MELUS NewsNotes

Call for Papers: Special Issue of MELUS

2009-07-15T13:46:00.001-04:00

Call for Papers
Special Issue of MELUS
Guest Editors: Kathryn Nicol and Jennifer Terry

Toni Morrison: New Directions

With the publication of her eighth novel, A Mercy (2008), Toni Morrison has signaled her continuing centrality to the work of imagining and re-imagining American lives, histories, and cultures. A Mercy’s engagement with America’s pasts and futures provides an opportune moment to engage anew with Morrison’s career, to historicize and revise critical paradigms, and to suggest new directions for study. This call for papers invites contributions to a special issue of MELUS dedicated to new work on Toni Morrison. The issue aims to explore fresh approaches to Morrison’s body of work, offer critical readings of the recent fiction, and suggest responses to her non-fiction writing and work in other genres.
We welcome a wide spectrum of responses but topics of particular interest might include:
• Explorations of the author’s recent work (i.e. post-Jazz publications)
• Responses to Morrison’s prefaces and essays, particularly in light of the publication of What Moves at the Margin: Selected Nonfiction (2008)
• Critical accounts of work in other genres: writing for children, dramatic and operatic works
• Comparative approaches
• New theoretical approaches
• Interdisciplinary and / or ‘non-literary’ approaches
• Morrison as public intellectual and / or Morrison’s self-fashioning
• Studies of the reception of Morrison and / or the responses of different readerships
Completed papers should be between 7000-9000 words, including notes and works cited, and in MLA format. Queries concerning possible submissions as well as book reviews are welcome. Electronic submission is required. Please send an email attachment to Kathryn Nicol (kate_edin@hotmail.com). Deadline for submission: 20 January, 2010.

Spring '09 Issue Welcome

2009-03-16T18:54:00.002-04:00

Greetings, MELUS Members!

Welcome to the Spring 2008 edition of MELUS NewsNotes-- the online version of our quarterly newsletter for the society. Any member may post additions to this issue by clicking on "comments" and adding his/her information. The editors encourage active participation if you have something to share with the organization; however, they do reserve the right to edit or delete postings that are outside of the MELUS NewsNotes reporting or news mission.

If you have questions feel free to contact Dr. Katharine Rodier, Professor of English & Director of Graduate Studies, Marshall University, 1 John Marshall Drive, Huntington WV 25755-2646, rodier@marshall.edu or Dr. Monica García Brooks, NewsNotes Technical Editor, Marshall University, brooks@marshall.edu.

If you would prefer to receive NewsNotes in print copy or in another format, please contact Monica. The NewsNotes archive is still located on the main page for the e-publication: http://www.marshall.edu/melus/newsnotes/ or you may click on the months/years provided in our navigational area on the left side of this page.

Best regards,
The NewsNotes Editors

Spring '09 Calls for Papers or Proposals

2009-03-16T18:52:00.003-04:00

*CALL FOR PROPOSALS:
EARLY AMERICAN BORDERLANDS,*
*Flagler** **College**, **St. Augustine**, **FL**, **May 13-16, 2010***

Continuing in the tradition of the “First Early Ibero/Anglo Americanist Summit” (Tucson, AZ, 2002) and “Beyond Colonial Studies” (Providence, RI, 2004), this event will bring together scholars of the early Americas working in various languages and disciplines in order to exchange questions, ideas, research and teaching methods, as well as to promote comparative perspectives and cross-disciplinary dialogue in the study of the early Americas. The thematic focus of this event will be on early American borderlands. Various concepts have been invoked to theorize cultural formations on early American borderlands—frontier, limit, border, contact zone, encounter, as well as syncretism, mestizaje/métissage, mulataje, transculturation, and inter-culturalism. We are inviting proposals for panels and papers on any aspect of early American borderlands throughout the Western hemisphere as spaces for the many forms of encounters that took place between various Native American, African, and European peoples from the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century European conquest of the Atlantic through the formation of early American nation states in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Send proposals for panels and/or 20-minute papers (including CVs), by *June 1, 2009* to Ralph Bauer at bauerr@umd.edu >. Accepted panels will be posted on the conference website for submission of additional paper proposals until *August 1, 2009*.

The event will be hosted by Flagler College, in St. Augustine, Florida, and is co-sponsored by the Society of Early Americanists (SEA).

Program Chairs: Santa Arias (U Kansas) and Ralph Bauer (U Maryland).

Program Committee: David Boruchoff (McGill), Thomas Hallock (U South Florida), Yolanda Martinez-San Miguel (U Pennsylvania), Dennis Moore (Florida SU), Luis Fernando Restrepo (U Arkansas), Gordon Sayre (U Oregon), Teresa Toulouse (U Colorado), Lisa Voigt (OSU), Ed White (U Florida).

Local Arrangements: John Diviney, Jr. (Flagler College), María José Maguire (Flagler College).

Conference website: http://www.mith2.umd.edu/fellows/bauer/summit3/index.html

Ralph Bauer
Associate Professor
Department of English and Comparative Literature
University of Maryland,
4103 Susquehanna Hall
College Park, MD 20742
Phone: 301-405-9647
E-Mail: bauerr@umd.edu
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/fellows/bauer/home.html

Transforming Visions in African American Literature and Rhetoric

51st Annual Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association
November 12-15, 2009, St. Louis Union Station Marriott, St. Louis, Missouri
This is an open call for presentations at the Permanent Session on African American Literature. We invite papers that respond broadly to the conference theme of “migration.” Projects may treat literary, rhetorical, theoretical, and/or pedagogical concerns raised by the work of African American authors from any period. Papers that pursue transnational analytics or concerns are encouraged. Projects that intersect with feminist, queer, disability, and religious/spiritual inquiries are especially welcome. Proposals due by April 20 to T J Geiger at geiger.tj@gmail.com.

The Philip Roth Society will sponsor a panel or two at this year’s ALA Jewish American and Holocaust Literature Symposium, Sept. 9-12, 2009, in Salt Lake City, UT. The topic is open, and papers concerning any aspect of Roth’s work are welcome. We would also welcome any proposals for ready-made panels concerning Roth, his fiction, and any cultural issues surrounding his texts. Abstracts for paper and panel proposals should be 250-350 words, and should be sent to rothsociety@gmail.com.

For more information about the ALA Jewish American and Holocaust Literature Symposium, please visit http://www.jahlit.org/.

Deadline for submissions to Roth Society panels at this conference is Friday, May 15th.

EARLY AMERICAN BORDERLANDS,*
*Flagler** **College**, **St. Augustine**, **FL**, **May 13-16, 2010***

Continuing in the tradition of the “First Early Ibero/Anglo Americanist Summit” (Tucson, AZ, 2002) and “Beyond Colonial Studies” (Providence, RI, 2004), this event will bring together scholars of the early Americas working in various languages and disciplines in order to exchange questions, ideas, research and teaching methods, as well as to promote comparative perspectives and cross-disciplinary dialogue in the study of the early Americas. The thematic focus of this event will be on early American borderlands. Various concepts have been invoked to theorize cultural formations on early American borderlands—frontier, limit, border, contact zone, encounter, as well as syncretism, mestizaje/métissage, mulataje, transculturation, and inter-culturalism. We are inviting proposals for panels and papers on any aspect of early American borderlands throughout the Western hemisphere as spaces for the many forms of encounters that took place between various Native American, African, and European peoples from the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century European conquest of the Atlantic through the formation of early American nation states in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Send proposals for panels and/or 20-minute papers (including CVs), by *June 1, 2009* to Ralph Bauer at bauerr@umd.edu. Accepted panels will be posted on the conference website for submission of additional paper proposals until *August 1, 2009*.
The event will be hosted by Flagler College, in St. Augustine, Florida, and is co-sponsored by the Society of Early Americanists (SEA).
Program Chairs: Santa Arias (U Kansas) and Ralph Bauer (U Maryland).

Program Committee: David Boruchoff (McGill), Thomas Hallock (U South Florida), Yolanda Martinez-San Miguel (U Pennsylvania), Dennis Moore (Florida SU), Luis Fernando Restrepo (U Arkansas), Gordon Sayre (U Oregon), Teresa Toulouse (U Colorado), Lisa Voigt (OSU), Ed White (U Florida).

Local Arrangements: John Diviney, Jr. (Flagler College), María José Maguire (Flagler College).

Conference website: http://www.mith2.umd.edu/fellows/bauer/summit3/index.html

CFP – SPECIAL ISSUE OF SHOFAR DEVOTED TO JEWISH COMICSThe scholarship surrounding comics and “graphic novels” has proliferated over the past several years, as has studies focusing on particular comics themes or visual texts created by certain ethnic communities. Indeed, over the past three years alone there have been at least six critical studies investigating the links between comics and Jewishness. Given this emergent field of inquiry, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies will devote a special issue to Jewish comics (slotted for Summer 2010). The scope of this volume will take in the theoretical, literary, and historical contexts of graphic narrative and its links to Jewish identity and discourse. Possible topics could include, but are certainly not limited to:

• The ways in which comics have articulated the American Jewish experience
• Comics and the Holocaust, as expressed in such narratives as Maus, Auschwitz, I Was a Child of the Holocaust, We Are on Our Own, Mendel’s Daughter: A Memoir, and Yossel: April 19, 1943
• The contributions of Jews in the history of comic strips and comic books
• Images of Israel in the works of Joe Sacco, Rutu Modan, Ari Folman, Miriam Libicki, and the Dimona Comix Group
• Jewish identity through superheroes and villains, from Superman to The Spirit to Shaloman
• The form of the contemporary “graphic novel” by Jewish writers/artists such as Kim Deitch, Joann Sfar, Miss Lasko-Gross, Ben Katchor, and Aline Kominisky-Crumb
• Graphic adaptations of Jewish texts and legends
• Immigration and ethnic urban landscapes in the works of comics artists such as Will Eisner and Ben Katchor
• Comics, the Diaspora, and Jewish internationalism
• Jewish identity and world conflict, from the world wars to 9/11
• Jewish autobiographic comics (e.g., Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor and Will Eisner’s autobiographic fiction) as well as graphic biographies of such figures as Franz Kafka, Emma Goldman, Houdini, and Anne Frank
• Representations of the Jewish gangster in comics
• The uses of the golem and its relation to the superhero

All essay submissions should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words, including notes. Contributors should format submissions based on the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, and use footnotes. Authors will be responsible for securing copyright permission for all images used. Address all inquiries, and submit all completed manuscripts, to the guest editor, Derek Parker Royal at Derek_Royal@tamu-commerce.edu. Please include the words “Jewish Comics” in the subject heading.

Deadline for final manuscript submission is October 2, 2009.

Shofar is published for the Midwest Jewish Studies Association, the Western Jewish Studies Association, and the Jewish Studies Program of Purdue University by the Purdue University Press. For more information on the journal, please visit http://www.cla.purdue.edu/jewish-studies/shofar/.

Spring '09 - 7th Biennial MESEA Conference CFP

2009-03-16T18:50:00.000-04:00

7th Biennial MESEA Conference: The Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and the Americas

16–20 June 2010
University of Pécs, Hungary

Call for Papers
Travel, Trade and Ethnic Transformations

Travel, movement and mobility are essential in human life: they shape individualities, histories and the stories people tell. In particular, labor, commerce, exile, tourism, transnational and transcontinental migrations have led to the socio-political and cultural production of dominant images of subjectivities and nationhoods. People’s identification with “imagined communities” and their experience with “encountered ones” has determined ethnicity’s and diaspora’s infinitely variable socio-political and cultural content. However, neither panethnicity nor transmigrant/postcolonial hybridity can resolve the crisis of a liberal commodified polity. Ideologies of difference and subjectivity need to be critically regrounded in the realities of global capitalism, political economy and the changing structures of institutional and disciplinary power. This conference, then, aims to focus on the ways that travel and trade contribute to the definition and redefinition of ethnic subjectivities in the realms of culture, politics, history, and sociology, economics and law, language, literature and the arts in Europe and the Americas. The following list of topics is meant to be suggestive rather than restrictive:

• Imperial Routes: Mapping a pan-European political sensibility as opposed to a racialist logic of civilization, sovereignty and self-government
• Travel, location, and race/ethnicity
• Kaleidoscopic ethnicity: Trade, migration and the formation of community identities
• Ethnicity and the politics of world trade
• Colonization and ethnicity
• Diasporic cultural forms and transcultural networks
• Diasporic and nativist identity formation – tension or co-existence?
• Cultural and social “rise” as conducive to cultural/social invisibility
• Cosmopolitan diasporas
• Cosmopolitanism in creative tension with the nation-state and assimilationist ideologies
• Deterritorialization vs. reterritorialization: De/racination in diaspora and the politics of origin
• Postethnicity – global travel and ethnic (re)contextualizations
• Diaspora and trans-ethnic solidarities, such as against racism, class, gender, social movements
• Feminist politics of location
• Gendering diasporas within diaspora communities and across trans-ethnic networks
• Language, religion, and the formation of local communities
• Immigration, intermarriage, and community solidarity
• The politics and poetics of population integration
• Discourses of displacement – routes vs roots
• Exile and postmodern migrants
• Travel, tourism and cultural politics
• Travel writing and ethnography
• Sites / Sights: Exhibitionism and commodification

Proposals can be submitted to our website between August 15 and November 15, 2009.

Inter/transnational and inter/transdisciplinary proposals as well as complete panels will be given preference.

Note that MESEA will award two Young Scholars Excellence Awards.

For more information please see: http://www.mesea.org

Spring '09 Book Announcements

2009-03-16T18:49:00.005-04:00

SWIMMING IN THE AMERICAN: A MEMOIR AND SELECTED WRITINGS by Hiroshi Kashiwagi; Edited by Tamiko Nimura (Asian American Curriculum Project, $15 paper)

"Japanese American literature just got a little deeper with the publication of Hiroshi Kashiwagi's Swimming in the American ... Kashiwagi has written a memoir of a No-No Boy ... I hope that Japanese America deserves the good writing, the quality of verifiable fact, and the daring of AACP's publishing venture." 

- Frank Chin, author & playwright, Born in the USA, Chicken Coop Chinaman, and Donald Duk

"Hiroshi Kashiwagi's Swimming in the American is quite a bit more than its modest subtitle would suggest... The main narrative tells of [...] the shameful internment of Japanese Americans; of the development and distillation of a Japanese-American sensibility in the man and the writer; and ultimately the journey of the human soul.... [But it is] as much about Mr. Kashiwagi's lifelong passion: reading, writing, and acting. This is a long and diverse life, well lived, well reflected upon, and above all, well and enthrallingly told."

--John Philbrook, Librarian, San Francisco Public Library

For more information and to order the book, please visit http://www.asianamericanbooks.com/books/3285.htm

Book Announcement

SHOE BOX PLAYS

Hiroshi Kashiwagi

Edited by Tamiko Nimura

(Asian American Curriculum Project, $15 paper)

The book gathers together plays that chronicle the experiences of Japanese Americans from the hardships of the Depression of the 1930s, through the bitterness and dislocation of the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II, through the rise of Asian American consciousness and pride in the late 1960s and 1970s to today. "Laughter and False Teeth" is perhaps the most famous of the plays presented since it was included in The Big AIIIEEEEE!: An Anthology of Chinese American and Japanese American Literature (1991), a staple book used in college Asian American classes across the country. Procuring false teeth in an internment camp becomes a tragicomic observation of the breakdown of morality and decency in such places where even the dentist has to be bribed to do substandard work. "Kisa Gotami" (The Parable of the Mustard Seed) has the distinction of being George Takei's first role as an actor, a decade before his pioneering work as Sulu on Star Trek. "The Betrayed" a play that was included in Hiroshi's earlier book published by AACP, Swimming in the American, is perhaps the most powerful work, presenting as it does the fundamental conflicts between those Japanese Americans that cooperated with the government to prove their loyalty as Americans during the years of internment and those that resisted because the government had violated their rights as Americans.

These are just a few of the plays in this book composed over the past 60 years and stored literally in a shoe box.

For more information and to order the book, please visit http://www.asianamericanbooks.com/books/3512.htm

Performing Americanness: Race, Class, and Gender in Modern African-American and Jewish-American Literature by Catherine Rottenberg

Dartmouth College Press
University Press of New England
$50.00 Cloth, 978-1-58465-682-1

A comparative analysis of modern African-American and Jewish-American narratives

In Performing Americanness, Catherine Rottenberg raises important questions about what it means to be American through a wholly original analysis of modern African-American and Jewish-American literature. The book illustrates how the novels of Nella Larsen, James Weldon Johnson, Anzia Yezierska, and Abraham Cahan help us to understand the specific ways that gender, class, race, and ethnicity have regulated the identity formation of African and Jewish Americans, as well as the ways these categories have helped produce and sustain social stratification in the United States more generally. Through the author's comparative lens, new light is shed on fundamental internal and external conflicts--especially of identity--that took place as both groups sought to move from margin to center by carving out a niche for themselves in mainstream American society.

"[Performing Americanness] is a rare, if not unprecedented, effort to compare narratives that trace the immigration of Jews to the United States with the 'assimilation' experience of African Americans . . . an erudite, carefully argued, and singular achievement."--Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature, University of California at Berkeley

"This ambitious and theoretically informed work promises to become an invaluable resource for scholars in ethnic studies, African-American studies in particular."--Donald Pease, Avalon Foundation Chair of the Humanities, Dartmouth College

Currently a fellow at the University of Michigan's Frankel Institute, CATHERINE ROTTENBERG will be an assistant professor in the Foreign Languages and Linguistics and Communications Departments at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel, beginning in 2008.

Barbara Briggs
Publicity and Subsidiary Rights
University Press of New England
barbara.briggs@dartmouth.edu
603-448-1533 x. 233

One Court Street
suite 250
Lebanon, NH 03766
www.upne.com

A GENEALOGY OF LITERARY MULTICULTURALISM
Christopher Douglas
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=5309

As an anthropology student studying with Franz Boas, Zora Neale Hurston recorded African American folklore in rural central Florida, studied hoodoo in New Orleans and voodoo in Haiti, talked with the last ex-slave to survive the Middle Passage, and collected music from Jamaica. Her ethnographic work would serve as the basis for her novels and other writings in which she shaped a vision of African American Southern rural folk culture articulated through an antiracist concept of culture championed by Boas: culture as plural, relative, and long-lived. Meanwhile, a very different antiracist model of culture learned from Robert Park's sociology allowed Richard Wright to imagine African American culture in terms of severed traditions, marginal consciousness, and generation gaps.

In A Genealogy of Literary Multiculturalism, Christopher Douglas uncovers the largely unacknowledged role played by ideas from sociology and anthropology in nourishing the politics and forms of minority writers from diverse backgrounds. Douglas divides the history of multicultural writing in the United States into three periods. The first, which spans the 1920s and 1930s, features minority writers such as Hurston and D'Arcy McNickle, who were indebted to the work of Boas and his attempts to detach culture from race. The second period, from 1940 to the mid-1960s, was a time of assimilation and integration, as seen in the work of authors such as Richard Wright, Jade Snow Wong, John Okada, and Ralph Ellison, who were influenced by currents in sociological thought. The third period focuses on the writers we associate with contemporary literary multiculturalism, including Toni Morrison, N. Scott Momaday, Frank Chin, Ishmael Reed, and Gloria Anzaldúa. Douglas shows that these more recent writers advocated a literary nationalism that was based on a modified Boasian anthropology and that laid the pluralist grounds for our current conception of literary multiculturalism.

