Summer-Autumn round-up

Last year, I wrote a post about What academics do over the summer ‘holidays’

Although the Undergraduate students leave around July and return in late September, everything else – research and administration – carries on as usual in their absence and is ramped up a notch!

This summer, alongside my usual PhD and M.Res student supervisions, my main task was to finalise my book on Joseph Zobel, which is forthcoming with Liverpool University Press.

Finishing a book is a long, painstaking process and involves many emails between the academic author, and the book series editor, proofreader, copyeditor and other members of the team who are typesetting the book.

As academics, we send off our revised book manuscript (after we’ve taken account of the anonymous reviewer feedback our publishers have organised) as a text document using a program such as Word. We then receive careful feedback from an in-house proofreader.

Once we’ve made necessary changes and returned the file, the next stage is always the most exciting: when the new file pings into the inbox as a PDF which has been ‘typeset’ – i.e. it now looks like a book rather than a very long double-spaced student essay!

At that stage, a few gremlins inevitably creep into the PDF, so it’s necessary to read through every page with care and send lists of corrections back to the editors for revisions to the typeset copy.

When that’s done, it’s time to index (which can take a week, involves an awful lot of pressing CTRL+F)!

I’m delighted that the book is now print-ready and should be out in early 2018.

Louise with Raphaelle Bouville, her collaborator at the Mediatheque in Riviere-Salee, in front of the exhibition panels that Louise and her Birmingham students helped to create

M. le Maire Andre Lesueur launches “Joseph Zobel week” at Joseph Zobel High School

The book is the outcome of several years of intense work – the project began back in 2012, when I began drafting my proposal for funding to the AHRC. The project has taken me to Martinique, Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Atlanta (Georgia) and Austin (Texas). I have also worked with partners and collaborators around Birmingham, the wider Midlands area and in London.

I’ll now be focusing on other projects, so there won’t be any more updates to the blog until my book is published…

If you’ve just found this website, thank you for dropping by, and please take a look at the extensive archives from the past three years, to see how the Zobel Project developed!

Merci!

 

 

 

 

Guest Blog Post by Megan Lovat – Undergraduate Research Scholar on the Zobel Project (summer 2017)

 

I study French and Japanese Studies, and my Second Year of University has just come to an end. Throughout summer 2017, I’ve been working as an Undergraduate Research Scholar after I was awarded a summer placement through the College of Arts and Law Undergraduate Research Scholars scheme. The scheme arranges for Undergraduates at the University of Birmingham to work with an established researcher on a specific project over the summer. It’s great for your CV, and you are paid for undertaking the placement.

My work has focused on researching the French Caribbean director Euzhan Palcy and her 1983 film Rue Cases-Nègres (pictured below) under the guidance of Dr Louise Hardwick, who is running a major research project on French Caribbean literature and film, funded by the AHRC, the UK government Arts & Humanities Research Council.

 

In addition to studying articles and chapters about Palcy and the film, I’ve taken part in a workshop for local school teachers who would like to integrate French Caribbean materials into their teaching. I’ve also spent time at the British Library in London getting to grips with their archives, where I unearthed some fascinating newspaper articles.

 

 

 

 

 

Not long ago, in partnership with the University, extracts from Rue Cases-Nègres were screened at a public film workshop at Birmingham’s Mockingbird Cinema. So I went down to the Custard Factory in Digbeth where Mockingbird is based to interview one of the directors, Alper Dervish, to get his take on screening unique films, collaborating with the University of Birmingham and Birmingham’s independent cinema industry more generally.

At one point, The Mockingbird was a theatre. Then two years ago it was taken over, and began to transition into a full-time cinema. Alper told me there has been a growing trend for independent cinemas over recent years, but stressed the importance of having a unique selling point. This is especially true if you’re showing mainstream blockbusters, because customers need an incentive to choose to go independent. For The Mockingbird, their key selling point is the proper chef-cooked food and range of beverages, making for a more mature film experience than popcorn and a coke.

Additionally, innovative formats are used to create ‘Event Cinema’, as opposed to a standard screening. For example, one of Alper’s personal favourites has been their sold-out screening of Sister Act with a live gospel choir!

