UMD English at MLA 2023
January 03, 2023
University of Maryland faculty and graduate students will present recent research on a variety of topics at the Modern Language Association’s annual meeting from January 5-8, 2023
Please let us know if your session is not listed so that we may add it!
January 5, 2023
20. [Canceled] Demanding Civic Accountability through Critical Rhetorical Practices
Thursday, 5 January 2023, 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM PST (3:00 PM - 4:15 PM EST)
Speakers: Shenika Hankerson, U of Maryland, College Park; Cecilia Shelton, U of Maryland, College Park; Temptaous Mckoy, Bowie State U
Session Description: The project of American democracy is just as linguistic and rhetorical as it is political. We explore the critical potential of Black (and other marginalized) linguistic and rhetorical practices and violence of white supremacist (and other oppressive) linguistic and rhetorical practices. Thinking across contexts of civic and community engagement (classrooms, publics, institutions), we consider the role of accountability in the American myth of democracy.
91. Black Bodies 2.0: Survival Work
Thursday, 5 January 2023, 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM PST (6:30 PM - 7:45 PM EST), Marriott Marquis - Nob Hill A (Lower B2 Level)
Presiding: Cherene Monique Sherrard-Johnson, Pomona C
1. "Celebrity Bodies: Toussaint Louverture and the Queer Spectacle of Black Masculinity in Literature," Samantha Pinto, U of Texas, Austin
2. "The Black Body and Religion," Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Northwestern U
3. "The Black Body and Medicine," Julius Fleming Jr., U of Maryland, College Park
120. On Black Being
Thursday, 5 January 2023, 5:15 PM - 6:30 PM PST (8:15 PM - 9:30 PM EST), Marriott Marquis - Yerba Buena Salon 10 (Lower B2 Level)
Presiding: Julius Fleming Jr., U of Maryland, College Park
1. "Tuskegee and the Plantationoscene: Toward a Theory of Eco-Ontology in Black Studies," Jarvis McInnis, Duke U
2. "School Clothes: A Collective Memoir of Black Student Witness," Jarvis Givens, Harvard U
3. "Rethinking the Renaissance: Empire, Aesthetics, and the Black Women’s Literary Renaissance," Randi Gill-Sadler, Davidson C
150. Chicanx Environmentalisms
Thursday, 5 January 2023, 7:00 PM - 8:15 PM PST (10:00 PM - 11:15 PM EST), Marriott Marquis - Golden Gate C3 (B2 Level)
Presiding: William Arce, California State U, Fresno
1. "Pastoral Dreams, Ecological Nightmares: The Suburbs as Subject/Setting in Contemporary Latinx Poetry," Randy Ontiveros, U of Maryland, College Park
2. "Chicana Desertscapes and the Feminine Biosphere," Melina Vizcaino-Alemán, U of New Mexico, Albuquerque
3. "Smellscapes and Precarity in Gil Cuadros’s City of God," Samantha Solis, U of California, Los Angeles
January 6, 2023
234. Homemade Citizenship: From Slave Cabins to the White House
Friday, 6 January 2023, 10:15 AM - 11:30 AM PST (1:15 PM - 2:30 PM EST), Marriott Marquis - Nob Hill A (Lower B2 Level)
Presiding: Margo Natalie Crawford, U of Pennsylvania
Speakers: Margo Natalie Crawford, U of Pennsylvania; Autumn Womack, Princeton U; Stacie McCormick, Texas Christian U; Kinitra Brooks, Michigan State U; Brigitte Fielder, U of Wisconsin, Madison; Julius Fleming Jr., U of Maryland, College Park
Respondent: Koritha Mitchell, Ohio State U, Columbus
Session Description: What does it mean to approach African American history and art looking for a preoccupation with success rather than protest? Panelists address the question by offering brief engagements with Koritha Mitchell’s From Slave Cabins to the White House.
299. The Claim to Indigeneity
Friday, 6 January 2023, 1:45 PM - 3:00 PM PST (4:45 PM - 6:00 PM EST), Marriott Marquis - Sierra Suite A (Level 5)
Presiding: Nijah Cunningham, Hunter C, City U of New York
Speakers: Chadwick Allen. U of Washington, Seattle; Chad Infante, U of Maryland, College Park; Robbie Richardson,
Princeton U; Alice Te Punga Somerville, U of British Columbia
Session Description: The current embrace of the interdisciplinary field of Indigenous studies in academia in the United States serves as an opportunity to reflect on the field’s broader institutionalization within a global context. Considering the complex and, at times, ambiguous nature of this institutional embrace, scholars in this expansive field explore the relation between indigeneity and the global and consider how claims to indigeneity destabilize the image of the world.
