Plenary Lecturers:

• Geoffrey Galt Harpham (University of Tulane, New Orleans, confirmed)
• Sau-ling C. Wong (University of California at Berkeley, to be confirmed)
• Trudy Harris (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, confirmed)
• Bernard Bell (Pennsylvania State University, to be confirmed)

For updated conference information, visit our webpage at http://www.udc.es/dep/finc/congresoam.htm or contact the organizing committee:

• María Frías (mariaf@udc.es)
• José Liste (liste@udc.es)
• Begoña Simal (bsimal@udc.es)

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Call for Papers:  Connections between US/Caribbean, Canadian Caribbean sound, 

performance poetry, and music

 Three additional essays are needed for Bridges of Sound: the Translocality of 

Caribbean Performance Poetry and Music, a collection on the translocality of Caribbean poetry, 

music, and sound in the North American (US and Canada) context. Topics may include: 

·         the South Asian/Jamaican deejay scene in New York 

·         the Caribbean poetry scene in Florida 

·         North American performance poetry/ musical/lyrical performance

influenced by Trinidadian calypso, soca, rapso, soggae, etc.

·         Poets of the Dominican Republic and Cuba (or) Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Haiti in 

the North American context.

·         Ringbang in the North American context

These essays should be informed by Caribbean studies, postcolonial studies, transnational 

studies, and/or sound studies.

 Deadline for abstracts: April 30th, 2003

Send to Dr. Loretta Collins, Associate Professor, English Department, Humanities Faculty, 

University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras

e-mail address:  harderthey@hotmail.com or Lcollins@rrpac.upr.clu.edu

The essay collection Bridges of Sound: the Translocality of Caribbean Performance Poetry and Music will examine some of the more innovative works arising from 1) the artists movements back and forth from the Caribbean region to locations in North America (the US and Canada); 2)the engagement of Caribbean poets and musicians with expressive forms found in the Americas (such as Kamau Brathwaite's interest in African American and Caribbean "Shango train songs" or country and western music of St. Lucia); 3) creative collaborations between Caribbean performance poets/ musicians and artists of various North American communities (such as the recordings of reggae and dub poetry by Jamaican and First Nations/ Native American artists in the Ottawa collective "The Fire This Time"); and 4) the Caribbeanization of North American cities spaces, musical cultures, poetic productions, and sound structures (in such works as Wyclef Jean's rap/ musical CD Carnival, boogaloo influences in African American and Puerto Rican poetry in the US, or Canadian Jamaican dub poet, playwright, and film maker ahdri zhina mandielas "dub theatre" piece dark diaspora in dub). The collection may be issued with a CD, so we might have the opportunity of enhancing our articles with audio footnotes. The University of Wisconsin Press series editors Adalaide Morris, Lynn Keller, and Alan Golding have expressed great interest in the project. After the manuscript has been completed it will be sent to peer reviewers, who will make final determinations about the essays to be included in the collection. 

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CALL FOR PAPERS: MELUS-India

The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (India Chapter) International Conference on CONTEXTS OF MULTI- ETHNIC LITERATURES OF THE AMERICAS To be held in Hyderabad, January 3-5, 2004

The January 2004 International Conference would focus on the text as a representation of ideological currents prevalent in culture and environment. Taking a given text as a narrative production and a 'socially symbolic act,' an attempt will be made to analyze the subtle ways in which ideology operates, exploring the margins at which disciplinary discourses break down and enter the world of political agency. An ideological reading of marginalized texts involves a process of meaning-creation as a socio-historical and trans-individual process. One particular way of interpreting ideology is by examining how culture links social action with fundamental beliefs, a collective identity with the course of history. Participants would debate on the text as the product of a cultural given, on the relationship between a creative work and its context, and on the shifting power configurations between the center and the margins. This would involve taking into consideration the politics behind the empowerment of certain texts, the logic of canon-formation and the porous boundaries between the elite and the popular, the high and the low. The Conference will encourage particular focus on texts as reflecting ideology. Participants may take a multi-ethnic text and place it in the context of society, gender, class and race, and specifically explore the manner narratives are embedded in political discourse and bespeak a multi-disciplinarity. Ideological readings of multi-ethnic texts and their limits with the production of meaning will be particularly welcome.

