On Saturday morning, students and staff filed into Archon Auditorium to watch students in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures (MLL) present their research in its many forms at the department’s annual colloquium. Five panels were divided by topic — “Representation and Gender Critique,” “Memory, Trauma and Resistance in Literature and Film,” “Collective Identity and its Limits,” “Problems of Translation” and an alumni panel that included Kenyon graduates from 2019, 2020 and 2021. The colloquium, intended to highlight innovative student work, is a valuable opportunity to learn about the MLL department’s various areas of study and potential career pathways.
“I’m going to rest, sweet nursemaid, lay me down.” This quote is taken from Marisa Kingsley ’25’s translated poem “I’m Going To Sleep,” based on the Algerian-Swiss poet Alfonsina Storni’s “Voy a Dormir.” In the “Problems of Translation” panel, students selected a poet whose works they translated into English, with the goals of furthering critical understanding of translation, as well as formulating their own translatory practice. Kingsley provided background on Storni and shared her translation process with the audience — reading the original poem aloud, doing a ‘trot’ (line-by-line translation) and then giving stanzas to her classmates for feedback. When asked about what inspired her to choose Storni’s poems, Kingsley explained that, among other factors, “learning about the time period she was writing in, I thought it was really fascinating and brave that she was going to go do that, because it was so male dominated.”
Katie Genzer ’25 was “excited to do a piece that could engage with contemporary discussion around Palestinian life.” Through social media, she reached out to theater companies in Palestine’s occupied West Bank, one of which referred her to the playwright Motasem Abu Hasan. Genzer explained to the audience that she was in the unique position of being able to directly text the poet with questions. She also provided the themes and motivations behind his work, and offered a history on the origin and evolution of Arab theater in the West Bank. Genzer described how Palestinian theater’s funding comes from non-governmental organizations based in the United States and Europe that want to see plays centering human rights within Palestine rather than detailing the Israeli occupation.
The panel’s final presenter was Robin Pratt ’26, who engaged the audience with Tajiki poetry, explaining the complexities of a misunderstood language as well as the life of the chosen author, Gulrukhsor Safieva, who escaped execution for her role in Tajikistan’s fight for independence. Pratt explained the features of Safieva’s poems that stood out to them, providing history on the Persian ghazal, a style of poem, and explaining the ethical difficulties of translating poetry. Should the translator be loyal to the structure of the poem, or impose their own poetic structures? Pratt’s answer was simple: “Poetry is supposed to be interesting,” they said. “There is no perfect translation.”
The alumni panel was another bright spot of the event. Erica Littlejohn ’19, an artist and lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, credited her time at Kenyon with her ability to connect empathetically with her international students to lessons from Kenyon. Littlejohn studied MLL as a Track III Italian Area Studies major. When Shannon Paige ’20 was a high schooler tasked with teaching French to Syrian refugees in her Switzerland hometown, she felt frustrated by her inability to speak Arabic and her lack of knowledge surrounding Syrian affairs. During her time at Kenyon, she majored in MLL and international studies, spending her junior year working directly with Jordanian refugee populations. Schuyler Bunn ’21 intended to major in English and first took French “for an easy A,” but an enthusiastic French professor changed her life. She now works as a French teacher to sixth, seventh and eighth graders, with much of her lesson-plan formatting initially originating from her time as a French teaching assistant.
Associate Professor of Russian James McGavran, who served as host and discussant during the panels, organized the event along with Associate Professor of Russian Anna Aydinyan, Assistant Professor of French Ian Curtis, Assistant Professor of Arabic Phoebe Carter and Administrative Assistant in the Academic Division Kristin Van Valkenburg. On the importance of the colloquium, McGavran wrote in an email to the Collegian, “My colleagues and I are excited to organize the Colloquium every spring because we are proud of our students’ and former students’ accomplishments, and we want the whole Kenyon community to know what fabulous work they are doing.”