Saturday, 7 January 8:30 a.m.
401. Emily Dickinson in Her Time and Ours
8:30–9:45 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 4, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Emily Dickinson International Society. Presiding: Vivian R. Pollak, Washington U in St. Louis
1. “Caught ‘in the Crease’: Dickinsonian Lyricism and Social Recognition,” Ryan Cull, New Mexico State U, Las Cruces
2. “Whose Society? Examining Apple TV's Dickinson,” Kathryn R. Kent, Williams C
3. “‘Peace is a fiction of our Faith—’: War in Dickinson's Time and Ours,” Cristanne Miller, U at Buffalo, State U of New York
4. “Emily Dickinson's Posthuman Corpses,” Jessica Elkaim, U of Toronto
402. Global Christianities and Global Literatures
8:30–9:45 a.m., 2002, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Conference on Christianity and Literature. Presiding: Mark Andrew Eaton, Azusa Pacific U
1. “Milton's Early Modern English Protestant Paradise Lost on the Modern Mexican Public Stage,” Angelica Alicia Duran, Purdue U, West Lafayette
2. “A Global Literature of Vernacular Proportions: Language, Religion, and Resistance in Modern Bengali,” Bennett Comerford, Harvard U
3. “A Clash of Kingdoms: Secondary Trauma and Spiritual Formation in Purple Hibiscus and Transcendent Kingdom,” Mary McCampbell, Lee U
Respondent: Cynthia R. Wallace, St. Thomas More C, U of Saskatchewan
403. Modernist Forms: Langston Hughes and His Contemporaries
8:30–9:45 a.m., Pacific Suite E, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Langston Hughes Society. Presiding: Richard W. Hancuff, Misericordia U
1. “On the Margins of Modernism: Langston Hughes in the New Masses,” Richard W. Hancuff
2. “‘I, Too, Am America’: Desegregating the Modernist Manifesto,” Noreen O'Connor, King's C
3. “‘Child of Charm’: Josephine Baker's Parisian Primitivism,” Tracey Sherard, C of the Canyons
404. Working Mothers and Lost Daughters: Doris Lessing's Motherhood in Contemporary Context
8:30–9:45 a.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the Doris Lessing Society. Presiding: Robin E. Visel, Furman U
1. “The Working Mother in Doris Lessing's Letters, Archived at the Keep, University of Sussex,” Saskia May, U of Sussex
2. “The Memoir of Whom? Jenny Diski's (In)Gratitude,” Seda Arikan, Firat U
3. “The Rhetoric of Choice and Motherhood in Kawakami's Breasts and Eggs and Lessing's The Fifth Child,” Courtney Patrick-Weber, Bay Path U
Respondent: Sandra Singer, U of Guelph
405. Accessibility all'Italiana: (New) Pedagogical Approaches and Methodologies in the Inclusive Italian L2 Classroom
8:30–9:45 a.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the American Association of Teachers of Italian. Presiding: Elisabetta Sanino D'Amanda, Rochester Inst. of Tech.; Marina Melita, Marist C
1. “Screening Disabilities: Equity, Inclusion, and Netflix in the Italian Language Classroom,” Samantha Gillen, U of Georgia
2. “Neutral Language and Accessibility: Critical Issues and Possible Solutions,” Sara Galli, U of Toronto; Mohammad Jamali, U of Toronto
3. “Supporting Language Learning Best Practices for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students,” Elisabetta Sanino D'Amanda
406. How to Get Your Book Published
8:30–9:45 a.m., 3001, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Association of University Presses. Presiding: Philip Leventhal, Columbia University Press
Speakers: Rebecca Colesworthy, SUNY Press; Kate Marshall, U of Notre Dame; Jenny Tan, University of Pennsylvania Press; Alan Thomas, University of Chicago Press
University press editors and series editors discuss the book publishing process from proposal to publication, offering detailed, constructive advice on how to select the right press, when to contact an editor, how to write an effective proposal, peer review and revisions, copyediting and production, and audience and promotion. Participants also address current trends and challenges in publishing in literary studies.
407. Provincial Working Conditions in Pirandello: Sicily, the South, and the Mediterranean
8:30–9:45 a.m., Sierra Suite B, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Pirandello Society of America. Presiding: Ana Ilievska, Stanford U
1. “Against the ‘Enterprising’ Subject: Luigi Pirandello and a Life without Fangs and Claws,” Andrea Sartori, Cactus Worldwide
2. “I vecchi e i giovani: The Economic and Political Makings of Sicily during the Italian Unification,” Maria Vitti-Alexander, Nazareth C
3. “Pirandellian Provinciality: Realism and the Freedom of Imagination,” Michael Subialka, U of California, Davis
4. “The Pathography of Corporate Business: Corpse-stainable Neuralhood in Pirandello and Carter,” Matthew Mild, U of Keele
Respondent: Ana Ilievska
For related material, visit www.pirandellosociety.org/ after 16 Dec.
408. The Failed Hero in Iberian Epic Literature
8:30–9:45 a.m., 3005, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Société Rencesvals, American-Canadian Branch
1. “Epic Failures? Reassessing Some of Medieval Iberia's Legendary Heroes I,” Peter Mahoney, Stonehill C
2. “Epic Failures? Reassessing Some of Medieval Iberia's Legendary Heroes II,” Alison Carberry, Boston U
3. “Laying Down the Sword: The End of Castilian Epics,” Julio Hernando, Indiana U, South Bend
409. New Hampshire at One Hundred: Reflections on Working Conditions
8:30–9:45 a.m., Pacific Suite F, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Robert Frost Society. Presiding: Robert Bernard Hass, Edinboro U
Speakers: Jonathan N. Barron, U of Maine, Orono; Robert Faggen, Claremont McKenna C; Robert Bernard Hass, Edinboro U; Nancy Nahra, Champlain C
Robert Frost's book New Hampshire turns one hundred in 2023, and this session contributes to a yearlong exploration of that groundbreaking volume, which won Frost the first of his four Pulitzers. Participants reflect on the rural working conditions that New Hampshire’s poems highlight, particularly their attention to the labor—and release from labor—that animates the poems’ delight in outdoor and indoor environments.
410. [Postponed from 2022] Ilse Aichinger's Poetics of Distrust
8:30–9:45 a.m., Sierra Suite E, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Austrian Studies Association. Presiding: Helga Schreckenberger, U of Vermont
1. “Ilse Aichinger's Hope,” Matthew Johnson, U of Chicago
2. “Cioran and Ilse Aichinger,” Sugi Shindo, Nihon U
3. “Looked at Closely: Winter Answers as a Paradigmatic Case of Aichinger's Poetics of Distrust,” Christine Ivanovic, U of Wien
411. Multilingual Romanticism(s)
8:30–9:45 a.m., Sierra Suite J, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forums CLCS Romantic and 19th-Century and LLC English Romantic. Presiding: Emily Sun, Barnard C
Speakers: Nicole N. Aljoe, Northeastern U; Arif Camoglu, Colgate U; Paresh Chandra, Princeton U; Ou Li, Chinese U of Hong Kong; Marco Ramirez Rojas, Lehman C, City U of New York; Marc Redfield, Brown U
Participants engage with the topic by discussing multilingualism and multilingual encounters in Romantic-period texts in Britain, Europe, and beyond; multilingualism as methodological and critical promise of Romanticism; and multilingual legacies of Romanticism that exceed the temporal boundaries of the late-eighteenth- to early-nineteenth-century and the geographic boundaries of Britain and Western Europe to inform what may be called a “global archive” today.
412. Fabricating a Theory of the Culture of Climate Change
8:30–9:45 a.m., 3016, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TM Literary and Cultural Theory. Presiding: Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Columbia U
1. “Paradoxes of the Imagination,” Sarah Cole, Columbia U
2. “Carbon Majors,” Paul K. Saint-Amour, U of Pennsylvania
3. “Image, Idiom, Environment,” Rosalind Carmel Morris, Columbia U
413. More of a Comment than a Question
8:30–9:45 a.m., Willow, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Pre-14th-Century Chinese
Speakers: Mark Algee-Hewitt, Stanford U; C. P. Haun Saussy, U of Chicago; Elaine Treharne, Stanford U; Yunshuang Zhang, Wayne State U
Respondent: Eric Hayot, Penn State U, University Park
Much of the historical content of Chinese literature is composed of commentaries on major works. Including responses, interpretations, and criticisms of those texts, and commentaries on commentaries, these works undermine conventional thinking about “primary” and “secondary” textuality. Panelists put the Chinese tradition in comparative dialogue with traditions from other places and periods, including medieval Europe and contemporary United States fan fiction.
414. Surrealism in Portuguese
8:30–9:45 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 11, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Luso-Brazilian. Presiding: Tania Martuscelli, U of Colorado, Boulder
1. “Comic Abjection,” Fernando Cabral Martins, U Nova de Lisboa
2. “Surrealism, Poetry, and Visuality: Into the Universe of Counterimages,” Ana Isabel Santos, U do Porto
For related material, visit mla.hcommons.org/.
415. The Information Premodern
8:30–9:45 a.m., 3011, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC Chaucer. Presiding: Paul Megna, State U of New York, Purchase
1. “Chaucer's Database: Poetry and Information in the House of Fame,” Bernardo Hinojosa, St. Norbert C
2. “Caxton's Metadata,” Megan Cook, Colby C
3. “No New Information: Alchemy and Everyday Aesthetics,” Lisa H. Cooper, U of Wisconsin, Madison
Respondent: Emily Steiner, U of Pennsylvania
416. The Couplet Now
8:30–9:45 a.m., Pacific Suite B, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Restoration and Early-18th-Century English. Presiding: Helen Deutsch, U of California, Los Angeles; Kathleen Lubey, St. John's U, NY
1. “Couplets as Women's Work,” Lilith Todd, Columbia U
2. “Unseasonable Couplets: Pope's Pastorals in a Postseasonal Age,” Noah Brooksher, Brown U
3. “Priscilla Pointon's ‘Illegitimate’ Couplets,” Lesley Thulin, U of California, Los Angeles
4. “Amateur Couplets,” Rachael King, U of California, Santa Barbara
417. Chicanx YA Literature in the Twenty-First Century
8:30–9:45 a.m., 3009, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC Chicana and Chicano. Presiding: Ariana Ruiz, U of California, San Diego
1. “‘[F]or You, Our Youth, Our Future’: Chicanx Identities in Contemporary Young Adult Short Stories,” Cristina Rhodes, Shippensburg U
2. “Aspirational Mirroring: Representation and Possibility in Latinx YA Literature,” Marlee Northcutt, U of Kentucky
3. “Coming Out and into Community Dialects: Language and Lesbian Identity in What Night Brings,” Jamiee Cook, U of California, Santa Barbara
418. Archives of Labor in Nineteenth-Century Latin America
8:30–9:45 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 13, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 19th-Century Latin American
1. “The Colono and the Slave: Free and Unfree Labor in the Mexican Economic Imaginary, 1821–32,” Sergio Gutierrez Negron, Oberlin C
2. “Lo Invisible: Trabajo femenino y domesticidad en Julia Lopes de Almeida y Virginia Gil de Hermoso,” Luz Ainaí Morales Pino, Pontificia U Católica del Perú
3. “Mary Mann and Sarmiento's American Teachers: Labor and Hemispheric Femininity inside the School,” Yamile Ferreira, Washington U in St. Louis
4. “Working the Isthmus: Textual and Visual Archives of Women's Labor in Central America (1870–1900),” Patricia Arroyo Calderon, U of California, Los Angeles
419. Diversifying the Nineteenth-Century French Canon
8:30–9:45 a.m., Nob Hill D, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 19th-Century French. Presiding: Masha Belenky, George Washington U
Speakers: Maria Beliaeva Solomon, U of Maryland, College Park; Sharon P. Johnson, Virginia Tech; Michelle Lee, Wellesley C; Susanna Lee, Georgetown U; Michael Rosenfeld, Vrije U Brussel
Panelists discuss ways to diversify the canon of nineteenth-century French studies (gender, race, identities, geography, approach, genre).
420. Theoretical Approaches to Variation in the Romance Languages
8:30–9:45 a.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum LSL Romance Linguistics. Presiding: Francisco Antonio Montaño, Lehman C, City U of New York
1. “A Case Study of Variation among French-Heritage Bilinguals in a French Minority Language Context,” Randall Gess, Carleton U
2. “Creaky Voice and Prosodic Structure in Spanish,” Gavin Byrd, Florida State U; Susan Cox, Florida State U; Carolina Gonzalez, Florida State U; Gabrielle Isgar, Florida State U
3. “On Vowel Raising and the Lack Thereof across Ibero-Romance: Latin Short -o- Diphthongization,” Lamar Graham, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
4. “Repetition in a Multivariational and Intercultural Space: An Ecolinguistic Perspective,” Tabea Salzmann, U Bremen
421. In the Shadow of the Rock: The Literature of Gibraltar
8:30–9:45 a.m., Walnut, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forums CLCS Mediterranean and CLCS Global Anglophone. Presiding: Robert Patrick Newcomb, U of California, Davis
1. “Deep-Time Borderscapes in Contemporary Gibraltarian Poetry,” Edwige Tamalet Talbayev, Tulane U
2. “Molly Bloom's Spanish Gibraltars,” Leah Leone Anderson, John Jay C of Criminal Justice, City U of New York
3. “Strategies for Writing Gibraltar into the World,” Robert Patrick Newcomb
422. Decolonize Your Syllabus with African Literature and Media
8:30–9:45 a.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum LLC African to 1990. Presiding: Adwoa Opoku-Agyemang, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
1. “Orality, Experiential Learning, and Decolonization: University of Ghana as Case Study,” Kwabena Opoku-Agyemang, U of Ghana
2. “Reframing Transatlantic Networks to Decolonize the Syllabus in the Middle of the Precarization of Hispanic and Lusophone Studies,” Danae Gallo González, Justus-Liebig-U Gießen; Diana Gonçalves, Portuguese Catholic U
3. “From the Hut to the Screen: Teaching African Literature Using YouTube Videos,” Theresah Ennin, U of Cape Coast
423. Streaming Europe
8:30–9:45 a.m., 2000, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum CLCS European Regions. Presiding: Joanne Britland, Framingham State U
1. “The Promotion of Spanish Cinema on Netflix and the European Imagination,” Elena Cueto, Bowdoin C
2. “The Cannes-Netflix Rift: Global Culture, Local Policies in the Age of Streaming,” Codruta Morari, Wellesley C
3. “Coreano Loco TV: A Korean-Canarian, K-Popero, and Reguetonero,” Moisés Park, Baylor U
424. Postcolonial Cripness as Method
8:30–9:45 a.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum TC Postcolonial Studies. Presiding: Kalyan Nadiminti, Northwestern U
Speakers: Athia Choudhury, U of Southern California; Suvendu Ghatak, U of Florida; Jiya Pandya, Princeton U; Kaushik Ramu, U of Pennsylvania; Pooja Rangan, Amherst C; Jess Rauchberg, McMaster U; Bassam Sidiki, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Meg Zhang, Columbia U
Respondent: Sari Altschuler, Northeastern U
While disability studies has recently turned to United States trans and queer-of-color critique, it has yet to seriously engage in transnational inquiry to reconsider what Robert McCruer calls “disability nationalism.” Panelists consider how postcolonial cripness might rescale disability in urgent ways and examine new developments in narrative theory, medical humanities, race, colonialism, empire, media studies, disability history, and more.
425. Whose Universalism?
8:30–9:45 a.m., Golden Gate C3, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum TC Philosophy and Literature. Presiding: Donna Jones, U of California, Berkeley
Speaker: Vilashini Cooppan, U of California, Santa Cruz
In Culture and Imperialism, Edward Said decries the “invidious universalism” of Western critical theory that is blind to the history of colonial violence and racism and situates European histories and subjects as the default. Can we salvage universalism? Is universalism worth salvaging in our current moment wherein neoliberalism turns to the antiquated universal to countervail the rightist calls to blood and nation?
426. Editorship and Black Print Cultures
8:30–9:45 a.m., Laurel, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Late-19th- and Early-20th-Century American. Presiding: Nadia Nurhussein, Johns Hopkins U, MD
1. “Between the Black Classic and Black Atlantic Genre Fiction: The Case of the X Press,” Marina Bilbija, Wesleyan U
2. “Between the Records: Zilpha Elaw's Ministry in the British Press and Methodist Records, 1840–65,” Kimberly Blockett, Penn State U, Brandywine Campus
3. “Unspoken Histories of Black Editorship,” Jim Casey, Penn State U, University Park
427. Laboring for Love
8:30–9:45 a.m., 3000, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC Literatures of the United States in Languages Other Than English. Presiding: Néfer Muñoz-Solano, U of Dallas
1. “For the Love of Nature: Extractivism, Climate Change, and Ecopoetics,” Cinthya Torres, Spring Hill C
2. “Loving Commodities, Commodifying Love: The Search for Authentic Self-Expression in José E. Pacheco,” Jose Espericueta, U of Dallas
3. “History, Imperialism and Affect in Recent Latinx/American Literature about Coffee,” Jorge Mauricio Espinoza, U of Cincinnati
4. “Love's Labor Found: Capitalism, Power, and Post-sovereignty in Rita Indiana's La mucama de Omicunlé,” Michael Mosier, Cornell C
Respondent: Rebeca Hey-Colon, Temple U, Philadelphia
428. Opportunities and Challenges of Teaching Literature Online
8:30–9:45 a.m., 3018, Moscone West
Program arranged by the MLA Publications Committee. Presiding: Julie Wilhelm, National U
Speakers: Sarita Cannon, San Francisco State U; Marissa Greenberg, U of New Mexico, Albuquerque; Mica Hilson, American U of Armenia; Rachael Mariboho, U of Texas, Arlington; Christine Photinos, National U, San Diego
Panelists reflect on the opportunities and challenges of teaching literature online. Questions to be considered will include how to teach close reading, foster community, and conduct effective and inclusive discussions of literary questions in both synchronous and asynchronous online modalities.
429. Discussion Group on Using Twitter and LinkedIn to Advocate for Yourself and Your Program
8:30–9:45 a.m., Golden Gate A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by MLA Professional Development. Presiding: Araceli Hernández-Laroche, U South Carolina Upstate; Americo Mendoza-Mori, Harvard U
How can academics use social media to advocate for themselves and their programs? How do Twitter and LinkedIn help build a professional presence online? This discussion group explores those sites as advocacy platforms and offers a practical guide to opportunities and a discussion of the advantages and potential concerns and risks of using social media for professional advancement.
430. Public Humanities Incubator Showcase
8:30–9:45 a.m., Nob Hill A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by MLA Professional Development
Speakers: Christina A. Lux, U of California, Merced; Jorge Marcone, Rutgers U, New Brunswick; Michael Smith, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust; Colleen Tripp, California State U, Northridge
Throughout the fall, graduate students interested in public humanities scholarship have been working closely with mentors from both humanities higher education and the nonprofit sector to develop new work. Join the inaugural cohort of the Public Humanities Incubator as students present the products of their collaboration with their mentors, and learn more about how the MLA is supporting public humanities scholarship and practice.
