some retrospective thoughts on Lille

I think the best blogging happens when you record your thoughts as close to an event as possible. Then you get your raw, almost unmediated thoughts and feelings. So many thoughts, insights and ideas have passed through my head since my last entry in Lille but unfortunately they have either drifted away, morphed into something completely different or been replaced by something I now deem more relevant - like the supervision I had today, for example.

Its Monday evening, I'm sitting in bed and I have a serious cold (no temperature thankfully). But I am keen to note down at least a couple of things that still seem to have some currency in my thinking about the conference.

• I liked being in France - even though I don't speak or understand the language. There is something about how people engage with each other on the streets and across class lines, how they talk to each other, make eye contact on the Metro, how they buy bread and smoke in public that is just appealing. Nothing scientific about my observations here - its just how I feel about it. 

Trying to look super chic in Lille

• But I also experienced a sense of real marginalisation during a bilingual session on Friday that had a rather negative impact on my willingness to attend other bilingual sessions. Basically, the presenters didn't provide any English translation for their presentation and continued to speak predominantly in French even when I noted that I needed to have some translation. I experienced first hand how not speaking a language can be a factor that can lead to serious exclusion. It was not a nice feeling.
• My presentation went well, I finished within the prescribed time and my supervisor, who also presented in the same session, was suitably impressed with the progression in my focus since my HECU attempt in July. I got some interesting comments and questions - and an American professor was really bowled over by my accent and kept telling me this whenever she saw me again. Of course she also wanted to know if mine was a 'normal' South African accent, as the South Africans she came across in the States certainly didn't sound like me and I sounded a lot better than they did. Needless to say I didn't bore her with an explanation of how South African accents are markers of race, class, geographical location in the country etc...
• I had some really good, thoughtful and provocative discussions with people working in the general field of academic literacies in the UK. This certainly was the highlight of the conference for me. It allowed me to build relationships with my fellow student colleagues, while engaging with my supervisor and her peers at a really human level. At one point as we were walking back to the metro after the Friday sessions were over, one of us 'students' commented "Half of my bibliography is walking just ahead of us'.
• I also realised AGAIN that things are never what it seems - and gained some insider insight into how one expert views another's work - certainly something you would not catch a glimpse of just by reading their work. I was challenged not to take anything at face value - hard to do when as a student you are exposed to the experts in the field first hand and are just overwhelmed by being able to hear them speak, see them  face-to-face or get introduced to them as a colleague.

Sally, Lynn and Jackie - The OU's 'star' Academic Literacies PhD students - enjoying a small taste of French culture in the streets of Lille.