Paul Megna’s paper for the Middle English Forum at MLA 2022 invoked a Public Books piece by Irina Dumitrescu in order to prompt contemporary medievalists to ponder the events of 1/6/2021. How might 1/6/2021 cause us to reconsider the scholarly lenses through which we have typically interpreted the events of Rising of 1381 and their literary ma…[Read more]

Medieval studies is in a moment in which it is re-examining the long-held categories that have traditionally defined its boundaries. As this reconceptualization of the field progresses, Trans Studies offers a number of scholarly methodologies and insights that are changing the way medievalists consider their field and, more specifically, Trans…[Read more]

This session seeks to build upon the growing appreciation for the complex and multifarious discursive engagements between late medieval English literary texts and Islamicate or Persianate culture, society, language, or literature. Recognizing that such engagements include much more than direct literary representations of the individual Islamicate…[Read more]

I thought some of the members of this group would potentially be interested in presenting at these two sessions:
Advocating for Library Resources
The MLAIB advisory committee seeks 250-word abstracts for this roundtable discussion. Topics may include: strategic partnerships/collaborations (by librarians, faculty, administrators), open education…[Read more]

The Chaucer Forum warmly invites submissions for our MLA 2023 (San Francisco, January 5-8) sessions:

Chaucer’s Ornamentalism and Gimmickry

This roundtable session brings Anne Anlin Cheng’s concept of ornamentalism and Sianne Ngai’s work on the gimmick into conversation with Chaucer’s work. For instance, in The Squire’s Tale, Canacee’s…[Read more]

How are various new media forms (e.g. apps, memes, gaming avatars, Webcast rites) creating performative representations of religion?  200-word proposals by March 15.  Manisha Basu, U of Illinois, Urbana (mbasu@illinois.edu ) Adrienne Brown, U of Chicago (adrienneb@uchicago.edu ).

More information: How have visual digital forms supplemented r…[Read more]

How do cleric-sleuths or other religious detective figures (e.g., Cadfael, Granchester, Father Brown, etc.)  navigate/challenge religion alongside police or state-sponsored will-to-knowledge? 200-word proposal to mbasu@illinois.edu by March 10.

More information: From G.K. Chesterton’s ‘Father Brown’ to Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael, from Harry…[Read more]

Memorialization, “entering the canon,” and the influence of politics, race, class, or gender. Who decides on the people, texts, places, dates, etc. selected to be commemorated, studied, and/or enshrined? Theorists such as Lonergan, Bourdieu, Girard, and Agamben have explored “sacralization” as a process of making holy or sacred that can inv…[Read more]

New Directions in Feminist and Queer Readings of Medieval French Literature: a Session in Honor of Simon Gaunt

Simon Gaunt’s research interests were remarkably varied: from Romance philology to psychoanalysis, postcolonial studies, and beyond. This panel honors one important part of his legacy: his groundbreaking feminist and queer readings of m…[Read more]

The omnipresence of religious rhetoric in medieval French culture is among the most salient and often among the most alienating cultural juggernauts faced by students and scholars alike. Yet, sacred biography–hagiographical, Marian, and Christological–has not fully found its place in the discipline of medieval French studies. As a corpus at onc…[Read more]

Hello! My name is Rachel Floyd and I’m currently working on my dissertation research in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching at the University of Arizona. I’m researching the current professional learning needs of recent alumni from graduate foreign language programs, including those no longer in academia. Would you be interested in sup…[Read more]

Dear colleagues,

The Bibliography & Scholarly Editing Forum is seeking self-nominations for a new member of the forum’s executive committee, to serve a five-year term starting in January 2023.

The executive committee organizes at least one MLA conference session each year and nominates a representative to the MLA Delegate Assembly. If you’re int…[Read more]