Ultimately, Douglas's “unified field theory” of multicultural literature brings together divergent African American, Asian American, Mexican American, and Native American literary traditions into one story: of how we moved from thinking about groups as races to thinking about groups as cultures-and then back again.

Spring '09 Announcements

2009-03-16T18:39:00.006-04:00

The preliminary schedule for the 2009 MELUS Conference in Spokane, Washington is now online at: www.melus.org

Rutgers University Press Announces a New Series: Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the Americas (MELA)

Series Editors: Amritjit Singh, Ohio University, Carla L. Peterson, University of Maryland, College Park, & C. Lok Chua, California State University, Fresno

This exciting new publishing endeavor aims to expand and deepen our sense of American literatures as multi-cultural and multi-lingual and will contribute to a broader understanding of “America” as a complex site for the creation of national, transnational, and global narratives. Series volumes focus on the recovery, consolidation, and re-evaluation of literary expression in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean as shaped by the experience of race, ethnicity, national origin, region, class, gender, and language. The Series addresses all historical periods, and in doing so presents a unique opportunity to revolutionize the entire field of American studies.

The MELA Series has two major aims. First, it seeks to make available neglected or lost texts by bringing into print previously unpublished or out-of-print works of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and drama, written in or translated into English. Second, it encourages the compilation of multi-ethnic readers/anthologies organized around a single author, a historical period, a movement, an ethnic literature, or a theoretical or thematic paradigm. These anthologies may employ a variety of methods and viewpoints in reconstructing the literary cultures of the Americas—in conversation with one another and with the rest of the world.

Both the reprint volumes and anthologies are aimed at general audiences, even as they primarily address the need for a diverse curriculum that speaks to the widening range of experiences and histories of our students today. Each volume in the Series will include an introduction providing appropriate historical background and cultural context, along with notes and other editorial apparatus.

Available Titles

Chinatown Family, by Lin Yutang, edited by
C. Lok Chua

Shadowed Dreams: Women’s Poetry of the Harlem
Renaissance—Second Edition, Revised and
Expanded, edited by Maureen Honey

Daughter of the Revolution: The Major Nonfiction
Works of Pauline E. Hopkins, edited by Ira Dworkin

A Long Way From Home, by Claude McKay, edited
by Gene Andrew Jarrett

Empire and the Literature of Sensation: An
Anthology of Nineteenth-Century Writings, edited by
Jesse Alemán and Shelley Streeby

Zora Neale Hurston: The Collected Plays, edited
by Jean Lee Cole and Charles Mitchell

Visions and Divisions: American Immigration
Literature, 1870-1924, edited by Tony Trigilio and
Timothy Prchal

Holy Prayers in a Horse’s Ear, by Kathleen
Tamagawa, edited by Greg Robinson and Elena Tajima
Creef

Forthcoming Titles

The Grand Gennaro, by Garibaldi M. Lapolla, edited
by Steven Belluscio

Arab American Reader, edited by Pauline Kaldas, Lisa
Majaj and Khaled Mattawa

Advance Praise for the Series

“This multi-ethnic literature series is academically important—and no one is more qualified to lead this effort than series editor Amrit Singh. The need for a diverse curriculum, especially one that is cognizant of past traditions as well as future trends, continues to grow.”
–Cheryl Wall, Rutgers University

“This series sounds outstanding! It will be an important and prestigious venture—this puts Rutgers University Press at the cutting edge of a project that will be increasingly central to the academic profession.”
–Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Stanford University

Contact Information

For general information and guidelines, contact Leslie Mitchner, Associate Director and Editor in Chief, Rutgers University Press, (732) 445-7762 x601; lmitch@rci.rutgers.edu

For specific queries about manuscript submission, contact one of the series editors: Amritjit Singh: singha@ohio.edu, Carla L. Peterson: cpeterso@umd.edu or C. Lok Chua: chengc@csufresno.edu

Rutgers University Press
100 Joyce Kilmer Ave
Piscataway, NJ 08854
rutgerspress@rutgers.edu

Book your next journey with us

Katherine Matheson
Program Associate for Outreach and Communications
Council for International Exchange of Scholars
3007 Tilden Street NW, Suite 5 - L
Washington , DC 20008
(202) 686- 7866
kmatheson@cies.iie.org

From March to August 1, 2009, U.S. faculty and professionals are invited to apply for *Fulbright scholar grants at www.cies.org.

For monthly updates, write us at outreach@cies.iie.org for a complimentary subscription to The Fulbright Scholar News, an electronic newsletter.

*The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 286,000 participants from over 155 countries with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. For more information, visit http://fulbright.state.gov/.

Fulbright Scholar Program for US Faculty and Professionals for 2010-2011 is open
The Fulbright Scholar Program offers 60 grants in lecturing, research or combined lecturing/research awards in American literature, including six Fulbright Distinguished Chairs. Even better, faculty and professionals in American literature also can apply for one of the 144 “All Discipline” awards open to all fields.

What does Fulbright offer in American literature? Here are a few of the awards for 2010-2011:

Sub-Saharan Africa: Award #0066 - Arts, Business Administration, Computer and Information Sciences, Education Humanities and Social Sciences in Ghana; Award# 0055 – American Literature and Civilization and Award #0056 – American Studies or Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Cote d’Ivoire; Award #0046 – Culture and Peace Studies in Botswana.

Middle East and North Africa: Opportunities for lecturing in all countries in the region including Tunisia , Algeria and Israel .

Northern and Eastern Europe: Multiple awards in Norway including Award #0039 – Roving Scholar in American Studies; Award #0229 – American Studies in Croatia; Award #0324 – Linguistics, Academic Writing, American Studies or Literature in Lithuania; Award #0356 – American Studies in Romania.

Western Hemisphere: Award #0506 – Social Sciences and Humanities in Argentina ; Award# 0563 – Social Sciences and Humanities in Venezuela .

The application deadline is August 1, 2009. U.S. citizenship is required. For a full, detailed listing of all the Fulbright programs and other eligibility requirements visit our website at www.cies.org, or send a request for materials to scholars@cies.iie.org.

Fall 2008 NewsNotes Welcome

2008-10-28T17:20:00.003-04:00

Welcome to the Fall 2008 Issue. We have been very pleased with our blog format that has allowed users to post comments and make additions to the issue when needed. This provides a more dynamic publishing environment for the sharing of announcements and information among MELUS members. Users may also post time-sensitive items such as CFPs or job announcements. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Please limit comments to topics relevant to MELUS or NewsNotes. The editors reserve the right to edit or delete postings. If you have questions feel free to contact Dr. Katharine Rodier, Professor of English & Director of Graduate Studies, Marshall University, 1 John Marshall Drive, Huntington WV 25755-2646, rodier@marshall.edu or Dr. Monica García Brooks, NewsNotes Technical Editor, Marshall University, brooks@marshall.edu. If you would prefer to receive NewsNotes in print copy or in another format, please contact Monica. The NewsNotes archive is still located on the main page for the e-publication: http://www.marshall.edu/melus/newsnotes/ or you may click on the months/years provided in our navigational area on the left side of this page.

Warm regards,
The NewsNotes Editors

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please join us as we present this year's MELUS Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. John Lowe

December 29, 2008
Reception: 5:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m
Award Presentation: 6:15 p.m.
at
Zingari Restaurant's
LA DONATELLO
501 Post Street
San Francisco CA 94102
415-885-8850

Open Bar to Include: Call and Brand Liquor, Domestic Wine, Beer, Soft Drinks and Fruit Juices. Crostini topped with Olive Tapanade, Fresh Tomato and Basil, Prosciutto over Melon. Chicken Skewers with Wasabi Glaze, Smoked Salmon on Cucumber wheel with crème' Freche, Baked Mushroom Caps with Caramelized Red Onions, Garlic & Mascarpone.

$15 per person

Space is limited so you must reserve your presence by December 15th. Please include a check for $15 per person, or send $15.00 through Paypal by going to the Announcements page on the MELUS website (www.melus.org) or through Paypal.com to melusmembership@yahoo.com (Note on the comment section that it's for the reception.) Reservations without payment will not be honored. Send checks to: Dr. Kim Long, MELUS Treasurer, 217 East King Street, Shippensburg PA 17257

>>>MELUS 2008 Annual Meeting

2008-10-28T17:12:00.002-04:00

Call for Nominations

The MELUS Election Committee seeks nominations for election to the Executive Committee (2009-2012). All MELUS members in good standing are eligible for nomination to any position. Candidates for office must be MELUS members and possess expertise appropriate to the officer’s duties. Graduate students are encouraged to run for Graduate Student Representative.

We are accepting self-nominations and recommendations of others. Those nominating themselves will submit their curriculum vitae and a brief description of their experiences related to their desired position as well as any vision they have for the office they would like to hold. Submissions must be sent to the Chair of the Election Committee, Fred Gardaphe via email attachment to:

Fred.Gardaphe@qc.cuny.edu or through regular mail at Dr. Fred Gardaphe, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 W. 43rd Street, Suite 1700, New York, NY 10036.

Those who have not been self-nominated will be contacted by the Election Committee to ensure that they are willing to run for office, and if they are willing to run will submit their CVs and statements of experience and vision.

The deadline for all nominations is December 15, 2008. The elections will take place as soon as a digital ballot has been created and sent out to the members in good standing via electronic mail soon after in December. Paper ballots will be available for those who do not use the Internet. The ballots will be sent in no later than December 31st. The Committee will count the ballots and report the complete results to the Executive Committee and the Membership by January 15th. The candidate with a simple majority will be declared the winner for each position. In case of a tie, the Election Committee will arrange another election between the tied candidates within a week after announcing the general election results. MELUS members will vote and submit their ballots to break this tie no later than February 15.

Those elected to office will be introduced and installed at the spring conference.

Constitution of and Responsibilities of the Executive Committee

The Executive Committee shall consist of a President, a Program Chair, a Secretary, a Treasurer, the Editor of the MELUS Journal, a Membership Chair, the Project Chair and the Graduate Student Representative. This Committee is responsible for the operation of the Association, subject to review by the entire membership at the annual meeting. All officers of the Executive Committee (with the exception of the Editor of the Journal) are elected for a term of three years. They are eligible for re-election once, with the exception of the Treasurer, who has no limitations on renewal of appointment. Should a vacancy occur, the position may be filled temporarily by an appointee of the Executive Committee. The Journal Editor receives five-year appointments from the Executive Committee, with no limitations on renewal of appointment.

President
The President shall chair meetings of the Society (including those at the annual spring conference and the annual MLA convention) and coordinate all of the functions of the Society. He/she shall administer the Constitution and By-Laws throughout the year. With the elected members of the Executive Committee, he/she appoints all non-elected officers, reviews significant expenditures, and shall make arrangements for conferences, national and regional meetings, publications, etc. The President takes ultimate responsibility for all aspects of the Society's programs and activities.

Program Chairperson
The Program Chair shall coordinate the annual program, including the national MELUS conference and sessions at other regional and national conferences. The Program Chairperson directs preparations for the annual national MELUS Conference in consultation with the Executive Committee and local organizers. Once the MELUS President has secured a contract with a university that specifies the responsibilities of the campus and the Society, the Program Chair or his/her designate serves as a resource person for the campus coordinator, who is expected to follow the guidelines outlined in the MELUS Conference Handbook. The Program Chair shall develop procedures for future projects and programs.
.

Secretary
The Secretary shall set the agenda and keep minutes of the Executive Committee and membership meetings and shall distribute copies to the Executive Committee before each meeting. The Editor of MELUS NewsNotes should receive a copy of the minutes in time to publish them in the first yearly-usually January--issue. In conjunction with the President, the Secretary will also notify the Executive Committee of the time and place of its annual meeting. The Secretary also serves as the liaison between the Executive Committee and the Editor of NewsNotes, the Webmaster/mistrix, the MELUS listserv moderator. This officer is involved with communicating internally and externally the activities and policies of the Society.

Treasurer
The Treasurer shall establish and maintain a careful bookkeeping system in accordance with the requirements put forth by the non-profit corporation laws. The treasurer prepares biennial reports of all financial transactions, including checks received, and works closely with the Membership Chairperson to apply funds received by members to their accounts. He/She reports regularly to the Executive Committee about such matters as the percentage of dues which goes to the journal, regular payments to the journal, and regular financial statements received from the Managing Editor of the Journal, which the treasurer incorporates into his/her quarterly report and] will eventually present in an annual report at the business meeting. This officer also works with the Executive Committee on basic financial operations, such as designing a yearly budget, fulfilling contractual obligations, and receiving and keeping track of all MELUS funds, including membership and conference registration fees.

Project Chairperson
The Project Chairperson serves as Executive Committee liaison to the various ongoing projects that the organization may undertake through ad hoc committees and subcommittees. This officer is responsible for executing special projects the Executive Committee may deem necessary to pursue for the benefit of the organization at large. The Project Chair must report to the Executive Committee on the status of said projects. At the beginning or his or her term, the Project Chair, along with the Executive Committee, will establish a work plan to cover the most pressing projects

Membership Chairperson
The Membership Chair is charged with all responsibilities and duties related to the recruitment and retention of members. Primary among these duties is to keep the MELUS membership database up to date using information provided by the Editor of the Melus Journal and the Treasurer and to make that information available as deemed necessary by the Membership Chair and Executive Committee. The Membership Chair is also responsible for establishing and executing a plan for increasing membership.

Graduate Student Representative
The Graduate Student Representative helps the Society address the specific needs and concerns of MELUS members who are currently graduate students and recruits new members and potential leaders for MELUS from among this population.

Questions about the election should be directed to the Election Committee Chair, Fred Gardaphe. Along with the chair, the Election Committee includes Derek Royal and Jose Torres, with JoAnne Gruvoli, webmistrix.

MELUS Executive Committee Meeting
Annual Conference
Blackwell Hotel, Ohio University
Columbus, Ohio
Saturday, March 29, 2008

Convened: 5:30 pm

Present: Martha Cutter, Fred Gardaphe (Interim President), Wenxin Li, Kim Long, JoAnne Ruvoli, Derek Royal, , Jose Torres-Padilla.

1. President’s Report: Gardaphe has nothing new to report.

2. Treasurer’s Report: The institution is doing well financially. Total assets as of 3/27/2008:
$85, 706.18. See attached report for further details.

3. MELUS Journal

3.1 Submissions are up; the acceptance rate is at 10%.

3.2 Upcoming special issues: summer issue on Iranian American literature; one on Alien/Asian literature; a guest issue edited by Carol Henderson on African-American literature and the Construction of Body; another on Multiethnic Poetry.

3.2 The journal needs to hire a new Managing Editor

4. Membership: See attached report.

4.1 Slight decrease from last year: from 332 to 304.

4.2 36% of new members are graduate students.

4.3 Not as many memberships from Midwest region as typically expected when the
conference is in that region.

4.4 Generally, these numbers are consistent with last few years.

5. Programs

5.1 The 2009 MELUS conference will convene in Spokane, Washington, on April 2-5, 2009. It will be hosted by Washington State University. The proposed theme is “Poetic Justice: Imagination, Empowerment and Identity in Multiethnic Literatures of the United States.”

5.2 MELUS will present 2 panels at the 2009 MLA. Li reports that there are not many proposals for these two panels.

5.3 There were plenty of submissions for the 2 ALA panels.

5.4 The panel at the 20th Century Literature conference in Louisville on February, 2008 were not successful. Given the problems with the conference, the EC decided to presently eliminate this conference from MELUS’ program schedule.

5.5 The EC voted to subsidize the Program Chair to enable him or her to moderate the ALA conference panels.

6. Graduate Student Representative Report

6.1 Discussion ensued concerning the Dissertation Award as proposed by Ruvoli. This Award would be rewarded annually to the best dissertation written by a MELUS member during the year. The EC considered some logistical problems of such an award. Ruvoli will investigate how other organizations run similar awards.

6.2 There were 12 applications for the President’s Award for Graduate Student Presenters.

6.3 The Graduate Student Resource links updated on the MELUS website.

6.4 Update sent to current graduate student members which included solicitation to get more involved. Feedback included appreciation for awards, registration fee waiver, and the online syllabus database. Feedback also included a proposal from Stephen Pearson, Ph.D. candidate at U. of Georgia, to motivate students and professors to work on Multiethnic US literature articles on Wikipedia.com He will serve as contact through his user talk page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk: Aristophanes68

7. MELUS Website

7.1 The complete list of past MELUS presidents has been posted on the website.

7.2 Ongoing updates for membership, conferences, journal and announcements.

7.3 Still gathering archival materials, such as conference programs, award winners.

7.4 Ruvoli proposes an update of the website’s design and asks for suggestions.

8. MELUS Lifetime Achievement Award:

8.1 The EC voted to award the 2008 award to John Lowe.

8.2 For the 2009 award, EC members will nominate and seek CV’s of potential recipients.

9. ACEE

9.1 In a 6 to 1 vote, the EC decided to discontinue funding to ACEE and recommended disbanding the special committee since the EC has not received any status or accounting of ACEE’s work for a lengthy period of time.

9.2 The EC still awaits the Survey Report on Issues Concerning Multiethnic Faculty and Teaching which ACEE began with MELUS funding.

9.3 The EC recommended that discussion of ACEE’s purpose, work and future should be continued in the business meeting scheduled for the 2008 MLA convention in San Francisco.

10. Election Guidelines

10.1 The EC reviewed the election guidelines approved on March 23, 2007.

10.2 In discussing the proposed guidelines, it was recommended that Section 2 of Article IV (Officers) of the MELUS Constitution, and Sections 3, 6, 7 and 11 of Article IV (Duties of MELUS Officers) of the Bylaws, should also be changed for clarity and accuracy and coherence with the new election guidelines.

10.3 A Section 12 , which describes the duties of the Project Chair, was added to Article IV of the Bylaws.

10.4 The revised election guidelines will expand the present version of Article III of the Bylaws.

10.5 The proposed revisions to Article IV of the Constitution and Articles III and IV of the Bylaws will be posted on the MELUS website for membership review.

10.6 After investigating options for conducting elections via the internet, the proposed revisions will be submitted officially for membership approval.

