Welcome to the Winter 1999
edition of NewsNotes
MLA Preview Issue
In this issue:
- Welcome
- A message from the
President, John Lowe
- A letter from the MELUS
Journal Editor, Veronica Makowsky
- MELUS Announcements
& Abstracts
- MELUS Sessions at MLA
- Calls for Papers or
Proposals
- MELUS-L
We hope that
you enjoy our MLA preview issue! Besides two fascinating MELUS panels,
MLA provides the occasion for our annual banquet, where Sandra Cisneros
will read from her works, and Professor Raymund Paredes of UCLA will receive
the MELUS Award for Achievement in Ethnic Literary Criticism. Read on for
details about reservations and for some of the paper abstracts from the
MELUS sessions.
Our next deadline
for NewsNotes submissions will be 15 March, 2000, which will give
you all time to compose responses to the MELUS Annual Conference, to be
held in New Orleans earlier that month. We hope to include more graphics
in our future issues, and we'll be happy to receive any photos from the
conference that you might wish us to publish (all photos will be returned).
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.
Detailed submission
information is available on our Calls for Submissions
link. 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.
In This Issue
of NewsNotes
Winter 1999
A Message from
the President
By John
Lowe, Louisiana State University
Our current MELUS Century is ending with a flurry of activity, as we say
farewell to past officers and coordinators, and welcome in new ones; plan
for the exciting MELUS Conference hosted by Tulane University in March;
and work together with MELUS Europe and MELUS India to help facilitate
the upcoming conferences in Orleans (June) and Hyderabad (January), respectively.
We have elections in February too! These are only a few of the things being
concluded as we look ahead to MELUS and the study of ethnicity in the new
century.
So here are a few remarks on all these events. First and foremost, let
me send a MELUS family embrace out to Richard Tuerk, who pioneered and
implemented our wonderfully helpful MELUS listserv. Every day brings new
uses, new conversations, new friends into the MELUS orbit, and much of
the most important MELUS work in the coming years will be on this worldwide
e-mail screen. Richard has exercised savvy, industry, and great tact in
ironing out the correct procedures for our list, and has shaped it into
a fascinating, informative, and thought-provoking forum, one that has supplemented
the journal and our now online NEWSNOTES in unexpected ways. Add
this important contribution to Rich's others over the years--he was an
energetic MELUS President, for instance --and you'll have a model of dedicated
MELUS service. Thank you, Rich, for all you've done, and for the inspiration
that your scholarly and teaching career continues to provide.
Simultaneously, we want to thank the new MELUS listserv editor, Stephen
Souris, who teaches down the road from Rich at Texas Women's University,
for taking on this important role for MELUS. Stephen, who consulted closely
with Rich to make sure the transition would be smooth, also saw to it that
all the nuts and bolts were in place at his institution before switching
over from A&M Commerce; we are confident that the meditative and meticulous
work he did while planning implementation is an augur of good things to
come. Welcome, Stephen!
Our next scheduled marquee events will be the MELUS sessions at MLA. Mark
your calendar: our session, "Teaching Ethnic Working-Class Literature"
takes the stage under the direction of Cheng Lok Chua at 5:15, Monday,
December 27 (Addams Room, Hyatt Regency). Our second session, chaired by
Mary Young, will be "Comparative Approaches to Margaret Walker and Gwendolyn
Brooks"; catch it from 12:00 noon to 1:15 (Addams, Hyatt Regency), on Wednesday,
December 29. Perhaps the most joyous event, however, will be the MELUS
MLA Banquet, which will be held at Roditys Restaurant (Greek food), Halstead
Street, on December 28 at 6:00. We will present the MELUS Award for Lifetime
Achievement in Ethnic Literary Scholarship at the dinner, and I am thrilled
to announce that we have just engaged the celebrated writer Sandra Cisneros
as our reader. Please book your reservation for this event immediately,
using the information in this edition of NEWSNOTES; places are sure
to be limited!
I am excited, too, to be the Keynote Speaker at the Second Annual MELUS
India Conference, which will be held January in Hyderabad. Many thanks
to Professor Manju Jaidka for spearheading this stellar event; MELUS Editor
Veronica Makowsky and former MELUS President Amritjit Singh will also be
on hand, along with an international set of panelists and speakers. June
brings the second MELUS Europe conference in Orleans; we must all be grateful
to Dominque Marcais for carrying on the splendid tradition begun two years
ago in Heidelburg by the amazing and tireless Heike Raphael and Dorothea
Fischer-Hornung. Since that exciting event, membership in MELUS Europe
has been rising and plans are underway to spread the faith in many
fascinating
new ways. Certainly the new century will bring new links with our international
colleagues, especially as units open up in Japan, South America, and other
venues.
