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February 2015 |
You undertook your programme for the PhD Literatures in English as a candidate with the University of Sorbonne in Paris and at The UWI St Augustine. It was a Literatures in English programme, how did the French connection come about? Were you the first to do a fully joint PhD from UWI? MM: I am used to connections between languages and cultures as I was born in France and I grew up in Martinique in an environment shared between two languages and two cultures. On the one hand, I was fed on classical French literature from Molière to Hugo, while on the other, I was taught Césaire’s Cahier d’un Retour au pays natal and Jacques Roumain’s Gouverneurs de la Rosée, and my mother often quoted Maryse Condé’s Moi Tituba sorcière Noire de Salem among her favourite books. I am therefore a transcultural subject by essence as I am used to teetering between two cultures and navigating between the fixity of French as the national language and the fluidity of Creole as the regional language, the mother tongue. Far from experiencing this as a form of “linguistic schizophrenia” as Trinidadian poet M. NourbeSe Philip puts it, I have experienced it as a linguistic continuum and have always enjoyed the complexities of my Euro-Caribbean identity. Whether it is the folk tale, the sounds of drums, the blowing of conch shells or the vibrant street exchanges in Creole, my personal experience with language is embedded in oral culture and discourse, and this has strongly inspired my research project on Diasporic Caribbean women writers. Choosing a joint PhD programme was natural to me because I was already quite familiar with joint degrees, having completed my undergraduate studies (BA Honours English with Caribbean Studies) at both London Metropolitan University and Université des Antilles Guyane in Martinique. For my postgraduate studies, I enrolled at Paris 3 Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle where I graduated with an MPhil in Literatures in English. My MPhil dissertation, which was on Caribbean British women writers (Zadie Smith and Andrea Levy), could not have been as significant without the precious pieces of advice from Dr Rita Christian from London Metropolitan University, a specialist in Caribbean studies. Hence I felt that the double supervision of my Sorbonne supervisor and Dr Christian was so enriching that I decided to seek an official joint supervision for my doctoral project. I was not the first student to seek international co-supervision at the Sorbonne as this is more and more frequent. However, I do recall a number of scholars from European universities questioning my choice then to pursue a joint degree with The UWI rather than with an American university. I had to go through a number of hurdles before enrolling at The UWI because the two systems are so different. Surprisingly enough, when I eventually got to come to Trinidad, I was often asked the same question: ‘Why did you choose us for a joint degree? Why The UWI?’ I felt that being embedded in the European university system and being so familiar with European theorists, I needed more grounding and expertise in terms of African and Caribbean theories and literatures. I was told that the St. Augustine campus was the best option when it came to Literatures in English. In fact, my co-supervised studentship in the course of my second doctoral year has truly represented added-value to my research project. I believe that this international agreement between UWI and Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle has allowed my doctoral work to embrace a much larger dimension. I could not hope for better co-supervision as I have benefitted from Professors Dvorak and Lalla’s expertise and experience in their respective fields and they have both encouraged me to open my perspectives in terms of literary theory and discourse theory. How would you describe the time you spent at the University of Sorbonne? MM: The time spent at the Sorbonne Nouvelle has been particularly stimulating as my supervisor, Professor Dvorak, paved the way for my development as an academic researcher. She insisted on the necessity to communicate at international conferences and publish articles in peer-reviewed international academic journals. My time at the Sorbonne was made of a multitude of events, seminars and conferences, featuring prominent guest writers such as Derek Walcott and Olive Senior. The French academic system requires doctoral candidates to communicate on their work and move around France, hence I have attended and delivered papers at many conferences in Montpellier, Caen and Dijon. Through the Sorbonne, I had the opportunity to attend a doctoral seminar at Montréal University and was also awarded two short-term fellowships, from New York University and Brown University. All of these, beside my time at the Sorbonne library and at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (French National Library), have contributed to feeding my project and to widening my prospects. The numerous scholars I have met in the mentioned universities, especially in the field of Africana studies and Caribbean literary and cultural studies have participated in some way or another to the growth of my doctoral dissertation. MM: I spent approximately one semester per academic year at the UWI, hence three semesters in total at the St Augustine campus. When I arrived at The UWI, I felt that I came to a better understanding of what it meant to be a Caribbean. Staying in the Milner Hall of residence with postgraduate students coming from all over the Caribbean has been an amazing multicultural experience to me and I have made friends who will always be part of my life. My first anxiety appeared when I realised that a joint degree did not only mean having to write the doctoral dissertation in English, but also meant double academic requirements. I had to submit coursework and deliver graduate seminars for UWI examination purposes. While at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, I was encouraged to deliver papers at international conferences and submit articles for publication in peer-reviewed scholarly journals. At UWI, I attended graduate courses, submitted graduate coursework and delivered graduate seminars to show the evolution of my work. Beyond all the stress and hard work, these have truly enriched my research experience. The UWI’s requirements allowed me to strongly advance my research because I was getting regular assessment throughout. My UWI supervisor Professor Barbara Lalla was an invaluable resource, as she always made herself available during each period I spent on the St. Augustine campus, and she would always check on me whenever I got a bit silent or confused. The UWI has played a key part in my completing my PhD degree, first because I was awarded a Graduate Scholarship which covered my tuition fees, then because I was blessed to have the best supervisor ever in the persona of Professor Lalla, as well as so many UWI scholars who were so stimulating and so willing to share their insights and experience. Last but not least, the UWI offered me the regional input and the 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.
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 graduated with a PhD (Literatures in English) at the October 2014 graduation ceremony at The UWI. Her programme was a joint one between The UWI and the University of Sorbonne in Paris, and presented many unique challenges for her. In an email interview with UWI TODAY editor, Vaneisa Baksh, Myriam describes the experience. 
What would you say were the best moments and the worst?