The attempt is to use multi-ethnic literatures of the Americas (not simply of the U.S.) to discern deep structures of thought and belief in the socio-cultural framework. This would involve an engagement with the center and the canonical texts of the mainstream and an interrogation of multi-ethnic texts which are canonized. Why are certain texts or traditions more powerful than others? From our Indian perspectives we should encourage comparatist perspectives of Asian/Indian texts with other multi-cultural productions.

Finally, questions may be asked as to how the study of multi-ethnic literatures of the Americas is relevant for us in India. The Conference would debate on the text as the product of a cultural given, on the relationship between a creative work and its context, and on the shifting power configurations between the center and the margins. This would involve taking into consideration the politics behind the empowerment of certain texts, the logic of canon-formation, and the porous boundaries between the elite and the popular, the high and the low.

Panel discussions would, tentatively, focus on the following themes:

1. Theories of Discourse

2. The Classical, the Canonized, and the Ignored

3. Questions of Gender, class, race, ethnicity

4. Film, Television and Media Representations

5. Problems of Otherness and Empowerment

6. Re-defining Boundaries in Art

7. Mass and Popular Culture, the elite and the popular, the high and the low 8. Representations on the Stage - Dramatic, Theatrical and Real 9. Questions of relevance 10. The nation and its fragments

Interested participants may send in 200-word abstracts to Manju Jaidka, Secretary, MELUS-India at <vjaidka@sancharnet.in>. E-mail submissions are encouraged. However, do not send any attachments. Let the abstract come as part of the text message. Participants whose abstracts are accepted would be required to send in complete papers by the given deadline. Membership of MELUS-India is essential for all participants. All participants would have to pay a delegate fee (to be fixed later) which will take care of their boarding and lodging arrangements.

Deadlines:

Last date for receipt of abstracts: July 1, 2003

Acceptance letters will be mailed by July 31, 2003.

Last date for submission of complete papers: October 31, 2003

[NOTE: these deadlines are NOT flexible. Late entries will not be considered. Participation would be confirmed only on receipt of full papers.] MELUS-India will not be able to provide any kind of fiscal assistance. Delegates need to find their own funding sources.

For any other clarification please e-mail <vjaidka@sancharnet.in>.

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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ETHNIC STUDIES, INC. - CALL FOR ABSTRACTS/PROPOSALS
2004 NAES CONFERENCE
32nd Annual National Conference
April 1-3, 2004
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

THE ACTIVIST IMPULSE IN ETHNIC STUDIES: Safeguarding Rights in Eras of Insecurity

The National Association for Ethnic Studies invites abstracts/proposals for papers, panels, workshops, or media productions from people in all disciplines and interdisciplinary areas of the arts, business, social sciences, humanities, science and education.

The conference will create a lively forum for the discussion of issues related to activism concerning race and ethnicity, including, but not limited to the following:
Anniversaries: Brown vs. the Board of Education (50 years); Civil Rights Act (40 years); Center for Puerto Rican Studies (30 years); peace movements worldwide; student activism; preserving support for the arts and humanities; genocides; Native American, African American and Jewish reparations; protest films; transgressive music; labor and ethnicity; environmental racism; indigenous rights; protest laws; biochemical warfare and race; grass roots activism in ethnic communities; Black-Jewish alliances for action; ethnic feminist movements; religious activism; theory and activism; the protection and growth of Ethnic Studies programs.

Two-hundred-fifty-word abstracts/proposals should be submitted by October 15, 2003, which relate to any aspect of the conference theme, with the participant¹s institutional affiliation and mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address.  The abstract/proposal must indicate whether the presentation is an individual paper or a complete panel presentation and if a/v equipment is needed.  Complete panel proposals must include abstracts for each individual presenter.  

