Welcome to the Spring/Summer 2000 edition of NewsNotes
We are pleased to announce that the MELUS homepage has moved to Marshall University at www.marshall.edu/melus/. Also, the new MELUS officers for 2000-2003 are listed below. In addition, you may find in this issue of NewsNotes information about the 2000 MELUS conference in New Orleans, as well as notes on other recent (and future) events.In this issue:
MELUS Officers
A message from the President, Bonnie Tu-Smith
A message from John Lowe
Call for Papers
Announcements
Book reviews
MELUS 2000 Abstracts
Position announcements
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MELUS Officers, 2000-2003
President, Bonnie TuSmith
Associate Professor of English
Dept. of English
Northeastern University
Boston MA 02115
btusmith@hotmail.com
Office: 617.373.4552
Home: 617.825.6379
Office FAX: 617.373.2509
Home FAX: 617.825.0224Membership Chair, Melinda L. de Jesus
Assistant Professor, Asian Pacific American Studies
College of Public Programs
Arizona State University
PO Box 870803
Tempe AZ 85287-0803
dejesus@asu.ede
http://www.public.asu.edu/~dejesus
Office: 480.727.7340
Home: 480.704.8754
Office FAX: 480.965.9189Program Chair, Fred Gardaphe
Professor of Italian/American Studies
Dept. of European Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
State University of New York--Stony Brook
Stony Brook NY 11794-3359
fgardaphe@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Office: 631.632.1215
Home: 631.724.9210
Office FAX: 631.632.9612Secretary, Kim Martin Long
Assistant Professor of English
1871 Old Main Drive, DHC 113
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Shippensburg PA 17257
kmlong@ship.edu
http://www.ship.edu/~kmlong
Office: 717.477.1215
Home: 717.532.3245
Office FAX: 717.477.4025Treasurer, Avis Payne
PO Box 562
Las Cruces NM 88004-0562
akpayne@zianet.com
505.522.5059MELUS Journal Editor, Veronica Makowsky
Professor of English
Dept. of English
337 Mansfield Road, U-25
Storrs CT 06269-1025
makowsky@uconnvm.uconn.edu
Office: 860.486.2320
Home: 860.487.5230
Office FAX: 860.486.1530NewsNotes Editor, Katharine Rodier
Associate Professor of English
Dept. of English
Marshall University
400 Hal Greer Blvd.
Huntington WV 25755-2646
rodier@marshall.edu
Office: 304.696.3128
Office FAX: 304.696.2446Webmaster/NewsNotes Technical Editor, Monica Garcia Brooks
Associate Dean of Libraries
Marshall University
400 Hal Greer Blvd.
Huntington WV 25755
brooks@marshall.edu
melus@marshall.edu
Office: 304.696.6613
Archivist, Kimberly Robles Smith
kimberle_robles@csufresno.edu
Student Representative, Wendy Rountree
2920 Scioto St. #709
Cincinnati OH 45219
rountrwa@email.uc.edu
513.556.8449~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you have ideas for ways to enlarge our Table of Contents, send suggestions to: Dr. Katharine Rodier, Assistant Professor of English, Marshall University, 400 Hal Greer Blvd., Huntington WV 25755-2646, rodier@marshall.edu. Monica García Brooks, our Technical Editor, has outlined subscription information for future issues. If you would prefer to receive NewsNotes in print copy or in another format, please let us know at melus@marshall.edu.
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A Message from the President, Bonnie TuSmith:
MELUS in the New MillenniumAs a grade school student struggling to survive in the streets of New York City, I used to carry a Moroccan change purse packed with pennies. The stiff, heavy leather comforted me: it served as a shield against the confusing and often life-threatening world of the inner city public school. Two boys, one black and one Puerto Rican, used to pick on one cute little Asian girl (me). During recess one day, the leader stuck out his lips and demanded a kiss. In reflex mode, I whacked him on the head with my purse. For weeks afterwards, he told other kids that I had knocked him unconscious. This got me off the school bullies list of easy prey. By the time I made it to college, things had changed dramatically. Martial arts had become a fad and suddenly every Asian-looking person was a potential lethal weapon. Don't go near her, the street hecklers told each other. She knows kung-fu!
In each of the two scenarios, my potential harassers were reacting to my physical image. These experiences remind me that we Americans operate according to stereotyped images of one another. Such constructed images can and do change over time. Some of these constructions take root and have effects without being acknowledged or discussed, such as the Africanist presence in American literature and society that Toni Morrison theorized about. But, if we weren't so busy denying what we see--namely, that we see a black, an Asian, an Indian, an Anglo, or a brown Latino person--then we could advance to the next level of human interaction. While color matters (as humans, we can't help but perceive a black or a white person), it is how we act on our perception that really counts. If how we act is the crucial issue, what are the options? One way is for us to stick with our own. From my multiethnic background I decided that I wasn't going to hide in a gang for protection. A better way is to cross all color lines, choosing to engage each person as more than his or her physical appearance.
