2025 Colloquium
Welcome to the 2025 Colloquium, hosted in person Friday, March 21 at the Peña Room in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at 2pm. Every year, the ESA runs an open call for student academic papers and editors, from whom a select few will be invited to present their work! Please join us in welcoming this year’s papers and panelists (in no particular order):
“Haf thy helme of thy (Rolling) hed”: Games, Beheadings, and Crip Time in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and cihcipistikwân-âtayôhkêwin
[“Haf thy helme of thy (Rolling) hed”: Games, Beheadings, and Crip Time in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and cihcipistikwân-âtayôhkêwin] by Matthew Phan
Matthew (he/him) is in his third year studying English Language & Literature and Human Geography. He comes to unsurrendered Musqueam lands from Tovaangar (greater Los Angeles). He is currently interested in investigating ways of knowing and being in more-than-terrestrial spaces (i.e. oceanic, atmospheric, and digital) as a means to speculate on alternative/future temporalities. To these ends, he is broadly interested in reading across and within the slippages of seemingly disparate archives and texts, with particular commitments to Indigenous and Asian diasporic literatures. Outside of the classroom, he can often be found on minor transit adventures or scribbling strange poems on the verso of discarded sheets of scrap paper.
The Intricacies of Indian Experience: A Survey of Post-Colonial Commentary through Transpositional Adaptation in Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice
[The Intricacies of Indian Experience: A Survey of Post-Colonial Commentary through Transpositional Adaptation in Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice] by Sim Deol
Sim Deol is a fifth year undergraduate majoring in English Literature and minoring in Religious Studies. She loves to spend time with friends and family, watch horror movies, and crochet in her free time. At the colloquium, Sim looks forward to seeing the work of her colleagues and coming to understand the many different perspectives they all bring to literature studies.
Alice in Nordenland: On Following the Nordic Modernist Picturebook Tradition and
Intentionally Illustrating the Unsettling and Mature in Tove Jansson’s Illustrated Edition of
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
[Alice in Nordenland: On Following the Nordic Modernist Picturebook Tradition and
Intentionally Illustrating the Unsettling and Mature in Tove Jansson’s Illustrated Edition of
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland] by Anika Islam
Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Anika Islam is a third year Honours English Literature student
with a minor in Nordic Studies. When she isn’t working away furiously at another paper, you can
find her in the kitchen baking, in her room reading a book, or on her millionth rewatch of BBC
Merlin. Her paper, titled “Alice in Nordenland: On Following the Nordic Modernist Picturebook
Tradition and Intentionally Illustrating the Unsettling and Mature in Tove Jansson’s Illustrated
Edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” was written for her term one honours seminar,
and is a marriage of her major and minor, as well as her first foray into seriously investigating
children’s books and illustration. Anika is looking forward to hearing from the rest of the
brilliant student presenters at the Colloquium and getting to discuss this paper which she has
worked so hard on.
Representation and Resistance: Reconstructing Refugee Narratives in Y-Dang Troeung’s Landbridge
[Representation and Resistance: Reconstructing Refugee Narratives in Y-Dang Troeung’s Landbridge] by Lian Lo
Originally from Oakville, ON, situated on Treaty 14 Territory, Lian Lo (she/they) is now in her third-year studying Honours English Literature with a minor in First Nations and Indigenous Studies. She wrote her paper, “
Representation and Resistance: Reconstructing Refugee Narratives in Y-Dang Troeung’s Landbridge,” while studying Asian and Transnational Literatures with Dr. Christine Kim, exploring the convergence of model minority and good refugee standards placed upon Southeast Asian refugees in Canada. Outside of their studies, Lian loves to sing, listen to music, and have lengthy conversations with their partner and friends about anything and everything (preferably over good food). At this year’s colloquium, she is excited to hear other students’ ideas and have her first opportunity to share research in a professional setting.
Portable Hauntings: Ornament, Surface, and Biopolitical Precarity in Do Ho Suh’s Seoul Home (1999)
[Portable Hauntings: Ornament, Surface, and Biopolitical Precarity in Do Ho Suh’s Seoul Home (1999)] by Nicole Sobolewski
Nicole is a fourth-year honours English literature student with an interest in postmodern drama and theatrical works. Her paper, “Portable Hauntings: Ornament, Surface, and Biopolitical Precarity in Do Ho Suh’s Seoul Home (1999),” written for her honours English seminar (ENGL 491G: Asian Artificiality: Race, Matter, Circuits) taught by Dr. Danielle Wong, blends her passion for English literature and art. Nicole was particularly drawn to Suh’s medium and how it reflects broader themes of migrant precarity and displacement. She was deeply moved by Suh’s use of celadon silk and the ghostly sensation created by the installation’s suspended form.
In her free time, Nicole enjoys reading, spending time with her friends, and working out to Just Dance youtube videos before bed. She looks forward to discussing her work and hearing from other presenters at the colloquium!
We would also like to thank our editors for this year’s Colloquium: Henrique Vieira Fernandes, Aisha Chaudhry, Makayla Conn, Sally Elhennawy, and Adam Mah!
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