Next up in our series of honours student interviews is Alexei L. Villareal, a graduate of the Honours English Literature program with a Minor in History. Alexei was previously a recipient of the 2024 UBC Undergraduate Prize in Library Research and the 2021/2022 Straker Prize, celebrating research excellence in the UBC Arts One program.
Scroll down to read through the complete written interview, where Alexei reflects on his academic experiences studying at the intersection of ethnicity, race, and law.
What is the title of your honours thesis?
“To the University I’ll Steal” : Theft, the Undercommons, and the University in R.F. Kuang’s Babel and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man
What interested you in this topic? Why did you choose it for your thesis?
I first encountered the work of Fred Moten and Stefano Harney during Dr. Bain and Dr. Wong’s iteration of ENGL 300: Introduction to Critical Theory. I recall reading the opening line to their chapter – “To the university I’ll steal” – and trying to extract any and all possible accounts for Moten and Harney’s rewording of Shakespeare. I later read R.F. Kuang’s Babel and Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, and I also took honours seminars again with Dr. Bain and Dr. Wong where we explored interventions from Black and Asian American studies, respectively. Somewhere in classroom discussion, the whirlwind of critical theory, and my countless readings, I began to piece together possible responses to Moten and Harney’s prompt.
What was your favourite part of the research process?
During my research process, Dr. Wong proposed a number of contextual readings and possible scholarly considerations for my paper. As a result, I came across the work of many Asian American and Black thinkers whose ideas largely informed the writing of my own paper. Regardless of whether or not I ended up referring to them later, I was able to learn more about these critical discussions of race as they relate to people navigating through institutions such as the university. Now that I have finished my degree, I find myself applying these ideas to my viewing of popular culture! More recently, this includes Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners.
Where do you hope to go next with your research or career?
This fall, I am excited to be able to say that I will be attending law school. While I am not sure yet what that entails for me, I have considered what it would be like to explore legal scholarship. The work of Kimberlé Crenshaw, for instance, has come up again and again throughout my undergraduate degree, encouraging me to think about the intersections of ethnicity, race, and the law. Perhaps someday I will be able to bridge the ideas which interested me during my BA and what I will learn in the coming years to write an LL.M thesis. Just let me get through the next three years first!
What advice would you give to someone who is excited but nervous about writing their honours thesis next year?
Don’t worry about kickstarting the process of your honours thesis with a fully-formed idea! Embrace the half-baked thought, the uncertain question. You have the entire duration of your research and writing process to fill in the blanks. Share any second thoughts with your colleagues and professors. Scratch that scholarly itch!
