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Where Are We Now? (Literatures of the U.S. in Languages Other Than English - 2009 MLA Annual Convention)

Where Are We Now? (Literatures of the U.S. in Languages Other Than English - 2009 MLA Annual Convention)

2009 MLA (Modern Language Association) Annual Convention

The MLA Discussion Group on Literatures of the U.S. in Languages Other Than English announces a roundtable to be held at the 2009 Convention of the Modern Language Association in Philadelphia:

Where Are We Now?

While the status of non-English U.S. literatures within the academic establishment has evolved considerably within the past twenty years, many conceptual, disciplinary, and pedagogical challenges remain. This roundtable will reassess if, how, and with what frequency scholars, students, and publishers approach these literatures. Naturally, such a reevalution calls into question the validity of boundaries on various levels: disciplinary and canonical (the very definition of “American” and other national literatures) as well as geographical and political (the creation of the American nation and the place of non-English U.S. literatures situated in a global context). In order to spark discussion and debate, four 10-minute presentations will precede and frame an open conversation among panel members and attendees.

Possible topics of proposals may address but are not limited to the following questions:

•    How are non-English American literatures taught in your classroom or department?
•    To what degree are non-English literatures of the United States pedagogically marginalized and what trends can we identify?
•    What issues still face these corpuses in English Departments?
•    How are immigrant or heritage language texts taught in modern language departments?
•    To what extent are works in languages other than English viewed as belonging to other national literatures?
•    What is the role of translation and/or bilingual publication of non-English works in core courses?  In specialty courses?
•    How is "American" literature defined in graduate programs and undergraduate instruction—linguistically, nationalistically, geographically?
•    How is the category of "literatures of the U.S. in languages other than English" redefined by the emphasis on diasporic, transnational, and globalization studies?
•    How do publishers approach the use of languages other than English?
•    How are our institutions of higher learning preparing professors and teachers to meet the challenges of heritage classrooms versus second-language classrooms?

Abstracts (250 words or less) and CVs should be sent to Michael_C_Bruce@hotmail.com no later than March 15, 2009.


N.B.: The2009 MLA Annual Convention will be held in Philadelphia from 27 to 30 December.The exact date and time of this roundtable have not been determined.

 Registration and housing information will be available in September2009.

http://www.mla.org/convention