431. Working Conditions outside the United States
8:30–9:45 a.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the MLA Executive Council. Presiding: Ignacio Sánchez Prado, Washington U in St. Louis
Speakers: Roberto Cruz Arzabal, U Veracruzana; Rania Jawad, Birzeit U; Budsaba Kanoksilapatham, Silpakorn U; Thomas Matusiak, SWPS U of Social Sciences and Humanities; Senayon Olaoluwa, U of Ibadan; Parichay Patra, Indian Inst. of Tech., Jodhpur
432. From Pedagogy to Research and Back Again
8:30–9:45 a.m., 3002, Moscone West
Program arranged by the MLA Office of the Executive Director. Presiding: Brian Croxall, Brigham Young U, UT
Speakers: Judith Butler, U of California, Berkeley; Vance LaVarr Byrd, U of Pennsylvania; Rivi Handler-Spitz, Macalester C; Anna Westerstahl Stenport, Georgia Inst. of Tech.; Howard B. Tinberg, Bristol Community C, MA
From faculty members at community colleges who pursue the scholarship of teaching and learning to those at research-intensive universities who try out ideas in graduate seminars, we find our own ways to integrate our research and our teaching. In this session, faculty members from a variety of different types of institutions and teaching responsibilities talk about how their pedagogy has informed their research and their research has informed their pedagogy. Join us and share your methods.
433. War and Sexual Violence in the Global South
8:30–9:45 a.m., 2004, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Fayeza Hasanat, U of Central Florida
1. “Disorienting the Mousetrap: Empowerment, Agency, and the Women of the Global South,” Fayeza Hasanat
2. “Body Politic: The Dialectic of Structural Violence and Revolutionary Movements,” Lava Asaad, Auburn U
3. “Guns in Print: Female Resistance in Testimonies and Narratives against Feminicides in Argentina,” Lucia Garcia Santana, U of the South
4. “Resisting the Politics of Representation: Women, War, and Bangladeshi War Movies,” Farzana Akhter, East West U
434. Queer Pregnancies and Reproduction: Then and Now
8:30–9:45 a.m., 3007, Moscone West
A special session
1. “‘They Milk Out Ghee’: The Queer-Trans Imaginary of the Rigveda,” Tuhin Bhattacharjee, New York U
2. “Fruition: Queer Pregnancy in William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale,” Alicia Andrzejewski, William and Mary
3. “The History of Sexuality in Jean Rhys's Abortion Narratives,” Matty Hemming, U of Pennsylvania
4. “Pregnant Men and Alien Offspring,” Jon Heggestad, U of Wisconsin, Eau Claire
436. Imagination as Work: Laboring over Educational Challenges through Literacy Narratives
8:30–9:45 a.m., Sierra Suite A, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: A. Suresh Canagarajah, Penn State U, University Park
1. “Literacy Narratives, Creativity, and Critique: Insights from Neuroscience Research,” Irene L. Clark, California State U, Northridge
2. “Decolonizing Literacies through Imaginative Writing,” A. Suresh Canagarajah
3. “‘More Like Ellipses Than Periods’: Experimentation and Play in Audio Literacy Narratives,” Kara Poe Alexander, Baylor U
For related material, write to asc16@psu.edu after 31 Oct.
437. Ethics, Politics, and Poetics of Multispecies Entanglements
8:30–9:45 a.m., 3014, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Erin Greer, U of Texas, Dallas
1. “Unmasking Injustice: New Ways of Knowing in Thomas King's The Back of the Turtle,” Jessica Hawkes, Dalhousie U
2. “Agential Erasures on the Margins of Neoliberal Economy in Uzma Aslam Khan's Trespassing,” Komal Nazir, Oklahoma State U, Stillwater
3. “Cavell, Contemporary Fiction, and the Nonhuman,” Erin Greer
4. “Arboreal Pedagogy: Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Trees, and Campus Ecology,” Luke Rodewald, U of Florida
438. [Postponed from 2022] Transgenerational Trauma in Italian American Literary, Visual, and Performative Texts III
8:30–9:45 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 3, Marriott Marquis
A working group
Participants: Eugene Arva, Leverkusen Adult Education Center; Claude Barbre, Chicago School of Professional Psychology; Rebecca Bauman, Fashion Inst. of Tech., State U of New York; Domenico Beneventi, U de Sherbrooke; Ryan Calabretta-Sajder, U of Arkansas, Fayetteville; Francesco Ferrari, U of Illinois, Urbana; Alan J. Gravano, Rocky Mountain U; Alan Hartman, Mercy C; Colleen M. Ryan, Indiana U, Bloomington
This working group investigates how Italian American artists (re)present trauma in their writing, films, and sketch comedy by employing the theoretical lens of trauma theory. We situate Italian American and Italian Canadian literary, visual, and performative texts in debates about class, gender, race, and sexuality, taking into account more classical trauma theory, from Caruth and Hartman to LaCapra, and more recent theorists like Bond, Gibbs, and Luckhurst.
For the other meetings of the working group, see 5 and 245.
439. Captivity and Creativity in Wartime II
8:30–9:45 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 5, Marriott Marquis
A working group. Presiding: Giorgia Alu, U of Sydney; Elena Bellina, New York U
Speakers: Elena Bellina; Matteo Brera, Western U; Megan Butler, U of Washington, Seattle; Marius Hentea, U of Gothenburg; Angela Princiotto, U de Santiago de Compostela; Laura Ruberto, Berkeley City C; Anthony White, U of Melbourne
This working group discusses research on cultural and material production by people who experienced different forms of detention during modern military conflicts, focusing on life writing, literary and poetry works, and photography and visual artworks by civilian internees, prisoners of war, and refugees between 1940 and the present—with the goal of preparing an edited volume and a digital humanities project mapping forms of creativity in wartime.
For related material, write to ebellina@esm.rochester.edu after 4 Dec.
For the other meeting of the working group, see 244.
440. Uneven and Combined Development in Slavic and East European Culture II
8:30–9:45 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 1, Marriott Marquis
A working group. Presiding: Djordje Popovic, U of California, Berkeley
Participants: Andrej Grubacic, California Inst. of Integral Studies; Zachary Hicks, U of California, Berkeley; Branislav Jakovljevic, Stanford U; Emily Laskin, New York U; Dominick Lawton, Stanford U; Olena Lyubchenko, York U; Katja Perat, Washington U in St. Louis; Harsha Ram, U of California, Berkeley; Karlis Verdins, Washington U in St. Louis; Bojana Videkanic, U of Waterloo; Tamara Vukov, U de Montréal
Participants examine, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, East European and Eurasian texts through the theory of uneven and combined development (UCD)—understood as a view of world culture in its totality, a map of periphery-core relations, and the coexistence of archaic and modern forms—unpacking how UCD shaped the region's cultural forms, as well as how art gives form to the phenomenon of UCD, from Central Asia to Central Europe.
For related material, visit ucdseec.mla.hcommons.org/ after 15 Dec.
For the other meetings of the working group, see 243 and 702.
Saturday, 7 January 10:15 a.m.
440A. [Postponed from 2022] The New Humanities
10:15 a.m.–12:00 noon, Yerba Buena Salon 7, Marriott Marquis
A plenary. Program arranged by the MLA Executive Council. Presiding: Christopher John Newfield, Independent Social Research Foundation; Anjali Prabhu, U of California, Los Angeles
Speakers: David Theo Goldberg, U of California, Irvine; Paula Johnson, Wellesley C; Kimberly Moffitt, U of Maryland Baltimore County; Marisa Parham, U of Maryland, College Park
Administrators who have an impact on or are knowledgeable about curriculum discuss how to restructure the study of the humanities at the undergraduate level and promote humanities research in higher education more broadly. Each participant proposes ways to redesign the study of the humanities rather than defend the humanities as they are. Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss these proposals throughout the session.
441. Against the Ecofascist Creep
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3016, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. Presiding: April J. Anson, San Diego State U
Speakers: April J. Anson; Cassandra Galentine, U of Oregon; Shane Hall, Salisbury U; Alexander Menrisky, U of Connecticut, Storrs; Bruno Seraphin, Cornell U
Fascism never springs from nowhere. Panelists will discuss Against the Ecofascist Creep, a collaborative digital resource for fighting the creep of ecofascism in our metaphors, media, and ideas of environmental health and security.
For related material, write to aanson@sdsu.edu after 1 Dec.
442. Electronic Literature and the Long Pandemic
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3000, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Electronic Literature Organization. Presiding: John Murray, U of Central Florida
1. “Breathing on Screen: COVID-19 and Electronic Literature by Women-Identifying Digital Artists,” Anna Nacher, Jagiellonian U
2. “Visualizing Women's Work in the Long Pandemic,” Xtine Burrough, U of Texas, Dallas
3. “Discontents of the Digital Artist in Pandemic Times: Case Studies from India,” Dibyadyuti Roy, Indian Inst. of Tech., Jodhpur; Samya Brata Roy, Indian Inst. of Tech., Jodhpur
4. “A Zoom of One's Own? Crafting Feminist Resistance through Electronic Literature during COVID-19,” Abigail Moreshead, U of Central Florida; Anastasia Salter, U of Central Florida
For related material, visit mla.hcommons.org/docs/electronic-literature-and-the-long-pandemic/ after 1 Nov.
443. Stevens and Germany, Stevens in Germany
10:15–11:30 a.m., Willow, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Wallace Stevens Society. Presiding: Andrew Gross, U of Göttingen
Speakers: James Dowthwaite, U Jena; Brian Glaser, Chapman U; George Kovalenko, U of Denver; Philip McGowan, Queens U, Belfast; Miriam Strube, U Paderborn
Focusing on Stevens's relationship to German literature, language, and culture, participants address his references to German literature and language in poems and prose, affinities with German writers and philosophers, aspects of language, responses to German politics and the world wars, attitude toward the German elements in his own heritage, memories of growing up in Pennsylvania Dutch territory, and the reception of his work in Germany.
444. Maps, Borders, and Marlowe
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3005, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Marlowe Society of America. Presiding: Lucy Munro, King's C London
1. “‘The Wind That Bloweth the World Besides’: Merchant Capital and Community in The Jew of Malta,” Bernard Krumm, Stony Brook U, State U of New York
2. “‘That Town There Should Be Troy’: Spectacular Failure in Dido, Queen of Carthage and Its Antecedents,” Andie Barrow, U of Wisconsin, Madison
3. “Faustus en La Frontera: Capitalism and Colonialism in The Road to Tamazunchale and Los Faustinos,” Kathryn Vomero Santos, Trinity U
For related material, visit www.marlowesocietyofamerica.org/ after 1 Dec.
445. Reframing the Global Border Regime
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3009, Moscone West
Program arranged by the American Literature Society. Presiding: Angela Naimou, Clemson U
Speakers: Nasia Anam, U of Nevada, Reno; Brian Goodman, Arizona State U; Tess Renker, Brown U; Sarah Ruffing Robbins, Texas Christian U; Sandra K. Stanley, California State U, Northridge; Eric Vazquez, U of Iowa; Penny Vlagopoulos, St. Lawrence U
Panelists introduce major concepts for understanding the contemporary global border regime in relation to literature, photography, the visual arts, and theory.
446. Doing the Work: Figuring the Lumpen, Subaltern, Refugee, and Provincial
10:15–11:30 a.m., 2004, Moscone West
Program arranged by the William Faulkner Society. Presiding: Joanna Davis-McElligatt, U of North Texas
1. “The Peasant and the Periphery,” Hosam Mohamed Aboul-Ela, U of Houston
2. “In Faulkner's Black South: A Comprehensive Digital Humanities Project,” Caitlyn Hunter, Duquesne U
3. “Faulkner in a Transpacific Context: Connecting South Korea, South Vietnam, and the United States South,” Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi, U of California, Los Angeles
For related material, visit williamfaulknersociety.com after 1 Nov.
447. American Adaptations of Italian and Italian American Narratives: Adaptations
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3011, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Italian American Studies Association. Presiding: Mary Ann McDonald Carolan, Fairfield U
1. “Filming Fante: The Screen Misadventures of Full of Life and Ask the Dust,” Michael Docherty, U of Innsbruck
2. “Peel It Like a Snake: A Poetics of Objects in Ferrante and Gyllenhaal's The Lost Daughter,” Giulio Genovese, U of Pennsylvania
3. “From Dante to The Lost Daughter: The Burden of Tradition and Female Authorship,” Martina Franzini, Johns Hopkins U
For related material, write to alan.gravano@outlook.com.
448. On Fossil Capital
10:15–11:30 a.m., Golden Gate C3, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum TC Marxism, Literature, and Society. Presiding: Eva Cherniavsky, U of Washington, Seattle
Speakers: Andrew Rose, Christopher Newport U; Byron Santangelo, Indiana U, Bloomington; Imre Szeman, U of Waterloo; Jennifer Wenzel, Columbia U; Daniel W. Worden, Rochester Inst. of Tech.
Leading ecocritical scholars assess the impact and relevance of Andreas Malm's intervention some five years after the publication of Fossil Capital. How should the ecocritic think political economy? In the struggle to avoid catastrophic climate change, must one finally (re)learn to imagine a world without capitalism?
449. Mutual Aid, Allyship, and Reciprocity in German Studies: Literary Entanglements
10:15–11:30 a.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum LLC 20th- and 21st-Century German. Presiding: Elisabeth Krimmer, U of California, Davis
1. “Allyship among Artists from Minoritized Communities in Contemporary Germany,” Karolina Hicke, U of Massachusetts, Amherst
2. “The Rise of the Rhizome: Mutual Aid, Allyship, and Reciprocity in Contemporary German Literature,” Laura Sturtz, Albert-Ludwigs-U Freiburg
3. “Sharon Doduo Otoo and Archival Resistance,” Elizabeth Sun, U of California, Berkeley
450. Old English, Middle English, and Contemporary Trans Studies
10:15–11:30 a.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forums LLC Middle English and LLC Old English. Presiding: Heide Estes, Monmouth U
Speakers: Gabrielle M. W. Bychowski, Case Western Reserve U; Sandra Goldstein Lehnert, Graduate Center, City U of New York; Micah Goodrich, Boston U; Masha Raskolnikov, Cornell U; Nat Rivkin, U of Pennsylvania; Lisa M. C. Weston, California State U, Fresno; Rowan Wilson, U of Bonn
Panelists address the intersections of Old English, Middle English, and contemporary trans studies, focusing on trans studies approaches to medieval literary works and language; intersections between race, gender, and sexuality in the period; and the usefulness of medieval literature for contemporary trans writers.
For related material, visit mla.hcommons.org/docs/abstracts-for-2023-mla-session-on-old-english-middle-english-and-contemporary-trans-studies/.
451. Dissent and Dissension in Spanish and Iberian Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Literary and Visual Texts
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3001, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC 18th- and 19th-Century Spanish and Iberian. Presiding: Nicholas Wolters, Wake Forest U
1. “Reality and Dissension on Stage: Sebastián Vázquez's Sainetes de Costumbres Teatrales at the End of the Eighteenth Century,” Oscar Ruiz Hernandez, U of Massachusetts, Lowell
2. “Pushing Back against Myths and Mores: Pérez y López's Discurso sobre la Honra y Deshonra legal (1781),” Yvonne Fuentes, U of West Georgia
3. “A Satirical Loa on the Opening of Spain's First National Theater (1849),” Michael Schinasi, East Carolina U
452. Decolonizing the Classroom: Why and How?
10:15–11:30 a.m., Sierra Suite A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum RCWS Writing Pedagogies. Presiding: Jonathan Alexander, U of California, Irvine
Speakers: José Cortez, U of Oregon; Romeo Garcia, U of Utah; Jeanne Petrolle, Columbia C Chicago; Shakuntala Ray, U of Massachusetts, Amherst; Stacey Waite, U of Nebraska, Lincoln; David Wallace, California State U, Long Beach
As instructors and scholars from across the many subdisciplines of the MLA consider how they might enact more inclusive pedagogical practices, the potential of “decolonizing the classroom” has attained increasing currency. But what might it mean to “decolonize” the classroom? Panelists focus on approaching and addressing this question particularly in the writing classroom.
453. Shakespeare and Early Modern Poetics
10:15–11:30 a.m., Pacific Suite B, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Shakespeare. Presiding: Matthew Harrison, West Texas A&M U
1. “Posting: From Environment to Infrastructure in the Forest of Arden,” Jessica Rosenberg, U of Miami
2. “Perspective, Error, and Poiesis in A Midsummer Night's Dream,” Amanda Atkinson, Southern Methodist U
3. “Sequent Toil: Shakespeare's Metapoetics,” Stephen Guy-Bray, U of British Columbia, Vancouver
4. “Decoupling Shakespeare,” Eileen Sperry, Skidmore C
454. Waters, Materialities, Mediterraneans
10:15–11:30 a.m., 2002, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum CLCS Mediterranean. Presiding: Edwige Tamalet Talbayev, Tulane U
1. “The Rescue Plot: Perplexities of the Maritime Encounter,” Chloe Howe Haralambous, Columbia U
2. “The Black Mediterranean and the Med-aquatic Female Barzakh,” Dina Mahmoud, Penn State U, University Park
3. “Hydrontologies: Ecocriticism, Cooperation, and Emancipation in the Literature of the Baltic Sea,” Mateusz Kucab, Jagiellonian U
455. Medieval North-South Connections
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3003, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum CLCS Medieval. Presiding: Nahir Otaño Gracia, U of New Mexico, Albuquerque
1. “Crossing Boundaries: Judgment Day, Women, and Early Middle English Devotional Verse,” Carla María Thomas, Florida Atlantic U
2. “Racism and The Song of Roland: A Corpus Data and Construction Grammar Approach,” Laurie Price, U of New Mexico, Albuquerque
3. “Redrawing the Limits of the Human: The Issue of Race in Ziyad ibn 'Amir al-Kinani,” Jonathan Correa, Penn State U, University Park
456. Race, Temporality, and Periodization: Rethinking Eighteenth-Century Studies
10:15–11:30 a.m., Sierra Suite J, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum CLCS 18th-Century. Presiding: Rachael King, U of California, Santa Barbara; Eugenia Zuroski, McMaster U
Speakers: Ala Alryyes, Queens C, City U of New York; Alexander Creighton, Harvard U; Lauren Dembowitz, U of California, Los Angeles; Samuel Diener, Harvard U; Christopher Geary, U of California, Berkeley
The “eighteenth century” named and analyzed by eighteenth-century studies has proven pliable in the figuration of the “long eighteenth century.” But to what extent does the persistent attachment to this historic period—even an elongated version of it—preclude certain critical approaches to the materials we study? Panelists ask what might be made possible in our field by conceiving critical temporalities beyond enumerated “centuries.”