Another example is the widely talked about Harry Potter marathon weekend this summer. Social media buzz and local newspaper publications have meant this event has sold out twice, with minimal advertising from The Mockingbird themselves. Of course, the people attending this event have likely watched the Harry Potter series multiple times already. Alper pointed out that they come for the experience, to share a film series they love with other fans – and they even come in fancy dress sometimes! This is a key part of The Mockingbird’s appeal. With other events, such as quizzes and appreciation nights, The Mockingbird is very aware of the power of the ‘fan club’.

With regard to the screening of cinema in French from the Caribbean and Africa, Alper says the cinema is happy to show anything providing there is an audience willing to watch. Despite the perceived obscurity of a film, there is often strong public interest for foreign films such as Rue Cases-Nègres and collaborating with the University of Birmingham can be a way to reach new audiences who might not otherwise think about visiting Mockingbird. The Mockingbird shows many non-English films, and generally always favours subtitles over a dubbed version. This, Alper explains, allows native speakers a chance to enjoy a film in their own language, as well as the English viewers.

It is still early days for The Mockingbird, but in the future Alper hopes to continue to innovate as an independent business and develop their audience.

This is an exciting venue – and one Brummie gem that I’m glad to have discovered!

(Mockingbird Interview 26/07/17)

Zobel in 15 Images – Commemorating his Birth in 1915

Today would have been Joseph Zobel’s 102nd birthday!

To help you remember that the Martinican author Joseph Zobel was born in 1915, here are 15 photos.

They were all taken in 2015, during the international commemorations marking his birth.

All the images were taken during my research project into this important Caribbean author. As part of the project, I was honoured to be an advisor to the Zobel Centenary steering committee in Rivière-Salée, in the south of Martinique, the area where Zobel was born.

As part of the local centenary celebrations, I was also honoured to be invited to give public talks at schools and community centres about Zobel by the Town Council of Rivière-Salée, and to help organise an exhibition on Zobel at the local library.

In metropolitan France, I took part in a panel on Zobel at the Paris Book Fair (Salon du Livre) organised by the French Ministry for France Overseas.

I will publish a book on Zobel next year! Looking back over these pictures reminds me what an exiting voyage of discovery it has been. Sharing and developing my ideas with communities interested in Zobel in Martinique and mainland France was absolutely essential, as it gave me the chance to explain why my research on Zobel is leading to new and exciting insights about the author and his work.

It was wonderful to meet so many people across the world who are passionate about Zobel and his literature!

You’ll find full details about each picture below the slideshow.

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1. The community event to launch the Year of Zobel (Année Zobel) in Rivière-Salée
2. The Mayor of Rivière-Salée commemorating Zobel’s birth at the Joseph Zobel High School (Lycée Joseph Zobel)
3. The whole school assembly in honour of Zobel at the Georges Elisabeth Middle School (Collège Georges Elisabeth) in Rivière-Salée
4. My talk to the whole school assembly at the Georges Elisabeth Middle School
5. My discussion with high school pupils at the Joseph Zobel High School – they had so many great questions for me!
6. Me after my public talk at the Community Centre in Rivière-Salée (pictured with members of the Zobel steering committee)
7. The public media library (Médiathèque) in Rivière-Salée where I helped to curate a special Zobel exhibition
8. Me with librarian Raphaëlle Bouville, who organised the exhibition (you can see part of it behind us)
9. Me being interviewed about Zobel on ATV evening news (see full video here)
10. The special edition of local literary television programme ‘Le mag littéraire’ on Zobel, where I was a panelist with other members of the Zobel committee
11. The procession through the streets of Rivière-Salée in honour of Zobel
12. Back in metropolitan France, the Paris Book Fair 2015 held a series of events to honour Zobel, organised by the cultural organisation Shared Passions (Passions partagées) with the Ministry for France Overseas, and fantastic involvement from the Zobel family themselves.
13. I spoke on a special panel on Zobel at the Paris Book Fair…
14. …and in the audience was the (then) Minister for France Overseas, George Pau-Langevin
15. Last but not least, Martinican film director Euzhan Palcy speaking at the Paris Book Fair about her award-winning film adaptation Sugar Cane Alley, which brought Zobel’s best-known novel to new audiences around the world.

