UMD at MLA
January 07, 2015
When the Modern Language Association convenes in Vancouver from 8-11 January 2015, those presenting current research include many faculty members and graduate students from English
January 8, 2015
4. Preconvention Workshop for Job Seekers in English
Thursday, 8 January, 11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m., 11, VCC East
Program arranged by the ADE Executive Committee
Presiding: Malin Pereira, Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte
Speakers: Kent Cartwright, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Sandra Sellers Hanson, LaGuardia Community Coll., City Univ. of New York; Cynthia Scheinberg, Mills Coll.
7. Queer Archives
Thursday, 8 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 2, VCC East
Program arranged by the Division on Gay Studies in Language and Literature
Presiding: Martha Nell Smith, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
1. "Not-at-Home Movies: The Queer Films of Cyrus Pinkham," Christopher D. Castiglia, Penn State Univ., University Park; Christopher Reed, Penn State Univ., University Park
2. "Queer Preservation Methods: 'Herstory' Inventory and Archival Media Practices," Ann L. Cvetkovich, Univ. of Texas, Austin
3. "Archival Fantasy and Cinematic Form," Valerie Rohy, Univ. of Vermont
14. Postcolonial Digital Humanities: Praxis
Thursday, 8 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 111, VCC West
A special session
Presiding: Adeline Koh, Richard Stockton Coll. of New Jersey
Speakers: Alexander Gil, Columbia Univ.; Eunsong Angela Kim, Univ. of California, San Diego; Angel Nieves, Hamilton Coll.; Porter Olsen, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Roopika Risam, Salem State Univ.; Siobhan Senier, Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham
For abstracts, visit www.dhpoco.org.
Session Description:
This roundtable explores the role of praxis in the academy through the fields of postcolonial studies and the digital humanities. Participants discuss how they actively integrate the methodologies of postcolonial analysis into the digital humanities, revealing the implicit presence of race, ethnicity, and systems of exclusion.
109. Zionism and Democracy: A Heideggerian Question?
Thursday, 8 January, 5:15–6:30 p.m., 17, VCC East
Program arranged by the Discussion Group on Hebrew Literature
Presiding: Na'ama Rokem, Univ. of Chicago
1. "Hebrew, Modernism, and Democracy," Eric Zakim, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
2. "Khirbet Khize and the Ruins of Democracy," Shai Ginsburg, Duke Univ.
3. "Dwelling and Diversity: From Heidegger's Philosophy to the Poetry of the Tent Revolution," Vered Shemtov, Stanford Univ.
Responding: Irene Tucker, Univ. of California, Irvine
142. Writing Spaces, Identities, and Subalternities in African and African Diaspora Cultural Productions
Thursday, 8 January, 5:15–6:30 p.m., 2, VCC East
Program arranged by the College Language Association
Presiding: Clement Akassi, Howard Univ.
1. "The Politics of Writing as a Space to Shape Caribbean Identity/Identities," Khady Diene, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
2. "The Complexity of African Touristic Heritage in Colombia," Alain Lawo Sukam, Texas A&M Univ., College Station
3. "The Subaltern Voices of María Nsue and Concha Buika," Michael F. Ugarte, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia
4. "Whose Voice Is It Anyway? The Colonial Novel in Equatorial Guinea," Nicole D. Price, Northern Arizona Univ.
154. Retrofuturism and Critical Theory
Thursday, 8 January, 7:00–8:15 p.m., 205, VCC West
A special session
Presiding: Leeann Hunter, Washington State Univ., Pullman
1. "Steampunk Recursions and Computational Retrofutures in Bioshock Infinite," Roger Whitson, Washington State Univ., Pullman
2. "Practice-Based Research in the Media Archaeology Lab: Past Solutions for Present Problems," Lori A. Emerson, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder
3. "Hands On: Restoring a Scene of Early Word Processing through Tape and Type," Matthew Kirschenbaum, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
For abstracts, visit www.rogerwhitson.net after 11 Dec.
164. Translational Humboldt
Thursday, 8 January, 7:00–8:15 p.m., 2, VCC East
A special session
Presiding: Susan Gillman, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz
Speakers: Ralph Bauer, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Ottmar R. Ette, Univ. of Potsdam; Susan Gillman; Vera Kutzinski, Vanderbilt Univ.; Mark Person, Univ. of Wyoming; Laura Dassow Walls, Univ. of Notre Dame
Session Description:
This panel aims to rediscover Alexander von Humboldt for an MLA audience attuned to questions of translation. Celebrated as “the real discoverer of South America” (Simon Bolívar), Humboldt must be reintroduced for our own time, a European identified with Latin America and a self-identified Americas booster.