335. Liberalism Unmoored
Friday, 6 January 2023, 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM PST (6:30 PM - 7:45 PM EST), Moscone West - 3002 (Level 3)
Presiding: Orrin N. C. Wang, U of Maryland, College Park
1. "The Liberal Automaton," Jamison Kantor, Ohio State U
2. "Antigone as Liberal Hero and Subversive Female in Nineteenth-Century Argentina," Mary Casey, U of Illinois, Urbana
3. "Liberalism and the Diagrammatic," Ronjaunee Chatterjee, Queen’s U
January 7, 2023
419. Diversifying the Nineteenth-Century French Canon
Saturday, 7 January 2023, 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM PST (11:30 AM - 12:45 PM EST), Marriott Marquis - Nob Hill D (Lower B2 Level)
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
Session Description: Panelists discuss ways to diversify the canon of nineteenth-century French studies (gender, race, identities, geography, approach, genre).
440A. [Postponed from 2022] The New Humanities
Saturday, 7 January 2023, 10:15 AM - 12:00 PM PST (1:15 PM - 3:00 PM EST), Marriott Marquis - Yerba Buena Salon 7 (Lower B2 Level)
Presiding: Anjali Prabhu, U of California, Los Angeles; Christopher John Newfield, Independent Social Research Foundation
Speakers: David Theo Goldberg, U of California, Irvine; Preminda Jacob, U of Maryland Baltimore County; Marisa Parham, U of Maryland, College Park; Walt Jacobs, California State U, East Bay
Session Description: 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.
518. Embodied Rituals / Ritualized Bodies: Representations of Corporeality in Pre-1900 Japanese Literature
Saturday, 7 January 2023, 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM PST (3:00 PM - 4:15 PM EST), Marriott Marquis - Pacific Suite E (Level 4)
Respondent: Sachi Schmidt-Hori, Dartmouth C
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
538. Literary Criticism: New Platforms
Saturday, 7 January 2023, 1:45 PM - 3:00 PM PST(4:45 PM - 6:00 PM EST), Moscone West - 3016 (Level 3)
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
Session Description: 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?
624. Pleasures of Work and Antiwork in Contemporary Literature
Saturday, 7 January 2023, 5:15 PM - 6:30 PM PST (8:15 PM - 9:30 PM EST), Moscone West - 3004 (Level 3)
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, U of Texas, Austin
4. "Soupçon of Sabotage," Matt Tierney, Penn State U, University Park
January 8, 2023
690. [Postponed from 2022] Infrastructures of Care
Sunday, 8 January 2023, 10:15 AM - 11:30 AM PST (1:15 PM - 2:30 PM EST), Marriott Marquis - Pacific Suite B (Level 4)
Presiding: Neville W. Hoad, U of Texas, Austin
1. "Sex Work, Queer Femininity, and the Biometric Database," Juno Jill Richards, Yale U
2. "Infrastructures of Care in Gulf Guest Worker Fiction," John Macintosh, U of Maryland, College Park
3. "‘Walking Social Services’: Mapping Multicultural Care in Karen Tei Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange," Ethan King, Boston U
4. "Failing to Care: National and Familial Emergencies in Rohinton Mistry’s Anglophone Worlds," Aruni Mahapatra, U of Alabama, Birmingham
698. Professional Resources for International PhD Teaching Assistants and Candidates in English Programs
Sunday, 8 January 2023, 10:15 AM - 11:30 AM PST (1:15 PM - 2:30 PM EST), Virtual, Recorded
Presiding: Liyang Dong, Binghamton U, State U of New York
Speakers: Bora Kang, Binghamton U, State U of New York; Lidia Radi, U of Richmond; Fatima Seck, U of Maryland, College Park; Xiaochen Sun, U of Arizona
Session Description: International PhD students in English often face more challenges in classrooms, cohort relationships, and the department structure: they are not as validated as an authority, funding opportunities are less accessible, and the job market is marginally available. Their special struggles are often unaddressed. Panelists explore resources for these students and aim to build a sustaining community that carries into their professional careers.
705. Joining Forces to Fill the Talent Pipeline: The American Translators Association and ALC Bridge
Sunday, 8 January 2023, 12:00 PM - 1:15 PM PST (3:00 PM - 4:15 PM EST), Moscone West - 3018 (Level 3)
Presiding: Bill Rivers, WP Rivers and Associates
Speakers: Stephen Lank, U of Maryland, College Park; Caitilin Walsh, American Translators Assn.
Session Description: Demand for qualified interpreters and translators is rising, and talent is in short supply. ALC Bridge joins educators from the American Translators Association to highlight career pathways for language majors and connect higher education to the workforce. Presenters discuss ways we can support the needs of both higher education, which prepares students for jobs, and the business world, which seeks to hire them.
742. The Postcolonial Pacific
Sunday, 8 January 2023, 1:45 PM - 3:00 PM PST (4:45 PM - 6:00 PM EST)
Presiding: Asha Nadkarni, U of Massachusetts, Amherst
1. "From Columbus to COP 26: The Marshall Islands and Decolonizing Climate Change, "Basuli Deb, Columbia U
2. "Transpacific Triangulation: Refashioning Puerto Rican Masculinity during the Korean War," Yeongju Lee, Emory U
3. "Future Past: Cold War Realpolitik and the Wrong-Side-of-History Debate," Thuyen Truong, McGill U
4. "Little Pacific Intimacies," Emily Perez, U of Maryland Baltimore County