Comprehending the psychology of human difference is a major benefit of studying ethnic American literatures. At the dawning of the new millennium, those of us who work in the field of MELUS have an important role to play. Ethnic American literatures artistically render the diversity of U.S. society and thus place us in a prime position to promote cross-cultural understanding. Recently, the National Endowment for the Humanities offered a special grant to promote a National Conversation on American Pluralism and Identity. MELUS members have been having such conversations among ourselves since 1973. With enhanced organization and member participation, we literature folks should be able to help lead such national conversations.
Sometimes I think that on our various campuses and even in our own departments, the study of multiethnic literature of the U.S. is the best-kept secret. To the extent that our chosen field has enhanced our individual lives, we should work to share this gift with others. To the uninitiated, you might offer the poet Chrystos's memorable line: I give you the seeds of a new way.
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A Message From John Lowe:
This column comprises my Presidential Valedictory. I haven't written such an address since the one I delivered at my high school graduation, which concluded with the well-known encomium from Tennyson's "Ulysses": "Come, my friends, /'Tis not too late to seek a better world...One equal temper of heroic hearts...strong in will/ To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." As MELUS sails onward into the new century, I rejoice that this constant quest and battle continues with such a stalwart crew at the helm. Congratulations to our new officers, and particularly to Bonnie TuSmith, who assumed the Presidency in New Orleans; I have no doubt that she will steer a firm and courageous course and that the rest of the executive team will do honor to those of us now in retirement. And to my crew--Joe Skerrett, Lok Chua, Amy Elder, Mary Young, Herman Beavers, Adrienne Gosselin, Shirley Lumpkin, Jesse Aleman--let me say what an exhilarating, if rough ride it was! During the past three years, we have had three conferences, selected new editors for both the journal and _NEWSNOTES_, picked a new email coordinator, established MELUS chapters in Europe and India, planned several more, and taken steps to revamp the constitution and various standing committees. Many of our operations have been streamlined through use of the internet and email. Membership is up, our financial condition is sound, and our network of relations with other associations and journals is stronger than ever. Many, many thanks to Lok and Amy in particular, who did far more than the offices of Secretary and Treasurer required, but also to all the other members of the team.In January, I was honored to be Keynote Speaker at the Second MELUS India International Conference in Hyderabad, which also featured addresses by US-MELUS members Amritjit Singh (one of the key forces in the founding of MELUS India), _MELUS_ Editor Veronica Makowsky, and pioneering feminist Sandra Gilbert. The majority of participants, however, were distinguished scholars of American literature from every part of India; there were others attending, however, from faraway countries such as Tunesia, Turkey, and Japan. The conference featured spirited discussion, delicious meals (several served outdoors under a colorful canopy), special events (most memorably the nocturnal sound and light show at Golconda Fortress) and a wonderful sense of fellowship. It was particularly gratifying to learn that MELUS facilitated, in an e-mail age, a new and sorely needed network for like-minded intellectuals. All of them profited from the conference location in yet another way, since our host, the beautiful Indo-American Centre for International Studies at Osmania University, possesses the second largest American Studies library outside the U.S. All these wonders came about because of the year-long, tireless efforts of MELUS India's president, Professor Manju Jaidka of the University of Chandigarh. Her witty, gracious, and intelligent leadership at the conference itself established an ideal ambiance; I must also applaud her for building an impressively large membership in such a short span of time, a testimony to both her talents and the urgency and excitement of the organization's mission.
MELUS also sends hosannahs out for the three conveners of our March conference at Tulane University. Professors Gaurav Desai, Supriya Nair, and Felipe Smith meticulously planned and executed a splendid convention. We have been blessed before with great meetings but this one was very special. The Keynote Address by Georgetown Law Professor Mari Matsuda, "Towards a More Meaningful Dialogue on Race for the New Century," was a thrilling call to arms; this beautifully-written speech combined autobiography, law, literature, and current events, and struck just the right note for what followed, a conference devoted to "Multi-Ethnic Literatures and the Idea of Social Justice."
As a long-time resident of the Pelican State, I was particularly pleased by our conveners' successful efforts to make the event both a cornucopia of new work on the juncture of ethnic literature and issues of social justice, and a glorious display of Louisiana hospitality and culture. Numerous panels --particularly those on Ernest Gaines and New Orleans literature--combined both elements. The entrancing panel of Louisiana writers--Sybil Kein, Jason Berry, Brenda Marie Osbey, Kalamu Ya Salaam--provided participants with a spicy but nourishing taste of our most evocative voices. The wonderful banquet at the World Trade Mart, high above the city and the glimmering, roiling Father of Waters put a new spin on our perspectives on multiculturalism (literally--the restaurant revolves!). As we feasted on shrimp, crawfish, pralines, and other dainties, we could also toast our unity, which like our location on the river, symbolized the final union of many tributary streams into one mighty current.