166. The Tropical Legacy of Álvaro Mutis (1923–2013)
Thursday, 8 January, 7:00–8:15 p.m., 16, VCC East
A special session
Presiding: Charlotte W. Rogers, George Mason Univ.
1. "Otra vez el tiempo te ha traído: Mis encuentros con Álvaro Mutis," Consuelo Hernández, American Univ.
2. "Estrategias re-colonizadoras del espacio latinoamericano: El gótico tropical de Álvaro Mutis," Gabriele Bizzarri, Univ. of Padua
3. "Tropical Nostalgia in The Snow of the Admiral, by Álvaro Mutis," Charlotte W. Rogers
4. "Álvaro Mutis's Melancholic Regionalism," Ryan Long, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
167. Sites of Memory in Israel and Palestine
Thursday, 8 January, 7:00–8:15 p.m., 13, VCC East
A special session
Presiding: Eric Zakim, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
1. "Palestinian Experience in Israel: Time and Space in Text and Image," Lital Levy, Princeton Univ.
2. "Shechunat Yehuda Amichai: The Legacy and the Politics of the Poet of Jerusalem, before and after 1967," Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem
3. "An Apartment to Remember: Palestinian Memory in the Israeli Landscape," Barbara Mann, Jewish Theological Seminary
171. Middle English Science
Thursday, 8 January, 7:00–8:15 p.m., 117, VCC West
Program arranged by the Division on Middle English Language and Literature, Excluding Chaucer
Presiding: Shannon Gayk, Indiana Univ., Bloomington
1. "Dangerous Science," Kellie Robertson, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
2. "'In plauntes lyf is yhud': Botanical Metaphor and Botanical Science in Middle English Literature," Timothy Miller, Univ. of Notre Dame
3. "Latour among the Cynocephali," Karma Lochrie, Indiana Univ., Bloomington
January 9, 2015
193. Aesthetic Cosmopolitanism in African American Literary Traditions
Friday, 9 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., 114, VCC West
A special session
Presiding: Gene Andrew Jarrett, Boston Univ.
Speakers: Adeleke Adeeko, Ohio State Univ., Columbus; Elizabeth McHenry, New York Univ.; Carla L. Peterson, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Cherene Monique Sherrard-Johnson, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
Session Description:
Our roundtable examines cosmopolitan moments in African American literature from 1830 to 1940. How do we identify our texts as cosmopolitan—as both an ethic and an aesthetic concerned with form? How can we envision them as sites of memory in African American literary traditions that negotiate with literary histories beyond national, ethnic, and racial borders at different moments in time?
218. Francophone Cinemas: Global or Indigenous?
Friday, 9 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., 18, VCC East
Program arranged by the Division on Francophone Literatures and Cultures
Presiding: Valérie K. Orlando, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
1. "Francophone Films: A Must-Have for Francophone Studies," Carine Bourget, Univ. of Arizona
2. "Crossing Cinematic Languages, Languages of Cinematic Crossings: Abderrahmane Sissako's Heremakono and Moussa Touré's La pirogue," Katelyn Knox, Univ. of Central Arkansas
3. "An Indigenous Representation of the Catastrophe? Rithy Panh's The Missing Picture (L'image manquante)," Jennifer Cazenave, Hobart and William Smith Colls.
For abstracts, write to vorlando@umd.edu.
231. Subaltern Studies Redux
Friday, 9 January, 10:15–11:30 a.m., 11, VCC East
Program arranged by the Division on Postcolonial Studies in Literature and Culture
Presiding: Bishnupriya Ghosh, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara
Speakers: Aamir R. Mufti, Univ. of California, Los Angeles; Sangeeta Ray, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Bruce W. Robbins, Columbia Univ.; Sudipta Sen, Univ. of California, Davis
Session Description:
The critical agon over a universal history of capital drove the subaltern studies project. In the light of the subaltern's subsequent traction across disciplines as the placeholder for an unreadable political agency uncapturable in orthodox accounts of revolutionary awakening, this panel reconsiders the multiple histories of capital at work in postcolonial literary and cultural studies today.
298. What Is the Role of the Critical Edition in the Digital Age?
Friday, 9 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 215, VCC West
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Scholarly Editions and the Society for Textual Scholarship
Presiding: John Young, Marshall Univ.
Speakers: Benjamin Albritton, Stanford Univ.; William Leake Andrews, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Neil Fraistat, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Andrew Scott Galloway, Cornell Univ.; Kenneth M. Price, Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln
Session Description:
Editing protocols date from the analog age. Digital editions continue to follow analog protocols. Textual scholars—and textual scholarship—can profit from discussion of digital technology's contribution to editing. Panelists, textual scholars with experience in both analog and digital editing technologies, discuss and suggest further exploration.
