51社区黑料

Graduating today with a BA honours degree, Callie is departing 51社区黑料with a double major in History and World Literature (hons). The honours notation on Callie鈥檚 degree denotes a dedicated research component completed in addition to the standard undergrad degree requirements. Undertaken in close collaboration with a faculty supervisor, the honours process gave Callie the unique opportunity to pursue an extended independent research project that followed a topic of her own choosing through to a sustained piece of scholarly writing.

For her honours essay, Callie examined Su Tong's 1989 novella Raise the Red Lantern looking specifically at its portrayal of women. As the final step in the process, Callie presented her research paper 鈥淎nything Except Human: Timeless in Women in Raise the Red Lantern鈥� to fellow students and faculty last week. In examining the novella's portrayal of a young woman torn between the values of modernity and tradition, Callie鈥檚 research probes broader questions about femininity in Chinese literature ultimately arguing that 鈥�Raise the Red Lantern shows how the existing trope of timeless women in Chinese literature do not actually imagine female liberation, but dehumanisation.鈥�

鈥淭hrough this image of a young woman trapped between the past and present as a metaphor for China鈥檚 social conditions, Raise the Red Lantern implies that the depiction of women in relation to time is directly related to how female liberation and more broadly, how the condition of femininity is thought of within cultural imagination.鈥�

Completing an honours research project is a notable scholarly achievement and one that is not typically available within standard undergraduate coursework. Reflecting on the extended research experience, Callie describes the process as "a marathon compared to the way an in-class paper is like a sprint," and says it reinforced for her the importance of perseverance 鈥� particularly the value of "being able to force [herself] to continue with a paper... and to keep fighting to make it better." Bringing raw vulnerability to the table, Callie admits to battling nihilism and internalized hatred for her own abilities as a student during this process. 鈥淚n that regard鈥�, Callie reflects 鈥渢his experience really reinforced for me, the importance of perseverance despite self-criticism鈥�. A lesson academics and creatives alike will certainly resonate with.

Ultimately, what Callie says she valued most about undertaking an honours degree was "being able to spend another year in the WLL community and be around such supportive and conscientious faculty鈥�. She expressed particular gratitude toward her supervisor Mark Deggan, both for how he encouraged her through a lot of the self-criticism and for this dedicated feedback and the dedicated time to absorb it which the honours process allows. As a final reflection, Callie remarks that 鈥渉aving the opportunity to really sit with [Dr. Deggan鈥檚] advice in the format and setting of an honours arena is something I think I'll carry with me far beyond the experience of just a degree or career.鈥�

During her time at SFU, Callie has been an inspiring presence for students and faculty alike. Serving as Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Lyre - World Languages and Literatures student-run literary journal, along with volunteering as Co-Academic Chair and panel moderator for the World Literature Student Conference (where she also presented undergraduate research several years in a row), Callie is one of those students whose presence within the department will not go unnoticed. We are all proud of her hard work and achievements and look forward to what this next chapter holds in store for her.