All program participants must pay full conference registration and 2004 NAES membership dues.

Send abstracts/proposals to:

Prof. Ashton W. Welch, Department of History, Creighton University, Omaha, NE 68178-0001, Telephone: (402) 280-2884, Fax: (402) 280-1454, E-mail: awelch@creighton.edu

Deadline for receipt of 250-word abstracts/proposals: October 15, 2003
For more information about the conference and NAES, visit <http://www.ethnicstudies.org/>

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The Fourth MESEA CONFERENCE 

Call for Papers - Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece - May 20 - 23, 2004

Ethnic Communities in Democratic Societies

Proposals for workshops and papers may engage the following topics, among others: 
Negotiation of culture, language, religion within (non-)territorial communities / Parochialism and globalization / Community and fragmentation in global cities / Communitarianism vs. rights / Literary and artistic productions within transnational democracies / Aesthetic concerns of ethnic subjects in democratic societies / How literature reflects democratic concerns / Negotiating ethnic exceptionalism and participation in a larger collectivity / Nation states and imagined communities / Nationalism and transnational loyalties / Nativism and racism in democratic contexts / Ethnic Press and transnationalism / Ethnic community vs. local law / (Il)legal immigration / Transnational identities / Fragmented identities / Political agency, political choices / Balkanization of mentality / Bastions of ethnic tolerance / Citizenship and ethnopolitics / Civis and civility / Ethnic anxieties / Ethnic discrimination and affirmative actions / Ethnogenesis and ethnostasis / From Confrontation to cooperation / Internal colonialisms / Mythologized nationalisms / Xenophobia/xenophilia.
 

-  Deadline for proposals: December 20, 2003. Send a one-page proposal and a one-paragraph bio on the same page as e-mail submission to:

Dr. Heike Raphael-Hernandez, University of Maryland in Europe, Im Bosseldorn 30, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS TO WORKS

Writing Of(f) the Hyphen: Critical Perspectives on the Literature of the Puerto Rican Diaspora

Submissions are invited for a collection of critical essays tentatively titled, Writing Of(f) the Hyphen: Critical Perspectives on the Literature of the Puerto Rican Diaspora.   Our goal is to include essays covering a wide range of topics, genres and authors that collectively would offer a broad sense of the literature’s development and presence.   We prefer original essays written in English.  Previously published essays will be considered.

 Please submit a 2 page abstract or proposal (500-700 words), along with C.V., by May 30, 2003  to:

Dr. Jose Torres-Padilla, Dept of English, SUNY Plattsburgh, 101 Broad Street, Plattsburgh, N.Y. 12901, TorresJL@plattsburgh.edu

Dr. Carmen H. Rivera, Dept. of English, Univ. of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, P.O. Box 23356,  San Juan, P.R. 00931-3356

 

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Submissions are invited for An Encyclopedia of African American Literature

The editors of "An Encyclopedia of African American Literature," currently under contract with Greenwood Press, seek authors for entries on all aspects of African American literature.  Entries in the five-volume "Encyclopedia" will address authors, movements, and genres as well as the historical and cultural contexts of African American literature and its critical reception and interpretation.

For further information, including detailed guidelines for submission, please e-mail the editors, Hans Ostrom (ostrom@ups.edu) and David Macey (dmacey@ups.edu), or write to

Encyclopedia of African American Literature, Department of English, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner St., CMB 1045, Tacoma, WA  98416-1045

*****************

J. David Macey, Jr., Assistant Professor & Associate Chair, Department of English, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner St., CMB 1045, Tacoma, WA  98416-1045, Telephone:  (253) 879-3413, Facsimile:  (253) 879-3500, E-mail:  dmacey@ups.edu, http://www.ups.edu/faculty/dmacey/jdavidmacey.html

 

