Welcome to the Spring/Summer 2006 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, 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.

Updated April 2006 - NewsNotes@Marshall University, 1 John Marshall Drive, Huntington, West Virginia, 25755, Voice: (304) 696-6613 Fax: (304) 696-3229, Brooks@marshall.edu (c) 2006 by Monica Garcia Brooks, Assoc. Dean of Libraries/Assoc. Professor, MELUS NewsNotes Technical Editor

2006 Election Results

MELUS election results:

President: Melinda L. de Jesus

Membership Chair: Derek P. Royal

Program Chair: Wenxin Li

Treasurer: Kim Martin-Long

Secretary: Jose L. Torres-Padilla

Graduate Student Representative: Steve Tanaka

The Fulbright Scholar Program is offering 62 lecturing, research or combined lecturing/research awards in American Literature during the 2007-2008 academic year, in 150 countries and all regions of the world. Proposals in multi-ethnic literature are particularly welcome in many eastern European countries and Venezuela. U.S. Fulbright Scholars enjoy an experience of a lifetime, one that provides a broad cultural perspective on their academic disciplines and connects them with colleagues at institutions around the globe.

Awards range from two months to an academic year. Faculty and professionals in American Literature may apply not only for awards specifically in their field, but also for one of the many “All Discipline” awards open to any field. Grants are awarded to faculty of all academic ranks, including adjunct and emeritus. In most countries lectur! ing is in English, though awards in Latin America, Francophone Africa, and the Middle East may require proficiency in another language.

The application deadline for Fulbright traditional lecturing and research grants worldwide is August 1, 2006. U.S. citizenship is required. For other eligibility requiremen! ts, detailed award descriptions, and an application, visit our website at www.cies.org, or send a request for materials to apprequest@cies.iie.org

Anne Clift Boris, Ph.D., Senior Program Officer for Recruitment, Council for International Exchange of Scholars, 3007 Tilden Street NW, Suite 5L, Washington, DC 20008-3009, Phone: 202-686-7859, Fax: 202-362-3442

Book Announcement

Craig-Henderson, K.M. (January, 2006). Black Men in Interracial Relationships: What's Love Got to Do With It? Examining the Facts, Dispelling the Myths. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, Inc. Kellina M. Craig-Henderson, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Howard University, 525 Bryant St., NW, Washington, DC 20059, 202-806-6805, k_craig@howard.edu

Calls for Papers or Proposals

Representing Segregation: A special issue of African American Review

African American Review is soliciting papers for a special issue on Representing Segregation slated for publication in early 2008. Is there an identifiable literary tradition responding to, representing, or protesting U.S. racial segregation? Examination of individual works, authors, genres, or movements are welcome. Segregation-as an historical condition, a political ideology, a municipal planning scheme, and a de facto social system-profoundly shaped the lives of African Americans and other groups in the first half of the twentieth century, at least. Whether protesting, rejecting, refusing, or reaffirming segregation, numerous writers have necessarily responded to the history and experience of racial division in their literary projects. The past two decades of African-American literary studies have evidenced great interest in the tropes, narratives, and legacies of slavery, migration, and diaspora within the literary imagination. In addition, in recent years scholars have studied specific practices of segregation in literature, most notably lynching. A broad inquiry into literatures of segregation is necessary to account for the literary legacy associated with practices of U.S. racial segregation. Send inquiries or proposals to Brian Norman (normbria@isu.edu) and Piper Kendrix Williams (williamp@tcnj.edu).

Inquiries by December 15, 2006; completed papers are due by May 1, 2007. More information, including a link to the special issue website at http://aar.slu.edu/.

Brian Norman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of English & Philosophy, Idaho State University, normbria@isu.edu, office: LA 155 | phone: 208.282.4384, www.isu.edu/~normbria

Call for Submissions: Outsights: Images of Italian Americans in Other Literatures

“Voices in Italian Americana” is a semi-annual literary and cultural review devoted to the dissemination of information concerning the contributions of and about Italian Americans to the cultural and art worlds of North America.

We invite submissions of critical essays from scholars in all ethnic literatures and films to be published in a special issue in the Fall of 2006.

