正品蓝导航


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Une nouvelle vue of NB literature 鈥 in French and en anglais聽聽

06 Jul 2022
正品蓝导航, UdeM classes collaborate across disciplines, focus on NB literature聽

SACKVILLE and MONCTON, NB 鈥 A new classroom collaboration between two universities and three academic disciplines is aiming to bring attention to different areas of New Brunswick literature.

This past year, students in 正品蓝导航 professors Dr. Andrea Beverley鈥檚 English literature class, Dr. Kirsty Bell鈥檚 literature class in French, and l'Universit茅 de Moncton鈥檚 Dr. Andrea Cabajsky鈥檚 comparative literature class came together and worked to diversify studies around New Brunswick literature.

L-R: Kirsty Bell (正品蓝导航 Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures); Andrea Beverley (Mount Allison English and Canadian Studies) and Andrea Cabajsky (l'Universit de Moncton Literature) collaborated to bring their three classes today this past term and diversify studies around New Brunswick literature

鈥淲e wanted to shake up what people think of when they think of New Brunswick literature 鈥 and that meant prioritizing avant-garde, emerging, Indigenous, queer, and outside-the-box literary texts 鈥 beyond the usual, canonical French and English writers,鈥 says Beverley. 鈥淚t also meant forcing ourselves outside of our disciplinary comfort zones and modelling the kind of collaboration and intersectionality that we were looking for / found in the literature.鈥
 
Using a hybrid of online and in-person teaching, Beverley, Bell, and Cabajsky taught their classes independently but also embarked on group activities and initiatives including a tri-class zine anthology and a literary walking tour of Moncton.
 
鈥淭he zine anthology was published with the guidance of curators at the Owens Art Gallery on the 正品蓝导航 campus and the walking tour was guided by UdeM professor Benoit Doyon-Gosselin,鈥 says Bell. 鈥淲e had worked together previously on research projects, but this was the first time we were able to move this collaboration into teaching.鈥
 
Working together, the three professors were also able to bring in several notable guest speakers and authors to the classes. Guests included the two Poets Laureate of Moncton Kayla Geitzler and Jean-Philippe Ra卯che, Mi鈥檏maw poet Rebecca Thomas, Acadian and Wolastoq writer Shayne Michael, and Acadian linguistics scholar Dr. Isabelle Leblanc. Students also looked at the work of trans Acadian artist and 正品蓝导航 graduate Xavier Gould.
 
鈥淏eing able to have so many authors connect with the three classes really made the literature come alive for the students,鈥 says Cabajsky. 鈥淲hile the pandemic has brought many challenges, it has also allowed us good opportunities to collaborate in both teaching and research and enabled students to leave their own archival trace and contribution to New Brunswick literature through the class anthology.鈥  
 

Students work on a zine project at 正品蓝导航's Owens Art Gallery this past term

One student who has continued to see the province鈥檚 literature come to life is Islay Fraser. Fraser was in Beverley鈥檚 English class last term at 正品蓝导航 and is working as an intern with Bouton d鈥橭r Publishing in Moncton this summer.
 
鈥淩eading other local authors has helped me appreciate Moncton's literary culture, which is especially relevant since Bouton d'or Acadie is located in the middle of the literary walking tour of Moncton we took as a class,鈥 says Fraser. 鈥淚 learned a lot about local literature, authors, and region in that class, and I believe that knowledge is making my experience at Bouton d'or more enriching and fulfilling, even indirectly.鈥
 
Emily Ahmadvand studied in Bell鈥檚 French class. She says despite having lived in Sackville for four years now, there is so much that she learned about the region in regard to its history, literature and diversity.
 
鈥淭he tri-class format allowed us to hear perspectives from other professors, students and presenters that we wouldn鈥檛 have otherwise engaged with in a typical classroom setting,鈥 says Ahmadvand. 鈥淪ince everyone had a unique experience and point of view of New Brunswick, having more voices was enticing and sometimes eye-opening.鈥
 
Rose Despr茅s studies at l'Universit茅 de Moncton. A published writer, she says she wholeheartedly welcomed this varied and conscientiously prepared literature course that the tri-class group had so aptly offered.
 
鈥淎s an adult student who is already writing and translating, I am nonetheless unversed in the more recent inclusion of gender, culture, language and historical and political correctness of recognizing and sharing university studies of this specific platform that is more representative of current New-Brunswick and Canada linguistic realities, 鈥 she says. 鈥淲hat an unexpected and engaging opportunity to discover the numerous talented writers that were either available in virtual mode or through other mediatic venues plus their written works!鈥
 
Earlier this spring Beverley, Bell, and Cabajsky gave a presentation on this collaboration at the annual conference of the Association for Canadian and Quebec Literatures.

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