Report on RHUL Postgraduate Research Day

Postgraduate Research Day
Conference report: ‘Interrogating the Postcolonial’
Royal Holloway Postcolonial Research Group, 29 July 2008

The inaugural Royal Holloway Postcolonial Research Group postgraduate research day, entitled ‘Interrogating the postcolonial’, was held on 29 July 2008. Attended by 25 postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers from RHUL and beyond, the day began with a short introduction to the history of the group by co-convenor, Dr David Lambert (Geography, RHUL). Dr Yasmin Kahn (Politics, RHUL) then introduced some of key intellectual themes for the day by considering the continuing salience of postcolonialism. Attention next turned to the first presentation panel. I began proceedings with an account of new directions in Irish postcolonial theory organised around a case-study of Irish novelist Flann O’Brien. This was followed by Lucy Watson’s (Southampton) discussion of whiteness, femininity and Australian nationalism in the travel writings of Mary Gaunt, and Andy Pursell’s (RHUL) discussion of space and the theatricality of empire in the writings of Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad. The second session opened with a paper on colonial Colombo and postcolonial geographies by Lois Jones (St Andrews). Dan Haines (RHUL) then talked on the recovery of abducted women in post-Partition India and Pakistan, before Humaira Saeed (Manchester) completed the panel with a paper on trauma and representations of the partition of India in film. Following lunch, the participants broke into three smaller groups to discuss their work and its relationship to postcolonial studies. The day concluded with a keynote discussion, led by Dr Lambert and Professor Elleke Boehmer (Oxford), structured around readings selected by the speakers and involving all attendees. Themes addressed included the nature and status of ‘the archive’, cartographic representations of (post)colonial London, problems with postcolonial canon-formation, and questions of interdisciplinarity. The stimulating discussion offered by all attendees demonstrated that postcolonialism in its many forms continues to be interrogated at great length by early-career researchers across the disciplines. Given its success, it is likely that similar events will be forthcoming in future years.