No conference, however, can be said to succeed if the papers are substandard. This year's meeting offered some of the best presentations we have had, probably because: 1) the theme generated some truly original and thoughtful work, and 2) Gaurav, Supriya, and Felipe were excellent forecasters of worth as they assessed the abstracts. Despite the siren allure of "The Big Easy" just outside the campus, the sessions were well attended and featured a satisfying mix of participants, from graying professors such as I to dazzlingly talented graduate students. In addition to our three conveners, we bless Tulane's staff, their grad students, and a very generous English department and college dean.
The conference included several sessions devoted to the future of MELUS, and I am certain that our new officers came away with many new ideas. Please keep them informed of your own thoughts as they steer us through both familiar and new waters!
I now look forward to the exciting conference ahead in Orleans, as MELUS Europe convenes its second international conference under the direction of the capable Dominque Marcais. Many of us from the U.S. will be on hand, to marvel anew at the keen interest our European colleagues show in our multicultural riches. There, as in India, and across the globe, our work over the years provides paradigms for the study of multicultural literature in each individual country. As these various associations develop local variations on our work, MELUS will be contributing forcefully to new currents of transnationalism and globalism, while simultaneously staying true to our original mission.
As I retreat from the Presidency, I also want to thank all the members in general who over the past three years have been there when help was needed. I have said many times that MELUS is a family, and it has given me love, advice, admonishment, and caution when appropriate, and in due measure, as a family should. As Bonnie and her team take over the controls, I trust that this family-run ship will keep the course, but also find a way to reach those new realms we have dreamed of as our destinations in the new century.
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CALL FOR PAPERS
Violence and the BodyThis edited volume seeks to cull together theoretically informed interdisciplinary, feminist and transethnic cultural studies essays that consider the relationship between subalternity, the discourse and technology of the body, and the rise and proliferation of racial, colonial, sexual and state violence. Violence and the Body will attempt to intersect feminist work on the social constructions of the body (Judith Butler, Elizabeth Grosz and Zillah Eisenstein) with women of color theories of the multiplicity of oppression and resistance (Norma Alarcón, Chandra Mohanty, Chela Sandoval, bell hooks, Angela Davis, Elaine Kim, Inés Hernández-Avila, Pat Hilden and Annette Jaimes Guerrero ) to discern the materiality of colonial/ neocolonial, State, capitalist, homophobic, racial, linguistic, and family violence on the “otherized” body. This University Press anthology will result in what promises to be a major contribution to the expanding fields of ethnic, cultural, border, post-colonial, and feminist studies.
Essays that address the following in cultural, literary, social, historic and filmic texts are especially encouraged: the role and representation of violence in colonial- neocolonial subjugation/ resistance; genocidal violence and the rise of the western nation state; the rise of predatory transnational capitalism (maquiladora narratives); racial injury and criminalization; the feminization of poverty; family and male violence; the further militarization of racialized panoptic regimes (police, INS, criminal justice system); torture; tattoo’s; testimonios; pinto discourse; diaspora; anti-immigrant; Taliban; Brazil; reproduction rights; US imperialism, Border Studies; the reclamation of space/ place; indigenous sovereignties; and alternate constructions of ethnic masculinities.
Submission Guidelines:
—Please-mail or send a two page proposal with bibliography and Curriculum Vitae by May 20, 2000 and an estimated completion date of the essay (Routledge wants to see the volume asap).
—Final essays will be between 20-25 pages double space including endnotes and bibliography.
Arturo J. Aldama (Postdoctoral Fellow)
Center for Chicano Studies
UC Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6040
(805) 893-3323
E-mail: aaldama@asu.edu (please contact with questions).Arturo J. Aldama is the author of Disrupting Savagism: Intersecting Chicana/o, Mexicana/o and Native American Struggles for Representation forthcoming (Duke University Press) and co-editor for the forthcoming volume, Millennial Anxieties: Engendering Space and Place through Chicana/o Cultural Studies.
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A CALL FOR ARTICLES
Special Issue for Spring 2001
AMERICAN DRAMA invites submissions for a special issue on Ethnicity in American Drama. Original essays on playtexts and playwrights which demonstrate the impact of ethnicity in shaping the form and/or content of the dramatic work. We include Asian, Latino, African, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Appalacian, WASP, Native American, and any other ethnic identity. For consideration essays must arrive by November 1,2000. For information concerning submissions, please see the credits page at the front of the journal
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Asian American Playwrights. Contributors are sought for the first comprehensive reference volume titled Asian American Playwrights: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook, scheduled to be published by Greenwood Press in January 2001. The volume will address some sixty Asian American playwrights, especially those of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, and Indian backgrounds. For further information, contact the editor, Dr. Miles X. Liu at xliu@hcc.mass.edu, or 4 Culdaff Street, Apt. L., Easthampton, MA 01027, or during the MELUS conference in New Orleans.
