MrKis: First Task after PhD

A few days ago I was on the reviewers panel to examine a research proposal by one of our graduate students. I was excited that I was invited by our department to be one of the panel members. There are two reasons at least for my excitement. First, I just recently completed my PhD at Deakin University in Australia and returned to my home-country university, Syiah Kuala University in Aceh Indonesia (www.unsyiah.ac.id). Invited for the first time on the panel after coming back from your study, I think, is a one of kind experience that makes anyone feel appreciated, trusted, and worthy. This is not to say that I have never been on the examination panel before. I have; but at the undergraduate level. Not to brag, but the feeling is like "you are a PhD now, and you qualify to scrutinize (this is not the word students loves to hear) and discuss the work of graduate students." Though, the purpose is not at all to pick to pieces your students' work, but more to help them improve and enhance their research. I think most academics have had this experience some time somewhere in his journey although some are not appreciating it by telling other people how they feel and just keeping it to themselves. So, that is number one.

Second, the excitement came from the fact that the first proposal I happened to be assigned was about fiction analysis. I love literature, I have to say although my specialization is in Dialectology and Sociolinguistics. But I just cannot hide my special interest in the works of fiction. And this is also the explanation for my excitement when assigned to pair with a senior lecturer to teach Literary Studies Course at the Graduate Program at our university. I like to read works of fiction, novels especially, from Aceh, where I am based, Indonesia, and English novels, both classic and contemporary works. I also read international novels (from non-English speaking countries) which have English translations. I am grateful that I know English so that I have access to this kind of works which I would not have had if I had given up learning English when I was younger. You would be grateful to know English especially when you come from a place where English is traditionally seen as the language of infidels, although that view is starting to fade away as the world becoming more and more globalized and English is your 'bolt cutter' to 'trespass' the border. So, this is the second reason I was excited to be on the proposal seminar panel.

By the way, the student proposed to analyze 'The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf', a novel written by Mohja Kahf. The novel was published in 2006. It is about a girl named Khadra who migrated to the US from Syria with his parents when she was still very young, 3 years old. It raises the common theme about people moving to a different place, faced displays of the new landscape, people, and culture. Only this time it is viewed from a unique angle and, as almost always with the US context, with the backdrop of 9/11, (probably with a little clash of civilization) which automatically reminds you of a movie from the same year "My Name Is Khan."

This student wanted to analyze the cultural elements of the novel. It sounded a little ambitious at first, unfortunately. This is because her proposal did not reflect in-depth the knowledge of approaches to fiction analysis, including what theories to use. Neither does it reflect the knowledge the actual cultural contexts of the United States, Syria, and Islam around which this novel revolves. Lack of depths of understandings of these elements can prevent someone from having a good command in making judgment and evaluation of the novel. This knowledge is very important in addition to, off course, your reading of the novel from front to back. The good thing is that the student loves reading. This will help her with exploration of theories needed to add weight to her proposal and thesis as she proceeds. It will be exciting to see how her journey evolves while picking up on my own stuff as a coming-back staff who had been on study-leave for seven years.

#LifeafterPhD