Visiting Fellowship at Emory University, Atlanta

The Zobel project is on the move once again… special greetings to any new readers of this blog who are in Atlanta, Georgia! It is a privilege to be here.

I am currently working in Atlanta as a Visiting Fellow at Emory University, where I am based in the Department of French and Italian. This is a wonderful chance for me to exchange more transatlantic perspectives on Zobel and his legacy, and was an activity I planned when I submitted my AHRC Early Career Leadership Fellowship application in 2013.

Zobel is widely taught across the US, through text and film, and my time in Atlanta gives me an invaluable opportunity to understand how he is taught, and to discuss possible new approaches to teaching his work based on my new research findings with my American colleagues.

Over the past few days, I’ve taught classes on Zobel and on Caribbean literature more generally with my colleague Prof. Valérie Loichot, an expert on Francophone Caribbean literature whose latest book The Tropics Bite Back: Culinary Coups in Caribbean Literature was awarded the Modern Language Association of America’s Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize earlier this year. It is a fascinating study and Valérie’s insights into food are particularly interesting to me in the light of my own recent work on ecocriticism and food security in Martinique.

I’ve been explaining my project to faculty members and to students, and this helps me to think about how I present my research to different audiences.

It’s an excellent chance to discuss my past activities – from the Paris Salon du Livre to my work in April for the Zobel Centenary in Rivière-Salée in Martinique, to my ‘Indiana Jones moment’ at the British Library in London.

Next week, I’ll also be working with Prof. Michael Wiedorn at Georgia Institute of Technology, and I’m looking forward to meeting colleagues and students there!

I am also preparing to give research seminars and am really impressed at the quality of the poster produced by a graduate student at Emory – here it is!

Flash-back: Zobel Centenary launch in Martinique

Here’s part two of the photo narrative I have produced to document my work with local communities on the legacy of Zobel (part one was in my last blog post).

Zobel activities have certainly kept me pretty busy over these past 12 months…!

I have learned so much from these opportunities to exchange and collaborate with partners all over the world, and cannot thank them enough! I hope you will enjoy this record.

Me with members of the Zobel Centenary Team after my talk and Q&A session at the cultural centre in Rivière-Salée. My PhD student Antonia was also in the audience!

Speaking to a packed auditorium at the Joseph Zobel High School in Rivière-Salée – it was fantastic to see the local school pupils take such an interest in Zobel

Daunting but an incredible challenge – taking the floor to speak at the whole school Zobel centenary celebrations at the middle school College Georges-Elisabeth in Rivière-Salée!

Me with librarian Rapaelle Bouville, with whom I co-organized a Zobel exhibition at the Médiathèque de Rivière-Salée

Me speaking on ATV Martinique evening news – watch again here: http://www.atv.mq/replay_trois-questions-a_9-2867_louise-hardwick-professeur-de-francais-et-chercheuse-en-angleterre.html

Straight after ATV was recorded, I was driven off to speak on Le Mag Littéraire on ZoukTV for a special programme on Zobel

The community Nocturnal Parade marking Zobel’s centenary – I was asked to walk up front, next to the Mayor of Rivière-Salée, which was an incredible honour.