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Call for Comparative Essays

Call for Critical or Theoretical Comparative Essays on the Fiction and Nonfiction of James Baldwin and Toni Morrison for a Special Issue of COLLEGE LITERATURE. We seek essays that address any of the following subjects in BOTH authors' works:

• RACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
• IDENTITY (racial, sexual, or otherwise)
• LOVE and/or DESIRE
• RELIGION
• MUSIC

Submit finished 8,000-10,000 word essays, following The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Ed., no later than September 1, 2003 to one of the guest editors below:

Professor Lovalerie King (lovalerie@hotmail.com), Current address: Department of English, University of Massachusetts, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125, 617-287-6716

Address after July 15: Department of English, The Pennsylvania State University, 117 Burrowes Building, University Park, PA 16802-6200, 814-863-0258 (English Dept. Phone)

Lynn Orilla Scott, Ph.D. (scottlyn@msu.edu), 1720 North Fairview Street, Lansing, MI 48906, 517-371-2685

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MELUS ABSTRACTS

MELUS Conference 2003, Boca Raton

Abstract by Ferda Asya, Ph.D., Department of English, Bowling Green State University

Home Is All the Places We Have Lived: Anarchism in Other People’s Houses by Lore Segal, Getting Home Alive by Aurora Levins Morales and Rosario Morales, and Medicine Stories by Aurora Levins Morales

This paper investigates the fictional working out of the ecoanarchist Murray Bookchin's contention that the imbalances in society are caused by man's disruption of the continuity between nature and society by replacing the organic complementarity in nature with institutionalized hierarchies and power relationships in society with a competitive temperament to dominate, not only each other but also nature, and turning the relations of organic community into those of consumer society in a bourgeois industrial setting. In Lore Segal's Other People’s Houses, the persecution of the Groszmann family by Nazi Germany depicts one of the adverse consequences of the imbalances in society that man creates by cultivating nation-states with inorganic ethnic identities, which give rise to fascism. This unfavorable outcome contrasts with the mother and daughter Moraleses rejoicing of their mixed Ukranian, Jewish, and Puerto Rican heritage, in Getting Home Alive, which enables them to envision a transnational existence with a vision of freedom gained by the dissolution of the dominion of the state over ethnic minorities and to recreate a concept of homeland through a connection to land and its culture, which transcends national loyalty. In Medicine Stories, Aurora Levins Morales enforces her ties to folk culture and, through her fusion of the philosophy of social revolution with the philosophy of nature, enacts the ecoanarcism of Murray Bookchin, who posits that the "imbalances man has produced in the natural world are caused by the imbalances he has produced in the social world" (Post-Scarcity Anarchism 62).

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• POSITION ANNOUNCEMENTS
• From: Barbara Little Liu, Assistant Professor of English, Acting Director of the University Writing Program, Eastern Connecticut State University

We are currently searching for a scholar in Modern and Contemporary Dramatic Literature with a demonstrated interest in post-colonial drama. Please consider this position and, if you are interested, apply as soon as possible. Eastern Connecticut State University has a diverse faculty and student body, and is committed to maintaining and expanding that diversity.  The English department also maintains a long-standing interest in ethnic literatures. Feel free to contact me directly with any queries at liub@easternct.edu  The full position description is included below.

Department:  English <http://www.easternct.edu/depts/english/index.html>
Position: Modern and/or Contemporary Dramatic Literature
Qualifications:    Ph. D. in English required, ABD considered. 
Position Description:  Specialization in Modern and/or Contemporary Dramatic Literature with demonstrated interest in post-colonial drama.  The successful candidate will be an active scholar and able to teach discipline-specific and general education courses.  The twelve-hour per semester course load consists of a combination of literature and writing courses for English majors and students working to fulfill general education requirements.  Rank for the tenure-track position will be commensurate with qualifications and experience unless indicated otherwise.