Find out more about Postgraduate study at UoB in Modern Languages

As Easter approaches, many people are considering undertaking postgraduate studies in the future, whether they are moving straight from Undergraduate studies or have had some time away from the University environment and are considering a return.

My PhD student Antonia Wimbush runs an online PG Open Day page, where she answers your questions about graduate study in the Modern Languages Department, and I wanted to make that fantastic initiative the main focus of today’s post.

Antonia’s page can be found here: http://pg.bham.ac.uk/mentor/antonia-wimbush/

She is currently in her third year, and is fully funded through the AHRC Midlands 3 Cities consortium, a doctoral training programme. Antonia is co-supervised between the University of Birmingham (where she is based for 80% of her time) and the University of Nottingham (20% of her time).

Last but not least, a photo which is a throwback to my fieldwork in Martinique over Easter 2015. Antonia accompanied me on my work with schools, libraries, local interest groups and in the archives. The image is of Sainte-Luce – however, our trip there was not in our itinerary at all…

At the end of our fieldwork, when we arrived at the airport to leave, as I checked in, I looked across to the next desk and saw Antonia was being told the flight was full and she had been bumped off it! Luckily, I was able to persuade them to take me off the flight, and to put us both on the next flight home, the following afternoon! So we had a few extra hours in the beautiful town of Sainte-Luce, which after the frenetic pace of the fieldwork offered a welcome chance to relax and appreciate Martinique’s natural beauty.

 

BBC Who Do You Think You Are? ft Liz Bonnin

Last night, the popular BBC show Who Do You Think You Are? featured the science presenter Liz Bonnin. I was particularly excited about the programme, because behind the scenes, I had helped the researchers to prepare her episode!

In the spring, I received an email out of the blue asking if I could help with the programme because it was going to include a celebrity with links in Martinique. The researchers had found me online, which was a great surprise, and reminds me of the importance of keeping my staff profile page up to date…!

At that stage, I wasn’t allowed to know who the celebrity was, so my mind went into overdrive 🙂

The emails duly arrived… I helped the team look at some archival documents – birth, marriage and death records – mainly providing contextual advice on the French Caribbean, and also adding some specific comments on the information the researchers had already compiled, to help them deepen their understanding. They had questions about Martinican history, language and culture, as well as specific questions about the documents that they had found.

When I saw the name Gros-Désormeaux, I knew it rang a bell… there is a Martinican publishing house, Désormeaux, whose books I cite in my own research, so I mentioned this to the team… in the end, it turned out to be the same family!

We had a couple of long phone conversations, and I was really impressed by the quality of the research that the WDYTYA? team had carried out – they had clearly used online databases which I use in the course of my academic research.

I was able to use my language skills and knowledge to help the team understand that in the French Caribbean context, the French word ‘l’habitation’ is not translated by ‘habitation’, as it is the word used for a plantation.

They then sent me a further batch of documents, which included the celebrity’s surname, so at that point, I had to sign a disclaimer to acknowledge that I would not spill the beans before the programme was scheduled! This was all new to me, and an exiting development! I was delighted to see it was Liz Bonnin, whose work I really admire.

Last night, when the documents that I had looked at popped up on TV, I was jumping up and down on my sofa! And then the word ‘habitation’ was subtitled as ‘plantation’, which was a bonus 🙂

Liz Bonnin’s thought-provoking story really captures the complexity of societies in Martinique & Trinidad. I am so pleased to have made a contribution to helping her fascinating story reach the UK public!

And I think it’s going to become required viewing for my students… 🙂

Missed it? View at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08501cj

Charity placement with Small Woods Association

It has been a very busy autumn/winter period!

A write-up of my charity placement with the Small Woods Association, which was part of my activities as an EU Climate-KIC ‘Pioneer into Practice’, has now gone live on the University of Birmingham Website.

