Fête (faites!) de la Recherche
We just had the great pleasure of hearing five students present their research at our annual Fête de la Recherche! Maeve Donahue, Elliott Durham, Sahar Laleej, Ellie Madigan, and Aidan McCullough spoke about: antiracist politics in Béziers and Montpellier; tensions between tourism and conservation efforts in the Cévennes National Park; Montpellier's rhetoric of happiness; fictions of artificial life in prerevolutionary France; and the historical memory of the Holocaust in Alsace, respectively. These students also talked about the research process as it develops from brainstorming with friends and faculty to finding funding for travel and therefore being able to access exciting archives overseas. Above all the presenters at the Fête spoke to the beauty of independent research which allows one to combine multiple interests and fields of specialization into one single and highly meaningful personal interdisciplinary project.
The second half of the event featured a useful presentation by Kelly O'Shaughnessy, Director of Career Readiness Pathways (W&M Career Services). Now to see where our students' diverse interests will take them!