We are especially looking for contributions that deal with the Italian/American presence in non-Italian/American U.S. literature. We welcome a diversity of approaches--comparative, aesthetic, social, political, cultural, and the like--to the role of Italian/American characters in other ethnic literatures and films.

Through the trope of “outsights,” we hope to stimulate a cross-cultural dialogue among ethnic academic communities, and to bring new perspectives to bear on both the Italian-American and the non-Italian-American critical fields.

Submission deadline: Aug. 1, 2006.

Special Section Editors: Chiara Mazzucchelli & Fred Gardaphé

Please send your submissions, no more that 25 pages, including notes and bibliography, in MLA Style to:

Fred Gardaphé, Department of European Languages , SUNY Stony Brook Fgardaphe@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

Chiara Mazzucchelli, Comparative Studies Program, Florida Atlantic University, cmazzucc@fau.edu

“Speaking in Tongues”: A Study in African-American Literary Discourse, Culture, and Rhetoric

Papers are solicited for a collection of essays tentatively titled: “‘Speaking in Tongues’: A Study in African-American Literary Discourse, Culture, and Rhetoric.” This collection of essays will examine the historical and literary experience of African Americans in the New World by offering indepth investigations into African-American culture and rhetoric. Papers in this collection should challenge the perceptions of African-American culture and engage in literary and rhetorical strategies that give authority to the diverse cultural discourses articulated by such writers as, but not limited to, Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Malcolm X, and/or Toni Morrison, and such theorists as Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Houston A. Baker. For example, how are the rhetorical strategies of David Walker signified in Ralph Ellison’s work? Or, are they?

Possible topics for this collection may include: the configurations of the body, invisibility and selfhood, narrative structure, rhetoric, humor, aesthetics, memory, popular culture, folklore, music, historical studies in culture and rhetoric, letters, and African-American literary discourse in general. Works on both fiction and non-fiction are acceptable.

Deadline for 250-300 Word Proposals: May 31, 2006.

Deadline for Completed Manuscripts: Complete manuscripts (15-25 pp. in length—including references—MLA Style) in MS Word, a one-page CV, and a brief biographical statement are due by December 31, 2006.

CONTACT:

Shelia A. Collins Willie J. Harrell, Jr. Coretta M. Pittman

Department of English Department of English Department of English

Texas Tech University Kent State University Baylor University

P.O. Box 43091 P. O. Box 5190 One Bear Place 97404

Lubbock, TX 79409 Kent, OH 44224 Waco, TX 76798

Office: 806-742-2500 Office: 330-672-1765 Office: 254-710-6980

ext. 231

Email: speakingintongues2006@yahoo.com

01/04/2006

Future MELUS Conferences

The Executive Committee is currently seeking proposals for hosting MELUS conferences in 2008, 2009, 2010 and beyond.

If you are interested in hosting a conference please send an email to President, Fred Gardaphe at Fgardaphe@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

Interested parties will receive a copy of the Society’s conference guidelines (which is posted on the website), and will be expected to present a written proposal (details are in the guidelines) to the Executive Committee at either the annual MELUS conference Executive Committee meeting or at the annual MELUS MLA meeting.

(The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States – India Chapter)

In the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, MELUS-India and MELOW held an International Conference from January 5-7, 2006. The theme was DIALOG ACROSS CULTURES and the venue was the good old ASRC premises. The gathering comprised all the old faithfuls – and lots of new ones too. MELUS-INDIA (The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States – India Chapter) held its Seventh International Conference and MELOW (The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the World) its first International Conference which dove-tailed neatly into the MELUS-India Conference.

There were about seventy registered delegates in all – a number that compares favorably with that of earlier conferences in Hyderabad – and another thirty or so at the Inauguration. Twelve of the delegates were from abroad – from the USA, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Japan. Mr Adnan Siddiqi from The American Center, New Delhi, delivered the Inaugural Address while the Chennai American Center was represented by Seetha Lakshmi. USEFI Director, Jane Schukoske sent her best wishes along with the commitment to partially meet the conference expenses.