Respond to:  Dr. Barbara Little Liu, Search Chair, Department of English

Eastern Connecticut State University is an AA/EEO employer. Women, members of protected classes and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.  Application procedure: Screening will begin immediately and continue until all positions are filled.  Please send current vita, a statement of teaching philosophy and research interest, documentation of teaching ability (where appropriate), and three (3) current letters of recommendation to the appropriate search chair at the following address:

Eastern Connecticut State University, 83 Windham Street, Willimantic, CT 06226

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From Melissa Gryphon Ginsberg, Administrative Assistant to Larry Shinagawa, Director, Center for the Study of Culture, Race, & Ethnicity (CSCRE)

 

Assistant Professor, Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity

Tenure-eligible, Assistant Professor position available August 2003 in the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity at Ithaca College.  Applicants must be able to teach courses on the social forms of slavery; classics in Africana, New World, African American intellectual thought, and 20^th Century African American social and political movements.  Persons involved in interdisciplinary comparative teaching and research are encouraged to apply.  PhD preferred; ABD will be considered.  Applicants must be committed toward working in a diverse Center that encourages active exchange and dialogue in teaching, research, community outreach and development, multicultural curricular development and education.

Please apply on-line at www.icjobs.org, click on the position of choice to select the appropriate contact form and attach vita/resume and letter of interest.  Questions may be directed to Brian Martinson, Office of Human Resources at 607-274-1207. 

Ithaca College is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.  Members of historically underrepresented groups (including people of color, persons with disabilities, Vietnam veterans and women) are encouraged to apply.

 

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MELUS Executive Council Meeting - Minutes                                                                

2003 Annual Conference, Boca Raton, FL

Thursday, April 10, 2003, 3:30

Members Present: Bonnie TuSmith, President; Fred Gardaphe, Program Chair; Sarika Chandra, Membership Chair; Veronica Makowsky, MELUS Editor; Jerry Bergevin, interim Executive Director

Also Present: Wenying Xu, incoming Program Chair

Officers’ Reports

a. Secretary, Kim Long (in absentia): minutes from the EC meeting at the 2002 NYC MLA convention distributed and approved.

b. Treasurer, Avis Payne (in absentia): financial report distributed and discussed.  Bonnie warns everyone not to be wedded to a fixed number (i.e., $32K) and reminds EC that present budget is in effect through September.  Fred voices confidence in new Treasurer, says new EC will draft the 2003-4 budget soon, and calls for more EC communication through email.  Veronica asks for annual total of membership dues.  Sarika provides membership total (see Membership Chair’s report below).  She is transferring membership data to the new Membership Chair.  Fred wants to set aside funds for grad students to travel to the MELUS conference.  Bonnie urges paying for part-time clerical help (e.g., grad student).  Veronica agrees, suggests paying a TA at Fred’s school.  Veronica suggests at least covering registration fees for EC and graduate student help at MELUS conference.  Bonnie reminds EC that some members objected to reimbursements to officers and paying for clerical support, and that this issue seemed instrumental in holding back the revision of the Constitution.  Fred says this same issue held back progress in the American Italian Historical Association, and that eventually they hired an Executive Director which improved the organization.  He sees a similar change occurring in MELUS.  Veronica agrees that the new EC needs to do whatever it takes to get the work done.  Fred promises to make MELUS his top priority, that there will be a financial plan, priorities set, and a new budget approved at least by the 2003 MLA convention.  All agree that the outgoing EC leaves office with MELUS in excellent financial shape.  Wenying asks about her travel expenses to conferences such as ALA.  Fred says Program Chair doesn’t have to attend ALA.  All agree that travel to MLA convention in San Diego should be subsidized.  Fred wants to set aside $5K as a travel fund, but wants to find ways to replenish it.