457. Nineteenth-Century Asian American Literature and the “West”
10:15–11:30 a.m., Laurel, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 19th-Century American. Presiding: Julia Lee, U of California, Irvine
Speakers: Amy Huang, Brown U; Erica Kanesaka, Brown U; Julia Lee; Mai Wang, Stanford U; Audrey Wu Clark, United States Naval Acad.; Xine Yao, University C London
In recognition of the 2023 convention location in San Francisco, panelists pay particular attention to imagined spaces of the American “West,” addressing the questions that nineteenth-century Asian American literature poses for Asian American literary studies and nineteenth-century American literary studies.
458. The Ecology of the Community College Classroom
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3018, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum HEP Community Colleges. Presiding: Grisel Y. Acosta, Bronx Community C, City U of New York
1. “Embracing Positive Reform: Moving toward Anti-Racist Assessment at an Urban Community College,” Donna Leigh Kessler-Eng, Bronx Community C, City U of New York; Swan Kim, Bronx Community C, City U of New York
2. “Ecologies, Epistemologies, and Objects: Understanding the Ecology of the Community Classroom,” Nayah Boucaud, Indiana U, Bloomington
3. “An Ecology of Marginalization and Job Retention Rates among Contingent Faculty at Two-Year Colleges,” Amanda Christie, U of Hawai‘i, Mānoa
459. Malady and Coloniality in the Francophone World
10:15–11:30 a.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum LLC Francophone. Presiding: Annette Joseph-Gabriel, Duke U
Speakers: Sky Herington, U of Warwick; Ghada Mourad, U of California, Irvine; Cristina Robu, St. Lawrence U; Brigitte Stepanov, Georgia Inst. of Tech.; Nina Studer, U of Bern; Ashley Williard, U of South Carolina, Columbia; Alan Yeh, U of California, Berkeley
Panelists explore what narratives about ill health, environmental disasters, contagion, and pestilence reveal about colonialism. The roundtable's expansive temporal and geographic scope takes up the call put forward by emerging scholarship to consider “chemical kinship” (Agard Jones) and the ways that discourses about the interconnectedness of malady and coloniality both illuminate and obscure the workings of power in empire.
460. Pandemics and Academics: Gendered and Disciplinary Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic
10:15–11:30 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 4, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 20th- and 21st-Century Italian. Presiding: Giovanna Faleschini Lerner, Franklin and Marshall C
Speakers: Silvia Carlorosi, Bronx Community C, City U of New York; Beatrice Fazio, U of Chicago; Alice Fischetti, U of California, Berkeley; Kathleen E. La Penta, Fordham U; Gina Mangravite, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Giovanni Minicucci, Syracuse U
How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted scholarly pursuits and teaching in and around Italian studies, especially across gender positions and disciplinary locations? Panelists discuss (im)mobility, access to resources and collaborators, changing professional expectations, and challenges specific to career stages and trajectories.
For related material, write to glerner@fandm.edu after 1 Dec.
461. Transformative Learning in L2 Education
10:15–11:30 a.m., Pacific Suite C, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LSL Second-Language Teaching and Learning. Presiding: Carl Blyth, U of Texas, Austin
1. “Supporting Perspective Transformation in Beginning Language Instruction,” Cori Crane, U of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
2. “Language Classroom Practices, Critical Pedagogies and Transformative Learning,” Stacey Johnson, Vanderbilt U
3. “Transformative Learning through the Prism of Intercultural Competence,” Charles Mignot, Tulane U
For related material, write to cblyth@austin.utexas.edu.
462. Black (Auto)Biography
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3012, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum GS Life Writing and the College Language Association. Presiding: Janaka Lewis, U of North Carolina, Charlotte
1. “Coming Out: As Told by Alice Dunbar-Nelson in Her Diary,” Tara Green, U of North Carolina, Greensboro
2. “Tracing the Contours: Exploring the Life and Career of Florence R. Beatty-Brown,” Francena Turner, Fayetteville State U
3. “Kendrick Lamar: Heir to Baldwin's and King's Scriptural Life Writing,” Nicole Lowman, U at Buffalo, State U of New York
4. “The Spiritual Journeys of Cyntoia Brown,” Joanna Chromik, Indiana U, Bloomington
463. Hans Christian Andersen Now
10:15–11:30 a.m., Sierra Suite H, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum CLCS Nordic
1. “Radical Forms: Forms of Radicalism in Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales,” Claus Andersen, U of Wisconsin, Madison
2. “Hans Christian Andersen as Popular Culture, Power, and Politics,” Sara Bruun Jørgensen, U of Southern Denmark
3. “Hans Christian Andersen as World Literature,” Torsten Thomsen, U of Southern Denmark
464. Labor, Capitalism, and Materiality in Lusophone Studies
10:15–11:30 a.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum LLC Global Portuguese. Presiding: Ligia Bezerra, Arizona State U
1. “‘Fire Your Boss!’: Labor and Capitalism in Zeca Baleiro's Songs,” Ligia Bezerra
2. “Sem Maneiras, Parvo, e Pequenino: The Sound of Dissent in Portuguese Popular Music,” Daniel da Silva, Rutgers U, New Brunswick
3. “Uma cordialidade a recusar: Número, palavra e imagem em Isilda ou a nudez dos códigos de barras,” Nuno Brito, U of California, Santa Barbara
465. PMLA: How Members Shape the Journal
10:15–11:30 a.m., 2000, Moscone West
Program arranged by the PMLA Editorial Board. Presiding: Brent Hayes Edwards, Columbia U
Speakers: C. D. Blanton, U of California, Berkeley; Tyler Bradway, State U of New York, Cortland; Gaurav G. Desai, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Ena Selimovic, Yale U
This session brings together members of the PMLA Editorial Board and Advisory Committee, as well as authors who have published in PMLA, to reflect on the role of a generalist journal in publishing specialized scholarship, discuss the PMLA review process, offer guidance on undertaking and responding effectively to peer review, and identify ways scholars can promote their work.
466. Winning Spaces for Indigenous Languages and Cultures: Curricula and Instruction
10:15–11:30 a.m., Sierra Suite B, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the ADFL Executive Committee. Presiding: Americo Mendoza-Mori, Harvard U
Speakers: Ignacio Carvajal, U of Texas, Austin; Leila G. Gomez, U of Colorado, Boulder; Doris Loayza, Quechua educator; Carlos Molina-Vital, U of Illinois, Urbana
Participants discuss building up academic programming for Indigenous languages and cultures and offer perspectives on how colleges and language departments can support more spaces for the representation and visibility of Indigenous cultures, literatures, and scholars in connection with curricular goals.
467. Addressing Women's Invisible Labor in the Academy
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3002, Moscone West
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Profession. Presiding: Stephanie Louise Kirk, Washington U in St. Louis
1. “Invisible Labor in a Visible Model: Teaching, Service, and Scholarship,” Lan Dong, U of Illinois, Springfield
2. “Intersectional Academic Work,” Iwona Sadowska, Georgetown U
3. “Even Deeper Work: My Attempt to Work Like a Male Colleague,” Liz Mayo, Jackson State Community C, TN
4. “Charting a Pathway to an Intellectual Leadership Model,” Sonja Rae Fritzsche, Michigan State U
468. Discussion Group on Career Pathways to K–12
10:15–11:30 a.m., Golden Gate A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by MLA Professional Development. Presiding: Anne Jensen, San José State U
K–12 educators come from diverse backgrounds and are increasingly coming from academia, industry, and service. Why transition from another field into K–12 teaching? What unique challenges does K–12 learning pose? What qualifications are required? This discussion group offers participants a chance for reflection on these questions and an opportunity to explore whether K–12 teaching is for them.
469. Cultural Practices, Social Life, and Identity: Mapping Social Space from Barcelona
10:15–11:30 a.m., Sierra Suite E, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Laura Menéndez Gorina, Stanford U
1. “Smoke on the Walls: Shaping Barcelona from the Opera House,” Oscar Ferrer, Stanford U
2. “From the Rooftop: Dictatorship and Domestic Constraint in Carme Garcia and Vázquez Montalbán,” Laura Menéndez Gorina, Stanford U
3. “Chronicling Anew: M. Vazquez Montalbán's Restaurants and Barcelona's New Gastronomic Landscape,” Eloi Grasset Morell, U of California, Santa Barbara
4. “Space, City, Culture, Normativity, Resistance: Queer Practices in the Rooftops of Barcelona,” Isaias Fanlo, U of Cambridge
470. Global Carceral Literature
10:15–11:30 a.m., Walnut, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Joseph Lockard, Arizona State U
1. “Warden and Inmate: The Red Brigades on Trials and Prisons,” Judith Tauber, Cornell U
2. “Writings from Port-Harcourt Prison: Petro-Imperialism and the Ogoni Nine,” Basuli Deb, Columbia U
3. “Kinship, Care, and Disavowal in Egyptian Women's Prison Narratives,” Nada Ayad, Cooper Union
For related material, write to Joe.Lockard@asu.edu after 22 Dec.
471. Legacies of Marxism: Working Conditions in Contemporary China
10:15–11:30 a.m., Nob Hill D, Marriott Marquis
A special session
1. “Beyond Alienation and Exploitation: A Comparative Perspective on Working Conditions in China,” Maximilian Gindorf, U of South Carolina, Columbia
2. “Labor, Race, and Time in China's Belt and Road Initiative,” Rebecca Liu, Princeton U
3. “The Path to a Critical Utopian Consciousness in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction,” Dan Luo, U of South Carolina, Columbia
For related material, write to mgindorf@email.sc.edu after 30 Nov.
472. Sade and Materialism
10:15–11:30 a.m., Sierra Suite I, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Bruno Penteado, Texas Tech U
1. “Kant with Sade: Deconstructing Sade's Materialism,” Carole-Anne Tyler, U of California, Riverside
2. “Matter and Logos: Negotiating Hierarchies in Sadean Materialist Philosophy through the Power of Words,” Valentina Denzel, Michigan State U
3. “Toward a Sadean Theory of the Object,” Bruno Penteado
4. “Sade's Journey toward Castle Silling,” Ery Shin, U of Southern Mississippi
Respondent: Eleanor Kaufman, U of California, Los Angeles
This panel seeks to broaden materialist understandings of Sade, situating his project within Enlightenment materialism and identifying the tenets of his materialist philosophy.
473. Untangling the Autos: In between Methods of Self-Writing
10:15–11:30 a.m., 3014, Moscone West
A special session
1. “Posthuman Subjectivity in the Contemporary Autofictional Novel,” Taylor Johnston-Levy, Ben-Gurion U of the Negev
2. “Autoethnography, Dialect Poetry, and Sound Recording,” Tori McCandless, U of California, Davis
3. “Psychoanalytic Self-Analysis in Contemporary Queer Fiction,” Yael Segalovitz, Ben-Gurion U of the Negev
4. “Rage against the Disciplines: The Trans Aesthetics of Autotheory,” Alex Brostoff, Kenyon C
For related material, write to yaelsega2@gmail.com after 19 Nov.
474. Latin American Literature and Digital Humanities: Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy
10:15–11:30 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 13, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Daniel Carrillo Jara, Purdue U, West Lafayette
1. “Teaching Colombian Conflict and Postconflict Literature through Digital Humanities,” Alberto Fonseca, North Central C
2. “Theory of the Flesh Methodologies: Mapping Border Women Literature and Testimonio,” Sylvia Fernandez, U of Texas, San Antonio
3. “Remapping Caribbean Geographies through Female-Authored Journeys in Space,” Alicia Doyen-Rodriguez, Emory U
4. “Accumulations of Literary Capital: Visualizing Anthologies of Peruvian Poetry (1910–2008),” Daniel Carrillo Jara
Respondent: Élika Ortega, U of Colorado, Boulder
475. The Sri Lankan Geopolitical Novel: Postcolonial Conditions and Neoliberal Bodies
10:15–11:30 a.m., Sierra Suite F, Marriott Marquis
A special session
1. “Giniralla Conspiracy, Sri Lanka, and the Neoliberal University,” Nimanthi Rajasingham, Colgate U
2. “Work on the Margins: Sharon Bala's The Boat People and Bodies in Transition,” Maryse Jayasuriya, U of Texas, El Paso
3. “Shyam Selvadurai's Mapping of Queer Memory as Postmemory,” Dinidu Karunanayake, Elon U
Respondent: Sonali Perera, Hunter C, City U of New York
For related material, write to dkarunanayake@elon.edu after 21 Dec.
476. Black Feminist Literatures and the Maintenance of Opacity
10:15–11:30 a.m., Pacific Suite E, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Omari Weekes, Willamette U
1. “Opaque Individuality and Community Work in Issa Rae's Insecure,” Keyana Parks, U of Massachusetts, Boston
2. “On the Erotics of Opacity,” Omari Weekes
3. “Radical Consent and Opacity in Gayl Jones's Corregidora,” Elias Rodriques, Sarah Lawrence C
477. [Postponed from 2022] Capitalism, Quarantine, and the Novel Form
10:15–11:30 a.m., Pacific Suite F, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Alexander Bove, Pacific U
1. “Weird Capitalism: Melville, Kafka, Ligotti,” Keith Johnson, William and Mary
2. “Subject as Symptom: Novel Form and the Return of the Repressed from Defoe to Althusser,” Nathan Gorelick, Utah Valley U
3. “Viral Reception and the Crisis of Time in Mary Shelley's The Last Man,” Maddison McGann, U of Iowa
479. [Postponed from 2022] Disrupting the Binary: Transnational Approaches to Italian Studies II
10:15–11:30 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 3, Marriott Marquis
A working group. Presiding: Giulia Riccò, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Participants: Serena Bassi, Hamilton C; Emma Bond, U of St Andrews; Simone Brioni, Stony Brook U, State U of New York; Francesco Chianese, California State U, Long Beach; Andrea Ciribuco, National U of Ireland, Galway; Evelyn Ferraro, Santa Clara U; Claudio Fogu, U of California, Santa Barbara; Lina N. Insana, U of Pittsburgh; Valerie McGuire, U of St Andrews; Michele Monserrati, Williams C; Rhiannon N. Welch, U of California, Berkeley
By putting pressure on the unwitting reification of the national that binary understandings of transnational mobility can produce, this working group challenges and expands what a transnational approach to Italian studies might entail. How do we fully unlock the potential of the prefix trans- in transnational and avoid falling into the trap of binarism? Can a transnational approach to Italian studies overcome the nation as a fixed point of reference?
For related material, write to gricco@umich.edu after 4 Jan.
For the other meetings of the working group, see 205 and 666.
480. From Mystique to Politique: Scholarship, Mysticism, and Politics in the Twentieth Century II
10:15–11:30 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 5, Marriott Marquis
A working group
Participants: Arwa Awan, U of Chicago; Simon Conrad, Princeton U; Alex Dubilet, Vanderbilt U; Amir Engel, Hebrew U; Julius Greve, Carl von Ossietzky U of Oldenburg; David Haziza, Columbia U; Loriane Lafont, U of Chicago; Peter Makhlouf, Princeton U; Raghuveer Nidumolu, U of Chicago; Andreas Niegl, U of Kassel; Ken Seigneurie, Simon Fraser U
Scholars from across a wide disciplinary and geographic range investigate the cultural politics of the twentieth-century study of mysticism, aiming both to radically historicize the figures in question—returning these studies of mysticism to the historical backdrop against which their cultural politics arose—and to give due attention to the metaphysical elaborations that these scholars set out to forge.
For related material, visit mla.hcommons.org/groups/mystique-and-politique/.
For the other meetings of the working group, see 203 and 667.
481. Global Surveillance Cultures: The Arts, Surveillance, and Disruptions II
10:15–11:30 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 6, Marriott Marquis
A working group. Presiding: Sarah Koellner, C of Charleston
Participants: Robert Balun, City C, City U of New York; William B. Covey, Jr., Slippery Rock U; James Draney, Duke U; Sandro Eich, U of St Andrews; Jana Fedtke, Northwestern U, Qatar; Martin Hennig, U of Tuebingen; Nancy Linthicum, U of South Carolina, Columbia; Martin Sorbille, U of Florida; Matías Spector, U of Chicago; Florian Zappe, U of Goettingen
This working group explores the legacy of the “all-seer” as an all-encompassing imagery of surveillance and explores alternative ways of grappling with surveillance as a cultural phenomenon in three parts: the cultural turn (surveillance, gender, and the city), surveillance capitalism (“dataveillance,” self-surveillance, and labor), and individual and collective agency (whistleblowing, surveillance, and the global imagery).
For related material, write to koellnersk@cofc.edu after 2 Jan.
For other meetings of the working group, add 204 and 668.
482. Theory and Praxis: Digital Pedagogies in the (Virtual) Classroom II
10:15–11:30 a.m., Yerba Buena Salon 1, Marriott Marquis
A working group. Presiding: Samuel Jaffee, U of Washington, Seattle
Participants: Elise Arnold-Levene, Mercy C; Marina del Sol, Howard U; Matthew Goodwin, U of New Mexico, Albuquerque; Tianyi Kou-Herrema, Michigan State U
Participants explore the theory, praxis, and learning outcomes of creative engagement with challenging written, visual, and digital texts, focusing on curricular expansion, assessment, classroom activities, community practices, and practical approaches to digital pedagogies, as well as the theoretical and logistical concerns that accompany the implementation of these approaches.
For related material, visit mla.hcommons.org/groups/theory-and-praxis-visual-media-in-the-classroom/.
For the other meetings of the working group, see 202 and 669.
Saturday, 7 January 12:00 noon
483. Jean Toomer's Cane at One Hundred: The Centennial of Black Modernism's Wonderful Year
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Nob Hill D, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Modernist Studies Association. Presiding: George B. Hutchinson, Cornell U
Speakers: Nissa Cannon, Stanford U; Francisco Robles, U of Notre Dame; Rafael Walker, Baruch C, City U of New York
Reexamining the significance of Jean Toomer's Cane on its one-hundredth anniversary, panelists explore this hybrid text as a key to Black modernism's relationship to the official annus mirabilis of 1922. As Black modernist studies observes one conspicuous centennial, how should it be rehistoricized and reinvented?