The inaugural session of MELUS-India began with a note of welcome by Prof. G.R. Kataria and introduction of the chief guest by Dr. Issac Sequiera. Chief Guest, Mr. Adnan Siddiqi, Cultural Affairs Officer (American Embassy) commented that the initiatives like MELUS/MELOW were well-timed and much needed in view of the assimilation of immigrant writers from various ethnicities into the mainstream literary Canon in USA. He further stated that the State Dept would be willing to foster a positive environment that would serve as a springboard for strengthening people–to-people relations. Prof. V.S. Shastri, Vice-Chancellor of Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, talked about the construction of identities and the necessity for bridging the gap between the multi-ethnic literatures of the USA and the World. Prof. M.G.Ramanan’s Presidential Address, “How Mellow are we? - Reflections on India, the USA and the World”, explored the possibilities of the acceptance of various ethnicities in a multi-cultural framework. He advocated a radical departure from the current orthodoxies and proclivity to give undue premium to political correctness.

Chairing the various sessions were senior scholars including Profs Isaac Sequeira, M.L. Raina, E Nageswara Rao, M.G. Ramanan, G.R. Kataria, Mukesh Williams, Nila Das, Sushila Singh, Devinder Singh, Mina Surjit Singh, Meera Malik, Tutun Mukjerjee and Uma Alladi. The papers presented ranged over a variety of issues, from theoretical to textual. Susan Friedman and Sumanyu Satpathy held the attention of the participants with their insights about transgression of the ethnic boundaries and identity conflict. Hsiao Kishimoto from Soka University Japan, analyzed the contribution of Japanese Americans to Harlem Renaissance Studies, and Semee Ali from Morgan State University, Maryland, studied structural and textual parallels between the classics and the present day literatures. Mukesh Williams’s subject was Arab American literature, Hasan Zayed spoke on Said and Orientalism, and Tatsushi Narita on the early TS Eliot. Anuradha Chaterjee and Sharon O Brien brought a shift in deliberations by focusing on the politics, intercultural adjustments and problems that emerge in a multi-ethnic and multi-racial society. Vigorous discussions focused on the stereotyping of women, and ethnic coding. Mukul Sengupta, Himadri Lahiri and Debashish Lahiri made their presentations, focusing on the language as the ethnographic tool. Gulshan Kataria focused on the Chicano contribution to American Literature and Somdatta Mandal on cinematic attempts at presenting American multi-culturalism.

The Second day of the conference also witnessed the Inaugural Session of MELOW in which Prof ML Raina made a scintillating presentation relating Indian literatures to World literatures. This set the tone for the sessions that followed over the next day and a half. The well-known poet Ruth Vanita, an advocate of same-sex love, was present along with her companion Monica Bachman. Ruth’s paper on the Sage Ashtavakra held the listeners’ rapt attention as did Monica’s presentation on the Jewish Lesbian. Anu Chatterjee spoke of the problems of teaching a multicultural class in the US, Indrani Dutta made a comparison of Tagore and Khalil Gibran, Sindhu Menon read an interesting paper on Indian and American versions of Shakespeare, and Manju Jaidka on narrative techniques in Indian classics. In all the sessions of MELOW the focus remained on India’s dialog with the World.

It is pertinent to place on record here that the delegates at the conference were deeply concerned about the deteriorating state of the ASRC / IACIS. All regretted the central govt.’s apathy towards the historic centre and expressed their desire to see an improvement in the situation. It was unanimously agreed by all the attendees who signed their presence at the conference that since the ASRC had been taken over by the MHRD/UGC, the GOI is honor-bound to meet its commitment towards the institution.

In the General Body Meeting on the third day of the Conference serious discussion took place on several issues related to future activities. The Secretary informed the house of the problems in getting MELOW registered. Thereupon the house authorized her to take necessary steps and follow the required procedure with the help of members located in Chandigarh.

Audited accounts of the Society, presented by Anil Raina, Treasurer, were passed by the house.

The theme, venue and date for the next MELUS/MELOW conference was discussed and finalized (announcement goes out with this newsletter).

New Office bearers were elected unanimously (complete list appended). Gulshan Rain Kataria takes over as president and Tutun Mukherjee as Vice-President.

