By Aaron Nipper |ContributorAssociate Professor Giada Biasetti, Associate Professor Liana Babayan and Assistant Professor Anna Harris-Parker, all from the Department of English and Foreign Languages, gave Life of the Mind presentations in the JSAC Coffeehouse on Wednesday, Jan. 30.The presentation was centered around each of their research. The Life of the Mind lecture series is meant to showcase research, scholarship and creative activity from the faculty in the Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The three professors' respective lectures covered similar themes, such as how much respect, or lack thereof, women gain in different societies, and how literature is used as a vehicle for expressing pain or difficult experiences. The theme of the presentation was to examine how psychological and physical pain played various roles in poetry, novels and fiction.After an introduction from Professor June Zhao, Harris-Parker was up first to present. Her research was on two books, "Elegy" by Mary Jo Bang (Graywolf Press) and "What the Living Do" by Marie Howe (W.W. Norton). Her presentation, “'Moments of Wholeness': Reading Marie Howe’s and Mary Jo Bang’s Elegiac Verse," was interwoven with a powerpoint she made. Harris-Parker went on to talk about the differences and similarities in the two, with Bang’s book mourning the loss of her son, Michael, who died from a drug overdose. Howe’s book covered the death of her brother John, who died due to complications from AIDs. Both of the books rely on the tradition of elegy, which begins with a lament, moves into praise for a person, place or thing, and ends with a resolution. They are both representative of how people grieve differently, but at the heart of both is still trauma. "Elegy" has several differences in form, frequently imploring formal elements such as capitalization, quatrains, and end rhymes; whereas in "What the Living Do," Howe is “more of an active participant in her free verse poems," focusing heavily on family and friends.Next up was Biasetti, presenting her research on the analysis of historical figures who gain historical importance in society and in literature. Biasetti, who teaches Spanish, covered two historical novels that situate women into historical turmoil. Her presentation compared protagonists Catalina de los Ríos y Lisperguer and Malinalli. The comparison is of the trauma that they both experienced. In many legends, the women have been portrayed as depraved and evil. However, these novels portray the females in another light, one that brings out the trauma and pain that they endured. Their portrayals in the historical novels tear down the patriarchal rendering of women as traitors or conniving individuals, instead making them human and relatable.Finally, Babayan, who teaches French, presented her research on "Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow," a novel by Faiza Guene (Mariner Books), which roughly translates to “just like tomorrow.” It is the story of an American-born 15-year-old girl Doria, who is growing up poor in the suburbs near Paris, ironically named Paradise Estates. Her father left her family when she was very young, and it scarred her mother. It is representative of women being abandoned by French society. The novel tells the story of her pain and depression. The book opens with her meeting a psychologist and responding to her help with sarcastic remarks, which sets the tone for the rest of the book. Doria never calls her dad by name; she just refers to him as “the bearded one." Her mother is also in pain from the father leaving, but never explicitly talks about it, just cries daily. Doria notices that physically she is present, but mentally she’s “even farther away than my father." Doria is not very fond of the condescending social workers with their superiority complex. Their disdainful attitude is mirrored by the snooty attitude her teachers have. In addition to an adolescent girl questioning her existence, more pain is piled onto Doria by the fact that they are poor. Most of her clothes come from charities, which leaves her “physically, and emotionally vulnerable.” Dr. Babayan’s research goes in depth about how Doria’s life experience mirrors the trials that many women in France, and, specifically immigrant women, face on a daily basis.The professors' research covered topics relating to women and empowerment, as well as doing away with patriarchal oppression, which is very much needed in today’s society, what with all the men who never learned how to keep their hands to themselves. There was a Q&A after the presentation. Contact Aaron Nipper at TNIPPER@augusta.edu.