Want to hear our Honours students present their fascinating research? Are you an English student wondering whether Honours is right for you and want to see what it’s all about? Or do you just want to hang out with amazing people on a Wednesday afternoon? Join us for the Honours Colloquium!
As a small undergraduate department, we have an opportunity to give our Honours students an intensive research experience in which they spend a year working as apprentice scholars in our ENGL 4499 Honours Thesis course. Under the supervision of a faculty member, each Honours student develops a research topic, presents her findings to students and faculty in an Honours colloquium, and writes up her findings in an undergraduate thesis of approximately 50 pages.
Read about this year’s Honours students and what they’re working on:
Katelyn O’Brien
My thesis focuses on the characteristics of an emerging genre of literature called “Sartorial Memoir” (to borrow Emily Spivack’s term). “Sartorial Memoir” is a genre that concerns itself with people, clothing, and most importantly, people’s relationship to and with their clothing. I will be exploring how specific conventions of this genre, such as photography, ‘worn-ness’ and collective narrative all contribute to shape the genre and emphasize sentimentality/memory. The three texts I will examine are Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry by Leanne Shapton, Worn Stories by Emily Spivack, and Women in Clothes by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits and Leanne Shapton.
Hope Tohme
Hope Tohme’s research consists of human statues, hunger artists, and museum exhibits. Her readings of Kafka’s “A Hunger Artist”, Edward Carey’s Observatory Mansions, and Beckett’s Catastrophe emphasize the “thingness” of the human body, particularly during the absurd performances presented in these texts. Bill Brown’s Thing Theory serves as a basis for her argument that the human body can be reduced to, not only an object, but a thing – an object with an indeterminate use; an object that no longer fulfills the purpose it was meant to.
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If you’re a Mount English student and think you might be interested in an Honours degree, speak to your faculty advisor or the Department Chair. You can find some information about our Honours program on our Course Guide webpage.
Congratulations to all who graduated on Sunday, November 5th. Fall convocation is always smaller than the spring event but no less important. This year, convocation also included the official installation of Dr. Mary Bluechardt as the new president of the Mount.
Kyle Cross, B.A. Honours
Kyle Cross graduated with a B.A. Honours in English. Kyle is now in the B.Ed. program at the Mount.
Barbara Cochrane, one of the morning Valedictorians, graduated with a B.A. in French and a Writing Minor. She gave a lively address, drawing on her life experiences to give some good advice to the graduates. You can read her profile here. A couple of the English Department’s Writing courses and participation in the Annual Atlantic Undergraduate English Conference are some of the highlights of her Writing Minor experiences:
She remembers her courses in creative writing and editing most fondly. In 2012, she received an award from the Department of English for one of her written works, titled “Passed Down.” The piece focuses on obsessive compulsive disorder, combining parts of her grandfather’s diary from World War I, a poem written by her daughter, and her own obsession with counting as she works. She later presented it at an undergraduate English conference at St. Thomas University. (From the Mount’s online profile)
Above: Barbara Cochrane delivering the valedictory address. Image from the Mount’s Facebook page.
Ever wonder what it’s like to write an undergraduate Honours thesis?
Our Honours students have recorded a frank and informal conversation about their thesis research plans, their struggles to overcome distractions, and their efforts to get some writing done in their busy lives. Listen as Shelby MacGregor, Jessica Herritt, Rebecca Power, and Geena Kelly share their experiences in what we hope will be a series of podcasts following their progress throughout the year.
Comments? commiseration? advice? We welcome your feedback.
Mount English Honours students take a full-year credit course in which they research a topic of their choice under the supervision of a faculty member with the aim of writing a substantial thesis. In February, they present their research to other students and faculty in our Honours Colloquium.
MSVU English Department Blog 