MG Ramanan, the out-going President, addressed the house and so did the new President.

The meeting ended on a general note of goodwill with a vote of thanks to all concerned.

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance Adnan Siddiqi and the American Center, Delhi, for meeting the travel expenses of select delegates to the conference. We are also grateful to Jane Schukoske and the USEFI for agreeing to partially meet the conference expenses.

The officers and staff of the IACIS/ASRC Hyderabad, like always, have been extremely helpful. Our thanks and good wishes go to all of them.

A special thanks goes to the team from Chandigarh (about a dozen of them altogether, including two Deans from Panjab University) who brought their wit and enthusiasm to the Hyderabad conference and made it a memorable event! (They competed very well with the Bongs from W.B.)

(The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States – India Chapter)

This will be the Eighth International Conference of MELUS-INDIA and the Second International Conference of MELOW. The MELOW Conference will dove-tail into the MELUS-India Conference.

Out of the quarrels with ourselves, if we believe Yeats, literature is created. In fact it is not just the quarrel with ourselves but also the turbulence of the times that is responsible for the production of literature. These are times of upheaval and violence – when one is assaulted physically, emotionally and psychologically from all quarters. Despite the trauma, however, one survives and carries on the best way possible. Artists continue to produce works of art, musicians create music and writers compose their masterpieces. But, one may ask, how does literature respond to the legacy of mass violence and political conflict? Does the creative mind buckle under the pressures or does it rise above them all to create mournful music? And how does the reader respond to the various tensions that go into the making of great literature? What models are available for understanding these literary responses to the turbulence of the times? Do poetry, fiction, drama and film help us find words and images to understand national catastrophe? Can literature narrate mass violence? Does it try to escape violence? Can it be a substitute for violence? Is it a cure or a panacea?

The MELUS-India 2007 Conference will explore these and related issues, taking up diverse genres – literature, cinema, theatre, media, popular culture, etc. The focus will be American Literature but panel proposals which cross borders and disciplines are encouraged. 350-word PANEL PROPOSALS related to the theme are invited.

The MELOW 2007 Conference will explore the same issues, focusing on literatures of the world. 350-word PANEL PROPOSALS are invited, related to the literature of the last fifty years.

Instead of individual papers we are inviting proposals for panels at his point. Once panels have been finalized, the call for papers will be circulated and abstracts pf paper will be invited. Paper proposals will be sent directly to the Panel proposer who will serve as the Organizer / Chair of the panels. He / She, in consultation with the Conference Committee (the Governing Body comprising office-bearers), will decide whether or not to accept the proposals submitted to the panels. Any proposals not accepted by panels will be forwarded to a general pool of proposals, from which additional panels may be formed. If there is a shortage of submissions to a panel, the Organizer will be invited to consider proposals from the general pool. If there are still not enough papers, the panel may be canceled or combined with another, at the discretion of the conference committee.

We are seeking panels that deal with issues related – but not confined – to race, ethnicity, identity, and gender, in literary texts, films, popular culture, media. Comparatist and interdisciplinary perspectives are encouraged.

All Panels will have 5 members: a Chair (the Organizer / Proposer), and three paper presentations, followed by a Discussant. A panel may not have more than two participants from the same institution. Each panel will be allotted approximately 90 minutes. The suggested division of time is five minutes for introductions, fifteen minutes for each paper presentation, ten minutes for commentary from the discussant, and thirty minutes for questions and answers from the audience.

Discussants will offer critical comments on each paper or on the papers as a group with an eye toward stimulating discussion. Accordingly, he/she should have read in advance all the papers to be presented in the panel.

Members and non-members of MELUS-India / MELOW may submit panel proposals (with the understanding that they will attend the conference). Proposals will then be examined by the Panel Organizer and the Conference Committee. Those accepted will be circulated widely and individual papers will be invited.

Panel proposals may be submitted on any topic that relates to the themes of MELUS-India or MELOW (but not both). All Proposals should include the following information:

ABSTRACTS OF INDIVIDUAL PAPERS will be invited only when the Panels have been finalized. Tentatively, the call for individual papers will go out by early June 2006.

