Welcome to the Fall 2004 edition of NewsNotes

NewsNotes accepts submissions year-round and will post updated information as soon as possible after our submission deadlines: usually in September, December, and March/April. If you have ideas for ways to enlarge our Table of Contents, send suggestions to: Dr. Katharine Rodier, Associate Professor of English & Director of Graduate Studies, Marshall University, 1 John Marshall Drive, Huntington WV 25755-2646, rodier@marshall.edu

If you would prefer to receive NewsNotes in print copy or another format, please drop us a line at MELUS@marshall.edu.

MELUS issue on Arab American literature

From: Marcy Newman [mailto:mnewman@boisestate.edu]

As many of you know, Salah Hassan and I are in the process of putting together the first MELUS issue on Arab American literature. We are currently seeking people to review article submissions, for which the deadline is January 15th, and people to review books. We have some poetry, fiction, and a few historically oriented texts which need to be reviewed. If you are interested, please drop me a quick email and I'd be happy to have you contribute to this volume. Also, if you know other folks who would be interested, please feel free to forward this email on.

Dr. Marcy J. Knopf Newman, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725-1525, (208) 426-1218 http://www.boisestate.edu/english/mnewman MELUS website: http://www.boisestate.edu/english/melus

From: Cheng Chua <chengc@csufresno.edu>

MELUS-India, the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, India Chapter, invites you to participate in its annual International Conference on Landmarks on the American Scene: Then and Now to be held in Chandigarh in the last week of March, 2005 (25-26).

A landmark would generally be defined as a marker, an object that marks the boundary of land, a conspicuous entity that marks a locality, an anatomical structure used as a point of orientation in locating other structures, an event development that marks a turning point or a stage, a structure (as a building)
of unusual historical and / or aesthetic interest, especially one that is set aside for preservation. MELUS-India 2005 proposes to consider a variety of issues related to texts and events that make a mark in history.

What becomes a landmark and why do we call certain texts or signposts landmarks? This question would trigger off all our investigations. What is the function of designating certain authors and certain texts as landmarks? Why do a few works become landmarks? These are questions that would be examined in the
conference.

We would also consider the relation that landmarks have to each other, to other works, to their own times and to ours. Delegates would explore issues in literary history and canon formation, focus on close readings of texts and comparative / contextual analysis; study the historical, cultural and social
contexts of these landmarks and also the changing notions of literary style and form. In the process, the conference would explore the range and development of American literature, major authors, turning points, literary movements and traditions, frameworks and counter-frameworks for reading and
understanding works in different traditions.

We propose to focus on important signposts in America across diverse spheres: literature, culture, popular arts, media, et. al. The idea is to be cross-disciplinary and to encourage discussions across generic borders and conventional dividing lines.

250-word abstracts of papers related to the theme in the following areas are invited:

American fiction / poetry / drama /the arts, ethnic writing, theory.
Please note that MELUS-India does not believe in exclusion if minority literatures are being encouraged it does not mean that the mainstream is to be excluded.

Participants are welcome to send in proposals on writers like Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, Melville, as also Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison and others.

Deadline for abstracts is Saturday 30th of October, 2004. However, prospective applicants are advised to send in their abstracts early. Send in your abstracts by email to mjaidka@sify.com (please note changed email id), not as attachment but as part of the text message. Abstracts received after 5 PM on 30th October 2004 will NOT be considered.

Acceptance letters to selected participants, along with further details of the conference, will be mailed by the first week of December, 2004.

For any queries contact: Manju Jaidka (Secretary, MELUS-India), Professor and Chairperson, Dept of English, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, Tel (H) 0172-2736899, Email: mjaidka@sify.com manjujaidka@hotmail.com

Trinity College, Hartford CT, invites applications for the Ann Plato Fellowship. The Ann Plato Fellowship, named for a 19th-century African-American poet, essayist, and teacher, supports a doctoral student who is an American citizen and is engaged in writing his or her dissertation. Applicants from historically underrepresented groups, including African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and U.S. Latinos, are especially encouraged to apply. Preference will be given to candidates working in fields currently supported by the College. The Fellow enjoys faculty status, delivers a formal, public lecture in the fall semester, and teaches one course in the spring semester. The fellow is expected to be in residence during the fellowship tenure and to become engaged in the Trinity College community. The Fellowship provides a $34,000 stipend; a campus apartment; an office; use of a computer; library privileges at Trinity, including the Watkinson Library, and our consortial colleges, and ready access to Hartford-area archives, including the Connecticut Historical Society, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the state library, the Cities Data Center, and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. Appointment is for one academic year.