b. Program Chair, Fred Gardaphe: MELUS-MLA 2003 cash bar all set up, panel on “Work and Play” all set with four quality papers, all by faculty members.  ALA is also set with Bonnie and Jerry each chairing a session of four panelists.  Discussion of returning to two MLA panel sessions in future years.  Discussion of possibly reinstating MELUS dinner, but general agreement that it is too difficult.  Positive features of cash bar are noted, but also the high cost of inadequate refreshments ($300 for peanuts, literally).  Discussion of awards.  All agree to give the Lifetime Achievement Award at the cash bar at MLA.  Bonnie advises against giving a lifetime membership with the certificate because of the cost.  The cost might also include subsidizing the awardee’s travel and hotel expenses if not attending MLA already.  Fred suggests Werner Sollors would be an appropriate choice for this year, as well as Sacvan Bercovitch.   Fred will ask members for nominations and new EC will vote.  Other awards will be given out at the MELUS conference.  These will include Best MELUS Article (Veronica will ask the Editorial Board to rank the year’s articles), Best Graduate Student Conference Paper, and MELUS Service Recognition Awards (with 1 year free membership and a certificate). 

c. MELUS Editor, Veronica Makowsky: MELUS is in good financial shape.  Editorial board named, which includes people who have already done a lot of work, but does not include MELUS officers.  Bonnie notes a discrepancy in the selection, and Veronica replies that this list can be changed next year.  List of future special issues distributed and discussed.  Guest editors pick the articles.  Veronica advises a call for papers as early as possible, perhaps more than one.  Fred wants to delay his Food issue until Volume 30; Bonnie and Sarika will aim for Volume 29.3 for the special issue on Pedagogy.  Veronica and Sarika will make sure that new 2003 members will receive the next journal issue. 

d. Membership Chair, Sarika Chandra: 284 members currently, including 40 lifetime members; probably an additional 50 or more after the conference.  Most of the work for this year is completed and all the material is ready to send to the new Membership Chair.  Sarika has entered all membership info into the database for all members except for those who joined in the few weeks just before the conference.  For the latter group, she has entered only the information essential for their journal subscription to begin.  Kim Long’s name and address have replaced Sarika’s on the membership form.  Derek Royal will be given as the contact person for membership information or questions.  Veronica emphasizes the journal’s need for accurate membership information and commends Sarika for her achievements, saying that this “has been working perfectly with Sarika.”   Bonnie: the review of the policy on “Patrons” of the Society will be left for the new EC. 

e. Graduate Student Representative (in absentia): Rebecca Meacham emailed that there is nothing to report.  Fred will put Michele Fazio, the new Representative, in touch with Rebecca.                                                                                                                                  

Other Business

a. Election report.  Jerry says that Jose Torres-Padilla (Nominations and Election Committee) has emailed the results of the election to the EC.  The vote totals were:

President

Fred Gardaphe             55

Membership Chair: No Contest.  Reggie Young withdrew his candidacy, making Derek Royal the winner.  For the record, these were the results:

Derek Royal                 27

Reggie Young               24

Not voting                      4

 

Program Chair

Yemisi Jimoh    19

Wenying Xu    36

 

Secretary

Jesse Aleman                28

Joanna B. Marshall       21

Not voting                      6

 

Treasurer

Robert Hayashi             17

Kim Long                     35

Not voting                      3

 

Graduate Student Representative

Michele Fazio               48

Not voting         7

Jose will announce the election results officially at the conference’s Plenary Session on Friday.   

Jerry read the following statement about the election and asked the EC to endorse it:

“The Executive Council wishes to thank the members of the Nominations and Election Committee (NEC), Prof. Jose Torres-Padilla  and Prof. Martha Cutter, as well as Dr. Jerry Bergevin in his role as interim Executive Director, for the service they provided the Society in conducting an election of new MELUS officers under difficult circumstances.  The EC wants to assure MELUS members that the election was fair and open, and that they can have complete faith in its outcome.  The outgoing Executive Council has been honored to serve MELUS and takes pride in its accomplishments.  We welcome the incoming EC and look forward to what we know will be three more productive and exciting years in the ongoing history of the Society.” 


