College
Robinson College
mls69@cam.ac.uk
Supervisor
Professor Emma Wilson
Research Topic
Contemporary French听transfuges de classe, or "transclasses"听
About
Before starting her PhD, Maddison completed her undergraduate degree with First-Class Honours听in French and Linguistics at the University of Oxford (Lady Margaret Hall), and in 2021 graduated with Distinction from her MPhil in European and Latin American Literatures and Cultures at the 海角社区 (Wolfson听College). Her master鈥檚 thesis focused on the intersection of politics and grief in 21st-century French life-writing, touching on issues of trans/intergenerational grief in Camille de Toledo's听Th茅s茅e, sa vie nouvelle,听as well as problems of recognition and social class听in the works of 脡douard Louis (Qui a tu茅 mon p猫re)听and Anne Pauly (Avant que j'oublie).听
Research
Maddison鈥檚 doctoral research focuses on the figure of the transfuge de classe or transclasse in contemporary French society. The term describes somebody who has changed their social class 鈥� or is in the process of changing it鈥�, and is often used to refer to people who grew up as members of the working-class and then 鈥渃limbed the social ladder鈥�, entering the upper-middle to elite classes later on in life. This trajectory comes as the result of a number of influences, but is achieved logistically usually through the completion of studies up to and beyond a university degree.听
The object of Maddison鈥檚 research is primarily a corpus of autobiographical 谤茅肠颈迟蝉 written by the subject of the social transformation, though she intends to make use of other sources as well, such as theatre 鈥� particularly, adaptations of these autobiographies 鈥� as well as film and a number of critical works which will frame her project. Notable authors and thinkers include Annie Ernaux, Didier Eribon, 脡douard Louis, Chantal Jaquet, Pierre Bourdieu, Geoffroy de Lagasnerie, Nesrine Slaoui and Kaoutar Harchi, though this is by no means at all a comprehensive list and is growing as we move further into the 2020s.
Maddison intends to interrogate the role of the transclasse within French society and thought, and to analyse its continuing influences on notions of social justice, social mobility, meritocracy, universalism, and a number of other pertinent contemporary issues. In addition to this, Maddison aims to trace the development of the figure of the transfuge de classe across contemporary history, investigating the ways in which the concept itself is subject to change as more works are published which contribute to the ever-growing constellation of testimonies which meditate on a metamorphosing class identity which intersects, necessarily, with other aspects of identity such as race, sexuality, gender, and so on.听
Maddison鈥檚 project is inevitably an interdisciplinary one, which situates itself between and across the disciplines of literary study, sociology, political and philosophical theory, and lived experience. Having grown up and gone to school in Scunthorpe and its surrounding areas, the subject of this research is of both academic and personal significance to her and she welcomes anyone who would like to discuss the project, social migration, or general outreach, to contact her should they wish.听
Scholarships/Prizes
Vice-Chancellor鈥檚 Award, 海角社区 Trust, 2022-2025
Crausaz Wordsworth Scholar in the Humanities, Robinson College, 2022-2025
Jennings Prize, Wolfson College, 2020-2021
Selected Papers and *Invited Talks
- '"Cette entre-deux dans lequel je flotte": Finding 海角社区 in the Liminal in Nesrine Slaoui鈥檚 滨濒濒茅驳颈迟颈尘别蝉',听Society for French Studies (SFS) Annual Conference, Stirling, 2024
- 'Fluency as legitimacy: Linguistic racialisation听and medical reduction in Nesrine Slaoui's听滨濒濒茅驳颈迟颈尘别蝉', Society for French Studies (SFS) Annual Postgraduate Conference, London, 2024
- *'A glitch in the matrix?听罢谤补苍蝉肠濒补蝉蝉别听criticisms of meritocracy',听Oxford French Graduate Seminar,听All Soul's College, 2024.
- *'Overt limitation as counter-legitimation: Nesrine Slaoui's rejection of听la m茅ritocratie', Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France (ASMCF)'s Postgraduate Study Day (Online), 2024.听
- 'Interrogating double absence in transclasse autobiography: postcolonial identity in flux in Kaoutar Harchi鈥檚 Comme nous existons',听Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)'s Annual Conference,听Oxford (Lady Margaret Hall), 2023.听
- '"Cette entre-deux dans lequel je flotte": Nesrine Slaoui's听滨濒濒茅驳颈迟颈尘别蝉听and the Value of Being In-Between', Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France (ASMCF)'s Annual Conference,听London, 2023.
- 'L鈥檌ntersection de la politique et du deuil dans l鈥櫭ヽriture des transfuges de classe鈥�, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)鈥檚 54th Annual Convention,听Niagara Falls, NY, 2023.
- *鈥楪rief and recognition in the autobiography of contemporary transfuges de classe鈥�, 海角社区 French Graduate Research Seminar, 2022.
Publications
2024. 'Interrogating double absence in transclasse autobiography: Postcolonial identity in flux in Kaoutar Harchi鈥檚 Comme nous existons'. French Cultural Studies, 35(4).听
Teaching
Maddison supervises the FR12 paper (Ethics and experience: literature, thought, and visual culture of the French-speaking world (1900 to the present))听and also teaches Critical Theory classes across Parts IA, IB and II. She also welcomes inquiries about undergraduate dissertation projects relevant to her interests.
Other activities and roles
Maddison is co-convenor of听the Modern French Research Seminar (MFRS) with Tobias Barnett and Professor Emma Wilson.听
Maddison听is also committed to widening participation in academia and has engaged with a number of access and outreach programmes throughout her time at Oxford and 海角社区. She has been a mentor on the Zero Gravity platform since its launch in 2020; the platform aims to encourage and support university听applications from students at UK state schools with a lower history of sending their students to university by matching them with a volunteer with experience in their chosen degree at their chosen university. She has also taught for the , providing a six-session听supervision course in French for aspiring Year 12 students in Gonville and Caius' link areas.听