10.7 If approved, the EC will follow new guidelines for the upcoming elections.

Adjourned: 7:35 pm
Respectfully submitted by Jose L. Torres-Padilla
Secretary

MELUS Treasurer’s Report, March 2008
MELUS Board Meeting, MELUS Conference (Columbus, OH)
March 29, 2008

Funds reported on last financial statement, December 2007 $78,288.97

Transactions since last statement

Deposits, Credits $10,449.03

Checks received 7,700.00
Paypal payments received 2,297.51
Dividends and interest income 451.52

Debits $3,031.82

6 MELUS reimbursement checks 1,200.00
MLA Reception 372.32
Grad student support for MELUS 1,400.00
Website hosting renewal 45.00
Banking supplies 14.51

Amounts in Current Accounts

Orrstown Bank 2,500.00
ING Direct 81,701.29

Paypal 1,504.89

Total assets 3/27/2008 $85,706.18

Respectfully submitted by Kim Martin Long

Membership Statistics

2006 Membership (by time of MELUS Conference): 285 –
% of new members who are graduate students: 46% 2007 Membership (by time of MELUS Conference): 332 –
% of new members who are graduate students: 45% 2008 Membership (by time of MELUS Conference): 304 –
% of new members who are graduate students: 36%

2007 Membership

2007 Membership Up to March Conference 2007 Membership Since March Conference

Category Numbers % of Total
Membership

New members 130 39 %

Renewals 149 45%

Lifetime 51 15%

Patrons 2 < 1%

Total members 332

Category Numbers % of Total
Membership

New members 101 69%

Renewals 43 30%

Lifetime 2 1%

Institutional Patrons 0 0%

Total members 146
2007 MEMBERSHIP TOTAL: 478

2008 Membership, as of March 2008

Membership by Renewal Status Membership by Position

Category Numbers % of Total
Membership

New members 110 36 %

Renewals 140 46%

Lifetime 54 18%

Total members 304

Category Numbers % of Total
Membership

Faculty 139 46%

Instructor/Lecturer/ 23 7%
Adjunct/Fellow

Students 67 22%

Other/not listed 75 25%

Total members 304

>>>Special Issue of MELUS on Multi-Ethnic Poetics

2008-10-28T17:08:00.003-04:00

SPECIAL ISSUE OF MELUS ON MULTI-ETHNIC POETICS

Submissions are invited for a special issue of MELUS on the poetries and poetics of multi-ethnic traditions. This issue will initiate and extend scholarly conversations about poetics, especially given the general tendency in theories of ethnic cultures and literary expressivity to neglect the role that varied verse forms and traditions play. Thus, we particularly encourage submissions that utilize complex formal analysis to increase the theoretical sophistication of the study of these poetic traditions. We look forward to comparative studies, discussions of specific ethnically and/or culturally derived verse forms and traditions, fresh interpretations of established poets and poetics practitioners, and attention to neglected writers. In addition, we invite limited submissions of original poetry that pertains to multi-ethnic subjects or poetics.

We seek submissions dealing with topics including but not limited to the following:

• Poetics across ethnic traditions
• Literary forms within distinctive ethnic culture traditions (i.e.
ghazal, bop)
• Literary theory and practice associated with particular
communities (i.e. Cave Canem, VONA, Nuyorican Poets Cafe,
Umbra)
• Poetry and political movements
• Poetics and place, regional as well as transnational (i.e. global
south, diasporic)
• The place of the sacred, including sacred verse forms
• Poetics and performance (i.e. visual, oral, digital)
• Individual poets in historical and political contexts
• Poetics in conversation with other art forms
• Poetry sub-cultures and new media poetries

The most desirable essays will be between 7,000 and 10,000 words, including notes and works cited. Queries concerning possible submissions as well as book reviews are welcome. Electronic submission is required. Please send an email attachment to the editors, Meta DuEwa Jones (metadj@mail.utexas.edu) and Keith D. Leonard (kdl@american.edu). Deadline for submission: January 3, 2009.

>>>MELUS General Issue CFP

2008-10-28T17:06:00.002-04:00

MELUS welcomes essays and interviews of interest to those concerned with the multi-ethnic scope of literature in the United States. As the publication of a society of writers, researchers, and teachers, the journal is open to all scholarly methods and theoretical approaches. MELUS seeks, above all, to advance ongoing and rigorous critical conversations about ethnic texts and their historical and theoretical contexts.

Whether theoretical or analytical, comparative within a single ethnic literature or cross-cultural, the most desirable essays will be between 7,000 and 10,000 words, including notes and works cited. MELUS welcomes articles on American literature not written in English, but translations should accompany foreign language titles and quotations in other languages. Contributors are urged to avoid sexist, racist, and other discriminatory language.

Only members of The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States may publish articles in MELUS. Most articles are sent anonymously to two consultant readers with expertise in the article’s area. Articles recommended by these readers are then reviewed by the Editor, who will consult additional experts if necessary. Final decisions are made by the Editor.

Electronic submission is required. Please send an email attachment to the Editor, Professor Martha J. Cutter, at melus@uconn.edu. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the most recent edition of the MLA Style Manual. The author’s name should not appear on the manuscript, except on a separate title or cover sheet. Authors should not refer to themselves in the first person in the submitted text or notes if such reference might lead to identification; any necessary reference to the author’s previous work, for example, can be in the third person. Inquiries may be directed to melus@uconn.edu. Essays under review at other journals will not be considered for publication in MELUS.

MELUS is pleased to welcome Claire E. Reynolds as the journal’s Managing Editor. She served as Assistant Editor of ATQ while completing her PhD at the University of Rhode Island. She is also the Book Review Editor (USA and Canada) for Purdue University’s CLCweb: Comparative Literature and Culture. Her research focuses on 19th- and early 20th-century American women’s literature. She has published on Ruth McEnery Stuart in CEA Critic.

Fall 2008 Calls for Papers or Proposals

2008-10-28T16:48:00.006-04:00

Call for Proposals (due February 5)
We invite paper, panel, and roundtable proposals on theoretical, critical, or pedagogical approaches
to works produced since 1988. We are especially interested in proposals that address the work of
featured novelists Alice Randall and Mat Johnson. Proposals focusing on satire, transnationalism,
cosmopolitanism, or any of the topics listed below are also welcomed. Selected essays will once
again be edited for publication.

Aesthetic Frameworks or Models
Comedy
Music
Detective Fiction
Ethics
Hip-Hop
Literature and American Legal Discourse
LGBT Novels
Popular Fiction
[Re]constructions of Race and/or Gender
Revisioning Oral Traditions
Revisioning Signifying Practice
Sexuality
Speculative Fiction
Urban Experience Novels

Submit carefully written abstracts (300 words) via e-mail attachment to:
AfAmLit@outreach.psu.edu. Include complete identification—names,
institution name, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. Deadline for submission
is February 5, 2009. During March 2008 you will receive e-mail notification
regarding abstract acceptance. Important note: Persons whose abstracts are
accepted should register for the conference by August 15, 2009.

Questions regarding proposals should be sent to:
Lovalerie King
Department of English
The Pennsylvania State University
E-mail: luk13@psu.edu

Conference website address: http://www.outreach.psu.edu/programs/AfAmNovel
Note that the accepted proposals will be shared with the participants by means
of the conference Web site before and during the conference.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF CONFERENCE AND CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

“Evolutionary Momentum in African American Studies—
Legacy and Future Direction”

A Conference in Honor of Professor Winston Napier
1953-2008

On February 27-28, 2009, Clark University will host a conference in honor of Professor Winston Napier. We are writing to you, as previous participants in the African American Intellectual Culture Series at Clark, to invite your participation in this conference.

The focus of the conference is to honor Professor Napier’s passion for the contributions of African American intellectual culture to advancing and broadening the study of Blacks in America, to deepening our understanding of race through the lenses of humanities, and to laying a sophisticated and multi-faceted groundwork for social and political action. As the founder of the African Intellectual Culture Series (AAICS) at Clark, Professor Napier set in motion and oversaw a decade-long annual lecture series that drew prominent scholars and artists to Clark.

We seek the participation of former participants in the African American Intellectual Culture Series to form the core for panels at the conference. We envision a conference that reaches to the past and articulates priorities for future study and that encompasses the broad span of intellectual inquiry and creativity that has characterized the AAICS. The keynote speaker for the conference will be Dr. Karla FC Holloway, who is the James B. Duke Professor of English and Professor of Law at Duke University. Dr. Holloway was an AAICS participant in 1998.

The Saturday session for the conference will include a series of panels on topics related to the conference theme. The topics for the panels are yet very general, but the following list will give you an idea of what we have in mind. We are, however, flexible and will work to arrange panels around themes and topics of interest to those who would like to participate.

1. Opening panel: “The Role of the Intellectual in African American Culture”
2. Literary Theory and African American Studies
3. Explorations of Gender Identity and African American Culture
4. Historical Legacy of Black Arts
5. Bridges to/from African American Studies and other disciplines
We are now in the process of organizing the conference and preparing the schedule of events. It would be helpful to hear from you by October 6 [revised date October 20] if you would like to participate. Please provide a brief statement describing the topic/theme on which you would like to speak. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to write to either of us.

Fern Johnson and Stephen Levin, Department of English, Clark University
fjohnson@clarku.edu slevin@clarku.edu

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Society for Textual Scholarship, Fourteenth Biennial International Interdisciplinary Conference

March 18-21, 2009, New York University

Program Co-Chairs: Andrew Stauffer, Boston University [astauff@bu.edu]; John Young, Marshall University [youngj@marshall.edu]

Deadline for Proposals: October 31, 2008

The Program Chairs invite the submission of full panels or individual papers devoted to interdisciplinary discussion of current research into particular aspects of textual work: the discovery, enumeration, description, bibliographical analysis, editing, annotation, and mark-up of texts in disciplines such as literature, history, musicology, classical and biblical studies, philosophy, art history, legal history, history of science and technology, computer science, library science, lexicography, epigraphy, paleography, codicology, cinema studies, media studies, theater, linguistics, and textual and literary theory. The Program Chairs are particularly interested in papers and panels, as well as workshops and roundtables, on the following topics, aimed at a broad, interdisciplinary audience:
> Textual production and the social sphere
> Textual cultures
> Digital editing and textuality
> The production and editing of “minority” texts
> Theoretical and practical intersections between textual scholarship and book history
> Textual scholarship and pedagogy

Papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length. Panels should consist of three papers or presentations. Individual proposals should include a brief abstract (one or two pages) of the proposed paper as well as the name, e-mail address, and institutional affiliation of the participant. Panel proposals, including proposals for roundtables and workshops, should include a session title, the name of a designated contact person for the session, the names, e-mail addresses, and institutional addresses and affiliations of each person involved in the session, and a one- or two-page abstract of each paper to be presented during the session.

Abstracts should indicate what (if any) technological support will be requested.

Inquiries and proposals should be submitted electronically to:

Professor Andrew Stauffer, email address: astauff@bu.edu
Department of English
Boston University
236 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215

and

Professor John Young, email address: youngj@marshall.edu
Department of English
Marshall University
One John Marshall Drive
Huntington, WV 25755
(304) 696-2349
(304) 696-2448 (fax)

All participants in the STS 2009 conference must be members of STS. For information about membership, please contact Secretary Meg Roland at mroland@marylhurst.edu or visit the Indiana University Press Journals website and follow the links to the Society for Textual Scholarship membership page:
. For conference updates and information, see the STS website:
.
Papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication in TEXTUAL CULTURES.

Call for Papers: U.S. Latino/a Literary Studies at CEA 2009
70th Anniversary Conference | March 26-28, 2009 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Omni William Penn Hotel, 530 William Penn Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15219; (412) 281-7100

The College English Association, a gathering of scholar-teachers in English studies, welcomes proposals for presentations on U.S. Latino/a Literary Studies for our 40th annual conference, celebrating the organization’s 70th anniversary.

Suggestions for paper submissions for this special topic in U.S. Latino/a Literary Studies might include the following (among many others):
--teaching U.S. Latino/a literary texts in undergraduate courses;
--the position of U.S. Latino/a literature in the English major curriculum;
--critical theory and U.S. Latino/a literature;
--the U.S. Latino/a literary canon;
--the future of U.S. Latino/a literary studies;
--gender and sexuality in U.S. Latino/a literature;
--social and cultural representations in U.S. Latino/a literature;
--diaspora and immigration in U.S. Latino/a literature;
--identity in U.S. Latino/a literature.

General Conference Theme: Design
In addition, CEA welcomes proposals for presentations on the general conference theme, Design. We live in a world atomized into text messages and jump cuts, socially constructed snippets on networking sites, fragmented blogs and news bites, ones and zeroes. In such a context, is there still a role for conscious design - of literature, of art, of rhetoric, of learning? After the death of the author, who designs the texts we love to see, read, and study? Or do we make our own designations, sketching out the plot, shading in the design, creating meaning as we find it?

General Call for Papers
CEA also welcomes proposals for presentations in any of the areas English departments typically encompass, including literature, creative writing, composition, technical communication, linguistics, and film. We also welcome papers on areas that influence our work as academics, including student demographics, student/instructor accountability and assessment, student advising, academic leadership in departments and programs, and the place of the English department in the university.

Submission: August 31-November 1, 2008
For more information on how to submit, please see the full CFP at http://www2.widener.edu/~cea/conference2009.htm

Membership
All presenters at the 2009 CEA conference must become members of CEA by January 1, 2009. To join CEA, please go to http://www2.widener.edu/~cea/membership.htm

More information
--Find out more about the College English Association: http://www2.widener.edu/~cea
--Find out more about lodging and registration: http://www2.widener.edu/~cea/conferencetravel2009.htm
--Contact CEA officers: http://www2.widener.edu/~cea/officers.htm

Other questions? Please email cea.english@gmail.com.

Maya Angelou reference book

Facts On File, a New York publisher of reference books for schools and libraries, is seeking a scholar to write a one-volume reference book on Maya Angelou, focusing on critical analysis of her works. The ideal author will have a Ph.D., broad knowledge of Angelou's life and works, and an ability to write clearly and succinctly for students in both high school and college. This large project (250,000-300,000 words) must be completed within two years. Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines will be required. If interested please send letter and cv, preferably by e-mail, to

Jeff Soloway

Executive Editor

Facts on File, Inc.

132 W. 31st St., 17th Floor

New York, NY 10001

jsoloway@factsonfile.com

Fall 2008 Changes to the MELUS Bylaws

2008-10-28T16:43:00.005-04:00

Dear MELUS member,

The Executive Council has proposed changes to the MELUS Constitution and By-Laws.

These changes require approval by the membership and can be found at the MELUS website:

http://webspace.ship.edu/kmlong/melus/ProposedChangesConstitutionandBylaws2008.doc

Please read the proposed changes over carefully and then vote via the link below by November 15, 2008.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=A9yGhBClAIFk5fr_2bMDNhiw_3d_3d

Sincerely,
Fred Gardaphé
President
MELUS Executive Council

Fall 2008 Book & Journal Announcements

2008-10-28T16:40:00.003-04:00

Illuminates the relationship between storytelling and the Native North American experience

THE TRUTH ABOUT STORIES: A Native Narrative
Thomas King
University of Minnesota Press | 184 pages | 2008
ISBN 978-0-8166-4627-2 | paperback | $19.95
Now in paperback.

In his widely read and frequently taught The Truth About Stories, Native novelist and scholar Thomas King explores how we understand and interact with other people. From creation stories to personal experiences, historical anecdotes to social injustices, racist propaganda to works of contemporary Native literature, King probes Native culture's deep ties to storytelling.

"A collection of thought-provoking essays examining the importance of the oral tradition. Storyteller Thomas King addresses Native cultural concerns and their primal link to storytelling. Intriguing and entertaining. Highly recommended for all tribal college collections and literature classes." -Tribal College Journal

"His style is penetrating. King gives his audience the refreshing, insightful blend of oration and inscription. Recommend this book to any student of writing, mythology, or history." -Multicultural Review

For more information, including the table of contents, visit the book's webpage:
http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/K/king_truth.html
Sign up to receive news on the latest releases from University of Minnesota Press:
http://www.upress.umn.edu/eform.html

MELUS members - take a moment to learn about a new online journal,
Vitalpoetics, which is published in Australia and has free subscriptions
as it builds its readership. The journal is particularly interested in
cultural studies of literature and just published an article of mine on
"Archetypal Violence and the Feminine Heroic in Multicultural American
Women's Literature." The address for new subscriptions is
http://www.vitalpoetics.com/subscribe

The many meanings "Argentina" holds both within and beyond its borders.

ARGENTINA: Stories for a Nation
Amy K. Kaminsky
University of Minnesota Press | 304 pages | 2008
ISBN 978-0-8166-4948-8 | hardcover | $67.50
ISBN 978-0-8166-4949-5 | paperback | $22.50

Amy K. Kaminsky explores Argentina's unique national identity and the place it holds in the minds of those who live beyond its physical borders. To analyze the country's meaning in the global imagination, Kaminsky probes Argentina's presence in a broad range of literary texts from the United States, Poland, England, Western Europe, and Argentina itself, as well as internationally produced films, advertisements, and newspaper features.

"A fascinating analysis of the ways Argentina has figured in the Western imagination, Argentina is also a necessary meditation on national identity, colonialism, and intercultural relations as both dynamic and mutually transformative." -Mary Beth Tierney-Tello, Wheaton College

Amy K. Kaminsky is professor of gender, women, and sexuality studies and global studies at the University of Minnesota and author of After Exile (Minnesota, 1999).

For more information, including the table of contents, visit the book's webpage:
http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/k/kaminsky_argentina.html

Sign up to receive news on the latest releases from University of Minnesota Press:
http://www.upress.umn.edu/eform.html

Book Announcement / New in paperback:
COMPLICATING CONSTRUCTIONS
Race, Ethnicity, and Hybridity in American Texts
Edited by David S. Goldstein and Audrey B. Thacker
(University of Washington Press, American Ethnic and Cultural Studies, $25 paper)

Now in paperback for course use, this volume of collected essays is an important contribution to contemporary understandings of race and ethnicity, offering truly multiethnic, historically comparative, and meta-theoretical readings of the literature and culture of the United States. Covering works by a diverse set of American authors--from Toni Morrison and James Weldon Johnson to Bret Harte and Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton--these essays provide a vital supplement to the critical literary canon, mapping a newly variegated terrain that refuses the distinction between “ethnic” and “nonethnic” literatures.

"These 14 essays offer genre studies, close readings, and theoretical considerations of race, ethnicity, and American literature. Unlike other recent treatments . . . this one is broad, and therein lies its strength. Recommended." ---Choice

For more information, including the table of contents and how to order, please visit:
http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/GOLCOC.html

Beth DeWeese
Direct Marketing Manager
University of Washington Press
PO Box 50096
Seattle, WA 98145-5096
206-221-5890 tel; 206-543-3932 fax
Order books at 1-800-537-5487 or on our website:
www.washington.edu/uwpress

Fall 2008 Job Postings

2008-10-28T16:21:00.007-04:00

DEPARTMENT OF CHICANA AND CHICANO STUDIES DIVISION OF SOCIAL SCIENCES College of Letters and Science University of California, Santa Barbara

Announces a Position in: THEORY, PRACTICE, AND HISTORY OF CHICANA/O AND LATINO/A ART ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (TENURE-TRACK)

Over the past three decades, the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies has developed an interdisciplinary curriculum that focuses on history, culture, gender, politics, and institutions. Courses probe the roots of a cultural tradition beginning with the pre-Columbian cultures of Mexico and the Chicano/Latino historical experience, including Latin American immigrant indigenous people in the United States, extending into the many areas of contemporary American society, including politics, education, literature, the arts, immigration, and sexuality. UCSB’s recently established M.A./Ph.D. graduate degree in Chicana/o Studies, the first in the nation, has accepted its fourth cohort, which will be entering in Fall 2008. The graduate program has emerged as an innovative intellectual space from which new junior scholars are making their mark in our field.

POSITION

The Department is conducting a search for a scholar in the 2008-09 academic year to undertake high level research, teaching and mentoring at the graduate and undergraduate level, and participate actively in the department, university, and community. We invite applications for a tenure-track, Assistant Professor position in the area of Theory, Practice, and History of Chicana/o and Latina/o Art. Specializations may include, but are not limited to Indigenous, Pre-Columbian, Native American, Contemporary Chicana/o and Latina/o, Queer, and Feminist art. An ability to apply diverse methodologies and a manifest interest in interdisciplinary studies is recommended.

The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to our graduate core courses by teaching Cultural Texts and Interdisciplinary Methods. Our curriculum also welcomes courses such as the History of Chicano/a Art; Chicana/o Public Art; The Body in Chicana and Chicano Art; Queering Mestizaje, and/or Photography and Digital Media in Chicana/o Art. In addition, the successful candidate will be invited to propose a series of art history courses relevant to his/her own fields of specialization and research interests.
APPOINTMENT DATE: Appointment is full-time in Chicana and Chicano Studies effective July 1, 2009.