484. Imagined Past, Present, and Future in Dostoevsky's Works
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Sierra Suite H, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the International Dostoevsky Society. Presiding: Katya Jordan, Brigham Young U, UT
1. “Crime and Punishment . . . with Zombies,” Irina Erman, C of Charleston
2. “Dostoevsky's Kairotope: Hallucinated Time,” Michael Ossorgin VIII, Fordham U
3. “Dostoevsky's Notre Dame de Paris: Publishing the French Historical Past in the Era of Reform,” Chloe Papadopoulos, Yale U
Respondent: Vadim Shneyder, U of California, Los Angeles
485. Narrative Obfuscation in the Public Sphere
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3014, Moscone West
Program arranged by the International Society for the Study of Narrative. Presiding: Samuel Hull, Altshuler Berzon LLP; Ryan Shah, U of Toronto
1. “Consumption, Work, and Narrative,” Samuel Hull
2. “Narrativity and Jurisprudence,” Ryan Shah
3. “Storification, Financialization, Obfuscation: Worrying Trends in the Science Storytelling Business,” Daniel Aureliano Newman, U of Toronto
4. “The Dumb Jock,” Joseph Darda, Texas Christian U
486. Milton without Miltonists
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Pacific Suite B, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Milton Society of America. Presiding: Jeffrey Miller, Montclair State U
Speakers: Tomos Evans, U of Birmingham; Sam Hushagen, U of Washington, Seattle; Erin Spampinato, Colby C; Jenny Tan, University of Pennsylvania Press; Reginald A. Wilburn, Texas Christian U
Panelists discuss the work of researching, teaching, and publishing John Milton's writings within our current realities: adjunctification, lower demand for courses in literature from earlier periods, and the dearth of positions for Milton specialists.
487. Conditions of Exile in the Nineteenth Century and Beyond
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3024, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Margaret Fuller Society. Presiding: Jana L. Argersinger, Washington State U, Pullman
1. “Transcendence from the Colored Conventions to the Harlem Renaissance,” Marlas Yvonne Whitley, North Carolina State U
2. “Exile and the Perils of Travel: Nineteenth-Century Black Women Organizers’ Fight for Dignity,” Sabrina Evans, Penn State U, University Park
3. “Du Bois in Berlin, Du Bois in Atlanta: The Affect of Exile in The Souls of Black Folk,” Thomas Howard, Washington U in St. Louis
4. “Exile's Persistence: Margaret Fuller and the Public Trauma Culture of Expat Paris,” Stephanie Peebles Tavera, Texas A&M U, Central Texas
For related material, write to argerj@gmail.com after 1 Dec.
488. Revealing Names and Shifting Identities in Contemporary Literature of the United States
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the American Name Society. Presiding: Christine De Vinne, American Name Soc.
1. “Politicized Place Names: Toni Morrison's Literary Map in The Bluest Eye,” Christine De Vinne
2. “Public and Private Names: The Internal Journey of Natalie Waite in Shirley Jackson's Hangsaman,” Susan Behrens, Marymount Manhattan C
3. “Viewing Names and Identity in Diverse Picture Books through a Lens of Damage and Desire,” Blessy Samjose, Ohio State U, Columbus; Carrie Anne Thomas, Ohio State U, Columbus
4. “Planting Seeds in Literary Narrative: Onomastic Concepts and Questions in Yangsook Choi's The Name Jar,” Anne W. Anderson, U of South Florida
489. Working Conditions in Foreign Languages Departments in the Age of Neoliberal Institutions
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 4, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cine Españoles Siglo XXI. Presiding: Jose Antonio Aguirre Pombo, U of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Palmar Álvarez-Blanco, Carleton C
Speakers: Marina Bettaglio, U of Victoria; Katryn Evinson, Columbia U; Ofelia Ferrán, U of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Ellen Cecilia Mayock, Washington and Lee U; Steven Torres, U of Nebraska, Omaha
Panelists discuss, in Spanish and English, the challenges posed by the growing precarity of working conditions in academia as well as its relation to the rise of the all-administrative university. The session represents a wide variety of positions and institutions in academia in the United States and alternative working practices as embodied in the work of organizations.
490. Ecocritical Approaches to Dante
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Pacific Suite A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Dante Society of America. Presiding: Anne Leone, Syracuse U
1. “From the ‘Selva Oscura’ to the ‘Bel Giardino’: Dante, Humans, and the Natural World(s) in the Comedy,” Mattia Boccuti, U of Notre Dame
2. “‘Quell’è Natura’: Revisiting the Lyric Tradition of Nature at the Core of the Comedy,” Leonardo Chiarantini, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
3. “Pastoral Crossovers: Dante and Boccaccio Stay in the Countryside,” Filippo Gianferrari, U of California, Santa Cruz
491. Self-Placement into English Composition
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Sierra Suite A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Community College Humanities Association
Speakers: Matthew Fox, Monroe Community C, State U of New York; Jamey Gallagher, Community C of Baltimore County, MD; Michael Jacobs, Monroe Community C, State U of New York; Kristen Messer, Community C of Baltimore County, MD
Presenters share their processes of researching and implementing self-placement practices at two schools, discussing strategies for implementation and design, roadblocks encountered, and possibilities for fostering asset-based approaches to students and andragogy, as well as the potential that self-placement affords us to rethink and reshape practices in composition and other disciplines through a myriad of approaches and based on students’ perspectives and energy.
492. Literature in the Laboratory
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3007, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TC Cognitive and Affect Studies. Presiding: Elizabeth Oldfather, U of Louisiana, Monroe
Speakers: Donald Kuiken, U of Alberta, Edmonton; Raymond A. Mar, York U; Natalie Michele Phillips, Michigan State U; Karen Shackleford, Fielding Graduate U
Panelists discuss the value, challenges, and potential of empirical study of literature. What do laboratory studies of reading offer the humanities, and what new possibilities and research trends are rising for interdisciplinary researchers? Discussion includes perspectives from both psychologists and humanists participating in cross-disciplinary research.
493. The Conditions of Work Today (and Tomorrow): Pre-1900 Japanese Literary Studies in the Digital Age
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Sierra Suite F, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Japanese to 1900. Presiding: Erin L. Brightwell, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Speakers: Alari Allik, Tallinn U; Erin L. Brightwell; Nina Farizova, Yale U; Laura Moretti, U of Cambridge; Mariko Naito, Meiji U; Ariel Stilerman, Stanford U; Christopher Anthony Sturgis, U of California, Los Angeles; Yoshitaka Yamamoto, National Inst. of Japanese Literature
Panelists discuss working conditions in a specific field of scholarship, consider whether traditional modes and means of text and information sharing survive or have metamorphosed in the manner in which we currently work, and then explore and imagine what future conditions may yield in the form of new opportunities and challenges.
494. Migrants as Working Subjects
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Sierra Suite C, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum CLCS Global Arab and Arab American. Presiding: Anna Ziajka Stanton, Penn State U, University Park
1. “Thought Work, Body Work: Labor, Gender, and Imagination in Arab Diasporic Literature,” Katie Logan, Virginia Commonwealth U
2. “Petroviolence and Gendered Migration in the Arab Gulf: Mona Kareem's 'Kumar,’” Hanan Al-Alawi, Penn State U, University Park
3. “Living Precarious Lives in Abdellatif Kechiche's ‘The Secret of the Grain’ (2007),” Salman Rafique, Oklahoma State U, Stillwater
4. “Wa-mā Adrāka mā al-Jobcenter: The Exterritorial World of Nafarāt and the Nafariyyāt Discourse of Syrian Migrants,” Daniel Behar, Hebrew U of Jerusalem
495. Cultural Responses to Global Connections
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Sierra Suite E, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC German to 1700. Presiding: Alexandra C. Sterling-Hellenbrand, Appalachian State U
1. “Lucifer and the Jewish Knight in Shining Armor: Racial Divides in the Yiddish Bovo-Bukh,” Annegret Oehme, U of Washington, Seattle
2. “The Tragedy of Global Empire: Ancient History and Modern Geography in Lohenstein's Sophonisbe (1680),” Timothy Attanucci, Johannes Gutenberg-U
3. “Globalism and Early Modern German Perspectives: Olearius in Persia and Jesuit Missionaries in Mexico,” Albrecht Classen, U of Arizona, Tucson
496. Disability Studies and Travel Writing
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum GS Travel Writing. Presiding: Amrita Dhar, Ohio State U, Columbus
1. “Disability and Distant Lands in the Beowulf Manuscript,” Leah Parker, U of Southern Mississippi
2. “The Tactual Traveler,” Julia S. Carlson, U of Cincinnati
3. “Solitary Walking as Protest in Jamie Quatro and Rahawa Haile,” Nina Bannett, New York City C of Tech, City U of New York
497. Myths, Misreadings, and Misrepresentations of the Scandinavian Middle Ages
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3003, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC Old Norse. Presiding: Jonas Wellendorf, U of California, Berkeley
1. “A Word from Over the Hedge: Germanic Neopaganism's Engagement with Academic Scholarship Old and New,” Ben Waggoner, U of Central Arkansas
2. “The Specter of White Nationalism: Responding to Misappropriations of Medieval Studies,” Richard Fahey, U of Notre Dame
498. Unfit: Pathologies of Biomodernism
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Golden Gate C3, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 20th- and 21st-Century English and Anglophone. Presiding: Andrew Enda Duffy, U of California, Santa Barbara
1. “Skin, Once Again,” Maud Ellmann, U of Chicago
2. “Lazy, Modern, Exhausted: An Energy Crisis,” Maurizia Boscagli, U of California, Santa Barbara
3. “Muriel Spark's Disabled Narratives,” Marilyn Reizbaum, Bowdoin C
499. Rereading Wordsworth, Revisiting Winander
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Sierra Suite J, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC English Romantic. Presiding: Nancy Yousef, Rutgers U, New Brunswick
1. “Of Mimic Hootings and Silent Owls: Representing Creatures in Wordsworth's ‘Boy of Winander,’” Alexander Regier, Rice U
2. “Gentleness and Risk,” Alexander Freer, U of Cambridge
Respondent: Branka Arsic, Columbia U
500. Working toward the Speculative Future
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum GS Children's and Young Adult Literature
1. “Latinx Futurity through Interactive Narration in Life Is Strange 2,” Cristina Rhodes, Shippensburg U
2. “Posthuman Inclusion in Ready Player Two,” Alexa Dicken, St. John's U, NY
3. “Theorizing Rape Culture through Young Adult Fantasy: Rachel Hartman's Tess of the Road,” Corinne Matthews, U of Florida
501. Archipelagic Feminisms: Cuban and Cuban-Diasporic Feminist Practices
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum LLC Cuban and Cuban Diasporic. Presiding: Paloma Duong, Massachusetts Inst. of Tech.
1. “Lenguaje, espacio onírico y sujeto lírico en A wa nilé, de Soleida Ríos,” Inileidys Hernández, U of Connecticut, Storrs
2. “Reproductive Triangulations: Reina María Rodríguez's Poetics of the Pin,” Natalie Catasus, Emory U
3. “Feminist Approaches to Female Subjects in Reina María Rodríguez's La caja de Bagdad,” Eilyn Lombard, U of Connecticut, Storrs
502. White Supremacist Terror and Narratives of Origin
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 2002, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forums LLC Chaucer and LLC Early American. Presiding: Kirsten Silva Gruesz, U of California, Santa Cruz
Speakers: Gabriel Ford, Drake U; Jennifer Jahner, California Inst. of Tech.; Amanda Louise Johnson, Rice U; Rachael Lynch, George Washington U; Erin Pearson, Elon U; Enid Baxter Ryce, California State U, Monterey Bay
Respondent: Russ Castronovo, U of Wisconsin, Madison
Participants consider the weaponization of narratives of origin in medieval literature and culture in white supremacist narratives of cultural and racial origin, especially in a colonial American context, exploring the ways ideas about the premodern past make their way across the Atlantic to inform later political, literary, and social formulations.
503. Literature and Reparations
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3000, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forums TC Race and Ethnicity Studies and TC Law and the Humanities
1. “‘As True as I Can Tell It’: Responses to and in Apologetic Form from Contemporary Indigenous Poetry,” Bellamy Mitchell, U of Chicago
2. “Passage to Mutiny: The Language of Indian Revolution in Poe, Whitman, and Whittier,” Rowshan Chowdhury, U of Massachusetts, Amherst
3. “Legacies of Violence and Reparations in Angeline Boulley's Firekeeper's Daughter,” Sigrid Anderson, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
504. Global Climates in the Early Modern World
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Sierra Suite I, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 17th-Century French. Presiding: Jeffrey N. Peters, U of Kentucky
1. “Les climats et les hommes dans la première modernité,” Dorine Rouiller, Institut für Romanistik der Humboldt-U
2. “War and Weather, Bodies and Land: The Mémoires of Claude Haton (c.1534–c.1605),” Francesca Canade Sautman, Hunter C, City U of New York
3. “Early Modern Vegetal Climates,” Phillip Usher, New York U
505. Latinx Fanatics, Latinx Extremists: Radical Ideology in Latina/o/x Literature
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3009, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC Latina and Latino. Presiding: Ariana Vigil, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1. “Chaotic Political Commitment in Latinx Literature and Performance.,” Elizabeth Rodriguez Fielder, U of Iowa
2. “Chotas, Spooks, and Fascists: Right Wing Raza Literature and the End of Latinx Studies as We Know It,” Ben V. Olguín, U of California, Santa Barbara
3. “Malignant Exiles: Figures of Impunity in Latina/o/x Literature,” Eric Vazquez, U of Iowa
For related material, write to evzqz@uiowa.edu.
506. Race, Gender, and Genre in Contemporary Pop Culture
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3012, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TC Popular Culture
1. “Contemporary Black Feminist Approaches to Audible Advice; or, Mentorship in Sound,” Alexis McGee, U of British Columbia
507. [Postponed from 2022] Global Socialisms and World Literature
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3001, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC Slavic and East European. Presiding: Daniel W. Pratt, McGill U
Speakers: Derek Gideon, Penn State U, University Park; Yanli He, Sichuan U; Monica Popescu, McGill U; Daniel W. Pratt
Respondent: Duncan McEachern Yoon, New York U
Global socialism studies takes into account not only the experiences of Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War but also forms of socialism that developed globally. From its inception, the Soviet Union was an internationalist project, both politically and culturally, and this panel explores the development of alternative ideas of world literature in tandem with links between intellectuals committed to the idea of socialism in Asia, Africa, and beyond.
508. [Postponed from 2022] Multilingualism and Translation
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3018, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TC Translation Studies. Presiding: Dima Ayoub, Middlebury C
1. “Resisting Language: Translating Chantal Spitz's Cartes postales,” Katherine Hammitt, U of Southern California
2. “‘Somdeel’ Translation: From Medieval England to the Multilingual United States,” Megan Behrend, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
3. “Translation as a Translingual Praxis in and through Kim Hyesoon's Poetry,” Hyunjung Kim, Texas A&M U, College Station
4. “Translations and Resistances of Oscar Wilde's ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’: A Comparative Reading,” Amir Hussain, Emory U
509. Working Conditions: Challenges and Strategies for Teaching, Retaining, and Staffing LOTE Programs
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Pacific Suite C, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on K–16 Alliances. Presiding: Glenn W. Fetzer, New Mexico State U, Las Cruces
Speakers: Howie Berman, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages; Sheri Spaine Long, American Assn. of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese; Tessa Scott, U of California, Berkeley; Michael Shaughnessy, American Assn. of Teachers of German
The teaching of languages other than English (LOTE) has reached a crisis point in the United States. Many universities have closed their world language departments or severely limited the languages they offer. Many high school and middle school world language teachers are leaving the profession because they've reached retirement age. Others are leaving because they are burned out from teaching online during COVID. How do we create more opportunities for teaching LOTE?
510. [Postponed from 2022] Print Culture Studies and Modern American Culture
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3011, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Daniel W. Worden, Rochester Inst. of Tech.
Speakers: Ayendy Bonifacio, U of Toledo; Michelle Chihara, Whittier C; Gary Holcomb, Ohio U, Athens; Kelley Kreitz, Pace U, NY; Danica Savonick, State U of New York, Cortland; Jesse W. Schwartz, LaGuardia Community C, City U of New York
Established and emerging scholars consider the histories of, contemporary work on, and many possible futures for this hybrid methodology and field of analysis. Each participant presents a print culture artifact and discusses its implications for our understanding of American culture and the popular press.
511. Identity, Power, and Long-Term Transformations in Academic Labor
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3002, Moscone West
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Profession. Presiding: Milo Obourn, State U of New York, Brockport
1. “Activism from Above? The World-Making Potentials of Administrative Labor,” Carrie Smith, U of Alberta
2. “Academic Labor Is Low-Waged Service Work,” Alissa Karl, State U of New York, Brockport
3. “Building Equity and Inclusion into Higher Education's National Movement,” Nicola Walters, California Polytechnic State U, Humboldt; Naomi Williams, Rutgers U, New Brunswick
512. Better State Forms
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3016, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Rebecca Oh, U of Illinois, Urbana
Speakers: Elizabeth Anker, Cornell U; Matthew Hart, Columbia U; Rebecca Oh; Kelly Rich, Harvard U; Laura Ritland, U of California, Berkeley; Bruce W. Robbins, Columbia U; Lisi M. Schoenbach, U of Tennessee, Knoxville
Junior and senior scholars and graduate students convene to theorize the state beyond negative critique and to consider the ways in which states produce and are characterized by multiple forms. Panelists attend to the contradictions, possibilities, and pluralities that characterize states outside anti-statism and consider state forms in many genres, historically and across a range of geopolitical contexts.
513. The City in Early Modern Literature: Social, Historical, and Material Experiences of Urban Space
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3005, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Katherine Brown, Albright C
1. “‘The Commodity Is the Same’: Trafficking Women in Marriage and Prostitution in The City Madam,” William Reginald Rampone, Jr., South Carolina State U
2. “The Glocal Soundscape of Praça do Pelourinho Velho (Lisbon, 1593),” Victor Sierra Matute, Baruch C, City U of New York
3. “Local History and Urban Space in the Seventeenth-Century Strange Tale: The Case of Suzhou,” Rania Huntington, U of Wisconsin, Madison
514. Titanic Optimism: Teaching Shakespeare at Non-Elite Institutions
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Walnut, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Timothy Francisco, Youngstown State U
Speakers: Katherine Brokaw, U of California, Merced; Jeff Butcher, Scottsdale Community C, AZ; Craig Dionne, Eastern Michigan U; Kimberly Huth, California State U, Dominguez Hills; Lenora Bellee Jones-Pierce, Centenary C of Louisiana; Jennifer Munroe, U of North Carolina, Charlotte
What is the meaning of the double-entendre titanic/Titanic for faculty members at non-elite institutions who struggle with the goals of the discipline as their fields continue to suffer? On the Titanic, the small orchestra played familiar but upbeat pieces as the ship went down, trying to prevent panic among the passengers. Heroic, true, but what panelists explore here is whether preventing panic by reciting what's familiar is the answer we need.
515. What Can Faculty Governance Do?
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Pacific Suite F, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Cristina V. Bruns, LaGuardia Community C, City U of New York
Speakers: Cristina V. Bruns; Samuel Cohen, U of Missouri, Columbia; Liz Mayo, Jackson State Community C, TN; Jennifer Poulos Nesbitt, Penn State U, York; Anne Rice, Lehman C, City U of New York; Patricia Sokolski, LaGuardia Community C, City U of New York
Addressing faculty governance and its capacity to influence our working conditions, faculty leaders from varied campuses draw on their experience working to strengthen faculty governance at their institutions. What did the revitalization of effective faculty governance depend on and require? What are the challenges and limitations they faced? What alternatives exist when faculty governance fails?
