Professor Elspeth Tilley of Massey University Successfully Concluded Her Visiting Fellowship at PKU

02/01/2024 --- Professor Elspeth Tilley of Massey University has just concluded a very busy and happy two-month Visiting Research Fellowship at New Zealand Centre, PKU. Professor Tilley was the first Massey Fellow to stay at PKU for two months after the pandemic, and she enjoyed a warm welcome, lots of opportunities, and an extremely productive time.

Between October 22 and December 23, Professor Tilley co-taught a postgraduate course on “Topics in World Literatures in English” with her PKU host, Professor Zhao Baisheng (Professor of Comparative World Literature and Transcultural Studies, Institute of World Literature, School of Foreign Languages (PKU), Director of the World Auto/Biography Centre (PKU), General Secretary of the Centre for Cross-cultural Studies (PKU), President of the World Ecoculture Organization, and President of the World Literature Association).

Co-teaching: Professor Elspeth Tilley and Professor Zhao Baisheng

Finding many disciplinary areas in common with Professor Zhao and his course, Professor Tilley delivered lectures on Formal Innovation in the Indigenous Literatures of Australia and New Zealand and on Soyinka and Shakespeare as world dramatists. She also gave feedback on students’ research presentations and shared and analysed New Zealand climate plays including some of her own works, to facilitate discussions about eco-drama. 
 

“Co-teaching on this course was incredibly helpful to advancing my research worldview,” Professor Tilley says. “Being asked to put my own and other New Zealand writers’ work into the broader context of world literature, and hearing the perspectives of exceptionally erudite Chinese students from such a top university, created insights I had never considered before. My thinking has been wonderfully expanded.” 

Prof. Tilley with Prof. Zhao with some of the students in the Topics in World Literatures in English class

Professors Tilley and Zhao also worked together to deliver a creative research event, Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) Beijing 2023, as a wider collaboration between Peking University and Massey University. The event, on Sunday December 17, was part of the global CCTA movement, and featured rehearsed readings of two short plays, Wayfinder by Massey University Indigenous Māori playwright Whiti Hereaka (in English) and Flotsam by Professor Tilley (in Mandarin, translated by Professor Zhao). 
 

The readings were followed by a lecture by Professor Tilley titled “Performing Change: How Theatre Creates New Knowledge About the Climate Crisis”.  Professor Tilley expressed her deepest thanks to all the cast and crew, and to the enthusiastic audience who attended, some of whom are pictured below.

Prof. Tilley, Prof. Zhao, cast, crew, and attendees at CCTA Beijing 2023

During her time at PKU, Professor Tilley also attended the PKU Study Abroad Fair with Massey colleague Dr Michael Li to share information about Massey University study abroad opportunities, and assisted as a “Question Master” at a PKU student English speech contest on “Diversity and Harmony”. “The speech competition was a highlight,” Professor Tilley says. “The students are so fluent, and the speeches were inspiring and thought-provoking. It was an honour to be involved.”

From right to left: Prof. Elspeth Tilley, Prof. Glen Penrod, and Asso. Prof. Liu Hongzhong
at the Speech Contest

As a result of the Fellowship, Professor Tilley has begun several collaborations with PKU colleagues including: co-editing a textbook with Professor Gao Yanli of School of Foreign Languages (in whose classes Professor Tilley delivered talks about youth culture in New Zealand); developing further eco-drama research with Professor Zhao Baisheng and PKU theatre studies doctoral candidate Zhao Zhiyun; writing an interview-based article about the theatrical work of former Artistic Director of PKU’s Institute of World Theatre and Film, Joseph Graves; and developing a playwriting collaboration with PKU graduate playwright, Zhang Ran. 

Professor Tilley gave a talk on New Zealand youth in A/Professor Gao Yanli’s class

“I am delighted to have made so many genuine connections and friendships,” Professor Tilley says. 

“This wonderful basis for collaboration in research and educational exchange simply would not have been possible without NZC’s Visiting Fellowship programme. It is a brilliant programme and being able to stay for two months enabled time to build true cross-cultural understanding and lifelong connections. I have an absolute wealth of high-quality research collaborations to progress once I return to New Zealand.”

As well as her PKU lectures, Professor Tilley delivered multiple other talks throughout the Fellowship that have helped to build stronger understanding and educational connections between New Zealand and China. These included: a November 17 presentation on New Zealand educational opportunities to the 2023 Silk Road Education Cooperation Expo in Xi’an, which opened international educational exchange dialogues with several Shaanxi universities; a presentation on “Transdisciplinary theatre research: Solving complexity with creativity” to University of Science and Technology Beijing on November 29; a presentation titled “Climate Change Theatre: Building Understanding Through Performance” at Beijing Jiaotong University on November 30 which has resulted in ongoing research collaborations on climate theatre with two Beijing Jiaotong faculty members; and a presentation on “Indigenous Innovators from Oceania: Breaking Form, Transforming Culture” to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on December 22. 

Additionally, on November 4th, Professor Tilley was invited by Professor Zhao to give a plenary address at Zhengzhou University in Henan Province to “Cross-border Research on Women’s Biography: The 30th Annual Conference of the Chinese and Foreign Biographical Literature Research Association”. The talk, titled “Turmoil, tension, and technique: How can women’s life-writing about trauma function as creative activism without retraumatizing its audiences or authors?” drew on Professor Tilley’s experiences facilitating and editing a book of life writing in 2017, and will be published in the journal Auto/Biography.

Professor Tilley presented at the 30th Annual Conference of the Chinese and Foreign Biographical Literature Research Assoc.

During her time in China, Professor Tilley attended six theatre productions in two cities to gather research data, and visited other Beijing universities including Renmin University and Beijing Language and Culture University. 

“I am deeply grateful to New Zealand Centre for the care and kindness shown me during my visit,” Professor Tilley says. “Associate Professor Liu Hongzhong went out of her way to be magnificently supportive in every possible way, Professor Liu Shusen was superbly generous with his time, even organising connections with other universities for me, and I simply could not have asked for a better host than Professor Zhao Baisheng. He not only facilitated multiple opportunities for educational exchange and research but made sure I saw interesting and beautiful sights of real China off the tourist track and met the locals, too.”

Professor Tilley asked New Zealand Centre colleagues to forward her gratitude to PKU students: “I also want to thank the many PKU students who helped me with getting settled in and finding my way, including Zhao Kai, Li Junhao, and in particular Hei Jiangning who was magnificently helpful right throughout my visit.”

Professor Tilley also stressed that “This trip certainly deepened the important educational links between our two countries and opened up multiple connections, but it has been a thrilling and life-changing experience for me personally, too. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my time here and can unreservedly recommend the Fellowships to any New Zealand researchers keen to discover what a feast of intellectual stimulation and genuine friendships PKU and China have to offer.”

Doctorate candidate Ms. Hei Jiangning, Prof. Tilley, and Assoc. Prof. Liu Hongzhong 
visit the New Zealand Centre

New Zealand Centre welcome event in November 2023 
From right to left: A/Prof. Ma Naiqiang, Prof. Zhao Baisheng, New Zealand Centre Director Prof. Liu Shusen, Prof. Laurence Simmons (UoA), Prof. Elspeth Tilley and Asso.Prof. Liu Hongzhong 

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