QUALIFICATIONS

 Completion of the Ph.D. by time of appointment is required.

 Degree may be in Chicana/o Studies, Ethnic Studies, American Studies/Civilization, Women’s Studies, or other similar interdisciplinary degree programs. We will also consider doctoral degrees in Art or Art History; however, research specialization must be in Chicano-a/Latino-a art.

 If ABD, please provide documentation, in the form of a letter from the Chair of the Doctoral Committee, confirming that the dissertation will be completed in time to be defended and filed by July 1, 2009.

 Teaching experience with a strong commitment to teaching and working with both graduate and undergraduate students.

 Ability to work with a culturally diverse student population.

CAMPUS PARTNERSHIPS

The Chicana/o Studies Department works closely with several units on campus that enhance and aid in its mission of research, teaching, and service. These units are the Chicano Studies Institute which provides funding for conferences, research and other related activities, the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA), and the Colección Tloque Nahuaque.

Chicano Studies Institute: http://research.ucsb.edu/ccs/
The Institute undertakes, promotes and disseminates research regarding the Chicano/Latino experience in California and the United States. The Institute’s research activities serve the intellectual interests of Chicana/o Studies students, researchers and faculty from all departments and units on the UCSB campus. Together with the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department, the Institute supports research that promotes the growing national and international stature of the field and assists in the recruitment and retention of Chicano/Latino faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates at the university. Furthermore, the Institute promotes cultural education for the campus and community by sponsoring events and programs that draw from Chicana/o, Mexican and Latin American music, dance, theatre, film, and art traditions.
California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives: http://cemaweb.library.ucsb.edu/
ImaginArte: http://cemaweb.library.ucsb.edu/project_description.html

The California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives, also known as CEMA, is a division of the Special Collections Department of the Davidson Library at the University of California, Santa Barbara. CEMA is a permanent program that advances scholarship in ethnic studies through its varied collections of primary research materials. These unique collections of personal papers, archival materials, and fine art prints document the lives and political and cultural activities of African Americans, Asian/Pacific Americans, Chicanos/Latinos, and Native Americans in California. Of special interest to visual arts scholars is CEMA’s exciting new multi-institutional initiative, “Imaginarte: Interpreting and Re-imaging Chican@Art.” This project draws on CEMA's strong collections in Chicana/o visual arts to foment and acquire funding for new research, scholarship, exhibitions and publications on Chicana/o art, in addition to funding artists in residency and public lectures by Chicana/o visual artists.

Colección Tloque Nahuaque

Researchers, faculty, and students engaged in Chicana/o Studies at UCSB benefit from access to the Colección Tloque Nahuaque in the Davidson Library. It is a unique resource for comprehensive Chicana/o and Latina/o information and specialized reference services. Visiting scholars from both this country and abroad consider it to be one of the finest collections of Chicana/o materials anywhere in the world.

RANK AND SALARY

The position is at the rank of Assistant Professor, tenure-track. Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience, and qualifications. Merits and promotions are at designated intervals in a faculty member’s career.
The University of California offers a comprehensive benefits package including health (including dental and vision), disability, and life insurance coverage. The University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP) is a defined benefit plan which provides lifetime monthly retirement income as well as survivor and disability benefits after a 5 year vesting period. Most UC employees are covered by UCRP and Social Security. In addition, the University offers several Retirement Savings Plans. For detailed information please refer to the University of California website: http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/forms_pubs/misc/uc_benefits_overview_tenured.pdf

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Applicants should send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, samples of published articles and/or portfolio, sample chapter(s) of the dissertation, teaching evaluations, and request that three letters of recommendation be sent directly to:

Prof. María Herrera-Sobek,
Chair of Search Committee,
Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies,
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106 – 4120.

The deadline for application submission is October 17, 2008 for primary consideration.
However, the position will remain open until filled. For additional information contact Joann Erving, Business Officer, at (805) 893-8807 or via email at: jerving@chicst.ucsb.edu.

UCSB is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

DIRECTOR, PROGRAM IN AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE

http://www.humanities.uci.edu/afam/

The University of California, Irvine, invites applications for the Director of the Program in African American Studies, to be appointed at the advanced Associate or Full Professor level, beginning July 1, 2009. The successful applicant must have a distinguished record of publication
and teaching in the field of African American Studies broadly defined. Scholars with demonstrated expertise in critical studies of gender and sexuality are especially encouraged to apply.

The Director will join a growing interdisciplinary program that has augmented its core faculty with several recent appointments in art history, comparative political thought, drama, and film and media studies. Our core and affiliated faculty have teaching interests in critical theory, feminist theory, history, legal studies, literary criticism, cultural studies, political economy, visual studies, postcoloniality, and transnational and diaspora studies. The Program has emerged as a campus center for inter-disciplinary teaching and research. Its courses are cross-listed on a regular basis. The Program has planned and staged, in recent years, several innovative national conferences: "Black Thought in the Age of Terror," "Dred Scott: Citizenship, The Human, and the Political A/Effect of Racial Blackness," "The Paradoxes of Race, Law, and Inequality in the United States," and "Extended Provocations: New Lectures in Dialogue with the Pioneering Scholarship of Judith Wilson." Housed within the distinguished School of Humanities, the Program in African American Studies has also contributed to the academic prominence of UC Irvine more generally. It has enjoyed steady increases in undergraduate enrollments and significant gains in the number of majors and minors.

As the principal academic administrator, the duties of the Program Director include coordinating faculty recruitments; overseeing academic personnel reviews; preparing annual budgets; facilitating communication among Program faculty, academic units, and university administration; implementing policy and curriculum; and supervising office personnel. On a campus with a tradition of shared governance, the Director and the faculty collectively advance the mission of the Program through the African American Studies Steering Committee. Appointment of the successful applicant will be made fully in the Program in African American Studies or, where opportunities arise, jointly with other academic units.

Review of applications will begin *December 1, 2008*, and the position will remain open until filled.

Please submit a statement of teaching and research interests, administrative experience, curriculum vitae, portfolio of recent publications, and names of three references to: Chair, Search Committee, Program in African American Studies, University of California-Irvine, 1300 Biological Sciences III, Irvine, CA 92697-6850.

The University of California, Irvine is an equal opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity and has an Advance Program for faculty equity and diversity.

Assistant Professor of American Studies

The Department of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston invites applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor, to begin September 2009. We are interested in candidates who can teach interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate courses in early 20th century cultural history and literature, with strength in gender and sexuality studies. Teaching, advising, and mentoring experience in urban public institutions with diverse student bodies is desirable. PhD in American Studies, Humanities, or equivalent interdisciplinary training, must be in hand by May 2009. Candidates should send a description of research and teaching interests, curriculum vita, sample publications/chapters, and three letters of recommendation to:

Office of Human Resources
Search 11116
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393

Review of applications will begin January 20, 2009, and will continue until the position is filled. For inquiries contact: Professor Lois Rudnick, Chair, Search Committee, lois.rudnick@umb.edu

The University of Massachusetts Boston is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, Title IX employer. www.umb.edu

Job Ad: The Department of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee invites applications for the tenure-track position of Assistant Professor in the field of post-World War II/Contemporary American Literature and Culture. Minimum qualifications: ABD or PhD in English or equivalent field; dissertation focus on American literature and culture since 1945; evidence of commitment to scholarly research and publication. Secondary expertise in literary and cultural theory is
desired, including but not limited to: gender studies, queer theory, transnational
literatures, postmodern fiction/narrative, or digital literature and culture. A record of peer-reviewed scholarly publication strengthens the application.
Applications must be made electronically through the UWM web site at:
www.jobs.uwm.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=50766 . Submissions received by
Nov. 15 will be given preference. Interviews will be held at the MLA convention.
Search Committee Chair: Prof. Gregory Jay. UWM is an AA/EEO Employer.

Assistant Professor of Ethnic and/or Immigrant Literatures of the United States

The English Department at Gustavus Adolphus College invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor in Ethnic and/or Immigrant Literatures of the United States; particular emphasis in Latino/a American, Native American, African American, and/or Asian American literatures (preferences given in order above). Teaching includes introductory and advanced literature courses for the major and general education; the teaching load is six courses per year. Ph.D. preferred; ABD considered. In order to enhance our studentsʼ educational experiences, we encourage applicants who have academic experiences and interests in culturally diverse groups.

Please send letter of application, CV, transcript, and letters of reference to: Dr. Laura Behling, Chair, Department of English, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN 56082. All applications will be acknowledged. Review of applications will begin November 7, 2008.

Gustavus Adolphus College is a coeducational, private, residential, national liberal arts college of 2,500 students, affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is the policy and practice of Gustavus Adolphus College to provide equal educational and employment opportunities for all. We specifically encourage applications from women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

American and British Modernism

The Department of English at Florida Atlantic University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in American and British Modernism, beginning August 2009. Specialization in both American and British Modernism is most desirable. This position will be located on FAU’s Jupiter campus, with a graduate teaching assignment on the Boca Raton campus. Situated in subtropical South Florida, FAU serves a culturally and ethnically diverse six-county region (Broward, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie) with a population of more than five million people. The teaching assignment is five courses per year. The Department of English at FAU includes 29 diverse tenure-line faculty, who are collegial, productive, and innovative. This department is seeking a successful candidate who will contribute to its growing MFA, MA, MAT, and BA programs and who may participate in a variety of interdisciplinary PhD programs. Requirements include a PhD at time of appointment, publication record in field, and relevant teaching experience at the college level. Send letter, vita, and three letters of recommendation to Professor Wenying Xu, Chair, Department of English, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL, 33431-0991. Applications must be postmarked by November 7, 2008. FAU is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access Institution that actively encourages applications from women and minorities in keeping with its policy of promoting diversity throughout the institution.

Creative Nonfiction

The Department of English at Florida Atlantic University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Creative Nonfiction, beginning August 2009. Expertise in secondary genre is desirable. This position will be located on two of FAU’s campuses: Boca Raton and Davie. Situated in subtropical South Florida, FAU serves a culturally and ethnically diverse six-county region (Broward, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, and St. Lucie) with a population of more than five million people. The teaching assignment is five courses per year. This position provides the opportunity to teach workshops at graduate and undergraduate levels and to advise the students’ literary magazine, Coastlines. The Department of English at FAU includes 29 diverse tenure-line faculty, who are collegial, productive, and innovative. This department is seeking a successful candidate who will contribute to its growing MFA, MA, BA programs, and the college’s interdisciplinary PhD program. Requirements include a MFA or PhD at time of appointment, publication record in field, and relevant teaching experience at the college level. Send letter, vita, and three letters of recommendation to Professor Wenying Xu, Chair, Department of English, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL, 33431-0991. Applications must be postmarked by November 7, 2008. FAU is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access Institution that actively encourages applications from women and minorities in keeping with its policy of promoting diversity throughout the institution.

The English Department at Trinity College seeks to hire an actively publishing poet to fill a tenure-track Assistant Professorship in Poetry Writing and Literary Studies. Applicants for this position should have demonstrated ability to teach introductory multiple-genre creative writing courses, advanced workshops in poetry writing, and courses in literary analysis (field of expertise open).” Ph.D. or M.F.A., publications, and teaching experience required. We particularly welcome applications from affirmative action and minority candidates. Please send a letter of application, c.v., three letters of recommendation, and a writing sample or short portfolio no later than 1 November to Paul Lauter, chair, Department of English, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 06106. Trinity College is an affirmative action/ equal opportunity employer.

The English Department at Trinity College seeks to hire a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Film Studies. Applicants for this position should have demonstrated ability to teach introductory and advanced courses in Film Studies and another literary specialty. Ph.D., or its equivalent, publications, and teaching experience required. We particularly welcome applications from affirmative action and minority candidates. Please send a letter of application, c.v., three letters of recommendation, a syllabus for an undergraduate film studies course you might wish to teach, and a writing sample, no later than 1 November to Paul Lauter, chair, Department of English, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 06106. Trinity College is an affirmative action/ equal opportunity employer.

The English Department at Trinity College seeks to hire at the assistant professor level a three-year replacement. The successful candidate for this position should have experience teaching courses in British romanticism, literary theory or Colonial-period American literatures. Applicants for this position should also have demonstrated experience in teaching introductory literature courses. Ph.D. and record of publication required. We particularly welcome applications from affirmative action and minority candidates. Please send a letter of application, c.v., three letters of recommendation, a syllabus for an undergraduate course you might wish to teach, and a writing sample, no later than 1 November to Paul Lauter, chair, Department of English, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 06106. Trinity College is an affirmative action/ equal opportunity employer.

Northern Arizona University¹s English Department and Ethnic Studies Program
invites applications for a tenure-eligible assistant professor position in
African American literature and African American Studies and/or African
Diasporic Studies. A successful candidate will be expected to teach a
yearly 3/2 load that includes courses such as Introduction to African
American Literature, Introduction to African American Studies, as well as
advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in their area of expertise.
Minimum qualifications include a PhD in English, African American Studies,
or a related field, completed by August 17, 2009; demonstrated expertise in
African American literature and culture; and evidence of scholarly
publications. Preference will be given to those candidates who demonstrate
a record of effective college/university teaching for at least two years, a
record of scholarly activity within the fields of African American
Literature and African American Studies and/or African Diasporic Studies,
and experience in working with a diverse community of learners.

Applicants should send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, a writing
sample (publication or other as appropriate), and evidence of effective
teaching (such as, but not limited to, sample syllabi, a 1-2 page statement
of teaching philosophy, etc.). Please also have three confidential letters
of reference addressing the applicant's qualifications sent to the search
committee. Please mail completed applications to: Professor Jeff Berglund
and Professor Michelle Harris, Co-Chairs, African American literature and
African American Studies Search Committee, Department of English, Northern
Arizona University, P.O. Box 6032, Flagstaff, AZ 86011. Please check the
following website for more information on the position (scroll down to
vacancy # 557772) : http://hr.nau.edu/m/content/view/796/549/

Northern Arizona University is a committed Equal Opportunity/Affirmative
Action Institution. Women, minorities, veterans and individuals with
disabilities are encouraged to apply. NAU is responsive to the needs of dual
career couples.

Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies

Required: PhD in English, Comparative Literature, Ethnic Studies or
a related discipline; college-level teaching experience; a record of
student mentoring and of ongoing research and publications in the
field appropriate to the rank of associate professor with tenure.
Teaching load is 2/2 with significant research agenda; opportunities
for teaching are at undergraduate, MA, and PhD levels.

Desired: Transnational, Hemispheric, or Global Research Perspective.

Applicants must send: letter of application, CV, writing sample(s)
of published work, and contact information of three professional
references to Chair, Comparative Ethnic Studies Search Committee,
Department of English, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
85287-0302. Application deadline (no faxes or emails please):
Postmarked by October 24, 2008, if not filled, then every Monday
thereafter until the search is closed. All applications
acknowledged. A background check is required for employment.
AA/EOE.

Tenure-Track Position in Ethnic American Literature

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania enrolls approximately 10,000 students in graduate and undergraduate programs. The University is located in the borough of Kutztown in a charming rural setting, and is within 20 minutes driving time of the diverse metropolitan areas Allentown/Bethlehem and Reading, and within 60 minutes of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The University is very interested in hiring employees who have had extensive experience with diverse populations.

The English Department of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Ethnic American Literature to begin August 2009. Specializations can include but are not limited to African American Literature, Native American Literature, Asian American Literature, and Latino/a American Literature. Ph.D. preferred; ABD considered with completion of Ph.D. before the start of the second year.

A strong applicant will be an effective teacher, a scholar with a committed research agenda, and a colleague ready to participate in department and university service. The 4/4 teaching load will include literature and composition, with opportunities to develop and teach upper-division classes and occasional graduate courses. Three years of college-level teaching experience required. Successful interview and demonstration of teaching abilities required.

Send a letter of application, vita, three current letters of reference, and all official college-level transcripts to: Joanne Emge, Ethnic American Literature Faculty Search Committee, 241 Lytle Hall, English Department, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA 19530. Only complete application packets will be considered. Review of applications will begin November 7, 2008, for MLA interviews and will continue until the position is filled. For more information on our programs, visit our website at www.kutztown.edu/acad/english.

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and actively solicits applications from women and minority candidates. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is a member of the State System of Higher Education.

Spring '08 MELUS Announcements

2008-04-25T06:52:00.000-04:00

The University of Connecticut, Department of English seeks candidates for the managing editor of MELUS, the journal for Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, to assist in the organization, formatting, and production of the journal. Other duties: edits, proofreads, checks facts; tracks subscriptions and payments using, responds to mail, communicates with evaluators/ authors, supervises student workers. MELUS website.: http://english.uconn.edu/affiliated_programs/melus_docs/melus.html

Min Qual: BA in Jour., Engl, Comm. or related field; 2-5 yrs writing/editing experience w/ general publications, academic and/or other research-based journals/publications; familiarity w/ design/production of printed publications; excellent proofreading, editing, copy-editing skills.

Preferred Qual: MA or PhD in English, Journalism, Communications, or Related Field; knowledge of MLA style; background in editing academic publications; familiarity with multiethnic literature of the US or Am Lit; knowledge of editing/formatting programs, graphic design/journal layout and/or web design; good interpersonal, communication, organizational skills; ability to expand computer skills.

One year position starting mid-June – mid July. Possible renewal. Salary low to mid-40s. Send cover letter describing applicable experience and skills, resume, 3 recommendation letters with full contact information, and proof of experience (such as a sample publication edited or other work samples) to Robert Tilton, Head, Department of English, MELUS, 215 Glenbrook Road, U-4025, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269-4025. Consideration of candidates will begin on immediately and continue until the position is filled. The University of Connecticut actively solicits applications from minorities, women, and people with disabilities. # 2008476. You may also contact the editor-in-chief, Martha Cutter, Martha.Cutter@uconn.edu with questions.

Spring '08 Book Announcements

2008-04-18T11:31:00.004-04:00

W.W. Norton & Co announces the release the much anticipated: Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, & Beyond,

Edited by Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal and Ravi Shankar
Foreword by Carolyn Forché.

Come celebrate with us on Friday, April 25th, 2008, 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
at The Rubin Museum, New York City

Rubin Museum of Art · 150 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011 · 212.620.5000
http://www.rmanyc.org/index.xml?context=/

Look out for readings nationally and internationally…
www.nathaliehandal.com

A landmark anthology, providing the most ambitious, far-reaching collection of contemporary Asian and Middle Easter poetry available.