516. Entangling Career Education in Classes and the Curriculum
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Willow, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Lissette Lopez Szwydky, U of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Speakers: Rachel Arteaga, U of Washington, Seattle; Amy E. Elkins, Macalester C; William Kurlinkus, U of Oklahoma; Teresa Mangum, U of Iowa; Julie Naviaux, Slippery Rock U
A new report coming from the MLA provides a national view on career education in the humanities. Offering creative ways to integrate career education into existing structures, speakers from a range of colleges and universities offer strategies to help students connect the pleasures and skills they discover in literature and language classes with the needs, expectations, and vocabularies of varied workplaces.
For related material, write to teresa-mangum@uiowa.edu.
517. Epistemologies of Transformation: Multilingual Research Conditions in Contemporary Indigenous Thought
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 13, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Tiffany D. Creegan Miller, Colby C
1. “Inláak'ech in the Works of Isaac Carrillo Can: Revisiting ‘Cultural Logic’ for Maya Literature,” Zachary G. Brandner, Texas Tech U
2. “Ruchuq'a’ ri ch'ab’äl: Remediations of Guatemalan Maya Orality and Decolonial Linguistic Activism,” Tiffany D. Creegan Miller
3. “Media Linguistics and the Multilingual Indigenous Turn,” Jennifer Carolina Gómez Menjívar, U of North Texas
4. “Philosophical Relationality: An Oath of Accountability for Non-Indigenous Scholars,” Osiris Aníbal Gomez Velazquez, U of Minnesota, Twin Cities
For related material, write to tmiller@colby.edu.
518. Embodied Rituals / Ritualized Bodies: Representations of Corporeality in Pre-1900 Japanese Literature
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Pacific Suite E, Marriott Marquis
A special session
1. “Weeping, Wailing, and Writhing: Corporeal Performance of Mourning Ritual in Eighth-Century Sources,” Beth M. Carter, Case Western Reserve U
2. “The Ecstasy of Waiting: Rethinking the Poetic Trope of the ‘Waiting Woman,’” Malgorzata Citko-DuPlantis, U of Tennessee, Knoxville
3. “Corporeal Ritual and the Performance of Love Suicide in Early Modern Japan,” Jyana Browne, U of Maryland, College Park
Respondent: Sachi Schmidt-Hori, Dartmouth C
For related material, write to sachi.schmidt-hori@dartmouth.edu.
519. Literary Urban Studies and City Planning
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 2004, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Davy Knittle, Princeton U
Speakers: Rudrani Gangopadhyay, Rutgers U, New Brunswick; Reid Gómez, U of Arizona; Liam Lanigan, Governors State U; Pashmina Murthy, Kenyon C; Kate Partridge, Regis U; Tierney Powell, U of Illinois, Chicago; Kai Qing Tan, RWTH Aachen
Exploring the intersection between narratives and urban planning practice, participants discuss how a range of narrative practices critique planning discourse and suggest new ways of organizing and comprehending city space that respond to both the experience of minoritized populations and the relationship between urban and global space.
519A. Writing and Precarity in Sixteenth-Century France
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 3020, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC 16th-Century French. Presiding: Antonia Szabari, U of Southern California
1. “Vulnerability and Fragility at Writing’s Frontiers: Clément Marot’s Prison Poetry,” Anthony Radoiu, U of Wisconsin, Madison
2. “The Care for Sustainability in the New World,” Pauline Goul, U of Chicago
3. “Montaigne’s ‘Siege Tremblant’: On Authorial and Corporeal Fragility in the Essais,” Alani Hicks-Bartlett, Brown U
Saturday, 7 January 12:30 p.m.
520. MLA Delegate Assembly
12:30–5:00 p.m., 2008, Moscone West
Presiding: Frieda Ekotto, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
This meeting is only open to MLA members.
For related material, visit www.mla.org/DA-Agenda-2023 after 14 Dec.
Saturday, 7 January 1:45 p.m.
520A. Create Your Own Working Conditions: Transforming Boundaries
1:45–3:30 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 8, Marriott Marquis
A plenary. Presiding: Surya Parekh, Binghamton U, State U of New York; Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Columbia U
Speakers: Hosam Mohamed Aboul-Ela, U of Houston; Emily Apter, New York U; Moinak Biswas, Jadavpur U; Vitaly Chernetsky, U of Kansas; Surya Parekh; Hortense Jeanette Spillers, Vanderbilt U; Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak; Luis Tapia Mealla, U Mayor de San AndrésAfanasy Nikitin, a fifteenth-century Russian scholarly traveler, carved out his own, extreme working conditions. His Voyage beyond Three Seas, 1466–1472 examines encounters between South Asia, Astrakhan, Iran, and diasporic communities all around the Caspian and other waterways. Participants discuss this text, putting a diasporic Ukrainian scholar into conversation with a group of scholars working with transnational, theoretical, or comparative models. When we tame adventure into curriculum, we must remind ourselves of the need for venturing beyond the curriculum. How can Nikitin, an inventor of networking, help us understand networking now, as an idea that is available everywhere?
521. Working Conditions: Empathy, Sympathy, Invisible Work, and the Forms and Resistance of Midwestern Literature
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3024, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature
1. “Hamlin Garland and Witnessing Hardship,” Brianne Jaquette, Western Norway U of Applied Sciences
2. “Transferred Violence: Race, Labor, and Victimization in The Bluest Eye,” Patrick Lawrence, U of South Carolina, Lancaster
3. “Building Up and Bringing Down the House: Samson d'Arnault and Working Conditions in My Ántonia,” Marilyn Judith Atlas, Ohio U, Athens
522. Représentations littéraires francophones de la folie
1:45–3:00 p.m., Pacific Suite A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Conseil International d’Études Francophones. Presiding: Linsey Sainte-Claire, Middlebury C
1. “La folie et la monstruosité dans l'Océan indien,” Amanda Vredenburgh, Davidson C
2. “Roman francophone et folie: La dictature en question,” Michele Kenfack, U of Chicago
3. “Folie cannibale et corps-palimpseste chez Kettly Noël et Édouard Duval Carrié,” Anny-Dominique Curtius, U of Iowa
4. “Le ‘marronnage merveilleux’ au secours de Télumée Miracle contre la ‘folie antillaise,’” Linsey Sainte-Claire
523. Romanticism and Phase Change: Alchemy, Abortion, and the Ends of Empire
1:45–3:00 p.m., Sierra Suite J, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism. Presiding: Amanda Jo Goldstein, U of California, Berkeley
1. “Wollstonecraft and Abortion,” Tobias Menely, U of California, Davis
2. “‘Regeneration's Work’: Alchemical Technologies and Shelley's Ultima Materia,” Catherine Sulpizio, U of California, Berkeley
3. “London in 1810: Spanish American Independence at 27 Grafton Street,” Omar F. Miranda, U of San Francisco
524. Pathways to the Deanship
1:45–3:00 p.m., Pacific Suite F, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences
1. “Big Goals, Big Impact: Why I Became a Dean,” Kyoko Amano, U of Houston, Victoria
525. Nostalgia: (False) Memories of a Better Past
1:45–3:00 p.m., Sierra Suite E, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Society for German Renaissance and Baroque Literature. Presiding: Christian Schneider, U of Osnabrück
1. “The Restitution of Male and Female Honor; or, Symbolically Changing the Social Status,” Florian Zeilinger, U of Graz
2. “The Rupture in the Archive: The Nostalgic Invention of the ‘the Middle Age,’” Fabian David Scheidel, U of Cologne
3. “‘Baroque’ Movements: Literary Practice and Cultural Theory in Germany since 1970,” Isabel von Holt, Northwestern U
526. The Diné Reader: A Reading and Discussion about the Making of an Anthology of Navajo Literature
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3009, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures
Respondents: Jeff Berglund, Northern Arizona U, Flagstaff; Connie A. Jacobs, San Juan C, NM; Esther Belin, Inst. for American Indian Arts; Bojan Louis, U of Arizona, Tucson
527. Sea and Oceanic Imagination in East Asia
1:45–3:00 p.m., Sierra Suite F, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC East Asian. Presiding: Suyoung Son, Cornell U
1. “The Ocean as Frontiers of Knowing: Wonder and Terror in Chinese Narratives of Maritime Travel,” Linda Rui Feng, U of Toronto
2. “Shipwreck and Transgressive Knowledge in Early Modern Korea,” Suyoung Son
3. “Feeling Adrift in a Postwar Japanese Novel,” Matthew Mewhinney, Florida State U
4. “Island Nation: Searching for Taiwan's Oceanic Prehistories,” Nicolai Volland, Penn State U, University Park
528. Chaucer's Ornamentalism and Gimmickry
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3011, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC Chaucer. Presiding: Carissa Harris, Temple U, Philadelphia; Wan-Chuan Kao, Washington and Lee U
Speakers: Shoshana Adler, U of Pennsylvania; Tekla Bude, Oregon State U; Soojung Choe, Graduate Center, City U of New York; Andrea Denny-Brown, U of California, Riverside; Allan Mitchell, U of Victoria; Claire Waters, U of California, Davis
Bringing Anne Anlin Cheng's concept of ornamentalism and Sianne Ngai's work on the gimmick into conversation with Chaucer's work, speakers discuss mercantile anxiety in the Man of Law's Tale, gimmickry and temporality, ornamentalism in Troilus and Criseyde, ornamental whiteness in the Squire's Tale, and weaponized ornamentalism, gimmickry, and jewelry in the Prioress's Tale.
529. Lauren Berlant's Affects
1:45–3:00 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forums TC Psychology, Psychoanalysis, and Literature and TM Literary and Cultural Theory. Presiding: Karyn Ball, U of Alberta; Frank Wilderson III, U of California, Irvine
Speakers: Gila Ashtor, Columbia U; Vincent Bruyere, Emory U; Max Cavitch, U of Pennsylvania; Elizabeth Freeman, U of California, Davis; Elissa Marder, Emory U; David Markus, New York U; Pamela Thurschwell, U of Sussex
Friends, admirers, and former advisees of Lauren Berlant gather to honor her contributions to psychological approaches to literature, engaging with writings on affect.
530. California Futures and Ecologies
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3020, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TC Ecocriticism and Environmental Humanities. Presiding: David Vazquez, American U
Speakers: Nicole Dib, Southern Utah U; Maia Gil'Adí, Boston U; Michelle N. Huang, Northwestern U; Cathy Thomas, U of California, Santa Barbara; David Vazquez
Respondent: Melody Jue, U of California, Santa Barbara
Panelists address ecological futures of California in speculative fiction from diverse perspectives, including such topics as climate crises, world building, community, and multispecies.
531. Travel and Work in Boccaccio's Decameron
1:45–3:00 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum LLC Medieval and Renaissance Italian. Presiding: Elsa Filosa, Vanderbilt U
1. “Echi mediterranei nelle Novelle siciliane di Boccaccio,” Lucilla Bonavita, Liceo Classico Statale E.Q. Visconti
2. “‘E tutte di diverse cose lavoravano di lor mano’: Images of Women's Work in Boccaccio,” Alessandro Ceteroni, U of Connecticut, Storrs
3. “Mediterranean Clashes: Women from the East in the Decameron,” Martina Franzini, Johns Hopkins U, MD
532. Millennial Fiction in the Era of Sally Rooney
1:45–3:00 p.m., 2002, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC Irish. Presiding: Paige Reynolds, C of the Holy Cross
Speakers: Colleen English, Loyola U Chicago; Seo Hee Im, Hanyang U; Ryan Lackey, U of California, Berkeley; Liam Lanigan, Governors State U
Panelists investigate the strong and even acrimonious divergences in response to Irish millennial fiction among teachers, students, critics, and general readers.
533. The Media Are the Messages
1:45–3:00 p.m., 2004, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC Slavic and East European. Presiding: Jacob Emery, Indiana U, Bloomington; Alice Lovejoy, U of Minnesota, Twin Cities
1. “‘Taint of Sordid Industry’: Extraction and Romantic Pastoral,” Jacob Emery
2. “How to Make a Copy: Materiality and the Work of Image Reproduction,” Mal Ahern, U of Washington, Seattle
3. “‘A Medium That Turns Ore to Everyday Use’: Uranium and Eastman Kodak,” Alice Lovejoy
Respondent: Rick Prelinger, U of California, Santa Cruz
534. Queer Climates
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3000, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TC Sexuality Studies. Presiding: Melanie Micir, Washington U in St. Louis
Speakers: Benjamin Bateman, U of Edinburgh; Mel Chen, U of California, Berkeley; Sarah Ensor, U of Wisconsin, Madison; Chelsea Frazier, Cornell U; Davy Knittle, Princeton U; Ryan Tracy, Graduate Center, City U of New York
Panelists discuss questions related to intersections of queer, transgender, and sexuality studies and environmental, ecological, and climate studies.
535. Reckonings of Universalism
1:45–3:00 p.m., Sierra Suite I, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forums LLC 18th-Century French and LLC 19th-Century French
1. “Intimate Phenomenologies of Universalism,” Christy Pichichero, George Mason U
2. “L'universalisme à l’épreuve de l'hermaphrodisme,” Perrine Gaudry, Emory U
3. “Jean Valjean and Universalism's Exclusions,” Nicole Ferrari, U of Pennsylvania
For related material, write to scott.m.sanders@dartmouth.edu.
536. Greater Mexico, Deterritorialized
1:45–3:00 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 13, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Mexican. Presiding: Sergio Delgado Moya, U of Chicago
1. “Cross-Genre / Greater Mexico,” Amy Sara Carroll, U of California, San Diego
2. “Under the Shadow of Greater Mexico: Yaqui Autobiographical Writings in Transnational Contexts,” Juan Garcia Oyervides, West Texas A&M U
3. “Living in a Multiliminal Space: The Effects of the Caravans of Immigrants,” Miriam Romero, Norwich U
537. Facets of Suffering: The Medical Humanities and Romanian Culture
1:45–3:00 p.m., Sierra Suite H, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Romanian. Presiding: Letitia Ileana Guran, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1. “Metaphor and Lived Experience: Fictional Representations of Cancer in Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu,” Madalina Meirosu, Swarthmore C
2. “Talking about Invalids: Veterans and the Biopolitics of Disability in Interwar Romania,” Maria Bucur, Indiana U, Bloomington
3. “Alexander Nanau's ‘Collective’: A Metonymy for Trauma, Political Agency, and Communal Healing,” Letitia Ileana Guran
For related material, write to lguran@email.unc.edu.
538. Literary Criticism: New Platforms
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3016, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TM Literary Criticism. Presiding: Anna Kornbluh, U of Illinois, Chicago
Speakers: Kim Adams, New York U; Rachel Boccio, U of Rhode Island; Saronik Bosu, New York U; Merve Emre, U of Oxford; Gabriel Hankins, Clemson U; Lee Konstantinou, U of Maryland, College Park; Ashley Rattner, Tusculum U; Matt Seybold, Elmira C; Krithika Vachali, Cornell U
Despite rumors of its demise, literary criticism is alive and well in little magazines, podcasts, and other media. How is this work recognized, and how do these different platforms change the substance and style of criticism today?
539. Rights and Responsibilities
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3014, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TC Law and the Humanities. Presiding: Ravit Reichman, Brown U; Kathryn D. Temple, Georgetown U
1. “‘Know Your Rights . . .’ (Brought to You by YouTube),” Julie Stone Peters, Columbia U
2. “The Right to a Remedy: Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, and Historical Narratives of Responsibility,” Sarah Winter, U of Connecticut, Storrs
3. “Narratives of Responsibility in the Nazi Period,” David Tse-chien Pan, U of California, Irvine
4. “Humor and the Construction of a Human Rights Ethos in the Old French Fabliaux,” Melissa Ridley Elmes, Lindenwood U
540. Sensescapes in Language and Teaching
1:45–3:00 p.m., Pacific Suite C, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LSL Second-Language Teaching and Learning
1. “Sensescapes: Theory, Method, and Possibilities,” Josh Prada, Indiana U–Purdue U, Indianapolis
2. “Nonvisual Photography and Self-Portraits in the Advanced Language Classroom,” Xuehua Xiang, U of Illinois, Chicago
3. “Teaching Language and Culture through Noise: Case Studies from French Classrooms at NYU,” Madeleine Wolf, New York U, Abu Dhabi
541. [Postponed from 2022] Early American Monuments
1:45–3:00 p.m., Laurel, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Early American
1. “The Sleeping Historian: Static Violence and Settler Epistemes,” Jonathan Beecher Field, Clemson U
2. “Settler Mourning, Indigenous History, and the Logan Elm,” Mark Mattes, U of Louisville
3. “‘Bathed by the Blood’: Necro-Settler Colonialism at the Alamo,” Chaney Hill, Rice U
4. “Early Federalism of the United States in Drag: Timothy Dexter's Queer Monuments,” Ben Bascom, Ball State U
Respondent: Martha Elena Rojas, U of Rhode Island
542. Integrating Information Literacy in Writing, Literature, and Language Instruction
1:45–3:00 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 4, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Advisory Committee on the MLA International Bibliography. Presiding: Mary Onorato, MLA
Speakers: Larry Eames, U of Colorado, Colorado Springs; Rhonda Filipan, Ursuline C; Lesley Ginsberg, U of Colorado, Colorado Springs; Carmela V. Mattza, Louisiana State U, Baton Rouge; Tamara F. O'Callaghan, Northern Kentucky U; Leah Richards, LaGuardia Community C, City U of New York; Mara Shatat, Ursuline C; Katharine G. Trostel, U of California, Santa Cruz
Given rampant confusion about defining credible sources and the systematic and widespread dissemination of disinformation, it is more important than ever for students to acquire information literacy skills. Instructors and librarians from four-year and two-year institutions discuss successful strategies for integrating information literacy into day-to-day instruction and assignments in writing, literature, and language classes.
543. Working Conditions and Language Education at Early College
1:45–3:00 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on K–16 Alliances. Presiding: Hsuan-Ying Liu, U of California, Riverside
1. “Working Conditions and Language Education at an Early College: Asian Festival Performances,” Ling-Ling Shih, Bard High School Early College, Cleveland, OH
2. “Talking Black: A Writing and Thinking Workshop on Language, Identity, and Power,” Patrick Oray, Bard High School Early College, Baltimore, MD
3. “World Language Education and Articulation at Early College,” Hsuan-Ying Liu
544. Discussion Group on the Use of Inclusive Language in Our Classrooms and Programs
1:45–3:00 p.m., Golden Gate A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by MLA Professional Development. Presiding: Maggie Broner, St. Olaf C
Does inclusive language further the work of inclusion in the world language classroom? How has the topic been approached in the countries that speak your language? What models and resources exist for navigating challenges posed by normative rules and disciplinary standards about “correct” language use? This discussion group seeks to engage participants in an honest and open dialogue about why and how to incorporate inclusive language in the classroom.
