The Theories and Textual Practices project aims to create a structured, peer-led programme for literature postgraduate researchers in LLC to help them better engage with the theoretical framework underpinning their research areas at the start of their degree programmes. It will cater specifically to researchers working with literary texts, but will also be relevant to those engaging with critical and cultural theory. Through these seminars lower-year PhD students will more quickly be able to familiarise themselves with the most recent developments in their chosen theoretical field, discuss the application of theory to literary texts with fellow researchers, and explore other avenues and strategies of which they may have been previously unaware.
This will facilitate the content-specific scholarly training of the postgraduate programmes, as well as provide an opportunity for networking and collaboration within the postgraduate community in the LLC. For upper-year PhDs, taking ownership of organising the framework for their own course will allow them to better develop themselves as instructors for future teaching opportunities within the School and elsewhere. The project aims to also establish a constructive and collaborative postgraduate environment across LLC by connecting researchers who are working on similar topics of interest.
The Theories and Textual Practices project is led by Dr Robert Irvine (English Literature) with support from the project’s research assistants, Muireann Crowley (English Literature) and Yanbing Er (English Literature).
You can read the research proposal of the project here for more specific details, including its rationale and conceptual basis, as well as its aims and objectives.