Applicants should send a letter of interest that outlines the significance of their dissertation research and teaching philosophy, curriculum vitae, a copy of their dissertation proposal, a 10–20 page writing sample, and three letters of recommendation to the Ann Plato Search Committee, c/o Janet Marotto, Williams 232, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 06106 by December 15, 2004. Applications are reviewed by an interdisciplinary faculty committee. Trinity College is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer.

FROM: Stephen Souris, MELUS-L List Moderator

MELUS-L, hosted by Texas Woman's University, has been undergoing some changes over the past several months. It is now on a new server at TWU and various complications have been worked out. Improvements have been made that should make the list significantly more efficient. Here is a summary of important information. (A revised information document for new subscribers and current members is below.)

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SUBSCRIBING TO AND USING THE MELUS-L MAILING LIST FROM TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY
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The following panels will represent MELUS at the 2004 MLA Convention in Philadelphia.

Tuesday, 28 December
275. Ethnicity and Poetry

3:30-4:45 p.m., Independence Ballroom Salon I, Philadelphia Marriott Program arranged by MELUS: The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
Presiding: Wenying Xu, Florida Atlantic Univ.

1. "Erasing Ethnic and Racial Ambiguity in the Poetry of Arab American Women," Carol Fadda-Conrey, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette

2. "Form and Social Formation: Innovative Identities in the Contemporary Lyric Sequence," James Keller, Saint Ambrose Univ.

3. "Miscegenealogics in Three Korean American Poets," Robert D. Grotjohn, Mary Baldwin Coll.

Thursday, 30 December
768. Surviving Ethnicity: Trauma in Multiethnic Literatures

1:45-3:00 p.m., 307, Philadelphia Marriott Program arranged by MELUS: The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States
Presiding: Fred L. Gardaphe, State Univ. of New York, Stony Brook

1. "'They Cut Off Our Tongues When We Came Here': Cultural Mutilation and Healing in Italian American Literature and Film," Edvige Giunta, New Jersey City Univ.

2. "Trauma and Memory in Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory and Behind the Mountains," Pin-chia Feng, National Chiao-Tung Univ.

3. "Literature and the Monumentalization of Trauma," Yung-Hsing Wu, Univ. of Louisiana, Lafayette

INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND FEMINISM: CULTURE, ACTIVISM, POLITICS

August 25-28, 2005, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Keynote Speakers:
Minnie Grey, Chief Negotiator for Nunavik Self-Government, Makivik Corporation Aileen Moreton-Robinson, Australian Studies Centre, University of Queensland Rebecca Tsosie, College of Law, University of Arizona

Developments in feminist theory and practice since the late 1980s and 1990s have enabled scholars to recognize how nationality, race, class, sexuality, and ethnicity inform axes of gender differentiation among women as a social class. Despite these interventions, indigenous women and feminist issues remain undertheorized within contemporary feminist critical theory.

Although presumed to fall within normative definitions of women of colour and postcolonial feminism, indigenous feminism remains an important site of gender struggle that also engages the crucial issues of cultural identity, nationalism, and decolonization. At the same time, the growing legal recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples to cultural and political autonomy has made increasingly important questions of indigenous women and their work on behalf of civil rights and sovereignty. With such intersections in mind, we invite paper and round table proposals for an international, interdisciplinary conference focused on indigenous feminism and its defining goals and features. Topics may include but are not limited to the following:

* indigenous feminism as critical practice
* indigenous feminism and literary/performance art
* historical constructions of indigenous feminist work
* strategic alliances within indigenous feminism
* non-native women and indigenous feminism
* critical intersections between indigenous feminism and women of colour

feminism
* uses of indigenous feminism in the dominant culture
* indigenous feminism and the "post-feminist" state
* gender politics and indigenous feminism
* indigenous collectives and feminist alliances
* interdisciplinarity and indigenous feminism

Papers will be no more than twenty minutes in length. Submissions for round table and panel presentations should include an abstract for each paper.