NOTE: Membership of MELUS-India / MELOW is not required at the time when panel proposals or individual papers are submitted. Non-members may join the Association after the acceptance of their panels / papers.

Panel proposers should state clearly whether their proposals are for MELUS-India (related to American Literature) or to MELOW (related to world literatures).

Deadline for all panel proposals is Sunday, April 30, 2006. Follow the instructions and email your panel proposal to mjaidka@sify.com not as an attachment but as part of the text message.

This newsletter was compiled with inputs from Joe Yeldo Verghese, Deepti, Ravinder and Surbhi.

To be mailed by regd. post along with bank-draft [payable to MELUS-India at Chandigarh]

to Prof Anil Raina, Dept of English, Panjab University, Sector 14, Chandigarh 160014

THIS FORM MAY BE DUPLICATED AND PASSED ON TO YOUR FRIENDS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN BECOMING MEMBERS OF MELUS-INDIA. RECOMMENDATION BY A CURRENT MEMBER IS ESSENTIAL.

Fissures and Sutures: Sources of Division and Mutual Aid in Postcolonial Reflections on History and Literature

Confirmed speakers at this time: Bill Ashcroft, Aijaz Ahmad, R. Radhakrishnan, Amritjit Singh, Tess Onwueme, Emmanuel Dongala, Kirpal Singh, Kalyan Ray, and Shu-mei Shih

United States Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies: 4^th International Conference (USACLALS) Santa Clara University (40 miles south of San Francisco; one mile from San Jose airport)

a 7.8 hit San Francisco (and an 8.6 earthquake hit Quito); Mt. Vesuvius erupted and devastated Naples; race riots broke out in Atlanta; Japanese students were taught in racially segregated schools in San Francisco; Theodore Roosevelt took the first official trip outside the U.S. by a sitting President; the first intercollegiate fraternity for African American students was founded; Reginald Fessenden made the first radio broadcast; the world’s first feature film (The Story of the Kelly Gang) was released; immunization against tuberculosis was developed; Richard Oldham proposed that the earth has a molten interior; the Second Geneva Convention was held; the All-India Muslim League was founded.

Pakistan became the first Islamic republic; Nasser became President of Egypt and nationalized the Suez Canal; the submarine telephone cable across the Atlantic was opened; Dr. B.R.Ambedkar, the Indian Untouchable leader, converted to Buddhism along with 385,000 followers; Fidel Castro and Che Guevara departed Mexico and landed in Cuba; Warsaw Pact troops invaded Hungary and the Hungarian Revolution began; Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula; Britain got its first female judge; Japan joined the United Nations.

We invite papers of 15-20 minute presentation time relating to the general conference theme, or to other aspects of postcolonial literature and theory (including US ethnic literatures). Among questions and topics of likely relevance are the following:

There will also be opportunities for readings by poets and novelists on these and other themes.

John C. Hawley, Dept. of English, Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino, Santa Clara CA 95053; or FAX: John Hawley, English dept.: (408) 554 4837

DoubleTake/Points of Entry, the documentary magazine edited by Dr. Robert Coles and Professors Roberta Rosenberg and Terry Lee, seeks essays, fiction, poetry and documentary photographs on the topic of "Crossing Cultures" for the next issue of the magazine. Deadline for submission for this issue to mark Jamestown 2007 is September 15th. Writers and photographers interested in contributing should send their manuscripts to the specific editor at DoubleTake. To obtain editors' addresses and guidelines, please see our website www.doubletakecommunity.org. Back issues and subscriptions to DoubleTake/Points of Entry are available through the Johns Hopkins University Journals website http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/doubletake/index.html

DoubleTake/Points of Entry is the successor to DoubleTake, originally published by Duke University and Dr. Robert Coles. For more information, please contact Professor Roberta Rosenberg at rrosenb@cnu.edu.

Examining the Facts, Dispelling the Myths. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction Publishers, Inc. Kellina M. Craig-Henderson, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Howard University, 525 Bryant St., NW, Washington, DC 20059, 202-806-6805, k_craig@howard.edu