A Collage of Impressions from the Day – by Paige Baziuk and Renée Colucci
Being able to speak with a living author about one’s research project is rare and asking the author for input while the project is still in its prototype stages is rarer still, thus why our group is incredibly grateful to have met with Ann-Marie MacDonald in March of 2024. Part of our experience that day included presenting her with a live data collection session. This session was a significant moment in each team member’s eyes, resonating differently according to their unique academic background.
The data collection session resonated most strongly with many team members. Emily Mills, a student pursuing an MA in Social Justice and Equity Studies, acknowledged that we were presenting an unfinished product, which is highly unusual in the world of many scholars, but especially literary ones. Emily shared that “We met MacDonald in the first phase of our project, which meant that we didn’t have a finished product; instead, we had somewhat disjointed working components (e.g., coding spreadsheets, work logs, etc.). We admired MacDonald’s creative genius and wanted to prove that we had been doing justice with her work. Therefore, presenting our unpolished work was a mix of excitement and unease, but after witnessing her enthusiasm for our progress, it felt like we could release the breath we’d been holding”. To Mills especially, receiving MacDonald’s enthusiasm felt like the greenlight necessary to let our confidence in the project blossom.
Dr. Neta Gordon, the project lead, also reflected on the live data cataloguing session, but from a different perspective:
“I didn’t actually do any of the live cataloguing but found this moment intriguing to observe: it was so totally alien to any scholarly moment I’ve been a part of, as we were actively performing some of the sheer awkwardness of analysis. It’s a stop-and-start, recursive process, which – in the best of circumstances – eventually stops being tentative and feels intuitive, almost magical (though it’s always just very hard work). I think I liked the defamiliarization of the moment, and I liked watching Ann-Marie become somewhat bewildered and fascinated by it, as here was a moment when our world of scholarship looked a lot like a moment of artistic creation”. Gordon has been exploring the notion of sharing the methods of research in literary studies rather than presenting only the final project, and this was an example of that exploration coming to life.
Every team member was able to bring unique skills and experiences to the table. Olivia Hay, a student pursuing an MA in English Literature, noted: “As an English Literature student, I felt my close reading skills were highlighted for MacDonald. In our live data coding session, she witnessed the actual work of choosing a paragraph, close reading, and then categorizing the scene accordingly. I also thought that it was really neat to be able to show MacDonald the creativity in what we then did with that data in the form of things like story maps. I think it’s really fun that we were a demonstration on what else can be done after analyzing a text and you’re not just confined to essays.” The skill of close reading is not unique to the English discipline, but it is in this discipline that it is most developed and discussed.
Part 2 Coming Soon! PB & RC