NOTE: Some thirty contributors are already on board. Among them are the field's prominent professors and students such as Roberta Uno, Josephine Lee, Masami Usui, and Esther Kim. Now, particularly needed are scholars familiar with the works of the following one or two playwrights: Huynh Quang Nhuong, Sung Rno, Dmae Roberts, Chay Yew, Eric E. Chock, Linda Faigao-Hall, Naomi Iizuka, Darrell H. Y. Lum, Trmaine Tamayose, and Merle Woo.
Miles X. Liu, Ph.D.
English / Humanities Division
(413) 552-2356~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Announcement: Special Issue on Ethnic American Children's Literature
MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United StatesDeadline: 15 June 2000
MELUS invites essays exploring any dimension of Ethnic American Children's Literature. Essays may treat the literature of a specific population, such as African American, Asian American, Latino/a, or Native American texts, or may be cross-cultural in emphasis. All theoretical perspectives are welcome. We also invite essays which investigate the boundaries and risks of ethnic categorizations in children's literature. Papers may challenge assumptions about the political implications of ethnic writing for children, considering issues of authenticity and the problematics of ethnicizing an audience. Interviews are also welcome.
15-20 page papers, following the most recent edition of the MLA Handbook, may be sent to:
Margaret R. Higonnet and Katharine Capshaw Smith
English Department
U-1025
337 Mansfield Road
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06269
email (inquiries only): kcs94001@uconnvm.uconn.eduPlease send three copies of the essay. The author's name should not appear on the manuscript, except on a separate title page or cover sheet. Authors with articles accepted for publication must be members of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
MELUS COOKBOOK
from Avis Payne <akpayne@zianet.com>
DEADLINE: 15 September 2000We'd like as many MELUS members as possible to contribute recipes to a cookbook, the profits from which will go to the organization. With enough support, we hope to produce a series of MELUS cookbooks!
For MELUS COOKBOOK I, please send me one favorite recipe, although I could possibly include as many as three. Also provide anecdotes and explanations, especially attestations to authenticity and warnings about idiosyncrasies. (My father would tuck lettuce and cheese into sukiyaki if we didn't watch him.) Brief related literary contributions are also welcome, including poems, short short stories, jokes, or other items. If relevant, identify the ethnic origin of your recipe.
Please send your contributions as soon as possible (I know it's the end of the semester/quarter) to Avis Payne at P.O. Box 562, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88004-0562 or at <recipes@zianet.com>. I'd be happy to discuss cookbook matters via mail, e-mail, or at (505) 522-5059.
If you would like to design the cover or to provide small illustrations, you may also send your artwork to the above address.
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The first biennial conference of the new U.S. Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (USACLALS) was held May 5-6, 2000, in Providence, Rhode Island, co-hosted by Rhode Island College and Bryant College.
The conference, GLOBAL PERCEPTIONS AND INTERSECTIONS, welcomed proposals for individual papers, panels, and roundtable discussions on all post colonial literatures; including those of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. In addition, proposals were invited that reached beyond the literatures of the British Commonwealth to use comparative frameworks in relation to francophone literatures, ethnic American literatures, and African American literature.
The long-term goal of the chapter is to study post colonial literatures in relationship to the varied and vital contexts of the Americas. The USACLALS conference encouraged innovative and informal styles of presentation.
Individual papers, panels, and roundtable discussion sessions addressed the following topics, among others:To join USACLALS, send membership fees ($25 faculty; $10 students, retired and adjunct faculty). to: Terri Hasseler, English Department, Bryant College, Smithfield, RI 02917. Make checks payable to: USACLALS.Connections Between Post colonial Studies and U. S. Ethnic Discourse(s) Representations of Colonial Experience in "Commonwealth" Literature Resisting Globalization and Cultural Hegemony Post colonial Studies and Pedagogy (Challenges of Teaching Post colonial Texts to U.S. Students) Individual Writers (e.g., Salman Rushdie; Margaret Atwood; Ngugi wa Thiong'o; Anita Desai; Nadine Gordimer; Wole Soyinka; Patrick White; Jamaica Kincaid; Bapsi Sidhwa) The "Black Atlantic" and the "Asian Pacific" Images of Africa and the Caribbean in "Canonical" U. S. Literature (e.g., Hemingway, Bellow, O'Neill) Hollywood and South Asian Cinema African Cinema Representations of Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean Exile and Diaspora
For information about future events, please contact Amritjit Singh, President of USACLALS (401-456-8660), or Terri Hasseler, Secretary of USACLALS (401-232-6926). Other members of the Executive Board include: P.S. Chauhan, Beaver College; Karen Chow, Univ. of Connecticut; Anita Hellstrom, Univ. of Connecticut; Bruce Johnson, Univ. of Rhode Island; Gita Rajan, Fairfield Univ.; and Rajini Srikanth, Univ. of Massachusetts at Boston.
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Second MELUS Europe Conference
Comparative Ethnicities: Europe and the United States
Universite d'Orleans, France
June 22-25, 2000Keynote Speakers:
Wolfgang Binder (University of Erlangen, Germany)
Barbara Christian (University of California at Berkeley, USA)Robert Lee (Nihon University, Japan)
Lisa Lowe (University of California at San Diego)
Sterling Stuckey (University of California at Riverside)For information on the conference, please contact <www.melus-europe.de>.