545. Career Diversity Allies: Supporting Graduate Students in Humanities Career Development
1:45–3:00 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on the Status of Graduate Students in the Humanities. Presiding: Kay Sohini Kumar, Stony Brook U, State U of New York
Speakers: Sophia Basaldua-Sun, independent scholar; Hester Blum, Penn State U, University Park; Miriam Gonzales, Penn State U, University Park; Ariadne Wolf, Mills C
How can graduate students in the humanities be supported by faculty members, administrators, and other allies in career discernment and development? Speakers who have found their paths in the humanities ecosystem and higher education administration share how they got there and discuss important conversations on their campuses about graduate education and career diversity.
546. Disrupting Failure: Perspectives on Literary Aesthetics, Structure, and the Collapse of Intention
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3007, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Alyse Knorr, Regis U
1. “Toward a Poetics of Failure; or, How to Fall Short with Ben Lerner,” Christian Moraru, U of North Carolina, Greensboro
2. “‘It's Never Been Known to Fail’: Rudolph Fisher's ‘Failed’ Detectives in The Conjure Man Dies,” Ayoung Seok, Claremont Graduate U
3. “Into the Ouch: Theorizing Failure as a Tool for Creative Writing and Critical Inquiry,” Thom Vernon, U of New Brunswick
547. Intergenerational Environmental Humanities
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3002, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Sarah Dimick, Harvard U; Alexander Menrisky, U of Connecticut, Storrs
Speakers: Joni Adamson, Arizona State U, Tempe; Heidi Amin-Hong, U of California, Santa Barbara; Allison Carruth, Princeton U; Kuhelika Ghosh, U of Wisconsin, Madison; Cajetan Iheka, Yale U; Jesse Oak Taylor, U of Washington, Seattle
Early career, mid-career, and senior scholars in the environmental humanities discuss intergenerational knowledge work, changes in scope and aim, mentorship, and potential futures in the field.
548. Celebrating Portuguese Surrealism on the Centenary of Two Mários: Leiria and Cesariny
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3001, Moscone West
A special session
1. “Portuguese Surrealism between Oppression and Liberation,” Mario Bastos, U de Lisboa
2. “Abjectionism in the Work of Mário Cesariny,” Rui Sousa, U of Lisbon
3. “Unraveling the Threads of Painting: Mário Cesariny, Reader-Essayist,” Amanda Tracera, U Federal do Rio de Janeiro
For related material, visit mla.hcommons.org/.
549. (Re)Covering Precarious Archives
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3012, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Janice Yu, Amherst C
1. “Renee Sarojini Saklikar's Archive Sonar,” Kyle Kinaschuk, U of Toronto
2. “Drawing the Drone Archive: War, Data, and Materiality in the Digital Age,” Katherine Chandler, Georgetown U; Hillary Mushkin, California Inst. of Tech.
3. “Don Mee Choi's (Mis)Translations of Cold War Archives,” Elizabeth Kim, Haverford C
4. “Uncovering a Transimperial Philippine Archive,” Johaina Crisostomo, U of California, Berkeley
550. Working Conditions of Women and Minorities in the South Asian Teaching Industry
1:45–3:00 p.m., Sierra Suite B, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Asiya Zahoor, Cornell U
1. “Many India(s): The State of Indian Muslims in Academia,” Shabeeh Rahat, Jamia Millia Islamia
2. “Teaching ‘Cashmere’ at Cornell,” Asiya Zahoor
3. “Many India(s): Challenges to the NEP and Teaching India's Northeast,” Billie Thoidingjam Guarino, Jamia Millia Islamia
4. “‘Melting Pot of Ideas and Identities’: Rethinking the Classroom in Majoritarian Contexts,” Nupur Chawla, Indian Inst. of Tech., Delhi
For related material, write to nupurchawla04@gmail.com after 2 Jan.
551. The Divided States: Unraveling National Identities in the Twenty-First Century
1:45–3:00 p.m., Virtual
A special session. Presiding: Ricia Anne Chansky, U of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
Speakers: Angela Ards, Boston C; Megan Brown, Drake U; Allyson Day, U of Toledo; Steven Hoelscher, U of Texas, Austin; Margaret A. Noodin, U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Elizabeth Rodrigues, Grinnell C; Hertha D. Sweet Wong, U of California, Berkeley
The United States has never been unified under a single national narrative. Instead, the story of the nation cyclically swings between pluralist and populist rhetorics that celebrate then denigrate the variety of life stories that register limitless ways of constructing and performing national identity. Panelists discuss (auto)biographical narratives in, from, and about the United States that reveal how our contemporary divisions are rooted in a history of multiplicity.
For related material, visit mla.hcommons.org/ after 31 Oct.
552. LEAF-Writer: Low-Barrier Text Encoding for Teaching and Editing
1:45–3:00 p.m., 2000, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Susan Brown, U of Guelph; Diane Jakacki, Bucknell U
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to use LEAF-Writer—an open-source, open-access XML editor that runs in a web browser so that no setup is required. LEAF-Writer offers scholars and students a rich textual editing experience for marking up, annotating, and sharing encoded texts and invites more and different kinds of editors to engage in new and important forms of textual production, analysis, and discovery.
553. Celebrating William Shakespeare's First Folio
1:45–3:00 p.m., 3003, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: William Reginald Rampone, Jr., South Carolina State U
1. “Richard Grant White and the Hegemony of the First Folio in America,” Mark Bayer, U of Texas, San Antonio
2. “Fetishizing William Shakespeare's First Folio,” Rhonda Sharrah, U of California, Los Angeles
3. “The Fourfold Fetishization of the First Four Folios of William Shakespeare ,” Philip Zaborowski, U of Iowa
Respondent: Paul Werstine, Western U
554. Artwork for the Future: Embedded Art in Contemporary Literature and Film
1:45–3:00 p.m., Virtual
A special session
1. “Crisis Temporality and the Contemporary Art Novel,” Cara Lewis, Indiana U Northwest
2. “‘I'd Rather Live’: The Costs of Consequential Art,” Michaela Bronstein, Stanford U
3. “The Global Artwork after Globalization,” Madigan Haley, C of the Holy Cross
555. Adolph Reed's South
1:45–3:00 p.m., Willow, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Scott Romine, U of North Carolina, Greensboro
Speakers: Eric Lott, Graduate Center, City U of New York; Kathryn Burgess McKee, U of Mississippi; Jon Smith, Simon Fraser U; Kenneth W. Warren, U of Chicago
Respondent: Adolph Reed, U of Pennsylvania
From his early work on Du Bois through his latest book, The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives, the political scientist Adolph Reed has long been a little-acknowledged progenitor of the so-called New Southern studies. Scholars assess that legacy and ask how his new book fulfills or complicates it.
556. [Postponed from 2022] Multilingual Writers, Monolingual Work: Private and Public Student Identities in the Context of Writing Instruction
1:45–3:00 p.m., Sierra Suite A, Marriott Marquis
A special session
1. “Standardization and Diversification: Public and Private Writing Identities of Multilingual High School Students,” Jodi Berry, Jakarta Intercultural School
2. “Exclusive of Ourselves: Multilingual Tutors’ Linguistic Practices and Identities,” Lizzie Hutton, Miami U, Oxford
3. “Living and Learning with Multilingual Students in the Writing Classroom,” Carol Tell, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
557. [Postponed from 2022] Rethinking Victorian Memory: Remembered Futures in Poetry and Prose
1:45–3:00 p.m., Pacific Suite B, Marriott Marquis
A special session
1. “Victorian Future Memory: Déjà Vu and Retrospective Novelistic Form,” Jessica Cook, U of California, Los Angeles
2. “Unknowing the Future: Victorian Elegies for Dream Children,” Ashley Miller, Albion C
3. “Silence, Rhyme, and Memory in Christina Rossetti's Sing-Song,” Veronica Alfano, Macquarie U
For related material, write to jrosecook@ucla.edu.
Saturday, 7 January 3:30 p.m.
559. The Duality of Eugene O'Neill on Race
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3016, Moscone West
Program arranged by the Eugene O'Neill Society. Presiding: David Palmer, Massachusetts Maritime Acad.
Speakers: Brandi Wilkins Catanese, U of California, Berkeley; Douglas Jones, Jr., Duke U; Shannon Steen, U of California, Berkeley; Harvey Young, Boston U
How should we view O'Neill's depiction of race in the context of African American theater and discussions of racism? O'Neill was the first American playwright with access to Broadway to write complex Black characters. While his plays are performed by some Black artists today, his reliance on primitivism continues to provoke debate. Panelists examine O'Neill's legacy in the light of vital current conversations regarding diversity and equity in American theater.
For related material, visit eugeneoneillsociety.org/.
560. Teaching Anglophone South Asian Diasporic Literature: Working Conditions and Institutional Contexts
3:30–4:45 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the South Asian Literary Association
Speakers: Madhurima Chakraborty, Columbia C, IL; Robin E. Field, King's C; Nalini Iyer, Seattle U; Maryse Jayasuriya, U of Texas, El Paso; Aniruddha Mukhopadhyay, Texas A&M U, Kingsville; Pallavi Rastogi, Louisiana State U, Baton Rouge
Contributors and the coeditors of the forthcoming MLA volume Options for Teaching South Asian Anglophone Diasporic Literature examine strategies, contexts, and approaches to teaching this vast body of writing that is often taught within a range of institutional contexts.
561. Gender Neutrality and Gender Diversity in Modern Languages
3:30–4:45 p.m., Sierra Suite A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Women in German. Presiding: Carol Anne Costabile-Heming, U of North Texas
Speakers: Brigetta M. Abel, Macalester C; Angineh Djavadghazaryans, Oakland U; Maureen O. Gallagher, Australian National U; Kate Hoin, Wayne State U; Jennifer Kaplan, U of California, Berkeley; Ben Papadopoulos, U of California, Berkeley; Simone Pfleger, U of Alberta; Iwona Sadowska, Georgetown U
Debates about gender-neutral and gender-inclusive language present challenges for modern language teaching, as nonbinary and gender-diverse students seek out linguistic structures beyond the gender binary to express themselves and describe their experiences. Panelists present different perspectives, addressing how German, Polish, Spanish, and Romance languages are tackling the issue.
For related material, write to carolanne.costabile-heming@unt.edu.
562. Writing Program Challenges: The Next Three Years
3:30–4:45 p.m., Pacific Suite A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Council of Writing Program Administrators. Presiding: Douglas Hesse, U of Denver
Speakers: Kay Emmert, U of Illinois, Urbana; Joanna Johnson, U of Miami; Candie McKee-Williams, Oklahoma City Community C; Daniel Staylor, Pasadena City C; Susan Thomas, U of Sydney
Writing programs will encounter challenges as they emerge from a pandemic, contend with institutional climates and mandates, embrace inclusivity, and adapt new research. Speakers from two- and four-year colleges characterize postpandemic practices, learning losses, the end of ‘remedial’ courses, non-tenure-track faculty members in curriculum development, Hispanic-serving student frameworks, and new freestanding departments of writing.
563. Uncommon Wants, Common Things, Undercommons: Byron in 2023
3:30–4:45 p.m., Sierra Suite J, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Byron Society of America. Presiding: Celeste G. Langan, U of California, Berkeley
1. “Commonplaces in Uncommon Places,” Mai-Lin Cheng, U of Oregon
2. “Orientalizing the Commons: Between Arab Subsistence and Greek Democracy,” Lenora Hanson, New York U
3. “Common Disaster,” Manu Samriti Chander, Rutgers U, Newark
4. “More Anon (Gratis Maureen McLane),” Marjorie Levinson, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
564. War and Dissent in Slavic Literatures and Cultures
3:30–4:45 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 10, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages
Speakers: Mary Elisabeth Elliot, U of California, Davis; Brian Goodman, Arizona State U; Yuliya Ilchuk, Stanford U; Ostap Kin, Rutgers U, New Brunswick; Anne Lounsbery, New York U; Olga Nechaeva, U of Pennsylvania; Vadim Shneyder, U of California, Los Angeles
Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine shattered not only the dream of a peaceful Europe but also family bonds—metaphorical and literal—between Slavic nations formerly seen as siblings. Meanwhile, the sharp repression of dissent in Russia has forced a return to oblique language and Aesopian circumlocution. We gather as scholars of Ukraine, Russia, and other Slavic cultures to reflect on the history of Slavic writers’ responses to war, state violence, and repression.
565. New Disability Methodologies: Forms, Intersections, Disciplines
3:30–4:45 p.m., Nob Hill D, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum TC Disability Studies. Presiding: Sari Altschuler, Northeastern U
Speakers: Travis Alexander, Rice U; Usree Bhattacharya, U of Georgia; Melanie Jones, U of California, Los Angeles; Michael Lundblad, U of Oslo
566. Translations, Exchanges, and Afterlives: Early Modern French and English Drama
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3003, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forums LLC 16th-Century French and LLC 17th-Century English. Presiding: Hassan Melehy, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1. “‘Monsieur Jourdain, a Christian Turn'd Turk’: Decoding Molière's Turkish Ceremony through Daborne,” Toby Wikström, U of Iceland
2. “French Embassy Gossip and Chapman's French Plays,” Jessica Wolfe, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
3. “Paul Scarron in England: The Burlesque and Comedic Prose Fiction in Restoration Comedy,” Alexander Brock, Princeton U
567. Translation and Extraction
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3018, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TC Translation Studies. Presiding: Remy Attig, Bowling Green State U
1. “Extractive Settler Economies of Publishing and the Translation of Indigenous Literatures in Canada,” Arianne Des Rochers, U of Moncton
2. “Translating Indigenous Resistance to Extraction in Contemporary Brazil,” Krista Brune, Penn State U, University Park
3. “The Cultural Broker: Babette Deutsch and Transatlantic Modernism,” Brian Shields, Temple U, Philadelphia
568. Southeast Asian History in Literature: Transnationalism, Immigration, Diaspora
3:30–4:45 p.m., Pacific Suite E, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum CLCS Southeast Asian and Southeast Asian Diasporic. Presiding: Ryan Ku, Swarthmore C
Speakers: Jennifer Goodlander, Indiana U, Bloomington; Christos Kalli, U of Texas, Austin; Jakapat Koohapremkit, U of Texas, Austin; Brandon Liew, U of Melbourne; Ying Xin Show, Australian National U
Given the region's overdetermination by external actors, panelists seek to unearth and interrogate Southeast Asian history as it informs, seeps into, or is (re)imagined in literature from the region or its diaspora, focusing on colonial Malayan literature, revolutionary Sinophone literature, a Siamese translation of The Mikado, Indo women in Indonesian fiction, and contemporary Vietnamese American poetry.
569. French Eyes on California
3:30–4:45 p.m., Nob Hill C, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 20th- and 21st-Century French. Presiding: Morgane Cadieu, Yale U
1. “Derrida and Baudrillard between Santa Monica and Irvine,” Eleanor Kaufman, U of California, Los Angeles
2. “AIDS Fiction Turns Eyes to California in À l'ami qui ne m'a pas sauvé la vie and Beyond,” Thomas Corbani, U of California, Berkeley
3. “Documenteur (1981): Finding a Voice on the Shores of California,” Marcus Dominick, U of Pennsylvania
4. “The (Venice) Beaches of Agnès: Varda's Visions of California,” Aubrey Gabel, Columbia U
570. Atmospheric Aesthetics “Under Pressure”: Race, Labor, Nation, Climate
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3024, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TC Science and Literature. Presiding: Stephanie Shirilan, Syracuse U
Speakers: Jennifer Cho, Boston U; Benjamin Parris, U of Pittsburgh; Matt Tierney, Penn State U, University Park; Emily Waples, Hiram C; Tsz-kit Yim, Princeton U
Literary scholars consider disciplinary tools for atmospheric and respiratory research by sharing perspectives gained through research across a variety of archives, languages, forms, and genres.
For related material, write to shirilan@syr.edu after 5 Dec.
571. Eterno Provocador: Reading Spain with Goya
3:30–4:45 p.m., Sierra Suite H, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 18th- and 19th-Century Spanish and Iberian. Presiding: Sara Munoz-Muriana, Dartmouth C
1. “Goya's Album C: Ritual Violence, the Inquisition, and the Dialectics of Spanish Modernity,” Hazel Gold, Emory U
2. “Women's Work and Education, Goya's Caprichos, and a 1789 Proposal for an Asylum for Maids in Madrid,” Catherine Marie Jaffe, Texas State U
3. “La prostitución vista por Goya: De problema moral a problema social,” Enrique Fernandez, U of Manitoba
572. Transpacific Imaginaries of Racial Apocalypse: Labor and Technology in the Age of the Pandemic
3:30–4:45 p.m., Sierra Suite F, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forums LLC Korean and LLC Asian American
1. “Transpacific Feminist Monstrosities in the Time of the Coronavirus,” Jinah Kim, California State U, Northridge
2. “Racialized, Gendered, and ‘Alien’: How Korean Women Cope with Anti-Asian Racism as Liminal Beings,” Kristin April Kim, Korea U
3. “Parasites as a Postcursor to Post-anthropocentric Apocalypse in Alien and Annihilation,” Chang-Hee Kim, Yonsei U
4. “Of Monsters and Metaphors: Militarization, Ecology, and Disease in Bong Joon Ho's The Host,” Erin Suzuki, U of California, San Diego
For related material, visit drive.google.com/drive/folders/12MrCuVKVxl7XWJHZ_PsOUcdTZk96-VTJ?usp=sharing.
573. Public Scholarship in Premodern Studies
3:30–4:45 p.m., 2002, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC 17th-Century French. Presiding: Anna Rosensweig, U of Rochester
Speakers: Katherine Brokaw, U of California, Merced; Amrita Dhar, Ohio State U, Columbus; Penelope H. Geng, Macalester C; Christy Pichichero, George Mason U; Manasvin Rajagopalan, U of California, Davis
Panelists discuss current approaches to and new directions in public scholarship on premodern studies broadly defined. What are the ethical and political stakes of this kind of work?
574. Translation Revisited: New Priorities, New Technologies in Language Education
3:30–4:45 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum LSL Applied Linguistics. Presiding: Mahmoud Azaz, U of Arizona; Richard G. Kern, U of California, Berkeley
Speakers: David Gramling, U of British Columbia; Emily Hellmich, U of Arizona; Mairi McLaughlin, U of California, Berkeley; Diana Thow, U of California, Berkeley; Kimberly Vinall, U of California, Berkeley
Translation, once shunned in language education, is increasingly being reintegrated, but for new purposes. Panelists reflect on translation in language programs, considering technological mediation, issues of diversity and inclusion, and humanistic educational goals.
