So I helped at a conference recently…

So I was a SPUR (summer programme for undergraduate researchers) intern with the English department this summer. I was helping Dr. Íde Corley organise a conference on Multiple Modernities of Same-Sex Sexuality in Nigeria. Don’t ask. As this conference was sponsored by the European Science Foundation we had to follow their rules and bureacracy which meant that undergrads (such as yours truly) were not allowed to attend the conference. So after working on it for six weeks I sat outside the door during the conference working on the budget. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the work, it was a great experience and I met some really interesting people during it and learned a lot etc. etc. I just started off knowing very little about queer theory and post-colonialism and now I don’t know much more. what I did learn was interesting though, it made me more keen than ever to do postgrad work.

There is more than likely going to be a book published from this conference, most of the delegates will write a chapter. It’s provisionally titled Vocabularies of Same-Sex Cultures and will be published by Routledge Press. Keep an eye out for it if you’re interested, like I said, the few bits and pieces I did learn were interesting and I want to find out what I missed!