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MLA 2000
The MELUS sessions at MLA 2000, Dec. 27-30, Washington DC, will be:
1. The Harlem Renaissance and Washington, D.C.
2. Ethnic Communities and Urban SpacesWe thank MELUS contributors for their many fine proposals.
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MELUS PANELS at American Literature Association Conference, 25-28 May, Long Beach, California:
I. PANEL TOPIC: Ethnic Juvenile/Children's Literature
CHAIR & ORGANIZER: C. Lok Chua
California State University, Fresno
PAPERS:1) "Diane Glancy's FLUTIE: Learning to Speak One's Story,"
Kathleen Godfrey
California State University, Fresno.
2) "Do I Look Fat? or, The Culture of Dieting in Ethnic Adolescent Literature,"
Beth Younger
Louisiana State University.
3) "Black-Jewish Relations in Children's and Young Adult Literature,"
Adam Meyer
Fisk University.
II. PANEL TOPIC: Varities of Experience in Ethnic Literature
CHAIR & ORGANIZER: C. Lok Chua
California State University, Fresno.PAPERS: 1) "Mystic Experience in Cathy Song's 'Blue and White Lines After Georgia O'Keeffe': A Journey Towards Union."
Cecile Renee Lopez
California State University, Fresno
2) "Shaking Up La Familia: Lesbian Motherhood in Sheila Ortiz-Taylor's FAULTLINE."
Maythee Rojas
Arizona State University3) "Growing Up Bi-cultural: Luis Alberto Urrea's Representation of Bi-Ethnic Identity in Chicano/a Childhood."
Marc Coronado
University of California, Santa Barbara.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The coordinators are pleased to announce the recent premiere and panel discussion of the film "Indigenous Always," which documents the life of La Malinche, Hernan CortÈs's mistress and translator whom many cultural critics and artists believe engendered Mexican culture. Vilified by nationalists as responsible for the Conquest, and revised by theory as the paradigmatic figure of Chicana feminism, La Malinche has been at the core of cultural debates at least since the early 19th century.
"Indigenous Always" was filmed during the August 1999 "U.S. Latina/Latino Perspectives on La Malinche" conference organized by the University of Illinois Latina/Latino Studies Program in conjunction with the Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese Department, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities.
Panelists included Dan Banda (the producer of the documentary), renowned Chicano/Chicana Literature critic Juan Bruce Novoa (UC Irvine), Prof. Ramona Curry (UIUC Women's Studies and Cinema Studies), Prof. Dara Goldman (UIUC Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese), and Prof. Rolando J. Romero (UIUC Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese and Latina/Latino Studies). Prof. Romero served as the chief academic consultant for the project. The panel was designed with pedagogical issues in mind, and classes were welcome.
"Indigenous Always" was also shown during the opening night of the Chicago Latino Film Festival and on Wisconsin Public Television.
For further information, please contact Prof. Romero or Amanda Harris Fonseca at the Department of Spanish, Italian & Portuguese, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (217) 333-9487.
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Special Issue
Co-habiting America: native Americans and Euroamericans in the Nineteenth CenturyATQ announces a special issue that focuses on the junctures between Euroamerican and native American cultures in nineteenth century America. From the popularity of James E. Seaver's "A Narrative of the Life of Mrs./. Mary Jemicon" to Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows that traveled to Midwestern and Eastern towns and cities from the early 1880s until 1916, native Americans appear as prominent subjects that inform a crucial discourse that addresses cultural differences. more often than not, of course, Euroamerican sources project romanticized stereotypes about the first inhabitants: indian images permeate major literary texts, popular literature, magazines and newspapers, anthropological and ethnographic writings, religious tracts, art and photography. In addition, Native American writers such as Alex Posey or mourning Dove wrote about their own experiences that sometimes contest Euroamerican perceptions, or, at other times, further complicate Indian subjectivity. We are interested in examining the convergence(s) and/or intersection(s) between native American and Euroamerican cultures, including essays that contribute to current native American scholarship on the issues of cohabiting America, co-inventing, or co-opting nineteenth century Indian subjectivity.
Along with examining the prevailing literary and popular texts of the nineteenth century, essays might explore such matters as the role of anthropology in defining native peoples; tribal identities and the establishment of blood quantum; the emergence of tourism in the late 1890s and Indian representation; assimilation and governmental Indian policies; and intermarriage and the concept of miscegenation. The specific issue of ATQ is not restricted to discussions of America and its native populations; textual borders may be extended to Canada and Mexico and their peoples. For this special issue, ATQ will have the capacity to reproduce images. We encourage interdisciplinary approaches to the proposed subject and hope to hear from scholars in a variety of fields and disciplines including native American studies, history, visual studies, sociology, verbal arts, and anthropology.
