The Acfas experience
Clearly, PhD student Alexandra Hillinger thinks there’s much to gain from participating in the Congress of l’Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas). The doctoral candidate in translation studies in Concordia’s Département d’études françaises (INDI Program) has taken part in the last two conferences and plans to do so again when Acfas comes to the university next spring.
She encourages other graduate students to join her.
Those wishing to participate in the Acfas congress have until November 25 to submit general session papers. As an added incentive, Concordia’s School of Graduate Studies will reimburse the application fee for students whose general session papers are accepted at Acfas.
Hillinger explains why she found the Acfas experience so rewarding.
What research did you bring to the congress?
Alexandra Hillinger: I participated in the Acfas congress for the first time in 2012, about a month before I defended my master’s thesis on the English translation of Des Sauvages by Samuel de Champlain. The experience really helped me in my defence.
Last year I presented the results of my first year of doctoral research on the English translations of the first novels coming out of Quebec in the 19th century.
This spring I’ll be part of a colloquium organized by [Département d’études françaises professors] Natalia Teplova and Judith Woodsworth on retranslations.
What was the experience like?
A.H.: This will be my third congress, so obviously it has been a really good experience if I keep coming back! Presenting your research can be daunting, and the friendly and supportive atmosphere really helps.
For me, the most fulfilling thing about the Acfas congress is meeting high-quality academics in my field. It’s really important for graduate students to connect with professors and this is the perfect opportunity to do so.
Has participating in Acfas helped your academic career?
A.M.: Most definitely. I would say the biggest benefit was the feedback I received on my work from other academics. Their comments helped me expand and improve on my research, which proved to be a huge benefit when it came to submitting my work to scholarly journals.
What would you recommend to graduate students who are interested in participating?
A.H.: If you’re presenting a general session paper, keep in mind that most participants will not be specialists in your field. The first year I attended, there was only one other student I spoke to who specialized in translation. This meant that I really had to make an effort to verbalize in more general terms specific concepts that seemed simple to me.