Comparative Literature
Department’s Junior Year Writing Seminar held its annual colloquium
conference on Nov. 14th and 15th . Undergraduate students
in the class presented papers from a wide range of subjects that represented
the varied interests of comparative literature majors. About 25 students
participated, publicly presenting their papers to an audience that included
undergraduates, faculty, graduate students and other university members. The
colloquium was organized into panels of two or three students with related
papers. Each member of the panel had fifteen minutes to present. A question and
answer period from the audience followed each panel.
CompLit senior, Heather
Lember participated in the colloquium and said: "I thought it was great. I
skipped all of my classes on Thursday to see all of the panels. It was
interesting how diverse everyone’s topics were, yet they all somehow fit
within the boundaries of complit." Heather presented a paper exploring the
"riot grrrl" movement of the early 90’s and the way in which it
"made the mainstream watered down ‘women in rock’ phenomenon
possible." Heather said that at first the idea of presenting made her
nervous, "but actually presenting wasn’t a big deal".
Other topics included
literature and television in the 1950’s, Japanese rock and roll, zombie
comedies, and the literature of Roald Dahl in education.
According to Alix
Paschkowiak, this year’s Junior Writing Seminar teacher and organizer of the
Colloquium, this was the largest colloquium so far. Alix says that all of the
students seemed incredibly motivated and interested in their research. They
were nervous but excited about presenting and it seemed to be a really positive
experience for everyone. She also said that Professor William Moebius,
Chairperson of the Comparative Literature department, was extremely pleased and
enthusiastic about the student turnout and level of work that the presenters
exhibited, as well as their poise and demeanor in presenting.
As a participant in the
colloquium, I thought it was a great experience actually being able to
hear what projects interest other students in my department. I think a
lot of students often feel as though they are working in a vacuum having little
or no interaction with each other. This colloquium was one of the first times
that I have felt like a member of the department rather than just another
student taking classes. The opportunity to practice public speaking was also
welcome, you have to have a lot more confidence in your work to present it in
that type of situation rather than just handing it in to the teacher.