313. "Bodies That Matter": Corporeality and Materiality in the Age of Goethe
Friday, 9 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 5, VCC East
Program arranged by Women in German and the Goethe Society of North America
Presiding: Julie Koser, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
1. "Impossible Ideals: Virginity and Maternity in Goethe's Werther," Lauren Nossett, Univ. of California, Davis
2. "Bodies That Matter and Don't Matter in Goethe's Wilhelm Meister," Susan Elizabeth Gustafson, Univ. of Rochester
3. "'Pen Portraits' and Salon Encounters in Berlin around 1800," Marjanne Elaine Goozé, Univ. of Georgia
329. Strengthening the Undergraduate Major in English Studies
Friday, 9 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 210, VCC West
Program arranged by the Association of Departments of English
Presiding: Kathryn A. Rummell, California Polytechnic State Univ., San Luis Obispo
Speakers: Kent Cartwright, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Scott Warren Klein, Wake Forest Univ.; Robert I. Matz, George Mason Univ.
Responding: Dana A. Williams, Howard Univ.
Session Description:
This roundtable showcases models of undergraduate curricula, highlights best practices in undergraduate education in English, and explores ways to help departments create a common vision and then build a curriculum to support that vision. Finally, it describes the various ways the department supports that vision beyond curricular design (e.g., faculty hiring, career services).
January 10, 2015
467. How Should Comparatists "Read" Literature?
Saturday, 10 January, 10:15–11:30 a.m., 10, VCC East
Program arranged by the Division on Comparative Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature
Presiding: Sangeeta Ray, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
1. "Methexis," Elaine C. Freedgood, New York Univ.
2. "Rereading the World and World Literature in Portuguese," Christopher E. Larkosh, Univ. of Massachusetts, North Dartmouth
3. "The Matter of an Ivory Statuette," Poulomi Saha, Univ. of California, Berkeley
512. Heritage Language Learning and Teaching Today: In Honor of Olga Kagan
Saturday, 10 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 12, VCC East
Program arranged by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages
Presiding: Sibelan Forrester, Swarthmore Coll.
1. "The Current State of Heritage Language Learning in the United States and the Anglophone Challenge," Richard Brecht, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
2. "New Directions and Issues in Research on Chinese as a Heritage Language," Patricia Duff, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver
3. "Heritage Spanish Pedagogy: From Teaching the Norm to Learning about the Self," María Luisa Parra, Harvard Univ.
Responding: Olga Kagan, Univ. of California, Los Angeles
516. Gendering the Public Intellectual
Saturday, 10 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 220, VCC West
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession
Presiding: Kate Flint, Univ. of Southern California
Speakers: Daphne Ann Brooks, Yale Univ.; Cathy N. Davidson, Graduate Center, City Univ. of New York; Lauren M. E. Goodlad, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana; Jack Halberstam, Univ. of Southern California; Marilee Lindemann, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Sharon Marcus, Columbia Univ.
Session Description:
Panelists discuss how discourse in the public sphere is gendered, both in terms of overall representation and in the assumptions and expectations inherent in its framing, and consider interaction with different publics inside and outside institutions, professional self-representation, news and feature journalism, op-ed writing, radio and TV appearances, book reviewing, and social media.
526. Early Modern Materialisms
Saturday, 10 January, 12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 14, VCC East
Program arranged by the Division on Comparative Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Literature
Presiding: Ralph Bauer, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
1. "Describing Anahuac: Classical Rhetoric and Early Modern Natural Science in the Florentine Codex," Jaime Marroquin, George Washington Univ.
2. "Fetish at First Sight: Aleatory Materialism in A Midsummer Night's Dream," Liza Blake, Univ. of Toronto
3. "'Soulified Matter': Objecthood and Vitalist Materialism in The Blazing World," Matthew Trammell, Case Western Reserve Univ.
601. Negotiating Past and Future: Feminist Activism in Language and Literature Workplaces
Saturday, 10 January, 3:30–4:45 p.m., 210, VCC West
Program arranged by the Women's Caucus for the Modern Languages
Presiding: Teresa Mangum, Univ. of Iowa
Speakers: Hester Baer, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Michelle A. Massé, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge; Rebecka Rutledge Fisher, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Michele Schaal, Iowa State Univ.; Rebecca J. Ulland, Northern Michigan Univ.
Session Description:
A roundtable by leaders from the Women's Caucus for the Modern Languages, the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession, Feministas Unidas, Women in French, and Women in German. Topics include the need for femininst activism, feminization of the profession, contingent labor, and gendered labor in higher education.
611. Feminism and Neoliberalism in Recent German Literature and Film
Saturday, 10 January, 5:15–6:30 p.m., 7, VCC East
Program arranged by Women in German
Presiding: Imke Brust, Haverford Coll.