“This extraordinary, library-in-one-volume: what a resource! Those to whom poetry is essential as the supreme use of language will find the work of many poets they have never before come to, and those readers who have limited themselves to prose have the opportunity to discover how the poet outreaches everything prose can illuminate in who and what we are, no matter where, on the map. Nine thematic groupings of the work bring us wonderfully, almost perilously close to ultimate experience in childhood, love, war, exile, the inextricable relations between politics and the personal, the tragic and the ironic, the wisdom in sorrow and humor, that only the most intense imagination can plumb. That of the poet. The realm of imagination is one. This anthology gives entry to its vast expression in the Middle East and Asia, including the changing sensibilities of poets in the ever-growing world of immigration. Assembled here not the Tower of Babel, but the astonishment and subtlety inherent in many languages and their experimental modes to expand the power of words. The introductions to each section offer perceptions engagingly, against which to place one's own readings. The editors have boldly envisaged and compiled a beautiful achievement for world literature.”
—Nobel Laureate, Nadine Gordimer

“Language for a New Century is a symphonic sweep of beckoning cries, praises, prayers, curses, ruminations and revelations. An ensemble rich with diverse voices, here the old and the new converge, and something wholly human and futuristic emerges—something that possesses a robust lyricism—shining its light, its illuminated certainty into the twenty-first century. This marvelous anthology assembles a multitude of voices intent on a purposeful, deep singing.”
—Pulitzer Prize Winner, Yusef Komunyakaa

“This rich collection of poetry from Asia, the Middle East, and other parts of the world, fills a huge gap in our cultural heritage. It is a formidable achievement, and an important contribution to our education.”
—Howard Zinn, People’s History of the United States

“Read Language for a New Century as you would a field guide to the human condition in our time, a poetic survival manual. . . . If, as Milosz wrote, “posterity will read us in an attempt to comprehend what the twentieth century was like,” then this collection will be read to know the beginning of the twenty-first.”
—Carolyn Forché

*
Language for a New Century celebrates the artistic and cultural forces flourishing today in the East, bringing together an unprecedented selection of works by South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian poets as well as poets living in the Diaspora. Some poets, such as Mahmoud Darwish and Bei Dao, are acclaimed worldwide, but many more will be new to the reader. The collection includes 400 unique voices from 55 countries writing in 40 different languages—political and apolitical, monastic and erotic—that represent a wider artistic movement that challenges thousand-year-old traditions, broadening our notion of contemporary literature.

Each section of the anthology—organized by theme rather than national affiliation—is preceded by a personal essay from the editors that introduces the poetry and invokes the readers to examine their own identities in light of these powerful poems. In an age of violence and terrorism—often predicated by cultural ignorance—this anthology is a bold declaration of shared humanness and devotion to the transformative power of art.

Harlem Crossroads:Black Writers and the Photograph in the Twentieth Century

Sara Blair

"[A] remarkable accomplishment...Worthwhile for these illustrations alone, the snapshots from the now distant past preserved forgotten Harlem tableaus...And when you factor in the ingenious fashion in which Sara Blair matches these pictures with the works of African-American literary giants, Harlem Crossroads adds up to a masterpiece making a noteworthy cultural contribution."

--Kam Williams, African American Literature Book Club

"Sara Blair's Harlem Crossroads is an important addition to the body of literature that currently exists about Harlem. It brilliantly illuminates the complex relationship between photographic representation and race, and adds new insight into the ways in which this one black community has figured in both the critical and public imaginations. Harlem Crossroads is a tour de force."

--Dawoud Bey, Columbia College Chicago

Read the Introduction online, click here:http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8510.html

Julie Haenisch
Senior Text Promotion Manager
Princeton University Press
41 William Street
Princeton, NJ, 08540-5237
www.press.princeton.edu http://www.press.princeton.edu/
T 609.258.6856
F 609.258.1335
julie_haenisch@press.princeton.edu

Heroes, Lovers, and Others The Story of Latinos in Hollywood

Clara E. Rodríguez

"Rodriguez's cultural and ethnic history traces the work of Latino actors in American film from the silent era to today. Although the Fordham University professor's specialty is sociology and her research is compiled from clip files and an assortment of secondary sources, her smooth writing and passion for the topic make this a worthy introduction to Latino film studies."
—Publishers Weekly

Heroes, Lovers, and Others tells the fascinating history of Latino actors in American film from the silent era to today. Rodriguez examines such Latino legends as Desi Arnaz, Dolores del Rio, Rita Hayworth, Raquel Welch, Anthony Quinn, Selma Hayek, and Antonio Banderas. More than just a collection of celebrity stories, this book explores the attitudes, cultural conditions, and assumptions that have influenced the portrayal of Latinos in film as well as their reception by the public.

Heroes, Lovers, and Others is a comprehensive volume packed with carefully researched information and analysis for both students and cinema enthusiasts alike.

2008 paper 272 pp.; 57 halftones 978-0-19-533513-2 $19.95

Clara E. Rodríguez is Professor of Sociology, Fordham University. She is currently at work on an update of the classic Coser, Kadushin and Powell text, Books: The Culture and Commerce of Publishing, which will be published by Stanford University Press. She has also been a consultant to a number of television shows and documentaries, most recently, "Dora, the Explorer" and "Sesame Street."

Order from your favorite online retailer: bn.com, amazon.com, powells.com

Please contact Allison Finkel at Oxford University Press with any questions:
Direct: 212.726.6018
Email: allison.finkel@oup.com

Spring '08 Call for Papers or Proposals

2008-04-18T11:26:00.004-04:00

Inaugural Conference of the Interdisciplinary Research Group

“E Pluribus Unum? — Ethnic Identities
in Processes of Transnational Integration in the Americas”

October 8 - 11, 2008
ZiF (Center for Interdisciplinary Research), Bielefeld University, Germany

The age of globalization has spawned a renewed focus on political and cultural negotiations in what one might call with Bourdieu the field of identity politics. This development manifests itself throughout the American hemisphere: new indigenous movements have contested post-colonial forms of political representation in Ecuador and Bolivia; the debates on ecological consequences of industrialization and on intellectual property rights have put indigenous groups from the Amazonian region on international agendas; large numbers of people have been mobilized for and against immigration reform in the U.S.; and so-called “ethnic minorities” may decide the current electoral process in the United States. In current academic discussions, concepts like multiculturalism, new ethnicities, creolization, hybridity, mestizaje, diasporas, and “post-ethnicity” articulate positionings vis à vis these developments, profoundly changing our understanding of “ethnicity.”

This renewed focus on ethnic identity demonstrates the need for a comprehensive and interdisciplinary model of analysis that incorporates the complexity of identity constructions in the context of transnational integration. The Inter-American Research Group at the Bielefeld Center for Interdisciplinary Research aims to contribute to an understanding of key factors in the field of identity politics, of the changing semantics of ethnicity, as well as of the cultural practices of identity construction. How are identity-shaping strategies and discourses translated into everyday practices and how do social elites, political institutions, businesses, the media, and agents of civil society (public intellectuals, filmmakers, writers, artists, educators, etc.) mediate between local, national, and transnational horizons of interaction?

In order to elucidate – in the context of inter-American transnationalism – the role of ethnicity in the field of identity politics, the inaugural conference will focus on the following three areas:

Conceptualizing the Field of Identity Politics
Constellations of social and cultural agents in ethnic negotiations and conflicts
Articulations of identity discourses; the positioning of self and non-self
Processes of translation between discourses and cultural practices
Narrations and performances of ethnic identities

Transnationalism and Ethnic Identity
Migration, ethnic diasporas, and translocal communities
Emergence of new ethnicities
De- and re-territorializations and the horizons of interaction of ethnic agents
Ethnic representations in transnational media

Ethnicity in/and Conflict
The use and misuse of ethnicity as a resource (or: the expediency of ethnicity)
Ethnic communities, neo-tribalization, and inter-ethnic competition
Postcolonial backgrounds of inter-ethnic conflicts
Intersections of ethnic, class, gender, religious, regional, and/or national identities

One-page proposals for 30-minute papers (in English or in Spanish) should be e-mailed by April 30, 2008 to: mailto:Daniela.Opitz@uni-bielefeld.de.

Conference participants may apply for partial funding of accommodation costs and travel expenses.

Organizers: Prof. Dr. Josef Raab (American Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen), JunProf. Dr. Sebastian Thies (Latin American Studies and Media Studies; Bielefeld University), Dr. Olaf Kaltmeier (Sociology, Bielefeld University)

Antípodas: Journal of Hispanic Studies

Trujillo, Trauma, Testimony: Mario Vargas Llosa, Julia Alvarez, Edwidge Danticat, and other writers on Hispaniola

Edited by Marta Caminero-Santangelo (University of Kansas) and Roy C. Boland Osegueda (La Trobe University)

Antipodas invites the submission of original papers dealing with literaryrepresentations of the era of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of theDominican Republic from 1930-61, for a special issue: "Trujillo, Trauma,Testimony." Manuscripts which consider the novels In the Time of theButterflies, by Julia Alvarez, The Feast of the Goat, by Mario VargasLlosa, and The Farming of Bones, by Edwidge Danticat, either singly or incomparison with each other, are especially welcome, as are approacheswhich employ theories of cultural and historical trauma or of thetestimonio genre. Discussions of other literary texts and testimoniosrepresenting Trujillo's dictatorship, including the 1937 massacre at hisorders of Haitians within the Dominican-Haitian border, are also invited.

Articles should be submitted via email as an attachment. Use the title ofyour paper as the file name of the attachment. A cover letter containingthe author’s name, full postal address and e-mail address is required. Theformat must be in accordance with the standard system of the latest MLAStyle Manual. The document must be in Word, Times New Roman, font size 12(including bibliography, notes and quotes), double spaced, A4 page sizewith one inch (2.5cm) margins all round. Use only one space after allpunctuation. Numbered superscripts and their notes must be manually typedout (do NOT use automatic endnotes or automatic footnotes). Do not usepage headers. Use no special formatting and turn off any custom "style"settings. Articles should have a minimum of 4,500 words and not exceed6,000 words (including footnotes) and can be in English, Spanish orFrench. Footnotes should be kept to a maximum of 10, and not exceed 5lines each. Avoid essay-like notes that detract from the primary text. Allnotes must appear at the end of the article before the bibliography.Please submit articles via email attachment no later than June 30th , 2008.

Articles and requests for further information should be sent to both:camsan@ku.edu and editor@antipodas.com.au

Antipodas is an international, peer-reviewed publication. For furtherinformation please visit the website www.antipodas.com.auMarta Caminero-SantangeloAssociate Professor, EnglishUniversity of Kansashttp://martacamsan.tripod.com/

MOURNING ZUCKERMANA

Call for Papers for a Special Issue of PHILIP ROTH STUDIES

Philip Roth's 2007 novel, EXIT GHOST, borrows its title from the repeatedstage direction in Act I, Scene I of Shakespeare's HAMLET - a stagedirection that is preceded by Horatio's plea: "Stay! speak, speak! I chargethee, speak!" Readers may likely feel the same way about Zuckerman whoappears, in Roth's play-within-the-play, by novel's end to be "Gone forgood." Roth's so-called alter-ego has reflected on the contemporary Americanlandscape since 1979, when Roth introduced Nathan Zuckerman as theup-and-coming writer already plagued by questions of legacy andsignificance, loss and historical tragedy in THE GHOST WRITER. Now, afternearly three decades featuring Zuckerman's fraught sense of the writer'sposition in the world, EXIT GHOST seems to be his final farewell.

For this fall 2009 special issue, PHILIP ROTH STUDIES seeks articles between4,000 and 8,000 words in length, and shorter note-length pieces notexceeding 2,500 words on the topic "Mourning Zuckerman." This special issuewill not only consider the loss of Zuckerman, who holds a special placewithin Roth's oeuvre, but also it will consider Zuckerman as a figurehimself perpetually in mourning. Possible topics could include, but are not limited to:

* EXIT GHOST as a final, or finalizing, text
* Nathan Zuckerman's mourning and/ or mourning Nathan Zuckerman
* The retirement of Roth's alter ego
* The relationship between other later novels, such as EVERYMAN, andEXIT GHOST
* The metaphor of illness in the Zuckerman novels
* The symbolic or narrative "deaths" of Zuckerman
* Zuckerman's failed romantic or familial relationships
* Zuckerman's narrative style, or narrative style as a function of Zuckerman
* Zuckerman's evolution as both a storyteller and fictionalprotagonist

Manuscripts must be prepared according to the MLA STYLE MANUAL, 2nd ed.(1998) by Joseph Gibaldi and should contain endnotes rather than footnotes.Address electronic submissions via email (as attached Word files) to:

Aimee Pozorski, Guest Editor, Central Connecticut State Univeristy(pozorskia@mail.ccsu.edu)andMiriam Jaffe-Foger, Co-editor, Rutgers University(miribird@eden.rutgers.edu)

Submission Deadline for Abstracts: July 31, 2008 Submission Deadline for Accepted Articles: December 30, 2008

We will respond to every submission and give notice of accepted abstracts by August 15, 2008. Acceptance of final essays is left to the discretion of theco-editors following a rigorous revision process during the spring of 2009.

2008 AIHA Conference
CALL FOR PAPERS41st Annual Conference

American Italian Historical Association
New Haven, Connecticut
Southern Connecticut State University And Courtyard by Marriot
6-8 November 2008

"Small Towns, Big Cities: The Urban Experience of Italian Americans"

The 41st conference of AIHA will investigate the urbanexperience of Italian Americans in its many facets. Papers on all topics welcome, especially those concerned with the following:

-The histories of neighborhoods
-Patterns of immigration and settlement in towns andcities
-Class mobility
-Flight from city to suburb
-Transnational urbanism
-Adaptation to city life
-Religious processions
-Street-corner society
-Social clubs and mutual aid societies
-Urban political life
-Forms of urban leisure (music, sports, clubs)
-The redefinition of Italian
-American identities
-The death and marketing of Little Italies
-Italian American beatnik culture and urbanity
-Music and urban locales
-Urban space and place
-Underworld genealogies
-Italian American intellectuals and urban places
-Ethnic intersections and successions
-Italian American language in the city
-Cultural and aesthetic representations of the city (film, dance, theatre, visual arts)

Proposals for papers should have titles and be no morethan one typed page in length. Proposals for panelsand other presentations should include titles and beno more than two typed pages. A brief biography ofeach presenter and participant must be included withhis/her affiliation, address, telephone number andemail address.

Special equipment for Powerpoint, DVD/Videopresentations, etc., must be requested as part of theproposal. We cannot guarantee equipment if requestsare made later in the organization process. Thoseinterested in serving as chair or commentator should notify the program chair by May 1.Limited travel subsidies are available for graduatestudents giving presentations; see website.

All presenters must be members of the American Italian Historical Association. For membership details, seethe AIHA website at www.aihaweb.org

Membership dues and proposals should be sent to:

The Calandra Italian American Institute,
Queens College/CUNY,
25 W. 43rd, 17th Floor,
New York, New York, 10036.

Proposals will not be considered ifpresenters/participants have not paid their dues byMay 1, 2008.

Please email proposals to: calandra@qc.edu.In the subject line, please write: "AIHA New HavenProposal."Confirmation of proposals will be by email. Those nothaving access to email should send proposals to The Calandra Institute (address above).www.aihaweb.org

Spring '08 Announcements

2008-04-18T11:24:00.003-04:00

Announcing Our 24th Annual Symposium on African American Culture & Philosophy Held in conjunction with PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

“(Re)Visioning the Black Caribbean: Spaces, Places, & Voices”

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Myriam Chauncey, Louisiana State University
Stewart Center • Purdue University • West Lafayette, IN 47906
November 6-8, 2008

Plenary Speakers:
Dr. Carole Boyce-Davies, Cornell University—Anglophone
Dr. Françoise Lionnet, UCLA—Francophone
Dr. William Luis, Vanderbilt University-Hispanophone

We are seeking individual papers and panel submissions on topics related to (Re)Visioning the Black Caribbean. We particularly welcome complete panel submissions with discussants. All presentations are to be in the English language.

In addition to papers on various aspects of (Re)Visioning the Black Caribbean, we seek papers and panels focused on Afro-Latin/American Research.

Individual abstracts should be 250 words or less and panel abstracts should be 750 words or less. Abstracts should be submitted by Thursday, May 1st, 2008. Please include, for all participants, a five line biography with institutional affiliation and e-mail addresses.

Send (Re)Visioning the Black Caribbean Submissions to:
Dr. Antonio D. Tillis
24th Annual Symposium
Beering Hall, Room 6182,
100 North University Street,
West Lafayette, IN 47907
Email: https://outlookweb.marshall.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=0352bdb773024ab4b8aae2fbdfee9eea&URL=mailto%3aaasrc%40purdue.edu

If sending by electronic mail, please use “Symposium Abstract— Language Group A, F, or H” as the subject line.
For additional information about the Center and details about the (Re)Visioning the Black Caribbean symposium,
visit our website at https://outlookweb.marshall.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=0352bdb773024ab4b8aae2fbdfee9eea&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cla.purdue.edu%2facademic%2fidis%2fafrican-american%2findex.htm

Registration Fee for the 24th Annual Symposium:
$75.00 for faculty and guest attendees
$50.00 for students

From: Frances Smith Foster [mailto:ffoster@emory.edu] Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 3:28 PMTo: melus@marshall.eduCc: Rodier, KatharineSubject: Announcement for newsletter

I have edited what I think is the first collection of texts by antebellum African Americans for African Americans about love and marriage in African America. I believe it can change our understanding of courtship, love, marriage and family values. The collection draws from a variety of sources ranging from folk rhymes, songs, and poems to letters, memoirs, short stories and newspaper advice-to-the-love-lorn columns. The volume is titled LOVE AND MARRIAGE IN EARLY AFRICAN AMERICA published by University Press of New England and can be purchased at bookstores or on-line.

Pan African Literary Forum

From July 3rd to the 18th, the Pan African Literary Forum will gather together established and emerging writers from Africa, the Diaspora and around the world for a series workshops, lectures and panel discussions uniquely focused on issues of craft and literary professionalism. Please find attached a copy of our flier, where you can find our all-star lineup of faculty and special guests. The PALF is also running two scholarships contests - one for writers of African descent and one open to all writers - that offer an all-expenses-paid to trip to the conference. More details about the conference and application guidelines for the contest can be found on our website: www.panafricanliteraryforum.org.

Spring '08 Book Reviews

2008-04-18T11:22:00.001-04:00

Unaccustomed Earth By Jhumpa Lahiri: A Note

Jhumpa Lahiri's new collection of short stories, titled Unaccustomed Earth, has the span and thematic breadth of a novel, and yet each story is distinct and self-contained. Lahiri's study of displaced lives that started with her first collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, continues, but undoubtedly, in a deeper and sombre tone. In this book Lahiri, like in her novel, The Namesake, delves into darker territories of family life in dislocated existence. Here her focus is mainly on the second generation of migrants where hybridity is personifies in the number of cross-cultural relationships like those of Ruma-Adam, Pranab-Deborah, Amit-Megan, Sudha-Roger, and so on. Lahiri's eye for detailing the immigrant experience, seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary, is moving. In fact movement is the quintessence of all the stories. In the first story, which gives the name to the collection, Ruma's father, as a world tourist in his old age, decides not to stay put in a place and in the last story the very earth itself is found to move diabolically.

The book I divided into two parts. Part one has five stand-alone stories whereas part two, subtitled "Hema and Kaushik", has three interconnected stories. The story "Hell-Heaven" from part one is the shortest of the collection. Usha, a second-generation migrant, narrates about the visits of a family friend, Pranab "Kaku", to her home when she was a child. It depicts the friendship between Pranab and Usha's mother, Aparna, Pranab's eventual marriage with an American named Deborah, and Aparna's disapproval of the match. The story shows the strain in the relationship between Usha and Aparna because of their differing lifestyles as American and Indian respectively. Aparna sustains herself in the strong belief that Deborah will one day leave Pranab. Years later, it is Pranab who leaves divorces Deborah when he falls in love with a married Bengali woman. Deborah surprises Aparna by revealing to her that all the years of her marriage she had been secretly jealous of her because Aparna knew a part of her husband's life from which she had been shut out by Pranab. But a still darker confession comes to the fore – the confession of Aparna's jealousy, not made to Deborah but to her daughter, Usha. The horror of it shows the depth of Aparna's desires and her intense angst, something that brings the story into a new perspective. It sets the mood for the volume.