575. “The Province of Woman”: Mary Ann Shadd Cary at Two Hundred
3:30–4:45 p.m., Laurel, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forums LLC African American and LLC Canadian. Presiding: P. Gabrielle Foreman, Penn State U, University Park
Speakers: RJ Boutelle, Florida Atlantic U; Kirsten Lee, U of Pennsylvania; Brandi Locke, U of Delaware, Newark; Demetra McBrayer, U of Delaware, Newark; Kristin Moriah, Queen's U; Eunice Toh, Penn State U, University Park; Marlas Yvonne Whitley, North Carolina State U; Jewon Woo, Lorain County Community C, OH
Celebrating the two-hundredth anniversary of Mary Ann Shadd Cary's birth and focusing on an upcoming public humanities event organized by the Center for Black Digital Humanities at Penn State University, panelists present innovative scholarly work from a broad range of (inter)disciplinary perspectives, aiming to work across scholarly boundaries of nineteenth-century Black feminist inquiry in North America.
576. Embodying the Vernacular: Intersections of Textuality and Performance in Ming and Qing Fiction and Drama
3:30–4:45 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the forum LLC Ming and Qing Chinese
1. “Textualized Tanci for Performance: On Zhu Suxian's Yulianhuan (Linked Rings of Jade),” Li Guo, Utah State U
2. “Gender, Space, and Performance of Desire in The Purple Flute,” Jing Zhang, New C of Florida
3. “Filiality, Human Agency, and the Power of Words: The Story of the Filial Beggar in Fiction and Drama,” Maria Franca Sibau, Emory U
4. “The Sound of the Sacred: Soundscape, Aesthetics, and Performance of Guanyin Drama,” Xiaosu Sun, Nanjing Normal U
577. Walter Pater's “Open Places of the World”
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3020, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum LLC Victorian and Early-20th-Century English. Presiding: Dennis Denisoff, U of Tulsa
Speakers: Thomas Albrecht, Tulane U; Joseph Bristow, U of California, Los Angeles; Matthew Potolsky, U of Utah; Jonah Sebastian Siegel, Rutgers U, New Brunswick; Rachel Teukolsky, Vanderbilt U; Ryan Tracy, Graduate Center, City U of New York
Celebrating 150 years of Walter Pater's The Renaissance,panelists open fresh discussions inspired by his writing. Considering his works according to concepts of race, the occult, aesthetic formalism, and queer realism, scholars discuss diverse fields, including modernist decadence, sculpture and the visual arts, classicism, popular occulture, and the Harlem Renaissance.
For related material, write to dennis-denisoff@utulsa.edu after 15 Dec.
578. Italo Calvino at One Hundred: An Unfolding Legacy
3:30–4:45 p.m., Sierra Suite E, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 20th- and 21st-Century Italian. Presiding: Serenella Iovino, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Letizia Modena, Vanderbilt U
Speakers: Nicole Ferrari, U of Pennsylvania; Caterina Mongiat Farina, DePaul U; Niccolò Monti, U di Torino; Luca Naponiello, Columbia U; Gioia Woods, Northern Arizona U
Italo Calvino's resonance—a century after his birth—is rich and variegated, perhaps because his oeuvre poses more questions than it answers. How is his legacy unfolding through different disciplines and paradigms of scholarship? What aspects of his vast corpus invite reflection and critique in today's intellectual landscapes? Panelists discuss Calvino and environmental humanities, psychoanalysis, artificial intelligence, the bildungsroman, and more.
579. Protest Visualities
3:30–4:45 p.m., 2004, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum MS Visual Culture. Presiding: Ruby Tapia, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
1. “Against Closure,” Phoebe Braithwaite, Harvard U
2. “Rehearsing the Future: Visualizing Protest in Omar Victor Diop's Photography,” Abigail Celis, U de Montréal
3. “Using the US-Mexico Border to Bear Witness to the Deportation of US Childhood Arrivals,” Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana, U of California, Davis
4. “Comics in Protest: Ms. Marvel and the Muslim Superheroine Patriot,” Aliyah Khan, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
580. The Queer, Nonbinary, and Transgender Sounds of Laughter
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3000, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forums GS Drama and Performance and MS Sound. Presiding: Dorothy Kim, Brandeis U
1. “Trans and Nonbinary Performance, Humor, and Sounds of Otherworldliness in Cuentos de la Tumbona,” Christina Baker, Temple U, Philadelphia
2. “Between Silence and Laughter: Le roman de silence’s Melody of Sonic Disruption,” Kortney Stern, Indiana U, Bloomington
3. “The Laughing 'No': Interpellation, Expression, and Laughter in Quicksand,” Alec Joyner, Columbia U
581. Bay Area Poetry Today
3:30–4:45 p.m., Golden Gate C3, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 20th- and 21st-Century American. Presiding: Mark Greif, Stanford U
Speakers: Garrett Caples, City Lights Publishing; Tongo Eisen-Martin, poet; Devorah Major, California C of the Arts
Poets and poet-intellectuals from the Bay Area reflect on the present situation of poetics, communities, publication, aesthetics, and politics in their art.
582. Producing Knowledge in and of the Local Classroom or Site: Instruction Is Equal to Research
3:30–4:45 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 4, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Community Colleges. Presiding: William Christopher Brown, Midland C
1. “Contextualizing Composition and Integrating Humanities Content and Pedagogy in Nonhumanities Disciplines,” Gregory Campbell, Community C of Baltimore County, MD; Andrew Rusnak, Community C of Baltimore County, MD
2. “The Ecology of Journalism: Fostering Community and Confronting Inequities within and beyond the Classroom,” Elizabeth J. Toohey, Queensborough Community C, City U of New York
3. “Studying My Students as Anti-Racist Praxis,” Loring Pfeiffer, Santa Clara U
583. Big-Tent English and Coalition Building
3:30–4:45 p.m., Walnut, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the ADE Executive Committee. Presiding: Christine A. Wooley, St. Mary's C, MD
Speakers: Brian Douglas Ballentine, West Virginia U, Morgantown; Margaret M. Koehler, Otterbein U; Mary Shapiro, Truman State U; Erin Templeton, Converse U
English departments include subfields ranging from creative writing to film studies to linguistics. They may be reaching out to new partners, including alumni, community organizations, employers, and other humanities departments. Panelists address opportunities that come with embracing big-tent English, as well as the challenges that arise in the leadership of, recruitment for, and curriculum design of these new versions of the field of English.
584. Lusophone Black and Indigenous Perspectives in Literature
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3001, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Pedro S. Pereira, Ohio State U, Columbus
1. “For Whom Does Rio de Janeiro Work? Infrastructure, Access, and Identity in Enquanto os dentes,” Jordan Jones, Brigham Young U, UT
2. “Brazilian Palimpsest: Erasure and Swallowing in Denilson Baniwa,” Bruna Kalil Othero Fernandes, Indiana U, Bloomington
3. “Apocalyptic Visions of the Present: Narratives of Black Youth and the Necropolitical State,” Eliseo Jacob, Howard U
585. Animal Alterity: Blackness, Indigeneity, and the Human in Twentieth-Century America
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3007, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Alex Alston, Columbia U
1. “Catchin’ Strays: On Pet Negroes, the Black Domestic, and the Politics of Loyalty,” Jordan Taliha McDonald, Harvard U
2. “Concepts with Teeth: Indigenous Creatureliness in Modern American Horror Cinema,” Kali Simmons, Portland State U
3. “Animal Antagonism: African American Literature and the Discourse of Species,” Alex Alston
Respondent: Samantha Pergadia, Southern Methodist U
586. Writing Aslant: Cross-Gender Voicing in Nineteenth-Century British Literature
3:30–4:45 p.m., Pacific Suite B, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Mary Mussman, U of California, Berkeley
1. “‘He—I—or We’: Gender, Medium, and Ekphrasis in Michael Field's Sight and Song,” Shyam Patel, U of California, Irvine
2. “Decadent Ghosts: Vernon Lee's Queer Masculinity and Textual Hauntings,” Ardel Thomas, City C of San Francisco
3. “On Knowing Nature's Syntax: Preliminary Cisness and Trans Potentiality in George Eliot's Life and Work,” Alexis Ferguson, Princeton U
Respondent: Margaret Speer, U of California, Irvine
For related material, write to mary.mussman@berkeley.edu after 22 Dec.
587. Debt, Surplus Value, and the Conditions of Intellectual Work
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3002, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Nory Peters, U of Chicago
1. “The Political Economy of University and College Endowments,” Catherine Liu, U of California, Irvine
2. “The Condition of the Intellectual Laborer in Academia,” Daniel Burnfin, U of Chicago
3. “The MA and MFA Industry,” Nory Peters, U of Chicago; Adam Rensch, U of Illinois, Chicago
Participants aim to address the political-economic conditions of contemporary academic work in the humanities, looking at the ways in which the conditions of academic work constrain our ability to produce scholarship, teach or mentor students, and incentivize or coerce academics into producing kinds of discourse which may be ill-suited to understanding or changing the problems inherent in those conditions.
588. African American Criticism Now
3:30–4:45 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 6, Marriott Marquis
A special session
Speakers: Margo Natalie Crawford, U of Pennsylvania; Erica Edwards, Rutgers U, New Brunswick; Anthony Reed, Vanderbilt U; Courtney Thorsson, U of Oregon
Almost thirty years ago, Hortense Spillers warned that Black studies’ institutional success also created the conditions for it to be instrumentalized and subordinated to individual agendas. Thinkers since have noted the degree to which the rhetoric of excellence and inclusion align racist structures of exclusion with anti-racist rhetoric. Panelists convene to discuss the possibilities and responsibilities of Black criticism now.
589. Cryptopias: Narrating Digital Economies in Latin America and Spain
3:30–4:45 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 13, Marriott Marquis
A special session
1. “Cryptopia: Metaverse as a Future-Proof New World,” Natalia Castro Picon, Princeton U
2. “Puerto Crypto: Imagined Communities in Puerto Rico's Cryptopian Narratives,” Matthew Whitehouse Gordillo, Louisiana State U, Baton Rouge
3. “Providential Money: Narrating the Future in El Salvador's Adoption of Bitcoin as Legal Tender,” Nicolás Sanchez-Rodríguez, Princeton U
Respondent: Zac Zimmer, U of California, Santa Cruz
590. Sylvia Wynter's “No Humans Involved”: “Towards the Rewriting of Knowledge” and Undoing “Truths”
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3012, Moscone West
A special session
1. “Feeling the Unheard: Gwendolyn Brooks's Riot,” Amari Mitchell, Rutgers U, New Brunswick
2. “Disforming ‘Truth’: Wynter and hooks in Conversation,” Judith Rodríguez, Indiana U, Bloomington
3. “Ethical Horizons of the Liminal: ‘No Humans Involved’ in Toni Morrison's Paradise,” Diana Molina, Rutgers U, New Brunswick
4. “The Materialisms of Black Studies: Sylvia Wynter and Cedric Robinson,” Elias Rodriques, Sarah Lawrence C
591. [Postponed from 2022] Editing Single-Author Archives for Critical Reconsideration
3:30–4:45 p.m., 2000, Moscone West
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Scholarly Editions. Presiding: Elizabeth Rodrigues, Grinnell C
1. “Editing Charles Chesnutt's Correspondence in a Digital Environment,” Stephanie P. Browner, New School; Kenneth M. Price, U of Nebraska, Lincoln
2. “From Diary to Digital Edition: Reimagining Accounts of Nineteenth-Century Nile Travel and Archaeology,” Sarah Ketchley, U of Washington, Seattle
3. “Collaboration and Authorship in the William Morris Archive,” Florence S. Boos, U of Iowa
592. [Postponed from 2022] Health, Medicine, and Literature: Critical Intersections
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3014, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Paul Blom, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1. “Malaria and Mutiny: Picturesque Pathogeny in British India,” Suvendu Ghatak, U of Florida
2. “‘Nothing Made Them Change Their Minds about the Medical Industry’: Medical Abuse, Incarceration, and Healing in Toni Morrison's Home,” Patrick Allen, Culver-Stockton C
3. “Beyond the Medical Model: A Cripped, Transfeminine Treatment Protocol in Weed Killer and The Summer of Her Baldness,” Iseult Gillespie, U of Wisconsin, Madison
Respondent: Rachel Warner, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
593. [Postponed from 2022] Passion and Form
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3005, Moscone West
A special session
1. “The Adulterous Relations of Aesthetic and Erotic Beauty: Dorian Gray and the Wilde Trials,” Stephen J. Tifft, Williams C
2. “Synchronized Oysters: Bisexuality and Bilocation in Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland,” Maud Ellmann, U of Chicago
3. “Wilde's Dearest Boys,” Ellis Hanson, Cornell U
4. “Henry James's Unrequited Love,” Kevin Ohi, Boston C
594. [Postponed from 2022] Rethinking World Literature through Literary Dubbing
3:30–4:45 p.m., 3011, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Cheng-Chai Chiang, U of California, Berkeley
1. “Literary Dubbing and Hollywood: Asian Americans as Linguistic Others,” Ben Vu Tran, Vanderbilt U
2. “Dubbing America: Korean American Linguistic Utopianism,” Jee Hyun Choi, U of California, Berkeley
3. “The Theater and Its Dubber,” Cheng-Chai Chiang
595. A Presidential Panel on the Working Conditions of Writers, Artists, Scholars, and Critics
3:30–4:45 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 7, Marriott Marquis
Presiding: Christopher John Newfield, Independent Social Research Foundation
Speakers: Tom Lutz, U of California, Riverside; Achy Obejas, Netflix; Gary Phillips, writer (Snowfall); Richard So, McGill U
Precarity is a common condition for workers in literary academia and in all culture industries. Participants—all of whom have studied or worked in and across these worlds—use their experience to discuss struggles to build better conditions for creative work inside and outside academia.
For the other presidential sessions, see 134A and 205A.
Saturday, 7 January 5:15 p.m.
596. Are Textbooks Dead?
5:15–6:30 p.m., Pacific Suite C, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the American Association of University Supervisors and Coordinators. Presiding: Amy Rossomondo, U of Kansas
1. “Why Educators Love Zombies: The Invisible Hand of the Market and the Undead Textbook,” Carl Blyth, U of Texas, Austin
Respondents: Amanda Dalola, U of South Carolina, Columbia; Lynne deBenedette, Brown U
597. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the German Classroom: Approaches and Materials
5:15–6:30 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 13, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the American Association of Teachers of German
1. “IDEA(s) for the Fourth-Semester German Course,” Carol Anne Costabile-Heming, U of North Texas
2. “Impuls Deutsch 1: Representation Matters in Teaching German(y),” Chiedozie M. Uhuegbu, Colorado C
3. “Exploring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in German Literature since 1945 through Democratic Practices,” Monika Eikel-Pohen, Syracuse U
598. Folklorists at Work
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3018, Moscone West
Program arranged by the American Folklore Society. Presiding: James Deutsch, Smithsonian Inst.; Veronica Schanoes, Queens C, City U of New York
Speakers: Constance Bailey, Georgia State U; Abigail Heiniger, Lincoln Memorial U; Lily Kharrazi, Alliance for California Traditional Arts; Margaret Magat, independent scholar
A diverse group of folklorists from different settings in both the academic and public sectors discuss working conditions, addressing some of the major issues and trends facing folklorists, such as institutional support (or lack thereof), misconceptions about folklore, and ways that we seek to excite our constituencies about the field.
599. Comedy, Capitalism, and Hope
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3012, Moscone West
Program arranged by the American Humor Studies Association and the forum MS Screen Arts and Culture. Presiding: Sam Chesters, Houston Community C, TX; Maggie Hennefeld, U of Minnesota, Twin Cities
1. “No Comfort, No Closure: Stewart Lee and Confrontational Satire,” Siddharth Bhogra, Oregon State U
2. “‘Intro to Senselessness’: The Antisocial Thesis of the Situation Comedy,” Theresa L. Geller, U of California, Berkeley
3. “Marxist-Feminist-Muslim-Punk Comedy: We Are Lady Parts,” Joseph Litvak, Tufts U
600. Global Hawthorne: Readership, Reception, Adaptation
5:15–6:30 p.m., Laurel, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society. Presiding: Nancy Sweet, California State U, Sacramento
1. “Black Atlantic Approaches to The Scarlet Letter,” Katie Simon, Georgia C and State U
2. “Spaces of Feminist Creativity through Translation,” Razieh Araghi, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
3. “Teaching Hawthorne in China: Multimodal Reception and Response,” Yi Feng, Northeastern U, Shenyang; Andrew Smyth, Southern Connecticut State U
601. Spring and All at One Hundred Meets “The Academy in Peril” at Forty
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3022, Moscone West
Program arranged by the William Carlos Williams Society. Presiding: Elin Kack, Linkoping U
1. “Spring and All; or, The Present after One Hundred Years,” Bob Perelman, U of Pennsylvania
2. “‘No One to Witness and Adjust’: The Academy Still in Peril,” Juliana M. Spahr, Mills C
3. “‘The Academy [Still] in Peril: William Carlos Williams Meets the MLA’ at Forty,” Charles Bernstein, U of Pennsylvania
602. Radical Pedagogy in Precarious Times
5:15–6:30 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 4, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Radical Caucus in English and the Modern Languages
1. “Ecopedagogy and the Politics of Desensitization,” Sumaria Butt, U of California, Davis
2. “Radical Pedagogy in the Era of Technofascism,” John Maerhofer, Queens C, City U of New York
3. “Anti-Racist Pedagogy and the Mainly Intersectional Room,” Geordie Miller, Mount Allison U
4. “‘Like Any Other Place’: Contingency, Surplus Value, and the University,” Bradley Philbert, U of the Arts
603. Romanticism and Sexuality
5:15–6:30 p.m., Sierra Suite J, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Wordsworth-Coleridge Association. Presiding: Charles Waite Mahoney, U of Connecticut, Storrs
1. “Blake's Vegetable Loves,” Noah Heringman, U of Missouri, Columbia
2. “Elizabeth Moody's ‘To Dr. Darwin,’ Women's Writing, and Sexual Transgression,” David Sigler, U of Calgary
3. “Toward and across Queer Romantic Language,” Alex Gatten, Rutgers U, New Brunswick
604. Insurrections en représentation: Les discours politiques de la fiction chez George Sand
5:15–6:30 p.m., Sierra Suite I, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the George Sand Association
1. “Quietly Defiant: Insurrectionist Undertones in Sand's La Petite Fadette,” Kate Nelson, U of Texas, Austin
2. “Les Beaux Messieurs de Bois Doré ou le roman historique en anamorphose,” Olivier Bara, U Lyon 2
3. “Cadio et les dialogues révolutionnaires chez Sand,” Rachel Corkle, Borough of Manhattan Community C, City U of New York
605. [Postponed from 2022] Polyphonic Dickens
5:15–6:30 p.m., Pacific Suite B, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Dickens Society. Presiding: Michelle Allen-Emerson, United States Naval Acad.