After a brief discussion, the statement was endorsed by the EC.

b. Transition to the new EC.  Fred says that the first EC meeting will be at MLA.  He plans to appoint Sarika as Project Chairperson, whose function will be determined.  Bonnie advises that the Constitution be revised first in order to provide the executive authority to make such an appointment.  Fred agrees (see MELUS Constitution below).  Fred will contact the chairs of all the Standing Committees and request that they continue to serve.  Wenying asks about her responsibilities as new Program Chair.  [Officers’ job descriptions were posted on-line in MELUS NewsNotes for the election, but have since been removed.]  Jerry suggests that the new Membership Chair divide members into “inactive” and “active” to facilitate Fred’s effort to recruit those actually willing to perform specific tasks for the Society.  Concerning new stationery, Veronica offers to send Fred the MELUS letterhead template as a file for distribution to MELUS officers.    

c. Executive Director position.  Jerry’s term as interim Director expires at the end of this month (April 2003).  He thanks all EC members for their cooperation and support.  Fred says that the EC will consider the unmet clerical and administrative needs that led to Jerry’s appointment and will report on them at the MLA meeting (one example: an announcement needs to be written for NewsNotes to solicit a conference host for 2005).  As one of his final assignments, Jerry agrees to fill in as Secretary and write and distribute a draft of the minutes of this meeting and post them in MELUS NewsNotes. 

d. 2004 San Antonio Conference.  Bonnie notes that the call for papers is included in the program of the Boca Raton conference.  Veronica will include the call in the next issue of the journal. 

e. MELUS Constitution/By-laws.  Fred says he and Veronica reviewed the Governance Committee’s draft and sent it to Jerry to prepare for posting in NewsNotes.  Jerry acknowledges having received this draft, but that the draft is not ready for posting because of inaccuracies and omissions.   He explained that some passages are misleadingly presented as if they were retained from the original document when in fact they are additions to it (namely, Sections 6 and 7 of Article II).  Jerry objects especially to the added Section 6 which prohibits “the carrying on of propaganda” because it is vague and unnecessary.  Inconsistencies include the designation of a Project Chairperson as an officer in Article IV, Section 1 (page 3) but who is not even included on page 7 (a second “Article IV”) under “Duties of MELUS Officers.”  There are other textual problems.  More substantively, the changes that still need to be made include staggering the officers’ terms to ensure continuity.  Fred says that he will review those concerns before posting the draft document by June for members’ comments.                           

f. MELUS cookbook.  Wenying received 28 copies from Avis to sell at the MELUS conference.  Based on her hands-on experience as cookbook peddler, Bonnie explains that charging $4 for shipping is likely to inhibit sales.  Fred is determined that we sell all the books.  Veronica offers to put an ad in the journal.  Fred will make sure there are copies for sale at the MLA cash bar.  He says we need to find other venues where people who have money are present. 

g. MELUS-ACEE.  Bonnie says that ACEE will meet at the conference.  Fred would like the chair of ACEE to report at the MLA meeting with a plan, request for funding, etc.  Veronica agrees with Fred’s plan: ACEE reports to the EC for approval; if proposed action is controversial, EC will bring it to the members, etc.  Fred emphasizes that ACEE cannot act on its own, but should follow the protocol.  As a first step, Sarika says she will forward her questionnaire to the EC.  Fred thinks ACEE is important and necessary because in his experience academics shy away from ethnic literary studies or interdisciplinary work (that is, due to considerations for tenure and promotion, ethnic literary studies may be viewed as a weakness).

h. MELUS communications.  Jerry says that the MELUS website, on-line NewsNotes, and the listservs have been working efficiently, thanks to Katharine Rodier, NewsNotes Editor, and Monica Garcia Brooks, Webmaster.  Request for new Webmaster to replace Monica should be made at the Plenary.

i. Discussion of future conference sites.  Possibilities include Storrs, Stony Brook, Boston, West Coast.  Host needs to come up with at least $5000. 

Adjourned at 4:50 to prepare for the reception.

Respectfully submitted,

Jerry Bergevin, MELUS interim Executive Director

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