Secrets and surprises loom at every corner and yet nothing is apparent. Unexpectedly, Ruma discovers through a misplaced letter the secret of her father's new love interest after the death of her mother in the short story "Unaccustomed Earth." Unexpectedly, a couple rediscover their love for each other in a dorm room at an old friend's wedding in the short story "A Choice of Accommodations." Amit and Megan's marriage has almost "disappeared" as they have transformed themselves into just parents of two growing girls and yet they surprise themselves in the weekend of from parenting. In the short story "Only Goodness", Lahiri explores sibling relationship in diasporic life in such a resonant way that even in a brief space she can be dense in the intricacies of depiction. Sudha finds herself helpless as she watches her brother, Rahul, succumb to alcoholism and the gulf between him and their parents increasingly widens. She is reluctant and incapable to tackle the situation, and takes an escapist view of it. But some years later when Rahul comes to London to visit his newborn nephew, she sees signs of his redemption. And yet again Rahul betrays her belief leaving her no choice but to reject him finally. In the last story of part one, "Nobody's Business", Paul, an American housemate of Sang/Sangeeta, finds himself getting involved in the sticky web of love-relationships of Sang, her Egyptian boyfriend Farouk, and Diedre. Paul is a confidante of both Sang and Diedre, and unwittingly becomes Farouk's rival.

The first story of part two, "Once in a Lifetime", is narrated by Hema, whereas the second story, "Year's End", has Kaushik as the narrator. "Once in a Lifetime" deals with the tragic death of Kauhik's mother due to cancer. When Kaushik's family moves back to America from India, they stay with Hema's family for sometime until new house is got. Hema, when six years old, had not liked Kaushik, but now as a thirteen year old, she is infatuated by him. She also learns to appreciate the sophistication of Kaushik's mother. Then one day Kaushik confides to her about his mother's illness, revealing the pain that hides behind the glamour of their life. The next story, "Year's End", is about Kaushik's coming to terms with the presence of his step-mother, Chitra, who is nearer his age than his father's, and lacks all the elegance that his own mother possessed. More intriguing is Kaushik's growth of affection for his kid step-sisters, Rupa and Piu, until the girls retrieve from its hiding place the taped box that concealed Kaushik's mother's photographs purposely banished from sight. The girls' mischief enrages Kaushik. All affection drains out of him and he acts emotionally and rather cruelly to abandon the girls alone in the house. Far away he digs the earth and buries the box.

The thread does not end here. A chance meeting in Rome, when Hema and Kaushik are in their late thirties, ignites a ephemeral but passionate relationship. The last story, "Going Ashore", is an excess – an excess that shows Lahiri's power of imagination, an excess that consummates the theme, an excess that would have been too sweet had it not been tragic, an excess that has the air of inevitability. Hema and Kaushik's union comes at a time when they are on the verge of settling down – Hema in marriage with Navin, and Kaushik in his new job in Hong Kong. They separate. Hema goes to India and Kaushik, on a holiday, to Khao Lak in Thailand. But now it is the turn of the continental plates of the earth to shift. The last few pages lead excruciatingly to the inevitability of the tsunami. Thereafter, the narration reverts from third person to the first person of Hema, bringing the story and the book towards its closure. Lahiri revels in the craft of story telling. The book is a tour-de-force and a document of the age and time seen through the human experience and how!

Winter '08 Welcome & MELUS Announcements

2008-01-30T12:20:00.000-05:00

Hello, MELUS Members,

Welcome to the 2008 Winter Issue.

So far the new blog format has allowed users to post comments and make additions to the issue when needed. This provides a more dynamic publishing environment for the sharing of announcements and information among MELUS members. With the blog format, users may also post time-sensitive items such as CFPs or job announcements.

Please limit comments to topics relevant to MELUS or NewsNotes. The editors reserve the right to edit or delete postings. If you have questions feel free to contact Dr. Katharine Rodier, Professor of English & Director of Graduate Studies, Marshall University, 1 John Marshall Drive, Huntington WV 25755-2646, rodier@marshall.edu or Dr. Monica García Brooks, NewsNotes Technical Editor and Associate Dean of Libraries, Marshall University, brooks@marshall.edu.

If you would prefer to receive NewsNotes in print copy or in another format, please contact Monica. The NewsNotes archive is still located on the main page for the e-publication: http://www.marshall.edu/melus/newsnotes/

Warm regards,
The NewsNotes Editors

IMPORTANT MELUS ANNOUNCEMENTS:

22nd Annual MELUS Conference March 27-30, 2008 The Blackwell Hotel & Conference Center The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

MELUS: Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S.Conference Theme: Towards a Confluence of Multi-Ethnic Arts and the University

Confirmed Speakers: Luis Rodriguez, Jr., will give a reading and workshop on Thursday, March 27, 2008. Rodriguez is the author of Music of the Mill: A Novel, Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A., and The Republic of East L.A.: Stories, among other works of poetry and prose.The plenary address will be given jointly by Monica Brown and Guisela Latorre. Brown, Associate Professor of English at Northern Arizona University, is the author of Gang Nation: Delinquent Citizens in Puerto Rican, Chicano, and Chicana Narratives (U of Minnesota P, 2002) and the award-winning author of numerous multicultural children’s books. To learn more about Brown, visit http://www.monicabrown.net/. Latorre, Visiting Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies at The Ohio State University, is the author of Walls of Empowerment: Chicana/o Indigenist Murals of California (forthcoming, U of Texas P).

All presenters, chairs, and respondents must be members of MELUS. Membership information can be found on the MELUS website: http://webspace.ship.edu/kmlong/melus/. All membership registration must go directly to MELUS, not the conference organizers. Hotel rooms have been set aside at The Blackwell Hotel & Conference Center, 2110 Tuttle Park Place, Columbus, Ohio 43210, Phone: 614-247-4000, Toll Free: 866-247-4003, Fax: 614-247-4040, http://theblackwell.com/. Mention “MELUS Conference” for the conference rate.