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/lcahm/departments/languages/sections/french/news/2016/hardwick-charity-placement-small-woods-association.aspx

I’ve reproduced a slightly longer version below!

 

Charity Placement with Small Woods Association

Dr Louise Hardwick has recently completed a four-week placement with the Small Woods Association in Ironbridge. The charity is the national organisation for woodland owners, workers and supporters. Louise, an AHRC Early Career Leadership Fellow, undertook the placement as part of her EU-funded activities with Climate-KIC, the EU’s main climate innovation initiative. Through the award of a funded place on the Climate-KIC ‘Pioneers into Practice’ scheme, Louise has able to develop the practical applications of her research in Ecocriticism through a specific training programme (workshops, online exercises, and a dedicated coach). Most importantly, through Climate-KIC, Louise applied her knowledge in a real-world situation with Small Woods Association (SWA).

The placement was also part of Louise’s cross-College activities at BIFoR (Birmingham Institute of Forest Research), where she is the Interdisciplinary Leadership Fellow for Ecocriticism. Louise explored the connections between the important knowledge base at Small Woods Association and BIFoR’s ground-breaking FACE facility which uses state-of-the-art science to address the impact of climate and environmental change on woodlands.

Louise at the Green Wood Centre site, part of SWA’s national headquarters.

 

At SWA’s working centre in Coalbrookdale, located in a stunning natural environment, Louise learned about ‘the story of wood’, from the local heritage of coracles to wood’s fascinating role in the construction of the Ironbridge itself. She also enjoyed a number of practical demonstrations of wood craft! During her placement, Louise met with SWA team members to discuss the connections between their work and her research on Caribbean authors whose literature raises urgent questions about human relationships with the land. She developed training and presentation materials to support the centre, and was profiled in the SWA members’ newsletter.

Louise’s placement has established a significant new working relationship between BIFoR and SWA with great future potential. Further collaborative activities such as internships and Scholars in Residence schemes can offer new ways to connect her research and the wider research conducted at BIFoR with important non-academic partners.

 

 

 

Joyeux anniversaire Joseph Zobel!

Today would have been Joseph Zobel’s 101th birthday! Thanks for stopping by to learn more about his work and legacy. For a quick introduction, you might enjoy the pages on Martinique’s history and the media links page.

Hard to believe it’s one whole year since we celebrated the centenary in Martinique! Below is a photo of me with some of the fantastic team that made it all happen. Bonjour aux Saleens! Hello to Riviere-Salee!

Today I’m in sunny Cardiff to give an invited seminar paper about Zobel’s  work.

The paper was part of a panel of talks which compared black consciousness movements across Francophone and Lusophone contexts in Africa and the Americas.

I’ve been tweeting about events @zobelproject and will add more once I’m back in my office!

 

French Film Screenings…

It has been a busy end to the term! Once Easter is over, we’ll be straight into our examining and strategic planning phase. The post-Easter meetings are already stacking up, as are the research deadlines… but before then, there’s time to reflect on last week’s AHRC-supported free film screenings which took place as part of the University of Birmingham Arts and Science Festival.

These events were free and arose from partnerships between the Modern Languages Department at the University of Birmingham and local arts and cultural organisations.

The events are led by my colleague Dr Claire Peters, a Teaching Fellow in French and Francophone Studies, who was awarded funding from the AHRC Cultural Engagement fund to carry them out. Claire recently completed an AHRC thesis on Francophone Postcolonial culture.

I’m her mentor, which is a very worthwhile experience for me and allows me to share lessons learned from my own public engagement events in the UK, metropolitan France and Martinique.

My AHRC Midlands3Cities PhD student Antonia Wimbush is also part of the team as an assistant at the events, as part of her own training in public engagement.

The screening of Sugar Cane Alley / Rue Cases-Nègres [dir. Euzhan Palcy, 1983] took place on Wednesday 16th March 2016 at 4-6.30pm MAC Birmingham. We knew that the afternoon timeslot might be tough, but as this event is part of a wider University of Birmingham Arts and Science Festival, we had limited choice over the timing. That said, being part of the Festival was a wonderful opportunity, and ensured that the event was widely publicised.

