The March 2013 issue of PMLA, just mailed to MLA members, features five regular essays, on the Anglo-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare MBE, the pursuit of sovereignty in Norman Mailer’s The Fight, modernism and melodrama, Palestine in debates on postcolonial Maghrebi culture, and the European tradition of the invitation poem. The issue also includes a guest column by Julie Ellison on the new public humanities; a debate in Theories and Methodologies on Kenneth W. Warren’s study What Was African American Literature?; Alan Liu’s essay on the meaning of the digital humanities, for The Changing Profession; and four surprising discoveries in the series Criticism in Translation and Little-Known Documents.
Last Call for the 2013 ADE and ADFL Summer Seminars
In the next few days hotel reservations will close for the 2013 ADE Summer Seminar, 27–30 June, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Although the cutoff dates for guaranteed hotel reservations have passed for the joint ADE-ADFL seminar, 6–9 June, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and for the ADFL Summer Seminar, 18–21 June, in Houston, Texas, hotels for those seminars will try to accommodate new registrants. Chairs and other departmental representatives interested in attending a seminar this year will find complete programs and information about registration and hotel accommodations at the ADE and ADFL Web sites.
MLA Commons Reaches Two Thousand Members
Congratulations to Anouk Alquier, visiting lecturer in French at Amherst College, who has won an iPad mini for being the two-thousandth member of MLA Commons. We thank all of you who have logged in to help build this community. For more information about getting started on the site, we encourage you to visit the Welcome Group blog or to e-mail commons@mla.org.
Fitzpatrick Speaks about Open Access
In a statement at the National Academy of Sciences meeting on public access to federally supported research and development publications, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, the MLA’s director of scholarly communication, discussed the changing role of professional societies in the Internet era. Citing the ability to disseminate one’s work through a platform like MLA Commons, Fitzpatrick posited that “the value of joining a scholarly society in the age of open, public Web-based communication may be in participation.” Read the full text of her statement on the office of scholarly communication blog.
Be the Two-Thousandth Member of MLA Commons
Since MLA Commons launched in January, nearly two thousand MLA members have logged in to the network to create their profile, join groups related to their interests, start blogs, and much more. To celebrate, we’re awarding an iPad mini to the two-thousandth person to log in and create a profile. If you haven’t yet explored what you can do on the Commons, we invite you to log in with your MLA credentials, update your profile with a photo and description of your interests, and take a video tour of the site. We look forward to seeing you there!
Create a Blog on MLA Commons
Over seventy sites have been created on MLA Commons, from informal blogs to open-access publications using CommentPress to the new site from the MLA International Bibliography. If you’d like to start a blog on the Commons, you’ll find posts on creating a site, using CommentPress, and much more in the Welcome Group. We will be featuring selected sites in the forthcoming MLA Commons newsletter, so send a note to let us know what you’ve created and feel free to e-mail questions to commons@mla.org.
The MLA and the Humanities: An Interview with the MLA’s Executive Director
In an interview with Ernesto Priego for 4Humanities, Rosemary G. Feal, the executive director of the MLA, discusses the association’s new initiatives, its ongoing work on behalf of teachers and students, and the importance of supporting a public role for the humanities.
April Job Information List PDFs
PDFs of the English and foreign language editions of the April MLA Job Information List (JIL) are now available online. The lists contain live links provided by advertisers as well as links to apply through Interfolio for positions that are still accepting applications. Anyone who applies for a position from the JIL will receive an Interfolio Dossier account at no cost. With an account, a job seeker can submit application letters and CVs electronically for free. More information about the dossier service is available in the JIL section of the MLA Web site.
Contribute to a New MLA Volume
Are you interested in contributing to an MLA volume? You are invited to submit essay proposals for the Options for Teaching volume Teaching Latino/a Literature, edited by Frederick Luis Aldama, and to answer a survey and submit essay proposals for Approaches to Teaching Hugo’s Les Misérables, edited by Michal P. Ginsburg and Bradley Stephens. Essay proposals and survey responses will be accepted through 1 August.
Candidates for 2013 MLA Elections
The 2013 Nominating Committee has nominated Kwame Anthony Appiah, David J. Bartholomae, and Garrett Stewart for second vice president of the MLA and Douglas M. Armato, Brian Croxall, Morris E. Eaves, Margaret R. Higonnet, Anton Kaes, Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting, and Philip M. Weinstein for the MLA Executive Council. The 2013 Elections Committee has arranged contests to fill seventeen special-interest and thirty-eight regional seats in the Delegate Assembly. Background information on the candidates for second vice president and the Executive Council and the names and affiliations of the Delegate Assembly candidates are now available online. To propose an additional candidate for any of these positions, see the procedures for filing petitions described in articles 6.E, 8.A.2, and 10.E of the MLA constitution.