The Port Columbus International Airport (CMH) is served by a number of airlines, including Air Canada, American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Midwest Connect, Northwest, Skybus, Southwest, United, and US Airways.

~~~~~

MELUS Executive Committee Meeting
MLA Convention Chicago, Illinois
December 28, 2007
Embassy Suites Hotel

Convened: 10am

Present: Martha Cutter, Fred Gardaphe (Interim President), Wenxin Li, JoAnne Ruvoli, Derek Royal, , Jose Torres-Padilla.

1. President’s Report: Fred Gardaphe accepted interim appointment as President of MELUS.

2. Treasurer’s Report: Financial situation of organization is strong. See attached report.

3. MELUS Journal: See attached report; below are highlights.

3.1 Editor, Martha Cutter, reports that submissions are up and the acceptance rate was 10% for past year, slightly more selective than previous year (17%).

3.2 Subscriptions are generally up from 761 to 939, a 23 % increase, although library subscriptions are down.

3.3 Cutter proposes that Veronica Makowsky, former Editor of MELUS, receive a lifetime membership for her work as the journal’s editor. EC approved this motion unanimously.

3.4 EC approved $500 a year to pay graduate student to assist Book Review Editor, Betsy Huang. Prof. Huang’s institution will pay the other half of salary.

3.5 Cutter reported decrease in library subscriptions has to do with EBSCO’s “moving wall.”
EC decided to revisit issue after a year to see if subscriptions increase.

4. Programs

4.1 MELUS was represented in all relevant major literary conferences during the year, including two panels at the MLA.

4.2 In 2008, the organization will also have a panel in the 20th Century Literature Conference.

4.2 Two panels scheduled for the 2008 ALA Conference: one titled, “Immigrant Acts”: Homeland, Alienation and Citizenship in Multiethnic Literature; and the second is open.

4.3 Li will look into possible participation at American Studies Association conference.

4.4 Brigham Young University did not work out for 2009. Washington State University has stated its commitment to host the 2009 conference in conjunction with the Get Lit Literary Festival, usually convened in April. EC recommended that they submit a formal proposal with details before granting approval.

4.5 Gardaphe and Li will contact Program Committee at Ohio State to touch base on 2008 conference.

4.6 Two names proposed for Achievement Award: Juan Bruce Novoa and Gerald Vizenor.

5. Membership

5.1 Memberships are up significantly from previous year. See attached report.

5.2 After discussion, EC approved motion that any membership payment received after September 1 will be for the upcoming year.

6. Graduate Students

6.1 Panel proposal submitted and approved for the 2008 conference on the film, Shattering the Silence: The Case of Minority Faculty. Ruvoli has proposed this as a double session, one for the screening of the film, and the other for the respondent panel.

6.2 EC charged special committee, comprised of Gardaphe, Cutter and Long, to decide winners of travel award ($250) which goes to two graduate students presenting at the annual conference.

6.2 EC approved to denote said award as “The President’s Award.”

6.3 Ruvoli reported that a call for applications has been written and will be sent to graduate students soon.

7. Website

7.1 Ruvoli reports that the MELUS website has undergone several updates including the Announcement Page, the Officers Page, which now has a link to past presidents, and journal Editor Emeritus.

7.2 Still needs to be done: ongoing archival information. It has been a slow process gathering past conference programs and names of past awards winners.

8. Old Business

8.1 EC will review the approved election guidelines one more time to see if it is ready to submit to membership for approval.

8.2 Gardaphe will inquire into status of ACEE.

9. New Business

9.1 EC will review Constitution and By-Laws to see if revision is needed regarding succession to Presidency.

9.2 EC will also consider eliminating term limits for Treasurer.

Adjourned: 11:18

Respectfully submitted by

José L. Torres-Padilla
Secretary

Membership Chair’s Report & Agenda Items
Prepared by Derek Parker Royal, December 2007

Reports, Accomplishments, and Issues since MELUS Conference in March

Ø Year end membership numbers are up 28.15% from what they were in 2006. This is a significant increase in membership, especially given the fact that last year this time we were down 6.75% from 2005. (see separate sheet with membership statistics)

Ø As of December 25, we already have 89 members for 2008
o Of that number, 35 have joined since 1 November, 53 are lifetime members, and 1 is institutional members
o At this time in 2006, we had 145 members joining for 2007

Ø Last printing of the MELUS brochure was March 2007. We printed 200, and we have distributed them at various conferences (e.g., MELUS, ALA, 20th-Century Literature and Culture, MLA). We still have about a third of those left over for future use.

Ø In May 2007 I designed a bookmark with the MELUS logo as well as organizational and journal information. We had 1000 of them printed up at Color It Printing. They cost just under $200. It is my belief that this is a much more cost effective means of reaching members than the brochures.

Ø Membership and the MELUS Web page
o No membership complaints on the Website. It’s always up-to-date and useful to members. Thanks JoAnne!
o I’ve updated the membership application for 2008

Ø Membership and the Annual Conference
o The 2007 annual conference was a complete success in terms of MELUS membership. I experienced almost no problems with member concerning this conference. Lok Chua went out of his way to make sure that everyone understood that conference registration and MELUS membership should be handled separately.
o I believe that most of our increase in membership for 2007—including early membership numbers beginning in late 2006—was due to the outstanding job Lok Chua and everyone at CSU-Fresno did in advertising the conference.
o Over the past few months I have been in contact with Frederick Aldama and Anne Langendorfer about the 2008 conference. I have asked them to work with me on making sure that attendees at the conference know that MELUS membership and conference fees go to two different places. I have also offered any support they might need regarding current membership information. In early fall I had to contact them about the conference CFP, since many members were contacting me asking about that information, which was as yet unavailable.

Ø Since 2005, waiving or reducing conference fees for graduate students significantly increased membership numbers. Once again, I recommend that we continue this practice, if the option continues to be financially feasible.

Ø Questions and topics for discussion (carried over from March 2007 EC meeting):
o Do we want to resurrect the possibility of a MELUS Membership Directory?
o Concerning 2009 MELUS officer elections:
§ Should we begin making plans for developing means of online voting, or stick with paper/mail-in ballots?
§ We should begin establishing an outside body of MELUS members (including at least one past EC member) to coordinate the 2009 elections.

MELUS Treasurer’s Report, December 2007
MELUS Board Meeting, Chicago, Illinois (MLA)
December 28, 2007

Funds reported on last financial statement, March 2007 = $68,691.74

Transactions since last statement

Deposits, Credits = $11,426.25
Checks = 6639.00
Paypal (minus fees of 3%) = 2931.08
Dividends and interest income = 1856.17
Debits = $1,829.02
5 MELUS reimbursement checks = $1,000.00
MLA Board Dinner (Marie Callendar) = 171.00
Brochures and Printing = 658.02

Amounts in Current Accounts

Orrstown Bank (.10%) = 9,077.91
ING Direct Savings (4.5%) = 20,154.50
ING CD’s (5%, 4.25%) = 47,049.18
Paypal (4.6%) = 2,007.38

Total assets 12/21/2007 = $78,288.97

Respectfully submitted by Kim Martin Long

Statements available upon request.

Winter '08 - Call for Papers

2008-01-29T18:58:00.000-05:00

Antípodas: Journal of Hispanic Studies
Trujillo, Trauma, Testimony: Mario Vargas Llosa, Julia Alvarez, Edwidge Danticat, and other writers on Hispaniola; Edited by Marta Caminero-Santangelo (University of Kansas) and Roy C. Boland Osegueda (La Trobe University)

Antipodas invites the submission of original papers dealing with literary representations of the era of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930-61, for a special issue: "Trujillo, Trauma, Testimony." Manuscripts which consider the novels In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, The Feast of the Goat, by Mario Vargas Llosa, and The Farming of Bones, by Edwidge Danticat, either singly or in comparison with each other, are especially welcome, as are approaches which employ theories of cultural and historical trauma or of the testimonio genre. Discussions of other literary texts and testimonios representing Trujillo's dictatorship, including the 1937 massacre at his orders of Haitians within the Dominican-Haitian border, are also invited.

Articles should be submitted via email as an attachment. Use the title of your paper as the file name of the attachment. A cover letter containing the author’s name, full postal address and e-mail address is required. The format must be in accordance with the standard system of the latest MLA Style Manual. The document must be in Word, Times New Roman, font size 12 (including bibliography, notes and quotes), double spaced, A4 page size with one inch (2.5cm) margins all round. Use only one space after all punctuation. Numbered superscripts and their notes must be manually typed out (do NOT use automatic endnotes or automatic footnotes). Do not use page headers. Use no special formatting and turn off any custom "style" settings. Articles should have a minimum of 4,500 words and not exceed 6,000 words (including footnotes) and can be in English, Spanish or French. Footnotes should be kept to a maximum of 10, and not exceed 5 lines each. Avoid essay-like notes that detract from the primary text. All notes must appear at the end of the article before the bibliography. Please submit articles via email attachment no later than June 30th , 2008.

Articles and requests for further information should be sent to both: camsan@ku.edu and https://outlookweb.marshall.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=808d6e34707743b9b5eb94927df29e5f&URL=mailto%3aeditor%40antipodas.com.au . Antipodas is an international, peer-reviewed publication. For further information please visit the website https://outlookweb.marshall.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=808d6e34707743b9b5eb94927df29e5f&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.antipodas.com.au .

Winter '08 - News & Events

2008-01-29T18:57:00.000-05:00

THE SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CULTURAL STUDIES ASSOCIATION (U.S.) New York City, New York (New York University) May 22-24, 2008

The Cultural Studies Association (U.S.) invites participation in its Sixth Annual Meeting from all areas and on all topics of relevance to Cultural Studies, including but not limited to literature, history, sociology, geography, anthropology, communications, popular culture, cultural theory, queer studies, critical race studies, feminist studies, postcolonial studies, media and film studies, material culture studies, performance and visual arts studies.

The conference this year will feature plenary sessions on New York and Culture, Gender and Sexuality, Law and Minorities. Plenarists include,

Arlene Davila, New York University, author of Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos and the Neoliberal City, and Latinos, Inc., The Marketing and Making of a People

Rosemary Coombe, Law, Communications and Cultural Studies, York University, author of The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties, and "Legal Claims to Culture in and Against the Market"

Janet Jacobsen, Columbia, author of Working Alliances and the Politics of Difference: Diversity and Feminist Ethics, and Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious Tolerance

Jasbir Puar, Women's and Gender Studies and Geography, Rutgers University, author of "On Torture: Abu Ghraib," and "Queer Times, Queer Assemblages."

Neil Smith, CUNY Graduate Center, author of American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization, and The Endgame of Globalization.

The conference will continue to host last year's highly successful "salon" panels by major cultural studies journals. Thus far, the following journals plan on hosting a journal salon:

Theory & Event
South Atlantic Quarterly
Boundary 2
Callaloo (special issue on Katrina and New Orleans)
Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies
Positions: East Asia Cultural Critique
Rethinking Marxism
Women & Performance
Radical History Review
Signs (special issue on race/gendered logics of war and terror)
Public Culture
Critical Inquiry
Social Text

All participants in the Sixth Annual meeting must pay registration fees by April 15, 2008, to be listed and participate in the program. See the registration page of the CSA conference website for details about fees at https://outlookweb.marshall.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=808d6e34707743b9b5eb94927df29e5f&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.csaus.pitt.edu%2f.

Winter '08 - Job Announcements

2008-01-29T18:45:00.000-05:00

Assistant Professor. African-American Literature, preferably with a focus on the 19th century. Tenure-line.
Ph.D. required; ABD applicants will be considered but must have the degree conferred by the time appointment begins. Candidates must have a strong teaching record and outstanding scholarly potential. The teaching assignment will include a range of undergraduate and graduate courses. 2/2 teaching load. Salary and benefits competitive. 9 month appointment per year; summer appointment possible. Position contingent upon funding. Letter, vita, writing sample not to exceed 30 pages, list of graduate courses, and dossier of recommendations to Hunt Hawkins, Chair, English Department, CPR 107, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620-5550. Applications will be accepted until position filled. According to Florida Law, applications and meetings regarding them are open to the public. For ADA accommodations, please contact Nancy Serrano (813-974-8211 or Serrano@cas.usf.edu at least five working days prior to need. USF is an AA/EEO institution.

Assistant Professor Rhetoric/Composition and Director of Freshman Composition

Plattsburgh State University of New York invites applications for a full-timetenure-track assistant professorship in Rhetoric/Composition that includesdirectorship of the first-year composition program. Start date: fall 2008. Earned doctorate by appointment date. Ideal candidates will have English Ph.D. in Rhetoric/Composition or related field with teaching and someadministrative experience, especially in the areas of placement testing,assessment, and mentoring composition faculty. WAC/WID useful. Secondaryinterest is open but could include writing, literature and English Education. 2/2 teaching load with compensated summer responsibilities. Teachingfirst-year writing and other courses commensurate with expertise, includingGeneral Education and upper-division courses. University service andscholarship in rhetoric/composition required.SUNY College at Plattsburgh is an equal opportunity employer committed toexcellence through diversity.Review of applications begins November 5 and continues until the position isfilled. Original transcripts will be required prior to the start ofemployment. Please submit cover letter specifically addressing this position,curriculum vitae, scholarly writing sample (as MS-WORD document and/or hardcopy), and three letters of reference to Chair, Search Committee (PJ# 4853),c/o Human Resource Services, SUNY Plattsburgh, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh,NY 12901-2681.

Winter '08 - Calls for Proposals

2008-01-29T18:43:00.000-05:00

Announcing the African American Women's Language Conference '08, March 7-8, 2008, at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk, San Antonio, Texas.

Sponsored by Dr. Sonja L. Lanehart, Brackenridge Endowed Chair, Professor of English and Linguistics, University of Texas at San Antonio.

Panel topics include Variation in AAWL including Caribbean Languages, AAWL and Racial Identity, AAWL in/and Literature, AAWL in Education, Society, and Popular Culture.
Featured speakers include Grisel Acosta, Jennifer Bloomquist, Anne Charity, Charles DeBose, Jessica DeCuir-Gundy, Adrienne Dixson, Shelome Gooden, Lisa Green, Lanita Jacobs-Huey, Joycelyn Moody, Marcyliena Morgan, Iyabo Osiapem, Terri Pantuso, Renée Price, Jacquelyn Rahman, Elaine Richardson, Angela Rickford, Arthur Spears, Denise Troutman, and Alicia Wassink.

For more information regarding the conference, visit the conference website at http://colfa.utsa.edu/colfa/aawlc/AfricanAmericanLangConf08.htm or contact the conference organizer, Dr. Sonja Lanehart at (210) 458-6610, or sonja.lanehart@utsa.edu

Terri Pantuso, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of English, The University of Texas at San Antonio

The Italian-American Writers Panel of the Rocky Mountain MLA invites the submission of papers/presentations for its session at the 62nd annual convention, held next year in Reno, Nevada, USA from October 9-11, 2008.

Submissions in any area of Italian-American writings, poetry, language, or related fields are welcome; graduate students are encouraged to submit. S ubmission Requirements: 300-word abstract. Submissions must be received by March 1, 2008. Send electronic submissions as a Word attachment to: rcote@email.arizona.edu Address print submissions to: Robert Cote Center for English as a Second Language 1100 East James E. Rogers Way P.O. Box 210024 Tucson, AZ 85721-0024 Panelists will be notified by March 15, 2008 and must secure or renew RMMLA membership by April 1, 2008. For more information, please see the RMMLA website, http://rmmla.wsu.edu/ or email Robert Cote, Panel Chair, at rcote@email.arizona.edu

-- Robert A. Cote, Ph.D. Candidate Second Language Acquisition & Teaching (SLAT); Instructional Support Specialist Center for English as a Second Language (CESL), University of Arizona (520) 626-2380

Winter '08 - New Book Announcements

2008-01-29T18:41:00.000-05:00

EATING IDENTITIES
READING FOOD IN ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE
Wenying Xu

The French epicure and gastronome Brillat-Savarin declared, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” Wenying Xu infuses this notion with cultural-political energy by extending it to an ethnic group known for its cuisines: Asian Americans. She begins with the general argument that eating is a means of becoming—not simply in the sense of nourishment but, more importantly, of what we choose to eat, what we can afford to eat, what we secretly crave but are ashamed to eat in front of others, and how we eat. Food, as the most significant medium of traffic between the inside and outside of our bodies, organizes, signifies, and legitimates our sense of self and distinguishes us from others, who practice different foodways. Narrowing her scope, Xu reveals how cooking, eating, and food fashion Asian American identities in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, class, diaspora, and sexuality. She provides lucid and informed interpretations of seven Asian American writers (John Okada, Joy Kogawa, Frank Chin, Li-Young Lee, David Wong Louie, Mei Ng, and Monique Truong) and places these identity issues in the fascinating spaces of food, hunger, consumption, appetite, desire, and orality. Asian American literature abounds in culinary metaphors and references, but few scholars have made sense of them in a meaningful way. Most literary critics perceive alimentary references as narrative strategies or part of the background; Xu takes food as the central site of cultural and political struggles waged in the seemingly private domain of desire in the lives of Asian Americans. Eating Identities is the first book to link food to a wide range of Asian American concerns such as race and sexuality. Unlike most sociological studies, which center on empirical analyses of the relationship between food and society, it focuses on how food practices influence psychological and ontological formations and thus contributes significantly to the growing field of food studies. For students of literature, this tantalizing work offers an illuminating lesson on how to read the multivalent meanings of food and eating in literary texts.

WENYING XU is associate professor of English at Florida Atlantic University. January 2008, ISBN 978-0-8248-3195-0 208 pages, paperback, $29.00

On Latinidad: U.S. Latino Literature and the Construction of Ethnicity Marta Caminero-Santangelo, University Press of Florida Cloth: $59.95 ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-3083-8 Pubdate: 9/30/2007

Refusing to take latinidad (Latino-ness) for granted, Marta Caminero-Santangelo lays the groundwork for a sophisticated understanding of the various manifestations of "Latino" identity. She examines texts by prominent Chicano/a, Dominican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American writers--including Julia Alvarez, Cristina García, Achy Obejas, Piri Thomas, and Ana Castillo--and concludes that a pre-existing "group" does not exist. The author instead argues that much recent Latino/a literature presents a vision of tentative, forged solidarities in the service of particular and sometimes even local struggles. She shows that even magical realism can figure as a threat to collectivity, rather than as a signifier of it, because magical connections--to nature, between characters, and to Latin American origins--can undermine efforts at solidarity and empowerment.

In the author's close reading of both fictional and cultural narratives, she suggests the possibility that Latino identity may be even more elastic than the authors under question recognize.

"From the early pages, in which Caminero-Santangelo asks us to explore stories of collective identity implicit in the social construction of Latino-ness, to the conclusion, which breaks through much of the confusion by calling on her readers to think about latinidad as commitment, Caminero-Santangelo gives us something weighty to chew on practically every page, and all of it in her smart, lucid, elegant prose."--Debra A. Castillo, Cornell University

"On Latinidad deals with complex issues in a very sophisticated, critical way. It is useful to scholars working outside the field as an introduction, not only to the background and contexts of Latino Literatures, but also to the current debates, trends, and directions in the field."--Delia M. Poey, Florida State University

Marta Caminero-Santangelo is associate professor of English at the University of Kansas. Marta Caminero-Santangelo Associate Professor, English University of Kansas (785) 864-2529 http://martacamsan.tripod.com/

DIGITIZING RACE: Visual Cultures of the Internet
Lisa NakamuraUniversity of Minnesota Press 304 pages 2007ISBN 978-0-8166-4612-8 hardcover $58.50ISBN 978-0-8166-4613-5 paperback $19.50

Lisa Nakamura, a leading scholar in the examination of race in digital media, looks at the emergence of race-, ethnic-, and gender-identified visual cultures through popular yet rarely evaluated uses of the Internet. While popular media depict people of color and women as passive audiences, Nakamura argues that they use the Internet to vigorously articulate their own types of virtual community, avatar bodies, and racial politics."With Digitizing Race, Lisa Nakamura, one of the most perceptive observers of identity in the digital age, skillfully draws our attention to those taken for granted interfaces at which race and ethnicity are constituted, revealing the centrality of these techno-visual practices to contemporary political culture." —Alondra Nelson

For more information, including the table of contents, visit the book’s webpage:http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/N/nakamura_digitizing.html

The Latino/a Canon and the Emergence of Post-Sixties Literature
by Raphael Dalleo and Elena Machado Saez
Palgrave Macmillan, 2007
ISBN: 1-4039-7796-8
$74.95
http://www.post-sixties.com

"The clear and incisive discussions about canon formation, ideologies
and the market are unprecedented and very much needed in the context of
globalization." -Â”Frances Aparicio, Author of Listening to Salsa

"ÂœDalleo and Machado Saez's intervention enriches the critical
discourse around the writings of U.S. Latino/a authors."-Â”Silvio
Torres-Saillant, Author of The Dominican Americans and An Intellectual
History of the Caribbean

In the first study of Latino/a literature to systematically examine the
post-Sixties generation of writers, The Latino/a Canon and the
Emergence of Post-Sixties Literature challenges the ways that Latino/a
literary studies imagines the relationship of art, politics and the
market. Dalleo and Machado Saez engage with the major critics from the
field to dispute the consensus view of Latino/a literature from the
1960s as politically committed and resistant to the market versus the
literature of the 1990s as apolitical and assimilationist due to its
commodification. This study argues that post-Sixties writers Pedro
Pietri, Ernesto Quinonez, Abraham Rodriguez, Junot Diaz, Angie Cruz,
Cristina Garcia and Julia Alvarez have not abandoned politics, but are
imagining creative strategies for revitalizing progressive thought
through the market.

Table of Contents: Sell Outs? Politics and the Market in Post-Sixties
Latino/a Literature * Periodizing Latino/a Literature Through Pedro
Pietri's Nuyorican Cityscapes * Mercado Dreams: The End(s) of Sixties
Nostalgia in Contemporary Ghetto Fiction * Movin'Â™ on Up and Out:
Lowercase Latino/a Realism with Junot Diaz and Angie Cruz * Latino/a
Identity and Consumer Citizenship in Cristina Garcia'Â™s Dreaming in
Cuban * Writing in a Minor Key: Postcolonial and Post-Civil Rights
Histories in the Novels of Julia Alvarez * New Directions: The
Post-Sixties Miami Imaginary

Raphael Dalleo and Elena Machado Saez are Assistant Professors of
English at Florida Atlantic University.

Fall 2007 Issue

2007-10-05T08:08:00.000-04:00

Hello, MELUS Members,

Welcome to the Fall 2007 Issue. So far the new blog format has allowed users to post comments and make additions to the issue when needed. This provides a more dynamic publishing environment for the sharing of announcements and information among MELUS members. With the blog format, users may also post time-sensitive items such as CFPs or job announcements.

Please limit comments to topics relevant to MELUS or NewsNotes. The editors reserve the right to edit or delete postings. If you have questions feel free to contact Dr. Katharine Rodier, Professor of English & Director of Graduate Studies, Marshall University, 1 John Marshall Drive, Huntington WV 25755-2646, rodier@marshall.edu or Dr. Monica García Brooks, NewsNotes Technical Editor and Associate Dean of Libraries, Marshall University, brooks@marshall.edu. If you would prefer to receive NewsNotes in print copy or in another format, please contact Monica. The NewsNotes archive is still located on the main page for the e-publication: http://www.marshall.edu/melus/newsnotes/

Warm regards,
The NewsNotes Editors

6th MESEA Conference Announcement & CFP
6th MESEA ConferenceThe Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and the AmericasJune 25–28, 2008, Leiden University, The NetherlandsCall for Papers"MIGRATION MATTERS: IMMIGRATION, HOMELANDS, AND BORDER CROSSINGS IN EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS"Largely driven by economics, migration today is a global and globalizing phenomenon that renders national borders obsolete and calls into question the viability of nation states and national identities. Yet precisely because it undermines national structures, migration also has contributed to the reinvention of the historically highly problematic concept of “homelands” and the reconstruction of increasingly impenetrable borders. It is, moreover, in local situations and contexts that the impact of global migration is experienced, debated, and contested most directly and urgently. This conference, then, aims to focus on the ways in which migration matters locally as well as transnationally and globally, in the realms of politics and culture, history and sociology, economics and law, language, literature and the arts in Europe and the Americas.The following list of topics is meant to be suggestive rather than restrictive:► Migration and the reinvention of (national and transnational, real and imaginary) “homelands” and/or the reconstruction of (external and internal, national, ethnic and racial, cultural and mental, political and economic) borders► Global migrations and fluid geographies in terms of physical mappings and shifting populations► Migration and national/ethnic/cultural/aesthetic border crossings► Migration and modernization► Immigration debates in various national contexts► Images of the host countries in countries/continents of migratory origin► Immigration restrictions and human rights; legal and extra-legal status of immigrants► Circulation and impact of migrant peoples and cultures in specific rural and urban spaces; cultural diversity in local societies► New immigrant literatures as world and/or national literature; representation in and impact on regional cultures, literatures, media, and arts► Macrosociological analyses of migration and globalization processes; rethinking the sociology of literature► Cultural production (literature, film, visual art, performance, music, blog-culture, web-art) by or about migrants► Migration and the reinvention of religious identities► Emerging identities/identity fashioning; ethnic refashioning: conflict and/or reconciliation► Historical case studies of migrancy and diaspora; evolving diaspora cultures► Migration and gender► Migration and race/racialization► Forced migration and historical/contemporary slavery or bonded labor►Migration and linguistic diversity►Immigration and educational reformation(s)Please submit three hard copies of a 300-word abstract (including a maximum of five keywords) or full panel proposals (including a description of the panel, chair, respondents, and individual abstracts) as well as an electronic copy to MESEA’s Program Director, Yiorgos Kalogeras, Department of English, Aristotle University, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece by November 15, 2007: (kalogera@enl.auth.gr). Inter/transnational and inter/transdisciplinary proposals and panels will be given preference. Note that MESEA will award two Young Scholars Excellence Awards. For more information: http://www.mesea.org/

MELUS Call for Papers
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OhioMELUS: Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S.Conference Theme: Towards a Confluence of Multi-Ethnic Arts and the UniversityConfirmed Speakers: Luis Rodriguez, Jr., will give a reading and workshop on Thursday, March 27, 2008. Rodriguez is the author of Music of the Mill: A Novel, Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A., and The Republic of East L.A.: Stories, among other works of poetry and prose.The plenary address will be given jointly by Monica Brown and Guisela Latorre. Brown, Associate Professor of English at Northern Arizona University, is the author of Gang Nation: Delinquent Citizens in Puerto Rican, Chicano, and Chicana Narratives (U of Minnesota P, 2002) and the award-winning author of numerous multicultural children’s books. To learn more about Brown, visit http://www.monicabrown.net/. Latorre, Visiting Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies at The Ohio State University, is the author of Walls of Empowerment: Chicana/o Indigenist Murals of California (forthcoming, U of Texas P).We invite paper abstracts and complete panels, workshops, and roundtable proposals on all aspects of the multi-ethnic literatures of the United States. We are interested in proposals for papers that engage with and build bridges between the very real intersections of the creative arts (writing, painting, sculpture, film, comic books, puppetry, etc.) with theory.Submissions should detail requests for specific audiovisual equipment if needed. We also ask that a proposal of a complete panel, roundtable, or workshop include a brief description of the central topic supplemented by brief abstracts of individual speakers’ contributions.Abstracts and proposals (250 words) are invited by the deadline of 15 December 2007. Please e-mail abstracts to: Professor Frederick Aldama: melus2008@gmail.com.All presenters, chairs, and respondents must be members of MELUS. Membership information can be found on the MELUS website: http://webspace.ship.edu/kmlong/melus/. All membership registration must go directly to MELUS, not the conference organizers.Hotel rooms have been set aside at The Blackwell Hotel & Conference Center, 2110 Tuttle Park Place, Columbus, Ohio 43210, Phone: 614-247-4000, Toll Free: 866-247-4003, Fax: 614-247-4040, http://theblackwell.com/. Mention “MELUS Conference” for the conference rate.The Port Columbus International Airport (CMH) is served by a number of airlines, including Air Canada, American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Midwest Connect, Northwest, Skybus, Southwest, United, and US Airways.
