LOVE this idea! If you look to the left of this screen there is a button labeled “FILES.” We could use that as a repository for teaching materials that members are willing to share.

Jeffrey

That sounds like a great idea! I am piloting a new course I’ve developed called Daoism and the Environment and I am combining the Daodejing with more traditional environmental writing including many Native American poets and writers. This grew out of a paper I did last year for an Ecocriticism panel. We’re in our second week of classes and the…[Read more]

I’d be interested to hear papers thinking through the affinities and tensions generated by the convergence of ecocriticism with posthumanism (new materialisms, eg.). This might incorporate the kind of questions Serpil Opperman is imagining…

ALA 2015 Panel Reminder:

Quantum Metaphors and Fractal Verse: Intersections in Contemporary American Poetry and Science

How are contemporary American poets utilizing science-based theories and ideas to create verse relevant to the concerns of the 21st century? Seeking abstracts for a panel that explores intersections between science and…[Read more]

I also support the idea of women’s presence and writing in the premodern canon. How about something like “women, agency, and literary production (“literary arts” if you think about music, drama, etc.) in premodern East Asia”???

Just a thought that we can discuss more in Vancouver.

Monika Dix

The above discussion about women’s presence and the premodern canon is very interesting to me as well. This will be a wonderful topic to draw scholars who specialize in women represented in poetry, fiction and drama in late imperial period as well as historical context for such representations.

All these are wonderful ideas! With regard to “women and the premodern canon” — why not “nimen” or “tamen” and the premodern canon? I feel that perhaps we need to clarify who we/you/they are, though an exciting topic this might be even in this somewhat ambiguous form. Alright, back to grading Chinese 101 exams…

I support forming the forum “East Asian Languages and Literatures to 1900.”

Hi — sorry not to respond to this earlier — was out at a conference.

The “reading Asian religious texts as literature” is particularly attractive to me — I would have suggested that even if you didn’t bring it up! And I think it’s something we need to encourage more in the field.

“Women and the premodern canon” would be nice as well — I…[Read more]

Maybe it’d help to put some ideas out there? Let me know if any of these seem appealing, or propose others to be discussed at the Exec Committee meeting in Vancouver:

* Between page and stage: performance literature in premodern east asia

* women and the premodern canon

* music and literature

* reading asian religious texts as literature

other ideas?

Dear Christina,

Thank you for posting this lovely invitation. Thank you also to Christina Laffin for organizing this wonderful opportunity to network. Let me encourage those who attend to promote MLA membership among our Asian Studies colleagues!

Very best,

Melek