English Studies Students off to a Conference in Germany

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Two postgraduate students from the English Studies discipline in the School of Arts will attend a three-day postgraduate research conference at the University of Gottingen in Germany.  The students, Mr Alan Muller and Ms Rachel Matteau-Matsha, supervised by Professor Lindy Stiebel, are excited to be presenting chapters from their theses to other scholars from around the world. 

The event is the first Postcolonial Narrations postgraduate Conference which focuses on Challenging Boundaries: Postcolonial Narratives and Notions of the Global.  

The Conference will investigate ways in which authors respond to these processes and whether new literary strategies can be detected which are used to imagine notions of the global, to challenge narrative conventions and to possibly engender new genres.   

The Conference is designed for PhD students and Postdocs who work in the field of Anglophone postcolonial literatures and cultures.  It aims to provide a platform for exchanging ideas and to constructively discuss current projects. 

‘Postcolonial literature is a broad field and it will be a great learning experience to listen to and engage with the different perspectives of literature from other scholars,’ said Matteau-Matsha. It would also be interesting for the international scholars to hear research papers from South Africa and UKZN. 

Said Muller: ‘It will be the first time I have presented a research paper in Germany. It’s a great opportunity and provides us with a chance to interact with other scholars and receive valuable feedback.’ 

- Melissa Mungroo