Antonia did a great job of introducing the film (see photo above!), and afterwards Claire hosted a Q&A session with me on my own research into Zobel. I was delighted to have so many brilliant questions from the public, which included questions on adapting the novel into a film, Palcy’s career, Zobel’s wider works (and whether there were other film adaptations… not yet…!), the influence of Fanon and wider influences such as Negritude and the Harlem Renaissance. Our colleagues at the MAC had to politely but firmly eject us from the room at the end, as the next screening was due to begin!

The following night, Thursday 17th March 2016 from 7pm-9.30pm,  Claire gave a fantastic introduction to the film Black Skin, White Mask [dir. Isaac Julien, 1996] at The Drum. The film was followed by a lively comments session with the public audience, which gave rise to some excellent reflections on issues such as race, gender, identity, intersectionality and Negritude.

 

The overall feedback tells us that for many people in Birmingham, this was their first encounter with the French Caribbean, and that there is a real appetite for more Francophone events like this… so (shameless plug!) watch this space for the third screening in the series, which will take place in the cinema at The Mockingbird Theatre and Bar… more details to follow after Easter!

MLA at Austin, Texas

Happy New Year!

The Zobel project is on the move once again. I’m in Texas to present a research paper at the major research conference in my field, the Modern Language Association of America annual convention.

Thousands will attend this conference, which is held this year in Austin, Texas.

I’ll be speaking in a special panel on Caribbean Women, which will present four Francophone Caribbean case-studies. My fellow panellists and I will be exploring the role of women as novelists and cultural figures, as well as the representation of women in Francophone Caribbean literature and culture.

My own paper is entitled “Zobel’s Women” and I’ll argue that the depiction of women characters in Zobel’s literature is far more complex and interesting than has previously been acknowledged.

The MLA will be the biggest conference I have ever attended. Thousands register for it every year!

To prepare for it, I’ve been reading this Guest Blog by Natalie M. Houston, which is a great “Survival Guide” to academic conferences in general, and the MLA specifically! You might enjoy it too:

https://convention.commons.mla.org/guest-post/surviving-and-thriving-at-the-mla-convention?shareadraft=baba335_5682f9fa5936e

 

 

 

 

End of 2015 Round-Up

The Joseph Zobel centenary year is drawing to a close.

Looking back on the past 12 months, it is incredible to think of all the different activities that have taken place all over the world to celebrate the life and work of Joseph Zobel!

If you scroll down and click through the month-by-month archives for this blog, you’ll see spring activities such as March’s Paris Book Fair talks on Zobel where Roland Monpierre’s new graphic novel adaptation of Diab’-là was launched thanks to a crowd-funding initiative, with Patricia Thiéry’s excellent organisational skills…

… then it was on to April’s centenary events in Zobel’s place of birth, Rivière-Salée, in Martinique, and even me popping up on the Martinican evening news in May, and on ZoukTV with Raphaëlle Bouville, Frantz Edouard and Rodolf Etienne…

…in June and July, there are a couple of reports, including one published with the Guardian Higher Education Network website, about the discovery of a watercolour with a mystery link to Zobel at the British Library in London…

…followed by autumn or, as the Americans say, Fall, when I made an extended visit to Emory University, Atlanta. This was a chance to reflect on some of the continuities between the American Deep South and the Caribbean, and to give research talks about the laghia combat dance, as well as having great fun teaching La Rue Cases-Nègres to Undergraduates…

…then in November, three generations of Zobels – including Joseph’s daughter, Jenny, and granddaughter, Emily, organised a sell-out special filming of Rue Cases-Nègres at Leeds Town Hall… And I reflected on the role of French Caribbean soldiers in WW1 in Zobel’s works, and an event held earlier in the year at the Library of Birmingham…

Alongside all these activities, the traditional academic research continues, as I’ve been drafting conference papers and a book on the work of Joseph Zobel…

As the year draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on the fantastic work achieved by so many different groups who came together to celebrate the author’s legacy. And as my Martinican colleagues have commented, now it’s time to think about our next moves – or, as they say in French, l’après-centenaire!