Please come to the East Asian Languages and Literatures Reception on Saturday night at 8:45 pm in Marriott 411-412. There will be food and drink! I hope to see you there.

Christopher Lupke

Submitted by faculty members in MLA-related fields at Israeli universities

This statement, at MLABoycott’s website, is presented anonymously by Israeli academics who support the boycott of Israeli universities.  The faculty are forced to sign anonymously because of a 2011 law passed by the Israeli parliament that prohibits support for BDS a…[Read more]

Both Judith Butler and Ariella Azoulay have recently posted at MLABoycott’s site, articulating their rationale for supporting the boycott of Israeli academic institutions at this time.

Azoulay writes:

“The boycott targets the Israeli regime, not Israeli citizens, unless they act as representatives of the regime. What, then, is the position…[Read more]

This open letter by Jeff Sacks, in response to Anthony Apia’s recent blog on the Commons, appeared in the online journal Jadaliyya: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/25811/an-open-letter-to-kwame-anthony-appiah-president-o

Sacks writes:

With all of the talk about academic freedom, what is this “freedom” that we are talking about, if it i…[Read more]

We have received the sad news that the great essayist and art critic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/02/john-berger-obituary">John Berger</a> died today, January 2, at age 90. He was a principled supporter of BDS.  In 2006 he wrote what is referred to as <a…[Read more]

Jewish Studies scholar Daniel Boyarin has issued the following statement about academic boycott:

"I am on record, even on Israeli television, as a supporter of BDS and of a limited academic boycott as well. By limited boycott I mean that I do not countenance boycotts of individuals (Let he who is sinless cast the first stone) but of…[Read more]

In a recent blog issues in his capacity as MLA President, <a href="https://president.mla.hcommons-staging.org/2016/11/02/taking-issue-taking-stock/">Anthony Appiah</a> addressed the current debate around justice and academic freedom for our Palestinian colleagues.

MLA Colleagues Bill Mullen, Jacques Lezra and Tim Reiss respond…[Read more]

This panel, about the presence of the Caribbean in the Harlem Renaissance, takes place on Sunday, January 8th at noon in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Room 112A.

Vanessa K. Valdés, Imani Owens James C. Davis, and Raphael Dalleo will be part of the panel, presenting on Arturo Schomburg, Eulalie Spence, Nella Larsen, and Eric Walrond.

More…[Read more]

The Brandeis Center, notorious these days for launching efforts to censor other people's freedom of speech, has just threatened the MLA with a lawsuit if it passes the boycott resolution. For responses to this clumsy effort at intimidation, see David Lloyd…[Read more]

Call for Papers – DEADLINE EXTENDED (January 15, 2017)

The Journal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies

Spring 2018 Special Issue: Law and Literature from the Global South

Guest Editors: David Babcock (James Madison University) and Peter Leman (Brigham Young University)

Deadline for Submissions (approximately 4,000-5,000 words): DE…[Read more]

LA members, and in particular members of this forum who will be attending this year’s MLA 2017 assembly meeting in Philadelphia may already know that there are a number of resolutions to be considered that address the question of boycotting Israeli academic institutions.  The Resolution to endorse the Palestinian call for the boycott of Israeli in…[Read more]

MLA members, and in particular members of this forum who will be attending this year’s MLA 2017 assembly meeting in Philadelphia may already know that there are a number of resolutions to be considered that address the question of boycotting Israeli academic institutions.  The Resolution to endorse the Palestinian call for the boycott of Is…[Read more]