Please submit manuscripts (3,000 to 7,5000 words, following MLA Handbook) by January 15, 2001. All submissions must be accompanied by sufficient return postage.
Address manuscripts or inquiries to:
Dr. Alexia Kosmider
ATQ Special Issue Editor
Department of English
The University of Rhode Island
60 Upper College Road, Suite 2
Kingston, RI 02881~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK REVIEWS
AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERARY CRITICISM, 1773 to 2000
Hazel Arnett Ervin, Editor
August 1999, ISBN 0-8057-1683-1A groundbreaking anthology of African American literary criticism and theory.
What is African American literature? Who shall judge it, and by what criteria shall it be judged? In AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERARY CRITICISM, 1773 to 2000, Hazel Arnett Ervin has assembled 60 critical statements that address these questions, including public addresses, literary manifestoes, letters, journal entries, interviews, reviews, and analytical studies by authors such as W.E.B. DuBois, Charles Chesnutt, Langston Hughes, Ann Petry, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alice Walker, and many others.
Special features encourage critical reading and thinking:
* An insightful Introduction raises aesthetic and theoretical issues that run as a theme throughout the book
* The continuity of African American literary criticism is presented in four stages
* Each entry is preceded by a short headnote annotating the author's thesis
* A list of sources for further reading follows each entry
* An original historical and bibliographic chronology places publications and events into context
* an Index
A Resource for all readers:
* Public libraries with collections in African American literature, literary criticism, and African American culture
* College libraries serving students and teachers of African American literature, history, women's studies politics, and black culture
* Teachers and students of African American literary criticism African American literature, African American Studies, literary criticism, genre, and subject courses
ORDERING ADDRESS:
Macmillan Library Reference USA/Gale Group
P.O. Box 9187/Farmington Hills, MI 48333-9187~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Batya Weinbaum's Islands of Women and Amazons: Representations and Realities, is now available from University of Texas Press in Austin, pub date Dec. 99.
Originally written as a dissertation at UMass Amherst in the interdisciplinary American Studies Program in the Department of English, the book is a trans-historical cross-cultural pursuit of the theme and image of islands of women anad Amazons, begining with reclamation in contemporary popular culture and then tracing origins back to Greek and pre-Greek mythology. The last third of the books is an ethnography of Isla Mujeres, MX, tracing the theme into contemporary life of Maya women as impacted by commercialization of the theme for tourism. Includes field photographs.
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MELUS 2000 ABSTRACTS
Selected Panels and Papers from MELUS 2000Participants have submitted the following summaries of panels or of individual papers from MELUS 2000 in New Orleans. Thank you for your contributions.
Panel B-5: "Enjoyment and Social Justice" (Joanna Marshall, Hena Ahmad, Wenying Xu; Truman State University), Thursday, 9 March, 2:45 p. m. Zizek argues that ethnic groups organize their enjoyment through social practices that materialize their "way of life." This panel politicizes enjoyment by relating it to social justice.
Papers: "Social Justice and the Enjoyment of Freedom: On Vacationing in the Caribbean" (Marshall): The "freedom" that tourists enjoy is also materialized in a set of social practices. Tensions manifest when tourists fear social justice as a "theft of enjoyment."
"Immigrant Enjoyment and Social Justice: A Look at Bharati Mukherjee's _Jasmine_" (Ahmad): Mukherjee affirms her enjoyment, as an immigrant assimilated to middle-class American ways, by depicting Jasmine's assimilation as social justice and robbing Jasmine of Punjab enjoyment.
"Sticky Rice Balls or Lemon Pie?: Enjoyment and Ethnic Identities in _No-No Boy_ and _Obasan_" (Xu): While exposing the social injustice of internment, Okada expresses his unease with Japanese forms of enjoyment. Kogawa resists abjection; Naomi moves from repression to knowledge by embracing deeply maternal enjoyment.
Contributor: Joanna Marshall <jobmarsh@aol.com>
Panel: "Fighting Words: Perspectives from Asian American and Chicano/a Fronts," Friday, 10 March, 8:30 a. m. This panel addresses concerns about the complex relationship between literary production and social justice.
Papers: Rowena Tamaneng Matsunari's "Writing for Social Change: Drama and Asian American Women" explores the ways in which dramas by Asian American women challenge the silencing of Asian Americans by Orientalist Media stereotypes. Karen Chow studies the vernacular presses as alternative means to disseminate cultural experiences in "Asian Vernacular Publications and Independent 'Zines 1940-99." Angela Noelle Williams's "Parody as a Vehicle for Social Change: Spirituality and Motherhood in Ana Castilo's' So Far from God," examines the ways in which Castilo and the real-life Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo use motherhood and their Catholic faith as a means for disseminating political messages. Alma Rosa Alverez's "John Rechy's Sexual Outlaw and Rushes: Rebellion Outside the Zones of Privacy" discusses how homosexuals rebel in public ways that question the legality of public/private separations in John Rechy's works.
