The Athabasca University (AU) Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS) program has several focus areas: ‘Adult Education’, ‘Canada, the North, and the Globe’, ‘Community Studies’, ‘Cultural Studies’, ‘Educational Studies’, ‘Equity Studies’, ‘Global Change’, ‘Heritage and Social History’, ‘Literary Studies’, ‘Work, Organization, and Leadership’ and ‘Writing and New Media’ (Athabasca University, Retrieved February 5, 2022). The focus area I am most interested in pursuing is Literary Studies, as I am fascinated with literature. Literature can be a powerful educational tool, providing the reader with knowledge, creative involvement and even escapism.
In “George Saunders: On Story”, Saunders imaginatively outlines his writing process. He describes how the element of fear is often present in the early stages of idea development, and how important it is to push through that initial apprehension and get the ideas on paper, so that the process of reworking and reorganizing story components can begin. Saunders equates this revision process with relating to a loved one: “the person in your life that you love, you know, you come back to them again and again and try to intuit their real expansiveness and you try to keep them close to you, you try to give them the benefit of that. So, in that sense, you know, you could see revision as sort of a form of active love. It's actually love-in-progress, I guess” (Redglass, 2017, 4:48). As a visual artist, I connect with Saunders’ views on continuous revision as the components of a story, or in my case, the elements of a painting, evolve. Saunders states: “Then once you put it down on the page, and write it and rewrite it, it's actually your own discontent with it that in some slow, mysterious way urges it to higher ground and often it will do so in ways that surprise you” (Redglass, 2017, 2:25). When creating visual imagery through painting, I often experience this “surprise” as the piece evolves, and this feeling prompts me towards further improvements in my work.
Through story, we can integrate other disciplines into our learning experience. Storytelling has been a medium for learning throughout human civilization, and not always through written word. During the Renaissance, for example, religious narratives were reflected in a variety of works of art. Christian theological beliefs were communicated to illiterate individuals through visual imagery. Artist Fra Angelico, in Figure 1 below, constructs a delicate and beautiful image to complement the religious narrative of the Annunciation in his fresco (Angelico, F. 1440-1445).
Figure 1. Angelico, F. (1440-1445). The Annunciation [Fresco]. Retrieved February 5, 2022,
As per the Athabasca University website, the Literary Studies focus area “encourages an interdisciplinary and comparative approach…across the humanities and the social sciences” (Retrieved February 5, 2022). Key concepts important to the focus area are engaging in multidisciplinary works, broadening thinking to ideas beyond the scope of any single academic discipline, and engaging with peers to understand other theories and perspectives. Group discussion forums are a great platform for an open sharing of ideas and a multidisciplinary approach to learning from one another.
I am able to draw connections between the Literary Studies focus area and many of the other focus areas, showing clearly the multidisciplinary aspect of the MAIS program. Each of the focus areas promotes reading critically and writing effectively as essential educational tools. Engaging with materials from across the focus areas allows for discovery of the interrelationships between diverse fields of thought and appreciation for the ways in which they enrich and extend the generation of ideas.
Saunders describes his ideas on story to explain life itself: “We're in this crazy situation called life, that we don't really understand” (Redglass, 2017, 0:05). Later in the video he states: “Storytelling, at least from my experience of it, I think it's a stand in for day to day life” (Redglass, 2017, 4:40). Whether one is the storyteller or the reader, insights into human nature can result.
Works cited:
Redglass Pics. (2017, October 26). George Saunders: On story [Video]. YouTube.
Angelico, F. (1440-1445). The Annunciation [Fresco]. Retrieved February 5, 2022, from http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/museum_of_san_marco.html
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