Being a Graduate Teaching Assistant

(Originally posted 14 February 2014)

Last night I was one of the speakers at a training session for potential Arts and Humanities Graduate Teaching Assistants, which has prompted me to finally write the blog about teaching I’ve been promising for a while now.

I began teaching – leading seminars for a final year module about the Latin American ‘New Historical Novel’ – five weeks ago now and I absolutely love it! Since October I’ve been taking a teacher training course run by King’s Learning Institute called Enhancing Academic Practice, so it’s great to put all of my theoretical learning into practice and this experience has confirmed to me that university teaching really is my dream career. I get such a buzz from sharing my passion for literature with the class and getting them to really engage with it.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much freedom I have been given to design the class around the set source material. I can come up with my own activities and choose  my favourite extracts for the class to analyse. I’ve also been given a lot of scope to bring my own expertise to the module, and was even asked to lead the lecture last week based on my research. The trust my lecturer has placed in me and my students’ appreciation of the knowledge I bring to class has been an invaluable boost, and I’ve also learned or revised a huge amount that will directly help my thesis too.

One of the main concerns potential GTAs expressed last night was about how time consuming it is, particularly with the ever-increasing pressure to finish your PhD within three years. However, all of the speakers – myself from SPLAS, and others from history, classics, English and Film – said that we spend no more than one day a week preparing and all agreed that this was a valuable use of our time. We would all certainly recommend taking the opportunity if it is available in your discipline.

Making connections: Latin American literature in China

(Originally posted 4 February 2014)

This academic year I have been co-organising our departmental seminars (www.splas-seminars.com) with a fellow PhD candidate. These seminars give current students a chance to try out their research in an informal setting, usually before a big scary conference, and get constructive feedback. Other weeks we get a external speakers in to share their expertise. I love the opportunity these seminars afford to learn about other aspects of my field that I never usually encounter, but this week’s was a particular joy.

Last Wednesday we welcomed Tianai Wang to the department to talk about the influence of Spanish language literature in translation in her native China. Tianai has recently graduated from the MA in Comparative Literature here at KCL so her presentation was also a homecoming, as staff were certainly very happy to see her back.

What I most enjoyed was the opportunity to learn about a culture that I know shamefully little about and the surprise of how much Latin American literature (my own speciality) has influenced contemporary Chinese writers. Mo Yan, for example, was praised for his ‘hallucinatory realism’ when awarded his Noble Prize in 2012 in much the same way that Gabriel Garcia Márquez was for his ‘magical realism’ upon winning the prize in 1982. Tianai’s presentation therefore gave me a new way of thinking about literature that I am very familiar with, as well as an entrance to a whole new literary world.

Tomorrow’s seminar is Dr Juliet Perkin’s talking about translating the 15th century chronicles of Fernao Lopes, worlds away from contemporary Chinese literature, but another topic that I look forward to learning more about.

A Room of One's Own

(Originally posted 19 September 2013)

When I first started at King’s a year ago, my enquiries about a postgraduate office/workspace were met with blank stares and mumbles of ‘try the British Library’. I was disappointed as I’ve always had an aversion to working in libraries, especially the silent kind, and I’d been hoping that a workroom would be a space where catching up with colleagues would brighten the otherwise lonely business of doctoral research.

Now with our shiny new Virginia Woolf building on Kingsway, I’ve got all I wanted and more. Not only bright, open-plan research space, but a kitchen and comfy sofas too. The best part is that SPLAS now shares this area with the German department. I’ve often said that one of my favourite aspects of the PhD is getting to know other researchers and learning from them. The daily contact with German PGRs and staff opens a whole knew world of research specialisms to fascinate me, from contemporary Austrian theatre to the reception of Hollywood rom-coms in Europe. Then when the study-guilt kicks in and we leave the sofas, knowing there are other people at the neighbouring desks powering through that journal article or rewriting their next chapter is a great motivator to keep on working. We’ve only been moved in for a week, but I already feel like the new building will make this a very productive and enjoyable year!

Looking for a PhD topic? Try the British Library

(Originally posted 21 March 2013)

This week in our SPLAS seminar, we were lucky enough to be joined by Dr Geoff West and Dr Elizabeth Cooper, subject curators for Spanish and Latin American Studies respectively at the British Library. They explained the many facets of curating: acquisition, maintaining the collection, organising material for exhibitions and other public engagement exercises, and one thing not many people are aware of: supervising PhD students. 