Contributor and chair: Eileen Chia-Ching Fung <fung@usfca.edu>
Panel: "Internment." Friday, 10 March, 8:30 a. m.
Paper: "Remembrance and Social Justice: Learning from Joy Kogawa's _Obasan_." Drawing upon psychoanalysis and the writings of Emmanuel Levinas, this paper examined the pedagogical structure of Kogawa's narrative, specifically the remembrance-learning of its protagonist, Naomi Nakane.
Contributor: Claudia Eppert <eppert@lsu.edu>
Panel E-6: "Literary Violence/Legal Violence." Friday, 10 March, 10:15 a. m.
Paper: "Saving the Salmon, Saving the People." Salmon is a narrative permeating Nez Perce culture. Tribal literatures nourish the preservation of endangered salmon through an ethic called "pity." Because loss of the salmon violates treaty rights, the salmon may test the U.S.'s integrity regarding Indian tribes.
Contributor: Janis A. Johnson <jjohnso2@mailhost.tcs.tulane>
Panel F- 3: "Racializing Crime/Criminalizing Race." Friday, 10 March, 1:00 p. m.
Paper: "Italian Gangsters as American Tricksters: A 20th Century Fix" This paper proposes that the Italian gangster can be read as a "trickster" of the American social justice system. As the real gangsters of yesterday recede into the history books, their figures are resurrected by the arts, and as the real gangsters die, the mythic gangsters take over and serve a purpose we can liken to that of the trickster. This paper explores the role the gangster has played in American culture since its arrival in the 1930s in Little Caesar and its various reincarnations in the writings of Italian Americans from Mario Puzo's The Godfather to David Chase's "The Sopranos."
Contributor: Fred Gardaphe <FGar@aol.com>
Panel: H-3, Saturday, 10 March.
Paper: "Becoming Americans: Literary Representations of Immigration by Meena Alexander" In multiple genres, Alexander depicts South Asian women's immigration neither as assimilation to the "new world" nor as maintenance of "old world" traditions but as a process of coming to voice through the active embrace of hybridity.
Contributor: anupama jain <ajain@facstaff.wisc.edu>
Panel: "Social Justice, Identity, and War in Asian American Literature: Weapons of Womanhood" organized by Samina Najmi of Wheaton College.
Paper: "Gender and War in the Fiction of Onoto Watanna." My paper concerned the third novel of the first Asian American novelist, Winnifred Eaton (a.k.a. Onoto Watanna): The Wooing of Wisteria (Harper & Bros. 1902). This was Eaton's first novel to eliminate the infantilized pidgin English dialect that proved so successful for her in the American publishing market. It was also the first to use an all-Japanese cast, thereby eliminating the patriarchal Western gaze foregrounded in her first two novels. Eaton effectively used the Perry expedition of 1854 as her setting for an anti-Western hero who overturned stereotypes of the feminized Orient and the yellow peril. Her heroine cross-dresses as a soldier throughout most of the novel and thus participates in the central political battle of the 19th century for Japan.
Contributor: Maureen Honey <mhoney@unlserve.unl.edu>
Panel: Social Justice in a Global Perspective
Paper: "Imagining Canada: Mary A. Shadd, Susanna Moodie, and the Spectre of Lynching." Reading two settler's guides from 1852 against each other, I examined how a lynching in Moodie's text draws attention to the practices Shadd employs in constructing Canada as a safe haven for African Americans in the wake of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law.
Contributor: Jennifer Harris, York University, Toronto
Panel: Culture and the Social Text I
Paper: "The 'Pride and Passion' of Race and Gender in 1822: A Dramatic Sketch by Caroline Bowles." Bowles's miscegenation tragedy illuminates the deleterious effects of British West Indies colonialism on a British soldier, his English fiancee, and his Jamaican mistress, a slave.
Contributor: Kathleen Hickok <khickok@iastate.edu>
Paper: "Silko, Hogan, and the Loss of the Landscape" In their both their fiction and nonfiction works, Leslie Marmon Silko and Linda Hogan explore the profound spiritual connection between Native peoples and the physical landscape and the profound spiritual loss when that landscape is damaged, altered, or obliterated, a loss which is much more than that of the mere loss of territory or property. The claims Hogan and Silko make about this spiritual connection between the land and peoples in their nonfiction texts--_Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World_ and _Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit_, respectively-- lead to a richer reading of their novels _Solar Storms_ and _Ceremony_, readings in which the central characters are not merely the characters Angel and Tayo, respectively, but the landscapes they seek to repair, recover, and maintain. Certainly, the protagonists work towards their own self-recoveries, but, more importantly, they attempt to recognize and this spiritual connection between the landscape and themselves and between the landscapes and their people.