1. “The Inimitable's Idiomatic Imagination: Shouldering the Wheel in Bleak House,” Peter J. Capuano, U of Nebraska, Lincoln
2. “The Story of Stammering Toots: Vocal Disability on the Dickensian Page and Stage,” Riley McGuire, Worcester State U
3. “‘He Himself Is in the Sounds’: The Sonic Injunctions of Edwin Drood,” Frances Molyneux, Stanford U
606. [Postponed from 2022] Virginia Woolf, Hope, and Wonder
5:15–6:30 p.m., Pacific Suite A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the International Virginia Woolf Society. Presiding: Marlene Dirschauer, Ludwig Maximilian U Munich; Erin Kay Penner, Asbury U
1. “A Precarious Re-enchantment in Virginia Woolf's Post–World War I Fiction,” Amy Smith, Lamar U
2. “Terror and Ecstasy: Paradox in Virginia Woolf's Fiction,” Siân White, James Madison U
3. “Woolfian Moments of Being: To the Lighthouse and the Ethics of Epiphany,” Angela Harris, Durham U
For related material, write to angela.cat.harris@gmail.com after 1 Nov.
607. Talking about Transnationalism
5:15–6:30 p.m., Sierra Suite C, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Arabic. Presiding: Refqa Abu-Remaileh, Freie U Berlin
1. “Mashāniq al-ʿAtmah (Gallows of Darkness) as Transnational Novel,” Graham Liddell, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2. “Palestinian American Literature against Palestinian Literature,” Benjamin Schreier, Penn State U, University Park
3. “Nathalie Handal and Gioconda Belli: The Volcanic Exiles,” Nadiyah Aamer, U of Miami
4. “Paratext and Text: Packaging Palestinian Literature for an Anglophone Readership,” Sophia Brown, Freie U Berlin
Respondent: Refqa Abu-Remaileh
608. Classical Theater in Today's Higher Education
5:15–6:30 p.m., Sierra Suite H, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC 16th- and 17th-Century Spanish and Iberian Drama. Presiding: Carmela V. Mattza, Louisiana State U, Baton Rouge
Speakers: Marta Albalá Pelegrín, California State Polytechnic U, Pomona; Nuria Alonso Garcia, Providence C; Alison Caplan, Providence C; Jose Estrada, Carnegie Mellon U; Esther Fernández, Rice U; Alejandra Rodriguez, Hanover C
Panelists explore the role that higher education in the United States has played in the preservation, promotion, and innovation of teaching and performing the Comedia.
609. (Auto)Biographies of and as Work
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3016, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum GS Life Writing. Presiding: Laurie McNeill, U of British Columbia
1. “When Sex Work Meets the Work of (Auto)Biography: Queer (Auto)Biographical Literature in Turkish,” Rustem Ertug Altinay, Kadir Has U
2. “Testifying, Witnessing, and Mourning: Care-Based Labor in the AIDS Memoir,” Roberta Wolfson, Stanford U
3. “Domestic Labor and Gendered Citizenship: Military Spouse Autobiographies of the Forever Wars,” Deborah A. Cohler, San Francisco State U
4. “Surviving Silicon Valley: Autobiography as Platform Critique,” Kimberly Hall, Wofford C
610. Critical Resonances: Sonic Culture in Modern and Contemporary Korea
5:15–6:30 p.m., Pacific Suite E, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Korean. Presiding: I Jonathan Kief, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1. “The Urban Soundscape of Colonial Korea,” Hye Eun Choi, New York U, Shanghai
2. “Restaging Shin Tongyŏp's Auditory Prose from Radio to Podcast,” Jina Kim, U of Oregon
3. “Protest in Sonic Imaginary: The Rendering of Noise in A Single Spark and 1990s Korean Cinema,” Evelyn Shih, U of Colorado, Boulder
4. “Listening to Auditory K-Drama and Seeing Performative K-Pop,” Sunmin Yoon, U of Delaware, Newark
611. Race, Gender, and Consent in the Global Early Modern
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3003, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum CLCS Renaissance and Early Modern
Speakers: Kat Addis, New York U; Bernadette Andrea, U of California, Santa Barbara; Urvashi Chakravarty, U of Toronto; Nedda Mehdizadeh, U of California, Los Angeles; Kirsten Mendoza, U of Dayton; Su Fang Ng, Virginia Tech; Cornesha Tweede, Arizona State U, Tempe; Miguel Valerio, Washington U in St. Louis
Panelists discuss race, gender, and consent in the prose, poetry, and drama of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. How do the intersections of these terms illuminate cultural formations, social privileges, and legal rights? Speakers bring comparative and transnational perspectives to bear on these questions.
612. Teaching the Decameron during the COVID-19 Pandemic
5:15–6:30 p.m., Sierra Suite E, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC Medieval and Renaissance Italian and the American Boccaccio Association. Presiding: Kristina Marie Olson, George Mason U
1. “‘Temendo e Vergognando’ in the Classroom? Treating a Tacit Endemic with the Decameron,” Brenda Rosado, U of California, Berkeley
2. “Technologies of Representation: Teaching the Decameron through Medieval, Modern, and Digital Media,” Cosette Bruhns Alonso, U of Pennsylvania
3. “Disability, Disease, and Deafness in the Decameron: Teaching Masetto in 2022,” Catherine Bloomer, Columbia U
613. East Asian Literatures of the Palaeoanthropocene
5:15–6:30 p.m., Sierra Suite F, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC East Asian. Presiding: Anne Commons, U of Alberta
1. “Familiar Music from Beyond: Mountains in Early Medieval Chinese Strange Tales,” Evan Nicoll-Johnson, U of Alberta
2. “What Is This World? Perceiving Environment through Medieval Japanese Buddhist Discourse,” Kendra Strand, U of Iowa
3. “Objects of Wonder, Objects of Knowledge,” Huijun Mai, U of California, Los Angeles
4. “Teetering between Boundaries: Topographic Demarcations of the Deranged in Ihara Saikaku's Sensuality,” Kirk Kanesaka, George Mason U
For related material, write to acommons@ualberta.ca after 1 Dec.
614. Nahda, Haskalah, Tanzimat: Enlightenment and Building National Literatures in West Asia
5:15–6:30 p.m., Pacific Suite F, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum LLC West Asian
Speakers: Michael Allan, U of Oregon; Ozen Dolcerocca, U of Bologna; Rebecca Johnson, Northwestern U; Lital Levy, Princeton U
The session's goal is to explore the cultural reformation practices that came to be known as national renaissance, enlightenment, or awakening movements in the nineteenth century West Asian literary cultures: Arab Awakening Nahda, Ottoman Reformations Tanzimat, and Jewish Enlightenment Haskalah. Participants offer perspectives on the question of literary enlightenment in West Asia.
615. Periodization in Cross-Cultural Literary History
5:15–6:30 p.m., 2004, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum CLCS Classical and Modern. Presiding: Blair G. Hoxby, Stanford U
Speakers: Alexander Beecroft, U of South Carolina, Columbia; Roland Greene, Stanford U; Timothy M. Harrison, U of Chicago; Jane Mikkelson, U of Virginia; Ayesha Ramachandran, Yale U
Cross-cultural literary histories must establish periods. What are the effects of defining periods according to historical events (the sack of Rome) versus spirits of the age (classical, enlightenment, modern), which might be applied differently to, for example, Europe, the Islamic world, and China? If we lean on historical watersheds, can we disentangle the history of literature from that of empires? If we invoke the spirits of ages, do we fall into anachrony or imperialism?
616. Literary Prizes, Prestige, and Contemporary African Literatures
5:15–6:30 p.m., Nob Hill D, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forums LLC Francophone and LLC African since 1990. Presiding: Juliana Nfah-Abbenyi, North Carolina State U; Tobias Warner, U of California, Davis
Speakers: Madeline Bedecarre, Bowdoin C; Baron Glanvill, Carnegie Mellon U; Liam Kruger, U of Wisconsin, Madison; Brigitte Stepanov, Georgia Inst. of Tech.
An unprecedented number of literary prizes were awarded to African writers in the past year. These include awards for Abdulrazakh Gurnah (Nobel), Boubacar Boris Diop (Neustadt), David Diop (International Booker), Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (Goncourt), and Damon Galgut (Booker). Scholars of African literatures and francophone studies reflect critically on what this wave means for the field and how it relates to genre, gender, and language of expression.
617. [Postponed from 2022] Community-Engaged Pedagogies in the Literature Classroom
5:15–6:30 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 14, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the forum TM The Teaching of Literature. Presiding: Jessica DeSpain, Southern Illinois U, Edwardsville
Speakers: Jessica DeSpain; Shannon Kelley, Fairfield U; Spencer Robins, U of California, Los Angeles; Blevin Shelnutt, U of North Carolina, Wilmington
Panelists discuss teaching literature with community-engaged pedagogies. As they engage with content, students learn about social justice and broaden career paths. Educators discuss balancing experience and content, navigating power differentials and establishing reciprocal partnerships.
618. [Postponed from 2022] Multilingual Poetry between Theory and Practice
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3020, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum RCWS Creative Writing. Presiding: Stefania Heim, Western Washington U
1. “Talk to Strangers: Demolishing the Construct in the Performance,” Mónica de la Torre, Brooklyn C, City U of New York
2. “Extending Traditions: Lyric and the Inupiaq Language,” Joan Kane, Harvard U
3. “On Being Asian Latino; or, Writing in Hybrid Languages as Respite,” Moisés Park, Baylor U
4. “Singing Strikes (in Plural Languages): Translation and Choral Activism,” Jennifer Scappettone, U of Chicago
Creators and scholars of multilingual, polylingual, and translingual poetries explore the practices, theories, politics, and possibilities of making work in more than one language.
619. [Postponed from 2022] Susceptible Subjects: Toward a Psychology of Consent under Erasure
5:15–6:30 p.m., 2002, Moscone West
Program arranged by the forum TC Psychology, Psychoanalysis, and Literature. Presiding: Karyn Ball, U of Alberta
Speakers: Dina Al-Kassim, U of British Columbia; James Godley, Dartmouth C; Klaus Mladek, Dartmouth C; Melissa Wright, Barnard C
In recent news cycles, both the #MeToo movement and the escalation of extreme conspiracy theories have raised questions about experiences of regressed consent, or consent under erasure, as subjects become susceptible to sexual coercion or overtly absurd manipulations. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, presenters reflect on susceptibility and its sociopolitical implications as a condition of negated, foreclosed, or deformed consent.
For related material, visit mla.hcommons.org/groups/psychology-psychoanalysis-and-literature/.
620. What Do We Want in a Research Platform of the Future?
5:15–6:30 p.m., 2000, Moscone West
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Information Technology. Presiding: Alan Liu, U of California, Santa Barbara
1. “The Tech Adoption Process,” Beth Seltzer, Stanford U
2. “Academy-Owned Humanities Publishing Platforms Working in Cross-Institutional Collaboration—MDPx,” Matthew K. Gold, Graduate Center, City U of New York
3. “Some Steps toward Collectivist Platforms for Humanities Research Collaboration,” Samuel Baker, U of Texas, Austin
For related material, visit infotech.mla.hcommons.org/.
621. Cocreating DEI Initiatives to Retain Students
5:15–6:30 p.m., Sierra Suite A, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the ADFL Executive Committee. Presiding: Araceli Hernández-Laroche, U of South Carolina Upstate
Speakers: Katherine B. Ford, East Carolina U; Maria Francisco-Monteso, U of South Carolina Upstate; Christian Alberto Rubio, Bentley U; Eric Touya de Marenne, Clemson U
Panelists discuss diversity, equity, inclusion, and wellness initiatives to retain students, especially those most affected by the pandemic, such as first-generation and BIPOC students. Honors programs, innovative campus-wide initiatives, mentoring student groups, digital and multilingual public humanities partnerships with local schools, community colleges, (bilingual) media, and civic partnerships for language justice, translation, and community interpreting are key.
622. Academic Labor Justice: How Adjunctification Hurts Us All and How to Advocate for Change
5:15–6:30 p.m., Virtual
Program arranged by the MLA Executive Council. Presiding: Julie Shoults, Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley
Speakers: Adrianna Kezar, U of Southern California; Aaron Krall, U of Illinois, Chicago United Faculty; Mia McIver, University Council-AFT; Rithika Ramamurthy, Nonprofit Quarterly
Labor casualization has eroded higher education, creating a crisis that affects all academic workers. Contingency must be actively countered by everyone. Speakers at the forefront of the growing push for change share strategies for advocacy across roles (graduate students, adjuncts, tenure-stream faculty members, and more), ideas for individual and collective action, lessons learned from union organizing and bargaining, and resources for support.
623. Changing the Terms of Service: Rethinking What Counts as Intellectual Labor
5:15–6:30 p.m., Walnut, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Association of Departments of English. Presiding: Janine M. Utell, MLA
Speakers: Debra Rae Cohen, U of South Carolina, Columbia; Ryan Fong, Kalamazoo C; Ricardo L. Ortiz, Georgetown U; Andrea Kaston Tange, Macalester C; Rafael Walker, Baruch C, City U of New York
Field-shaping intellectual work (peer and tenure review, editing, mentoring, hiring, curriculum development, administration, labor organizing) is undervalued as it operates outside spaces associated with research. Who is expected to do what kinds of service and whose scholarship flourishes, or not, as a result? Might faculty and program leaders balance aspects of faculty work by rethinking the terms of service, honoring its equivalent power?
624. Pleasures of Work and Antiwork in Contemporary Literature
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3005, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Annie Bares, U of Texas, Austin
1. “Revenge Fantasies and Permanent Temp Work in Halle Butler's The New Me,” John Macintosh, U of Maryland, College Park
2. “Narrating Care Work: Violence in Leïla Slimani's Lullaby,” Joshua Gooch, D'Youville C
3. “The Expropriators Are Expropriated? Philanthropy and the Heist Genre in Aya de León's Uptown Thief,” Annie Bares
4. “Soupçon of Sabotage,” Matt Tierney, Penn State U, University Park
625. The Aesthetic Sphere of the Pandemic
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3014, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Camelia Raghinaru, Concordia U, CA
1. “COVID-19 Memorials: Aesthetics and Politics,” Sarah Senk, California State U, Maritime Acad.
2. “A Surviving Camera: Pandemic Choreographies for the Longue Durée of Change,” Marjana Krajac, Ohio State U, Columbus
3. “Defying Technocentric Theater: A Case Study of Podacto Stüdyo Productions,” Aycan Akcamete, U of Texas, Austin
626. Feeling Minor: Affect and Asian America
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3024, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: James Young Kim, Fordham U
1. “Model Minority Feelings: Asian American Shame and the Color-Blind State,” Melanie Abeygunawardana, U of Pennsylvania
2. “Minor Archives, Minor Feelings: On Asian American Transitional Objects,” Erica Kanesaka, Brown U
3. “Achilles Meets the Angry Little Asian Girl: Toward an Asian American Critique of the Human,” James Young Kim, Fordham U
4. “Asians in Silicon Valley: A Romance,” Huan He, U of Southern California
627. The Social Life and Collective Work of Serial Form(s)
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3009, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Brooks E. Hefner, James Madison U
1. “Serial Forms, Settler Colonialism, and Indigenous Periodicals,” Kelly Wisecup, Northwestern U
2. “Serial Generativity,” Dorri Beam, Syracuse U
3. “Building National Pasts Book by Book: Two Colombian Book Series in a Bipartisan Chaos,” Gloria Johana Morales Osorio, U of Wisconsin, Madison
4. “Now with That Eternal Nowness,” Sarah Salter, Texas A&M U, Corpus Christi
628. Addressing the Shortage of Authentic Realia for Portuguese World Language Collaboratively
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3001, Moscone West
A special session
Speakers: Renato Alvim, California State U, Stanislaus; Jamile Forcelini, Sam Houston State U; Alan Parma, U of Chicago; Silvia Ramos Sollai, U of Florida
This session gathers scholars who are interested in exchanging theoretical and methodological resources of Portuguese critical language education and Portuguese for specific purposes curricula. By showcasing recent advances in a collaborative design, the participants bring forward questions to spark discussion about the shortage of authentic realia to then foster strategies that are replicable to any audience, mode of instruction, and program.
629. Critique and Translation: Literature, Art, and Theory in the Question of Critique
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3007, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Nizar F. Hermes, U of Virginia
1. “‘The Visual Poetry of the Work’: Critique, Form, and Life in Mona Hatoum and Theodor Adorno,” Jeffrey Sacks, U of California, Riverside
2. “Inheriting the Lebanese Left: Critique in the Works of Husayn Muruwwa and His Grandson Rabih Mroué,” Maya Kesrouany, New York U, Abu Dhabi
3. “Commitment and Critique,” Nouri Gana, U of California, Los Angeles
630. Athrú: A Radical New Irish Poetics
5:15–6:30 p.m., Golden Gate C3, Marriott Marquis
A special session. Presiding: Laura O'Connor, U of California, Irvine
1. “What Sentences Do in Contemporary Irish Poetry,” Eric Falci, U of California, Berkeley
2. “Call and Response: Apostrophe as Gaeilge,” Laura O'Connor
3. “Tír gan Teanga? Globalization, Class, and the New Irish Poetics,” Andrew Enda Duffy, U of California, Santa Barbara
631. [Postponed from 2022] Strange Careers of Cold Warriors: Agency of Literary Figures
5:15–6:30 p.m., 3011, Moscone West
A special session. Presiding: Peter J. Kalliney, U of Kentucky
1. “Norman Holmes Pearson and the Exportation of American Studies,” Greg Barnhisel, Duquesne U
2. “C. Vann Woodward and Southern Studies in American Studies,” Hiromi Ochi, Senshu-U
3. “Wallace Stegner Goes to Asia: Creative Writing and Its Asian Mission,” Yukari Yoshihara, U of Tsukuba
Respondent: Peter J. Kalliney
For related material, write to hiromy@ka2.so-net.ne.jp after 25 Dec.
Saturday, 7 January 7:00 p.m.
632. The Presidential Address
7:00–8:15 p.m., Yerba Buena Salon 7, Marriott Marquis
Program arranged by the Presidential Address. Presiding: Paula M. Krebs, MLA
1. “Report of the Executive Director,” Paula M. Krebs
2. “Criticism after This Crisis,” Christopher John Newfield, Independent Social Research Foundation.
Our teaching and research are being held back by our current working conditions. What intellectual futures will be enabled by a new, systemic strategy for the profession?
Saturday, 7 January 7:15 p.m.
633. Reception Sponsored by the Department of English and the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages at Stanford University
7:15–8:30 p.m., Golden Gate C3, Marriott Marquis
634. Cash Bar Sponsored by The Minnesota Review, Mediations, and TC Marxism, Literature, and Society
7:15–8:30 p.m., Golden Gate C1, Marriott Marquis
635. Gathering Sponsored by the Asociación Internacional de Literatura y Cine Españoles Siglo XXI (ALCESXXI)
7:15–8:30 p.m., Golden Gate C2, Marriott Marquis
636. Cash Bar Sponsored by LLC African American
7:15–8:30 p.m., Golden Gate B, Marriott Marquis
