returned; that is, a place where
you speak to a community and it speaks back to you”
(Over the Roofs of the World, 2005). Thanks to the UWI
community, I have explored new places, new cultures,
new resonances, new sounds, new discourses, and
writing this doctoral thesis was definitely not the
lonely experience it could have been.
What are you doing now in Martinique?
MM:
I am now a lecturing Fellow and International
Relations Coordinator at the College of Education of
Université des Antilles et de la Guyane, Martinique.
My duties include lecturing Master’s of Education
students and supervising their theses, my main
courses are at the postgraduate level: Textual Analysis
and Pedagogy, Anglophone Cultures: Texts and
Images, Research Methodology. My duties also include
coordinating international projects, liaising with
international Ministries of Education and mentoring
newly qualified teachers.
Last year, I travelled with my Master’s students to
Barbados and they had the opportunity to explore the
Cave Hill campus and its School of Education, as well
as observe primary school classes. I am interested in
developing regional cooperation between Martinique,
Guadeloupe and the Anglophone Caribbean islands,
more specifically through the UWI campuses.
I have many projects in mind but for 2015, I would like
to focus on a new research project as well as seeking
opportunities to publish my doctoral work. Besides, I
have applied for postdoctoral positions in Caribbean
Studies in North America, so I am hoping to be
recruited, fingers crossed!
How do you feel this experience has changed your life?
MM:
This joint doctoral degree has truly changed my life
because it has widened my perspectives and has
contributed to my seeing things through both local
and global lenses. I am proud to be a UWI graduate
and attending the graduation ceremony with my
family was an amazing moment for me! Being a UWI
graduate makes me feel more fully Caribbean, and I
now seek to develop comparative research projects
between Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean
women’s literature.
Myriam Moise with Olive Senior at the Sorbonne, Voice and Vision Conference in 2010.
Photos COURTESY: Myriam Moise