1. "Female Bodies and Work as Sites of Neoliberal Intensification: Nikola Richter and Judith Schalansky," Helga Druxes, Williams Coll.
2. "'No Place Left for Life': Work and Masculinity in Contemporary German Prose," Monika Shafi, Univ. of Delaware, Newark
3. "Women's Film Production in the Neoliberal Mediascape of German-Speaking Europe," Hester Baer, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
Responding: Mareike Herrmann, Coll. of Wooster
627. Lydia Millet
Saturday, 10 January, 5:15–6:30 p.m., 119, VCC West
A special session
Presiding: Samuel Cohen, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia
Speakers: Margaret Hunt Gram, American Acad. of Arts and Sciences; Daniel Grausam, Durham Univ.; Rachel Greenwald Smith, Saint Louis Univ.; Jenny Howell, Univ. of Texas, Austin; Lee Konstantinou, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Lisa Siraganian, Southern Methodist Univ.; Molly Wallace, Queen's Univ.
Session Description:
This roundtable examines the work of Lydia Millet, one of a very few contemporary writers poised to enter the canon. The panelists—scholars working on contemporary literature and culture—explore Millet’s work’s aesthetic, historical, environmental, and political aspects and also implicitly and sometimes explicitly make the case for Millet’s importance.
January 11, 2015
654. Virtual Women: Webcomics
Sunday, 11 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., 3, VCC East
A special session
Presiding: Leah Misemer, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
1. "'Straw Feminists': Webcomics, Parody, and Intertextuality," Sarah Sillin, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
2. "Ménage à 3: Gender and Sexual Diversity through Women's Perspectives," Nicole Slipp, Queen's Univ.
3. "One Click Wonder: How Female Comics Creators Leapt from Private to Public in a Single Bound," Aimee Valentine, Western Michigan Univ.
Responding: Hillary L. Chute, Univ. of Chicago
665. Approaching The Peripheral: First Responses to William Gibson’s New Novel
Sunday, 11 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., 212, VCC West
A special session
Presiding: Brian Croxall, Emory Univ.
Brian Croxall's Annotation: Panelists will speak for no more than 6 minutes.
Speakers: Paul Benzon, Temple Univ., Philadelphia; Amy J. Elias, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville; Kathleen Fitzpatrick, MLA; Matthew Kirschenbaum, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Lee Konstantinou, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Andrew Pilsch, Arizona State Univ. Polytechnic; Zach Whalen, Univ. of Mary Washington
Session Description:
Fall 2014 saw the publication of The Peripheral, a novel by William Gibson. Turning his attention again to tomorrow, the author imagines the future of games, technology, and warfare and their effects on bodies, economies, and families. Scholars of contemporary literature present a range of approaches and share their early reactions, impressions, and suggestions for interpreting this new text.
668. The Horrified Housewife Heroine: Women’s Domestic Writing during the Early Cold War
Sunday, 11 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., 217, VCC West
A special session
Presiding: Jill E. Anderson, Tennessee State Univ.
1. "Not in My Home: Dangerous Security in Judith Merril's Shadow on the Hearth," Kelly Singleton, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
2. "Damsels in Suspense: Containment, Women's Writing, and Cold War Television," Annie Berke, Yale Univ.
3. "Subversion Gone Awry: The Horrors of Subjection in Tillie Olsen's Tell Me a Riddle," Rachel Curtis, Grand Valley State Univ.
4. "Domestic Oppressions Submerged: The Abject Horrors of Ellen Douglas's Hold On," Amy K. King, Univ. of Mississippi
671. Making as Method
Sunday, 11 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., 210, VCC West
Program arranged by the Division on Methods of Literary Research
Presiding: Lauren Klein, Georgia Inst. of Tech.
1. "Warped Modernisms: Making the City in the Work," Jentery Sayers, Univ. of Victoria
2. "Printing Fictions: Notes toward a Method," Kari M. Kraus, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
3. "Bots Are Machines for Words," Mark Sample, Davidson Coll.
For abstracts, visit www.samplereality.com/makingasmethod/ after 1 Nov.
755. Algerian Dissident Writers of French Expression: Challenging Definitions of the Postcolonial
Sunday, 11 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 7, VCC East
A special session
1. "Rachid Boudjedra, Dissident Writing and Optical (Dis)Illusions," Mary Vogl, Colorado State Univ.
2. "On Earthquakes, Orgasms, and Religious Violence: Maïssa Bey's Gendered History and Memory," Mary E. McCullough, Samford Univ.
3. "Of Revolutions Past and Present: The Convergence of Violent Memories in Contemporary Algeria in Boualem Sansal's Le village de l'Allemand ou le journal des frères Schiller," Valérie K. Orlando, Univ. of Maryland, College Park
For abstracts, write to vorlando@umd.edu.