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]

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 of…[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 is n…[Read more]

2017 GS Prose Fiction panels in Philadelphia

49. We Can’t Stop Talking about Elena Ferrante
Thursday, 5 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 401-403, Philadelphia Marriott
Presiding: Hester Blum, Penn State Univ., University Park

1. “The Function of Collaboration at the Present Time,” Sarah Blackwood, Pace Univ., New York; Sarah Mesle, Univ. of Southern Ca…[Read more]

<p style=”text-align: center;”>2017 GS Prose Fiction panels in Philadelphia</p>
49. We Can’t Stop Talking about Elena Ferrante
Thursday, 5 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 401-403, Philadelphia Marriott
Presiding: Hester Blum, Penn State Univ., University Park

1. “The Function of Collaboration at the Present Time,” Sarah Blackwood, Pace Univ., New York; [Read more]

<p style=”text-align: center;”>2017 GS Prose Fiction panels in Philadelphia</p>

49. We Can’t Stop Talking about Elena Ferrante
Thursday, 5 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 401-403, Philadelphia Marriott
Presiding: Hester Blum, Penn State Univ., University Park

1. “The Function of Collaboration at the Present Time,” Sarah Blackwood, Pace Univ., New Yo…[Read more]

<p style=”text-align: center;”>2017 GS Prose Fiction panels in Philadelphia</p>

49. We Can’t Stop Talking about Elena Ferrante
Thursday, 5 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 401-403, Philadelphia Marriott
Presiding: Hester Blum, Penn State Univ., University Park

1. “The Function of Collaboration at the Present Time,” Sarah Blackwood, Pace Univ., New Yo…[Read more]

<p style=”text-align: center;”>2017 GS Prose Fiction panels in Philadelphia</p>

49. We Can’t Stop Talking about Elena Ferrante
Thursday, 5 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 401-403, Philadelphia Marriott
Presiding: Hester Blum, Penn State Univ., University Park

1. “The Function of Collaboration at the Present Time,” Sarah Blackwood, Pace Univ., New Yo…[Read more]

<p style=”text-align: center;”>2017 GS Prose Fiction panels in Philadelphia</p>
49. We Can’t Stop Talking about Elena Ferrante
Thursday, 5 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., 401-403, Philadelphia Marriott
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Presiding:<i> </i>Hester Blum, Penn State Univ., University Park

1. “The Function of Collaboration at the Present T…[Read more]

“How do I start a short story”? Edit

What method work best for you to start a short story?  I have just had some productive use of the famed US writer Ray Bradbury’s “vomit in the morning, clean up in the afternoon” method. (Author of _Fahrenheit 451_, _The Martian Chronicles_, _The Illustrated Man_, etc.)  Just allow your unconscious t…[Read more]

Hello everyone,

We hope you will join us for the following panels organized for the 2017 MLA by the Global Arab and Arab American Literature Forum. They are as follows (sorry for cross-posting)

Session 200: States of In/Security: Global Palestine in Literature, Culture, Art, and Activism<b>
</b>Friday, 6 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., 104B, Pe…[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]

We have received the sad news that the great essayist and art critic John Berger died today, January 2, at age 90. He was a principled supporter of BDS.  In 2006 he wrote what is referred to as The Berger Letter, endorsing the cultural boycott of Israel institutions. It reads in part:

“As Nelson Mandela has pointed out, boycott is not a…[Read more]

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Objections to the MLA Boycott resolution uniformly focus on its supposed abridgement of academic freedom to individual scholars in the US or in Israel without any concern for the educational rights of Palestinians.  Purposefully obfuscating the case, critics of the boycott resolution brush past the resolution’s de…[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]

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 institutions…[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]

In a recent blog issues in his capacity as MLA President, Anthony Appiah addressed the current debate around justice and academic freedom for our Palestinian colleagues.

MLA Colleagues Bill Mullen, Jacques Lezra and Tim Reiss respond here:

Bill Mullen

As a supporter of the MLA resolution to boycott Israeli universities, I would like to make…[Read more]

The following extracts are from an in-depth report on Cary Nelson’s shifting and often inconsistent pronouncements on academic freedom and boycotts that appeared in Mondoweiss in 2014. It is gratifying to know that Nelson supports and participates in academic boycotts, if under conditions of his own choosing.

Boycotting universities for labor…[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]