Please send 250 word proposals by electronic submission to <mailto:csuzack@ualberta.ca>csuzack@ualberta.ca. Deadline for submissions is October 15, 2004.

Please direct enquiries to any one of the conference organizers:
Jean Barman (<mailto:Jean.Barman@ubc.ca>Jean.Barman@ubc.ca)
Shari Huhndorf (<mailto:sharih@darkwing.uoregon.edu>sharih@darkwing.uoregon.edu)
Jeanne Perreault (<mailto:perreaul@ucalgary.ca>perreaul@ucalgary.ca)
Cheryl Suzack (csuzack@ualberta.ca)

I am preparing a 2-volume Companion to the American Novel for Facts on File, sequel to the award-winning The Facts on File Companion to the American Short Story, and still have openings for essays on specific American fiction titles. I am particularly interested in entries on Bharati Mukherjee's Wife, John Wideman's Philadelphia Fire, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Anzia Yezierska's Breadgivers, Darcy McMickle's The Disinherited, Nicholasa Mohr's El Bronx Remembered, Richard Rodriguez' Hunger of Memory, Monica Sone's Nisei Daughter, David Wong Louie's The Barbarians Are Coming, Toni Cade Bambara's The Salt Eaters, and Langston Hughes's The Ways of White Folks, among others.

Essays written in a lively, jargonfree style, should be approximately 1000 words exclusive of bibliography. Authors are encouraged to include original and intriguing interpretations of the novels.

The deadline is 20 October 2004. The publisher, Facts on File, plans to include this book in its forthcoming literature database.

For further information and a list of other available titles, please contact me via any of the methods listed below.

Abby H. P. Werlock
Associate Professor of American Literature Emerita,
St Olaf College
Fox Run
154 Fox Run Road
Mainesburg PA 16932
T: 570-549-2104
F: 570-549-2604
werlock@chilitech.net or abby@werlock. com

April 7-9, 2005, Mystic Lake Casino * Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Papers and panels will be presented on many aspects of Native American Literature. Topics to be covered will include tribal sovereignty, narrative strategies, cultural mediations, interdisciplinary arts, literature and history, cultural contexts, and individual authors. There will also be panel discussions on pedagogical methods, individual texts, authors, and film. We are pleased to locate our symposium at a tribal venue again this year and look forward to your spirited participation. DEADLINE: October 31, 2004

All queries, proposals, registration forms, and checks should be sent to the Program Director:
Dr. Gwen Griffin
Native American Literature Symposium
English Department
230 Armstrong Hall
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Mankato, MN 56001

(507) 389-2117 gwen.griffin@mnsu.edu

PROPOSAL and REGISTRATION FORMS can be printed from the NALS web site:
www.mnsu.edu/nativelit/

SYMPOSIUM HOUSING INFORMATION
Mystic Lake Casino Hotel
An Enterprise of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community
2400 Mystic Lake Boulevard
Prior Lake, MN 55372
Reservations: (952) 445-9000 or (800) 262-7799
www.mysticlake.com

Premier Room Rates:
Single or Double $79.00 / night
Triple $89.00 / night
Quadruple $99.00 / night

The hotel will continue to accept reservations on a space available basis at current rates until March 7, 2004. Please identify yourself as participating in the Native American Literature Symposium. Minimum age to rent a room is 21.

TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS should be made into Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

ALCOHOL FREE POLICY: Mystic Lake Casino Hotel is an alcohol-free facility.
Alcohol is not permitted in the casino, restaurants, hotel, meeting rooms, or anywhere in the facility. If alcohol is seen, it will be confiscated and/or you will be asked to leave. There are no exceptions to this policy.

This is an open invitation for papers for Two Special Sessions in the Native/Indigenous Studies Area for the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association's 26th Annual Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 9-12, 2005.

Session #1: The Literary Legacy of James Welch - Presentations are invited on any aspect of the late Blackfeet and Gros Ventre author James Welch's literary contributions.