Contributor: John Kalb <jdkalb@ssu.edu>
Panel: "Toni Morrison II: Figuring History: Figuring Diaspora"
Papers: "'Be(ware) [?] the Furrow of His Brow': Deconstructive Figurations of Diaspora in Toni Morrison's _Paradise_," Balance T. P. Chow, San Jose State University; 'Reconstructing Paradise: The Novel and the Myth," Aiping Zhang, California State University (Chico); "'Hair Enough for Five Heads and Good Hands': Morrison's Use of Race and Class in _Beloved_," Lea A. Davis, University of Alabama; "Memory, Revision, and (Re) Writing History in Toni Morrison's _Beloved_," Carmine Esposito, University of Connecticut.
The lively discussion focused on Morrison's complex (de)construction of history and memory, as well as the intricate web of representation of class, race and gender. The often under-theorized category of class, as reflected in Ruby's townsfolk in Paradise and the positive portrayal of Amy, representing the white lower class in Beloved, were explored.
Contributor and chair: Dorothea Fischer-Hornung, University of Heidelberg. <Mellenadams@cs.com>
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POSITION VACANCIES
Coordinator, Chicano/a Student Academic Services
University of Wisconsin-MadisonLocation: The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a world-class teaching and research institution consistently ranked among the nation's best universities. The campus and city of 204,000 residents are located among four lakes, numerous parks, and a 1,300 acre arboretum. Wisconsin's capital, Madison, is located 90 minutes from Milwaukee, and less than three hours from Chicago.
General Objectives of the Chicano/a Student Academic Services Program and the Office of Student Academic Affairs: Housed in the College of Letters and Science's Office of Student Academic Affairs, the Chicano/a Student Academic Services Program addresses the social, cultural and academic needs of Chicano/a students. Among its primary objectives are assisting incoming students with the transition to college, providing a "welcoming" experience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and advising and referral services for incoming, transfer, and continuing Chicano/a students. In addition to collaborating with the Chicano/a Studies Program, multicultural academic programs, and the UW-Admissions Office to attract and retain students of color, Chicano/a Student Academic Services also helps maintain ongoing communication with communities throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest as well as nationally.
The general objectives of the Office of Student Academic Affairs (SAA) include: assisting students in realizing their human promise as citizens of a global community; preserving the integrity of an L&S degree by interpreting and implementing faculty policies; providing services, information, and support to students, faculty, staff, and other constituencies engaged in educational programs, policies, and outreach; and, assisting campus-wide efforts to integrate diverse voices into the University community in order to offer a welcoming, supportive, and responsive campus climate.
Educational Qualifications: Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree in higher education, counseling, advising or related area is preferred. Fluency in Spanish required to communicate with bilingual service population.
General Description:
Specific Responsibilities:Three-years demonstrated experience working with students in a higher education or equivalent setting and a demonstrated knowledge of issues affecting Chicano/a students in higher education are required; Ability to work collaboratively and with diverse constituencies in exchanging information and creating strong working relationships; Well-developed communication skills (written, oral, electronic) are essential. Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of linguistic, gender, and cultural issues affecting Chicano/a students in transnational communities. Position Availability, Salary, and Application Procedures: This position is full-time and is available October 30, 2000. Salary level is dependent on qualifications with a minimum salary of $33,906. The deadline for applications and nominations is June 30, 2000. Applications and nominations should be submitted to:Contact freshmen and other newly admitted Chicano/a students to welcome them to the University and to serve as a personal point of reference for them and their families; Help resolve problems when appropriate. Provide basic academic advising at both the South Hall location and the Chicano/a Studies Program facilities and refer students to appropriate offices for more specialized advising services; Work with University student support units, the Chicano/a Studies Program and community resources in developing effective response mechanisms and programs that are sensitive to the needs of Chicano/a students; Establish and maintain ongoing relationship with the Chicano/a student organizations. Assist in the coordination of sponsored events and activities; Develop a working network of faculty, academic advisors, and Minority/Disadvantaged Coordinators in all schools and colleges to assist in the transition of Chicano/a students on campus, to support their success and identify areas of improvement; Work closely and coordinate with the Admissions Office's campus visits for prospective Chicano/a students; Establish and maintain direct contact with newly admitted, transfer, and continuing students to help access campus and community resources; Establish and maintain contact with institutional offices and programs serving Chicano/a students (i.e., Office of Admissions, Office of Student Financial services, Chicano/a Studies Programs, SCE, AAP, TRIO); Maintain records, submit written reports, process referral forms, draft memoranda and proposals, and write letters as needed; Assess service functionality annually; Participate fully in Office of Student Academic Affairs (SAA) staff development programs, efforts to evaluate and improve academic support programs for students, and appropriate SAA meetings; Schedule some evening and weekend appointments and meetings as necessary. Betty Brattrud, Search and Screen Coordinator
University of Wisconsin-Madison
College of Letters and Science
B12 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 262-4852; (608) 262-2644
E-mail: brattrud@facstaff.wisc.edu
Fax #: 608/262-5093Applications should include a statement of interest in the position, a resume, and three letters of reference. Questions may be directed to Betty Brattrud at
(608) 262-4852.Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, information regarding applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. PVL# 36895
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