Shailini Vinod, a SGSAH-AHRC funded PhD student in Creative Writing and Sociology, has participated in the Spring School at the University of Duisburg Essen, and delivered a paper drawn from her thesis.
Part of the Mercator Research Training Group, the school, Openness, Tolerance and Sense of Community: Narratives and Realities of Contemporary Societies, ran between March 28 and 31.
During the event, Shailini gave her talk, entitled ‘Literary Representation, Media Portrayals and Societal Hierarchies’, which is based on a chapter within her study, ‘“That Shade of Brown”: A creative socio-literary exploration of the evolving concept of ‘Britishness’ and the mutual impact of migrant representations in literature and sociology’.
Following strongly positive feedback for her presentation, Shailini has been invited to deliver a talk this November at a lecture series by Aurora, entitled The Foreigner in the European Socio-legal Culture: The role of higher education in cultural socio-legal processes of inclusion and the fight against social inequality.
Earlier this year, Shailini was awarded the competitive SGSAH-AHRC funding for her interdisciplinary study that combines sociological research and theory, with a collection of short stories.
After being awarded the funding, Shailini took part in a SGSAH core training residential at Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae, where she was awarded the second prize in the SGSAH Millport Photography Competition.
As part of the public engagement aspect for her PhD, Shailini will be chairing the Performing Identities panel at the WayWord Festival, which focuses on the use of social media platforms for self-expression and identity performances.
In conversation with Celia Toks and Aiberdeen Mannie, the panel is scheduled to take place online on September 21.
For more information on the event, visit the booking page, here.