posted by Dr. Monica Brooks at

1 Comments:
camsan said...
CALL FOR PAPERSAntípodas: Journal of Hispanic Studies Trujillo, Trauma, Testimony: Mario Vargas Llosa, Julia Alvarez, Edwidge Danticat, and other writers on HispaniolaEdited by Marta Caminero-Santangelo (University of Kansas)and Roy C. Boland Osegueda (La Trobe University)Antipodas invites the submission of original papers dealing with literary representations of the era of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930-61, for a special issue: "Trujillo, Trauma, Testimony." Manuscripts which consider the novels In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, The Feast of the Goat, by Mario Vargas Llosa, and The Farming of Bones, by Edwidge Danticat, either singly or in comparison with each other, are especially welcome, as are approaches which employ theories of cultural and historical trauma or of the testimonio genre. Discussions of other literary texts and testimonios representing Trujillo's dictatorship, including the 1937 massacre at his orders of Haitians within the Dominican-Haitian border, are also invited.Articles should be submitted via email as an attachment. Use the title of your paper as the file name of the attachment. A cover letter containing the author’s name, full postal address and e-mail address is required. The format must be in accordance with the standard system of the latest MLA Style Manual. The document must be in Word, Times New Roman, font size 12 (including bibliography, notes and quotes), double spaced, A4 page size with one inch (2.5cm) margins all round. Use only one space after all punctuation. Numbered superscripts and their notes must be manually typed out (do NOT use automatic endnotes or automatic footnotes). Do not use page headers. Use no special formatting and turn off any custom “style” settings. Articles should have a minimum of 4,500 words and not exceed 6,000 words (including footnotes) and can be in English, Spanish or French. Footnotes should be kept to a maximum of 10, and not exceed 5 lines each. Avoid essay-like notes that detract from the primary text. All notes must appear at the end of the article before the bibliography. Please submit articles via email attachment no later than June 30th , 2008. Articles and requests for further information should be sent to both: camsan@ku.edu and editor@antipodas.com.auAntipodas is an international, peer-reviewed publication. For further information please visit the website http://www.antipodas.com.au/

University of Connecticut English Department and the Institute for African American Studies, Assistant Professorship in English and African American Literature The University of Connecticut English Department and the Institute for African American Studies seek applicants for a tenure track Assistant Professorship in English and African American Literature in fall 2008. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in English with a specialty in African American literature. Successful candidate will teach upper-division and graduate classes in African American Literature and related areas, and on occasion survey and general education courses. The candidate will also develop interdisciplinary courses for the Institute. Teaching load is two courses per year for the English Department and two courses per year for the Institute. Responsibilities will include advising and mentoring students. Promotion and tenure is decided by the English Department in consultation with the Institute. Minimum Qualifications: Completed Ph.D. by 8/23/08. Record of, or strong potential for, distinguished scholarship and effective teaching at the graduate/undergraduate levels; the ability to interact with faculty/administrators in the English Department and the Institute.
Salary: Competitive. Submit complete application: cover letter, CV, three letters of recommendation, evidence of teaching experience and a 15-25 page writing sample to Robert Tilton, Head, Department of English, AFAM Search, 215 Glenbrook Road, U-4025, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269-4025 by November 9, 2007. Consideration of candidates will begin on November 9 and continue until the position is filled. The University of Connecticut actively solicits applications from minorities, women, and people with disabilities. Robin Worley, Business Manager, English Department, University of Connecticut, 215 Glenbrook Rd., Unit 4025, Storrs, CT 06269-4025, Tel. 860-486-2169, Fax. 860-486-1530
FACULTY POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT, United States Literature 1870-Present, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
Position: Open rank Professorship in United States Literature 1870-Present.
Responsibilities: Responsibilities will include teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, serving on dissertation committees, directing dissertations, and actively participating in the department.
Qualifications: We are especially seeking expertise in one or more of the following fields: African-American literature; U.S. Modernisms and their 19th-century antecedents; Contemporary U.S. literature (especially poetry); Literature of the American West/Literature of California/Pacific Rim Literature; New Media and/or Technocultural Studies; and U.S. dramatic literature. A record of publication is required for senior appointments and highly desirable for junior appointments.
Starting Date: Fall Quarter, 2008
Salary: Commensurate with experience and rank
General Information: The Department of English offers an excellent environment for scholars at all stages of their careers. The teaching load is four courses per year, on a quarter system; all members of the faculty are eligible for sabbatical leave on a regular basis. The University of California at Davis is one of the ten general campuses of the University of California; it is situated in a town of 65,000 people, an hour and half from San Francisco and two hours from Lake Tahoe.
Applications: Applications should be sent to Elizabeth Freeman, Chair of the Search Committee, Department of English, One Shields Ave., University of California, Davis, CA 95616.
Applicants should submit: a letter of application, a curriculum vitae, a writing sample (20-25 pp.), and a dossier that contains three or four letters of support.
Application Deadline: Position is open until filled. For full consideration applications must be postmarked by November 9, 2007.
UC Davis is an affirmative action/equal employment opportunity employer and is dedicated to recruiting a diverse faculty community. We welcome all qualified applicants to apply, including women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans.
Assistant Professor of English and Ethnic Studies: U.S.Latina/Latino and Chicana/Chicano Literature, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Requisition # 070736
Position: The Department of English seeks a specialist in U.S. Latina/Latino literatures, including Chicana/Chicano literatures (late nineteenth century to contemporary) for a tenure-track appointment in English and Ethnic Studies at the assistant professor level, beginning August 2008. Scholar-teachers whose scope of inquiry encompasses transnational networks of discourse and publication are encouraged to apply. We particularly welcome applications from candidates with secondary interests in immigrant literatures, queer theory and/or film. Faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have a strong commitment to both scholarship and teaching. Candidates for this position should be actively engaged in scholarly research and writing and prepared to teach literature courses to undergraduates and graduate students. Qualifications: PhD by May, 2008, a record of excellent teaching, and an active research program.
To be considered for the position applicants must complete the Faculty/Administrative Information Form at https://outlookweb.marshall.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://employment.unl.edu, requisition 070736. Then send letter of application and curriculum vitae to Amelia M.L. Montes, Recruitment Chair, Department of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, PO Box 880333, 545 N 14th St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0333. For information about the application process, contact Professor Montes; for information about the position, contact Professor Susan Belasco, sbelasco2@unl.edu or 402-472-1857. Review of Applications will begin November 2, 2007 and continue until a suitable candidate is found. The University of Nebraska is committed to a pluralistic campus community through affirmative action and equal opportunity and is responsive to the needs of dual career couples. We assure reasonable accommodation under the American with Disabilities Act: Contact Professor Montes at 402-472-8291 for assistance.
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, invites applications from a scholar with expertise in postcolonial theory and literature
The Newark campus of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, invites applications from a scholar with expertise in postcolonial theory and literature. The ideal candidate for this tenure track Assistant Professor position in the English Department will have a specialist’s knowledge in the literature of South Asia and/or Africa.
Record of publication desirable. The position will involve teaching on the undergraduate and graduate level. The distinctive features of our programs reflect the strength of the institution and its urban setting; for the last decade we have been designated the most diverse research university in the nation. Relevant University programs and institutes include a new M.F.A. in creative writing, and a new Ph.D. in American Studies, the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture and the Modern Experience, the Center for Global Change and Governance, and the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies.
A Ph.D. is required by September 2008. Interested candidates should send a letter of application, a curriculum vitae, and three letters of reference by November 1 to: Professor Fran Bartkowski, Acting Chair, Department of English, Hill Hall 501, Rutgers University, Newark NJ 07102.
mailto:franb@andromeda.rutgers.edu. Rutgers University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer, and especially welcomes applications from women and minorities.
American Literature Position Description, University of New Orleans, English Department, Assistant Professor
Tenure track, to begin fall 2008. Seeking an Americanist in modern and/or contemporary literary and cultural studies with a specialization in one or more of the following areas: African-American literature, New Orleans or Louisiana literature, and literature of the Americas. Additional interest in gender studies also desirable. Ph.D. in English or other appropriate field required; publications desirable. Position involves teaching historical surveys and developing upper-division and graduate courses in the area(s) of specialization, as well as contributing to new interdisciplinary initiatives on campus. 3-course load per semester; salary competitive. Selected candidates will be invited to visit the city and the university, both of which have faced challenges in the aftermath of Katrina but which are now well on the road to recovery. Many of the city's most beautiful neighborhoods were largely untouched by the storm and remain safe, stable communities. The levees have been rebuilt and new hurricane protection measures have been implemented. New Orleans continues to be a culturally unique and stimulating environment that provides myriad research opportunities for a scholar interested in African-American, hemispheric, or local literary cultures. The UNO campus suffered only moderate damage; university enrollment is stable, new funding from the state is now available, and many departments have been encouraged to hire new faculty and develop new programs. The English Department will participate in interdisciplinary initiatives on campus and seeks a candidate eager to help us grow as a department and university. Will interview at MLA December 2007; women and minorities especially encouraged to apply. Send letter and CV by November 2 to Peter Schock, Chair, Department of English, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148. AA/EOE
FACULTY POSITION OPENING CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE, Northridge, California 91330
Department: English
Effective Date of Appointment: August 20, 2008
Rank: Assistant Professor
Salary: $51,024 - $62,000
Tenure Track (Subject to Budgetary Approval)
Early American Literature and Culture
Qualifications: Candidates should have a PhD in English, or in a related field, awarded prior to August 20, 2008, with a specialization in Early American Literature and Culture. Secondary area in Nineteenth-Century American literature desirable. Additional areas of expertise may include transatlantic Eighteenth-Century literatures; ethnic studies; cultural studies and/or critical theory. Evidence of teaching effectiveness and potential for successful research, publication, and other scholarly/professional/creative activities required, with publication in field of specialization desirable. All faculty in the Department of English are encouraged to teach a variety of courses and can expect to teach General Education courses, as well as graduate and undergraduate courses in their field. CSUN is a Learning Centered University, distinguished by well-established programs in ethnic and gender studies, with a diverse student population drawn largely from the Los Angeles area. The successful candidate will be expected to join faculty and staff in serving this diverse student body through a commitment to active learning, to the assessment of learning outcomes, and to multiple pathways to graduation. At time of appointment, the successful candidate, if not a U.S. citizen, must have authorization from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services to work in the United States. Evidence of degree(s) required at time of hire. Responsibilities: The University especially seeks individuals who will contribute to both their chosen disciplines and the University’s commitment to teacher preparation and general education. All faculty are expected to serve on departmental and/or university committees and to advise students. The standard teaching load at Northridge is 12 units per semester, although reassigned time is available for research and/or curriculum development on a competitive basis. Application Deadline: Primary consideration will be given to applications received by November 30, 2007. Selected applicants will be interviewed at MLA. Send letter of application, c.v., brief writing sample, three letters of recommendation/dossier to: Chair, Search and Screen Committee Department of English California State University, Northridge Northridge, CA 91330-8248 General Information: California State University, Northridge, long known for the intellectual, social and cultural relevance of its 200 academic programs and engaged centers, embraces both innovation – in community service and hands-on experience – and rigor. A minority serving university in a globally diverse region, it is a national leader in preparing teachers for K-12 and first generation college students for graduate studies. 1,700 of its 34,000 students are international. Located in the San Fernando Valley, with 1.8 million people, Cal State Northridge is a park-like campus, 20 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Cal State Northridge is a welcoming university; we value accessibility, academic excellence and student achievement. For more information about the University, check our website: https://outlookweb.marshall.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.csun.edu/. In compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, California State University, Northridge has made crime-reporting statistics available on-line at https://outlookweb.marshall.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www-admn.csun.edu/publicsafety/police/crimereport.htm. Print copies are available in the library and by request from the Office of Public Safety and the Office of Faculty Affairs. Applicants who wish to request accommodations for a disability may contact the Office of Equity and Diversity, (818) 677-2077. The university is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, age, disability, disabled veteran or Vietnam-era veteran status.
Cultural Studies with an Emphasis in LiteratureTenure-Track(REVISED**)
The Chicana and Chicano Studies Department at Cal State Fullerton is undergoing a period of rapid, planned growth. The campus is a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution (Title V) and sixth in the nation in graduating Hispanics with bachelor's degrees. We seek a highly motivated, collegial individual to teach courses, conduct research, and develop curriculum in the areas of Chicano and Spanish-American Literature, preferably with a focus on gender. Position (Teaching & Research)The Department is interested in reviewing applications from candidates whose interdisciplinary work focuses on race, class and gender within the following areas: Cultural/Ethnic Studies, Mexican Literature, Chicana/o Literature, Comparative Literature, and Spanish American Literature. Teaching responsibilities include courses such as: "Chicana/o Literature," "Main Trends in Spanish American Literature," Mexican Heritage," and "Mexican Literature Since 1940." This position will also require the faculty member to teach courses like: "Introduction to Chicano Studies," "Introduction to Ethnic Studies," and "Communication Skills." Faculty will have opportunities to develop new courses in their specialties. Positive tenure and promotion decisions require excellent teaching, research resulting in peer-reviewed publications, and participation in the broader intellectual community. Faculty members are responsible for advising undergraduate students and student organizations, as well as participating in departmental and university committees. Substantive research domains are open, but relevant concentrations include: cultural politics/empowerment, global feminisms, poverty/labor, race, community & family, Mexican history, human rights/social justice, border studies - immigration. Applications whose work emphasizes transnational, international, and/or critical perspectives between Chicana/o and other Latina/o populations are particularly welcome.
QualificationsRequired: PhD (advanced ABD's considered) in Chicana/o Studies, Ethnic Studies, American Studies/Civilization, Women's Studies, or other similar interdisciplinary degree programs; or in more traditional areas such as Anthropology, History, Spanish, English, Rhetoric, Comparative Literature, Religious Studies, Philosophy, or other similar disciplinary degree programs with a focus in Chicana/o Studies and/or Ethnic Studies.
Doctorate completed by August 2008. If ABD, please have your dissertation chair provide a letter indicating your progress to date and detailing a timeline to completion. Strong commitment to excellence in student-centered teaching and in research. Ability to work effectively with a wide and culturally diverse range of students and faculty. A genuine interest in becoming part of an energetic faculty team dedicated to conducting community-oriented research and enhancing student learning.
**Also desirable: Diverse theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches including: cultural and literary analysis, critical ethnographies, critical race theory, feminist epistemologies, narrative, testimonials, and autobiography
Rank and SalaryThe position is at the rank of Assistant Professor, tenure-track. Salary is highly competitive and commensurate with rank, experience, and qualifications. Periodic salary adjustments are enacted by the state legislature. Additional teaching opportunities during summer are frequently available. An excellent comprehensive benefits package is available which includes: health/vision/dental plans, spouse, domestic partner, and/or dependent fee waiver, access to campus child-care as well as affordable housing programs, and a generous defined benefit retirement (pension plan) through the state system, as well as optional tax-sheltering opportunities. For a detailed description of benefits, go to http://hr.fullerton.edu/Benefits/CompareBenefits.aspx Job Control Number23603G-08-005 Appointment DateAugust 2008
Application Procedure: Your dossier for the position must include a letter of application describing teaching philosophy and experience as well as research interests and accomplishments, curriculum vitae, evidence of teaching excellence, graduate transcripts, and three current letters of recommendation addressing your teaching and research. Candidates should also include a writing sample and, optionally, a sample syllabus.
Please send all materials to: Chicana/o Search Committee Department of Chicana and Chicano StudiesCalifornia State University, FullertonP.O. Box 6868Fullerton, CA 92834-6868 Application DeadlineTo receive full consideration, please submit your application materials by February 12, 2008. The search committee will then begin reviewing applications and continue its review until the position is filled.
Cal State Fullerton is an Equal Opportunity/Title IX/503/504/VEVRA/ADA Employer Achieving A Climate of Success Through Diversity & Equity
California State University, Fullerton is a large, comprehensive, urban university with approximately 2,108 full- and part-time faculty and a diverse student body of approximately over 37,130. The university offers a broad spectrum of programs, with 55 baccalaureate and 50 master's degrees in liberal arts and sciences and in applied and professional fields and a joint doctorate in education. Learning is preeminent at Cal State Fullerton. We combine the best qualities of teaching and research universities where actively engaged students, faculty and staff work in close collaborations to expand knowledge. Research and other creative activities are enhanced by the proximity of the campus to nationally recognized business, cultural, and educational institutions. Faculty members were awarded more than $16.2 million in grants and contracts for research and scholarly activities in 2006-07. The university has a longstanding tradition of collegial governance. Cal State Fullerton is strongly committed to achieving excellence through cultural diversity. We are ranked 7th in the nation in terms of baccalaureate degrees awarded to minorities. In addition to meeting fully its obligations under federal and state law, Cal State Fullerton is committed to creating a community in which a diverse population can live, work and learn in an atmosphere of tolerance, civility and respect for the rights and sensibilities of each individual. To that end, all qualified individuals will receive equal consid-eration without regard to economic status, race, ethnicity, color, religion,, national origin or cultural background, political views, sex or sexual orientation, disability or Veteran's status or other personal characteristics or beliefs.
Assistant Professor Rhetoric/Composition and Director of Freshman Composition
Plattsburgh State University of New York invites applications for a full-timetenure-track assistant professorship in Rhetoric/Composition that includesdirectorship of the first-year composition program. Start date: fall 2008. Earned doctorate by appointment date. Ideal candidates will have English Ph.D. in Rhetoric/Composition or related field with teaching and someadministrative experience, especially in the areas of placement testing,assessment, and mentoring composition faculty. WAC/WID useful. Secondaryinterest is open but could include writing, literature and English Education. 2/2 teaching load with compensated summer responsibilities. Teaching first-year writing and other courses commensurate with expertise, includingGeneral Education and upper-division courses. University service andscholarship in rhetoric/composition required.SUNY College at Plattsburgh is an equal opportunity employer committed toexcellence through diversity.Review of applications begins November 5 and continues until the position isfilled. Original transcripts will be required prior to the start ofemployment. Please submit cover letter specifically addressing this position,curriculum vitae, scholarly writing sample (as MS-WORD document and/or hardcopy), and three letters of reference to Chair, Search Committee (PJ# 4853),c/o Human Resource Services, SUNY Plattsburgh, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh,NY 12901-2681.
English Education/Language Arts Position
The English Department of the State University of New York College atPlattsburgh invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position inEnglish Education/Language Arts for Fall 2008. Our program in English LanguageArts is one of three study options in the English Department. We offer a strongfoundation in the content area of English with a focus in Education andinnovative English Language Arts methodology for the preparation of AdolescenceEducation teachers.Qualifications: Ph.D. or Ed.D. in English or English Education awarded by August2008. Publication or promise of sustained scholarly activity and commitment touniversity service are required. Evidence of successful college and/orsecondary school teaching will be highly regarded. Teaching interests outsideof specialization will be considered and should be included in the coverletter. Familiarity with national accreditation standards is a plus.Responsibilities: 3/3 teaching load includes courses from the following areas:methods in teaching composition, literature, and language arts;composition/writing; general education; core curriculum in the major; andupper-division literature. University service and ELA scholarship required.SUNY College at Plattsburgh is an equal opportunity employer committed toexcellence through diversity.Review of applications begins November 5 and continues until the position isfilled. Original transcripts will be required prior to the start ofemployment. Please submit cover letter specifically addressing this position,curriculum vitae, scholarly writing sample (as MS-WORD document and/or hardcopy), and three letters of reference to Chair, Search Committee (PJ# 4854),c/o Human Resource Services, SUNY Plattsburgh, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh,NY 12901-2681.

On Latinidad: U.S. Latino Literature and the Construction of Ethnicity Marta Caminero-Santangelo Details: 6x9 Cloth: $59.95 ISBN 13: 978-0-8130-3083-8 Pubdate: 9/30/2007 Publisher: University Press of Florida Overview: "From the early pages, in which Caminero-Santangelo asks us to explore stories of collective identity implicit in the social construction of Latino-ness, to the conclusion, which breaks through much of the confusion by calling on her readers to think about latinidad as commitment, Caminero-Santangelo gives us something weighty to chew on practically every page, and all of it in her smart, lucid, elegant prose."--Debra A. Castillo, Cornell University "On Latinidad deals with complex issues in a very sophisticated, critical way. It is useful to scholars working outside the field as an introduction, not only to the background and contexts of Latino Literatures, but also to the current debates, trends, and directions in the field."--Delia M. Poey, Florida State University This is the first book to address head-on the question of how Latino/a literature wrestles with the pan-ethnic and trans-racial implications of the "Latino" label.Refusing to take latinidad (Latino-ness) for granted, Marta Caminero-Santangelo lays the groundwork for a sophisticated understanding of the various manifestations of "Latino" identity. She examines texts by prominent Chicano/a, Dominican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American writers--including Julia Alvarez, Cristina García, Achy Obejas, Piri Thomas, and Ana Castillo--and concludes that a pre-existing "group" does not exist. The author instead argues that much recent Latino/a literature presents a vision of tentative, forged solidarities in the service of particular and sometimes even local struggles. She shows that even magical realism can figure as a threat to collectivity, rather than as a signifier of it, because magical connections--to nature, between characters, and to Latin American origins--can undermine efforts at solidarity and empowerment.In the author's close reading of both fictional and cultural narratives, she suggests the possibility that Latino identity may be even more elastic than the authors under question recognize.Marta Caminero-Santangelo is associate professor of English at the University of Kansas. Jennie Carter: A Black Journalist of the Early West Edited by Eric Gardner (University Press of Mississippi, October 2007, $50) In June 1867, the San Francisco Elevator—one of the nation's premier Black weekly newspapers during Reconstruction—began publishing articles by a Black Californian calling herself "Ann J. Trask" and later "Semper Fidelis." Her real name was Jennie Carter (1830-1881), and the Elevator would print her essays, columns, and poems for seven years. Her work considers California and national politics, race and racism, women's rights and suffrage, temperance, morality, education, and a host of other issues, all from the point of view of an unabashedly strong African American woman. Recovering Carter's work from obscurity, sharing biographical information on Carter, and placing her columns and her life in rich historical and literary context, this volume represents one of the most exciting bodies of extant work by an African American journalist before the twentieth century. ISBN-10: 1934110108 ISBN-13: 978-1934110102 For more information, visit http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1079 or email gardner@svsu.edu.
Complicating Constructions: Race, Ethnicity, and Hybridity in American Texts
MELUS members David S. Goldstein and Audrey B. Thacker have published Complicating Constructions: Race, Ethnicity, and Hybridity in American Texts (Univ. of Washington Press), a co-edited volume featuring essays from several other MELUS members. It is available to individuals and libraries at http://www.blogger.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/GOLCOC.html. David S. Goldstein, Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington, 18115 Campus Way NE, Box 358530, Bothell, WA, 98011-8246, http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/
Latino Sun, Rising: Our Spanish-Speaking U.S. World by Marco Portales Now that Latinos are the most numerous ethnic minority in the United States and a growing part of the middle and professional classes, a Mexican American educator takes stock. Latinos can see that their sun is rising. Marco Portales knows; his life has been lived under that rising sun.
In the compelling details of a life truly lived—and a balanced, lively intellect that articulates itself in a society that often asks people such as him to choose between their American and Mexican identities—Portales inscribes himself into his people’s experience. At the same time, he remains fully aware—and helps raise our awareness—that no one person’s story can embody and represent the ancestral histories and the great worth and potential of all U.S. Latinos. MARCO PORTALES, a professor of English at Texas A&M, holds a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is the author of a number of works, including the book Crowding Out Latinos. $19.95 6x9. 272 pp. Texas A&M University Press To place an order please call 800-826-8911 or visit www.tamu.edu/upress To request a desk copy please fill out and submit the classroom adoption form found at http://www.tamu.edu/upress/TAMU/ADOPTION/index.htm.