Session #2: New and Emerging Native Writers - Presentations are invited on new and emerging Native writers who are worthy of wider recognition but have thus far escaped the attention of readers and educators.

Presentations for either session should be a maximum of 15-18 minutes in length. Interested folks should submit a 250 word abstract via snail mail or email by the November 15, 2004 deadline to: John D. Kalb, Department of English, Salisbury University, Salisbury MD 21801, jdkalb@salisbury.edu

The 2005 Southwest/Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference will be held February 9-12 at the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque. Additional detailed information about the conference is available at http://www.swtexaspca.org. Please note that the deadline for registration for the 2005 conference is December 31, 2004.

American Indian Culture and Research Journal invites proposals for special thematic issues, including topics on literary and related themes.

From the journal's web page: AICRJ, the foremost refereed research journal of American Indian Studies, is released quarterly by the UCLA American Indian Studies Center Publications Unit. AICRJ welcomes the submission of academic articles, poetry, and commentary, so long as they pertain to American Indian issues. For detailed contribution guidelines, please consult the journal web page: http://www.books.aisc.ucla.edu/aicrj.html

For more information on proposing/editing special issues:
Pamela Grieman
American Indian Culture and Research Journal
UCLA American Indian Studies Center
3220 Campbell Hall
Los Angeles, California 90095-1548.
e-mail: grieman@ucla.edu

Proposals are now being accepted for the 14^th Annual British Commonwealth & Postcolonical Studies Conference and the 3rd USACLALS Conference (US Chapter: Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies) February 25 – 26, 2005, Savannah, Georgia

All submissions MUST be made on-line http://ceps.georgiasouthern.edu/conted/britishsubmitonline.html

Papers and panels are invited on the theme of Culture and Conflict: Crossing and Negotiating Borders in relation to the Literature and Arts of Postcolonial Societies. Postcolonial readings of race, gender and ethnicity within the US and the Americas are also welcome.

Especially welcome are... Comparative frameworks across continents; experimental panels, such as grad/undergrad roundtables; papers distributed electronically in advance with the session devoted mostly to discussion, and debate.

Papers should be designed for 15-minute delivery, and panels for 75 minutes. Plenary sessions might run 75 to 90 minutes.

Abstracts for each paper should be 200-300 words and proposals for panels should include an abstract for each paper along with full contact information on each presenter.

Bioethics, Ecology, Ecocriticism
Migration, Diaspora, Hybridity and Borders
Region/Religion/Politics and Culture
Post/Neo/Internal/Colonialism
Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Class and Sex
Edward Said: Literary Critic and Political Activist
Postcolonialism, Culture Studies and the Disciplines
Globalization, Transnational Capital, and Postcolonialism

For more information, e-mail: schille@georgiasouthern.edu or dchampion@georgiasouthern.edu Program Committee: Candy Schille - Chair, Marc Cyr, and Gautam Kundu, Georgia Southern University; Deepika Bahri, Emory University; and Pushpa Parekh, Spelman College

For information on USACLALS membership and activities, Please contact John Hawley at jhawley@scu.edu or Amritjit Singh at asingh@ric.edu

Sponsored by Georgia Southern University’s Department of Literature & Philosophy in partnership with the Division of Continuing Education & Public Service. Co-sponsored by Emory University and Spelman College

CELEBRATING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN NOVEL: CRITICAL VISIONS AND REVISIONS

This is to announce a call for papers for the above-titled conference to be held at Penn State University-University Park on April 1-2, 2004.

Deadline December 15, 2004.

The Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures. American Literature Association Annual Conference, 26-29 May 2005, Westin Copley Place, Boston, MA.

The Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures, a member society of the American Literature Association, invites submissions of individual papers and pre-formed panels on any topic of American Indian Literature. Individual papers should be no more than 20 minutes in length. Inquiries and/or one page abstracts should be submitted by email no later than January 15, 2005 to Stephanie Fitzgerald, Claremont Graduate University, Stephanie.Fitzgerald@cgu.edu, or nehiyo@earthlink.net

Updated November 2004
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Brooks@marshall.edu (c) 2004 by Monica Garcia Brooks, Technical Editor