Leyla Chery

Jesus College
  • PhD student
Leyla Chery

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About

Research Topic: Trauma and survivance in Haitian Girlhood narratives

Supervisor: Prof. Charles Forsdick

Her research explores post-2010 Haitian literature, with a focus on representations of trauma, survivance, and repair in narratives of girlhood. She examines how literature engages with social rupture, political violence, gendered violence, and the legacy of colonialism, while also offering pathways to cultural memory and transformation.

Conference papers

  •  Rewriting Catastrophe: Planetary Collapse in Frankétienne’s Mélovivi ou le piège (Yon Planèt Dekonstonbre) (May 2025)
  • Survivance and Repair in Haitian Girlhood Narratives (October 2025)

Publications

  •  Youpi je sais lire, Volumes 1 & 2
  •  Wi, mwen konn li, Volume 1
  • Morigène et l’arbre magique (children's literature)

Other activities and roles

  • FGRS (French Graduate Research Seminar) convenor
  • Co-editor, Bulletin of Francophone Postcolonial Studies (BFPS)

 

Research

Her work engages with trauma studies, postcolonial theory, gender studies, and Caribbean epistemologies. She analyses a multilingual corpus of contemporary Haitian literature written in French, English, and Kreyòl through the lenses of poiesis, hauntology, and the feminist counter-Bildungsroman.

Schorlarships/Prizes: Kenneth Sutherland Memorial Scholarship

Teaching and supervision

In the academic year 2024/25, she provided supervision classes offering grammar and language support to undergraduate students, and contributed to seminars on Caribbean literature, trauma narratives, and postcolonial theory.

Leyla is a Research Assistant for the project 'Mapping Legacies of Slavery' and is a CHAS supervisor for Gonville and Caius College.