As one of the two biggest libraries in the world (the other being the Library of Congress in Washington DC), the British Library has over 150 million resources to explore; not just printed books and manuscripts, but sound recordings, microfilm, even a lock of Simón Bolivar’s hair! With so many treasures lurking unexplored in the archives, there is plenty of material on offer for an exciting PhD based on first hand analysis and investigation of these invaluable literary and historical documents.

Beyond allowing access to its resources, the BL supports doctoral research by offering joint supervision with universities including King’s. One notable example of this partnership is Tom Overton, whose joint PhD between the BL & King’s on John Berger lead to the recent Art and Property Now exhibition at the Inigo Rooms. Tom told us how he was the first person in decades to look at Berger’s private documents, which offered him a unique glimpse into this key figure in British art history.

So if you’re on the hunt for a PhD topic and you would enjoy exploring original documents, why not investigate the BL. You can find out more about PhDs jointly supervised by the British Library here.

SPLAS Migration and Exile Conference

I’ll admit it, I’m a conference junkie. I’ve been to three already this year. The Narratives of Migration and Exile conference held at King’s last week was my favourite yet, and not just because I’m biased!

It was a real pleasure to hear such an interesting collection of papers from postgraduates and early career researchers who had travelled from across the UK, Europe and North America to join us in discussing topics like home, belonging and identity, topics that get to the heart of who we are and how we relate to people and places. I’d like to share some of my highlights in this post:

• The screening of Un Franco, 14 Pesetas was a great success – it drew a crowd and lots of laughs. It was great to speak to members of the London Spanish Film Club after who said the film reflected many of their real-life experiences and concerns as migrants.
• I got to try out some new ideas in my paper and received some very useful, thought-provoking questions, and also got to chair a panel (great sense of power!)
• 

  Prof. Slyvia Molloy delivering her keynote
  Two fascinating keynotes from Prof. Sylvia Molloy, NYU, and Dr Juan Carlos Velasco, CSIC. Getting such a big name as Prof. Molloy was a real coup for King’s (thanks to the dedication of the organisers), and her keynote was inspiring. She spoke of how home does not exist until it is left behind and created in the imagination, making it impossible to return.You can now listen to podcasts of both keynotes here.

Day Two @ KCL - Departmental Induction

Back to King's again today for my Departmental Induction, and finally a chance to meet the rest of the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies postgraduates. There are seven of us starting PhDs, which is about half the SPLAS research students now, as many of the older students have just finished. I met four of the others today, as well as the five new Masters students and many of the staff.

One of my main reasons for choosing King's was that the department seemed so welcoming, supportive and friendly, and I definitely got a taste of that today. The lecturers completely put our minds at rest after the 'Efficient Researcher' booklet we received yesterday had terrified us all by suggesting we won't have a moment free for fun and will be horribly stressed until we finally retire. That may be true of scientists in their labs, but it seems like in SPLAS at least we know how to enjoy ourselves.

With that in mind, I must recommend the Arts and Humanities Festival, from 13-27 October at KCL (also visit their fascinating blog). The festival brings together academics and artists from across all the Arts and Humanities disciplines to share their work with the wider public in interactive ways along the theme of Metamorphoses. This can be everything from adaptations of a play to social change in the Middle East, as well as a particular focus on how the Arts and Humanities are changing in twenty-first century academia. Unfortunately, while I'd written all sorts of events in my diary, I hadn't actually thought to book them, so many are already booked out. There are still lots intriguing events available though - I'm particularly interested in the Digital Humanities Pecha Kucha and Metamorphoses and Languages - so book quickly a ahfest2012.eventbrite.co.uk. Plus don't miss the SPLAS showcase on 22 October to learn all about what us research students are up to!

There seems to be an incredible range of topics studied within my department, which is another of the factors  that drew me to King's. Just from the people I met today, there is a student investigating music in Lusophone Africa (Cape Verde and Mozambique), another looking at the Brazilian lyrical novel, another analysing changes in representations of the family in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, and another focusing on the translation of Spanish plays into English. I can't wait to learn more about their subjects as well as my own.

Maughan Library on Chancery Lane

After meeting the department, I made a brief visit to the Maughan Library which struck me as exactly how a library should be. I'm not sure how it compares to other university libraries in terms of the number of books available, but the setting is magnificent. Sadly the Venezuelan literature section is still only about half a shelf though!

The spectacular Humanities reading room.

There is now only one more afternoon of inductions to go, on Tuesday, and then I'll be a fully fledged research student. Whoo!