Deborah Vieyra

Graduate Liberal Studies | Master's degree | Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences

Tell us a little about yourself, including what inspires you to learn and continue in your chosen field

I am a South African-Canadian writer, teacher, and performer. My time at SFU has coincided with the onset and progression of my mother’s dementia. Academic and creative work have provided a container for processing the heavy heart(y) feelings of this chapter and the demented global context that has surrounded it.

My research brings together the study of life-writing and dementia, a potentially immiscible blend. The very materials of biographical production—language and memory—are dementia’s victims. However, rather than lean into their incompatibility, my research attempts to see them as supportive foils: dementia has something to reveal about life-writing, and vice versa. Dementia is a reconfiguration of memory and, in turn, memory’s relationship to language and the construction of self. How we write ourselves and others, and indeed the study of life-writing itself, is concerned with the same: the often agitated relationship between memory, language, and personhood.

Why did you choose to come to SFU?

SFU first drew me in with its publicly-engaged programming that enriches the lives of so many who might not otherwise interact with post-secondary institutions. My first port of call was the Writer’s Studio, which proved to be a high-bounce springboard to my MA. I got to immerse myselves in the puzzling out of form and its relationship to content, an investigation which continues now with my creative and academic work in the Graduate Liberal Studies program.

How would you describe your research or your program to a family member?

I’m writing a memoir about navigating my mother’s dementia with her. It takes the form of a cryptic crossword puzzle. Each clue is the title of a short chapter that brings together personal narrative, the history and science of dementia, and the memory loss we experience in our societies.

Cryptic crosswords are a maze of riddles. They test your ability to think elliptically and see words in a new way. They make use of things like puns and anagrams, and sometimes hide words inside words to lead you astray. So it's more than a simple general knowledge test.

You can do the crossword when I’m finished, if you have a Sunday afternoon to kill or a long train ride coming up.

What three (3) keywords would you use to describe your research?

Dementia, Life-writing, and Crosswords

How have your courses, RA-ships, TA-ships, or non-academic school experiences contributed to your academic and/or professional development?

As part of my MA coursework, I went on an international field trip to the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing (OCLW). This centre investigates what it means to tell the story of a life and all that comes with that, including the factual, the stretched, and the uncanny realities of being here and human. There, I realised that the challenge of attempting to tell my mother’s story was exactly where the mode of telling was to be found. I realised that you cannot tell this story without investigating the very thing that telling the story of a life is.

Now, in the final stages of my MA, I am participating in the 3M Thesis Competition—something I would recommend to every graduate student. It really helps you get to the point of what you’re actually doing, adrift without the life raft of time and words. Beyond that, it provides the opportunity to discover the research of others and to be inspired by the many twinkling lights that are being turned on all over the university.

I will be presenting my research at the SFU English Graduate Conference, Messy Processes, in June and am particularly excited to participate in a gathering that applauds the beautiful chaos that emerges from trying to say new and difficult things.

Have you been the recipient of any major or donor-funded awards? If so, please tell us which ones and a little about how the awards have impacted your studies and/or research

Last year, I was awarded the Jim Babcock Scholarship in Graduate Liberal Studies, for which I am beyond grateful. I would not have been able to travel to Oxford University without it—an opportunity which has had a major influence on my work.

In 2012, I received a Fulbright scholarship for my first MA in Applied Theatre at the University of Southern California. I wouldn’t have found my way to my current work if not for this earlier infusion of story-shaping.

What have been the most valuable lessons you've learned along your graduate student journey (or in becoming a graduate student)?

1.  It’s the stuff that makes you feel deeply that will fuel the long journey of graduate study. It’s worth finding out what that is.
2. Just keep going on your path, one foot in front of another, as slowly or as quickly as you need to go. There will always be distractions and reasons not to carry on.
3. Be prepared to feel out of your depth and a bit ridiculous. Revel in these moments rather than shy away from them.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

You’re not too old. If you’re reading this and are thinking, “Maybe I’m too old?” I’m here to tell you that you’re not.

Contact Deborah: deborah_vieyra@sfu.ca