As I write this, the Nominating Committee (Sally Ann Ferguson/Chair; Jim
Payne; Marco Portales) continues its important work of planning the February
elections. Please send them your name or those of others for their consideration;
MELUS cannot continue to thrive in the new century without vital, engaged
leadership. We hope to field strong candidates for every position, and
we need your help. New officers, as is traditional, will take over from
the preceding cast at the annual conference in New Orleans.
Finally, remember that the Executive Committee will as usual convene at
MLA; if you have any issues you would like us to consider, please send
word of that to me for placement on the agenda. I can't close without also
asking that you do your best to sign up your colleagues, friends, and graduate
students as new MELUS members--the success of our colleagues in Europe
and India should inspire us to new efforts at home, yes?
A Letter from
Veronica Makowsky, Editor of MELUS
Dear MELUS Member:
We are writing today to remind you of your membership renewal and to update
you on the progress of the journal. As
you may
be aware, the editorship of the journal has moved from the University of
Massachusetts to the University of Connecticut. Due to Joseph Skerrett's
heart surgery (from which he has fully recovered), there has been a delay
in the production of the 1999 issues. The 1999 volume (four issues)
will be issued by the University of Massachusetts; the 2000 volume (four
issues) will come from the University of Connecticut. The two volumes
will be published concurrently. If your mailing address has changed,
please let us know so that you will not miss any issues. In order to receive
the 2000 issues, you should renew your membership by writing to Prof. Arlene
A. Elder, Treasurer, MELUS, Department of English, University of
Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221. The Calendar year membership dues are:
regular, $40.00; students and retirees, $20; outside U.S.A., $50.00.
Lifetime Membership: $350.00, payable in full or over a 3-year period.
Please make your check out to MELUS.
When you
send in your renewal, please give your name, address, phone, and fax numbers,
email address, institutional affiliation (if any), and list of special
interests within ethnic literature.
The Book Review editorship has also moved to the University of Connecticut,
with Karen Chow and Robert Tilton sharing
editorial
duties. At the University of Connecticut editorial offices, we have
lists on Access of all the scheduled essays and reviews. If you have
a question about the status of your review or essay, please feel free to
call or to email and we will respond
promptly.
Also, we are happy to announce that the editor of NewsNotes is Katharine
Rodier at Marshall University. NewsNotes is now published online.
You may subscribe on its website: http://www.marshall.edu/melus/.
If members would like alternative publication information, please contact
Professor Rodier directly by email rodier@marshall.edu.
The website also contains information about how to submit items to NewsNotes
electronically.
If you are publishing a book or journal, please ask your publisher to contact
us for the purchase or exchange of an
advertisement
in MELUS.
Please excuse any problems with the many transitions, and be assured that
the University of Connecticut office has production matters under control
and can respond to your queries promptly.
Thank you for your patience in this transition. I look forward to
seeing everyone at our conference in New Orleans!
With best wishes,
Veronica Makowsky
MELUS
University of Connecticut
English Department, U-1025
Storrs, CT 06269
melus@uconnvm.uconn.edu
MELUS Announcements
& Abstracts
MELUS Banquet
Our annual banquet will take place at Roditys Restaurant (Greek food, in
Greek town), 222 S. Halstead, Chicago, at 6:00, Tuesday, December 28, 1999.
We are delighted to announce that celebrated author Sandra Cisneros will
join us on this occasion to read from her works. In addition, Professor
Raymund Paredes of UCLA will receive the MELUS Award for Achievement in
Ethnic Literary Criticism. Please make arrangements to attend this much-anticipated
event (see below).
-
According to
current plans, the MELUS Executive Board meeting will precede the banquet
at 4:30 at the same location.
-
Roditys has
offered a choice of two menus:
-
soup, salad,
saganagi, broiled octopus, fried squid (calamari), broiled orange roughy
or white fish w/ rice or potatoes, wine, coffee and house dessert - $26.00
-
soup, salad,
saganagi, gyros, tzantziki, 2 lamb chops, w/rice or potatoes, wine, coffee
and house dessert - $32.00
-
The price includes
tip and tax. Bar orders will be extra. For reservations, contact Arlene
Elder, Department of English and Comp Lit, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati
OH 45221, [elder2@fuse.net.]
MELUS SESSIONS
AT MLA:
-
Please note
the error in MLA's Listing of MELUS Session #1 in the November PMLA,
"Teaching Ethnic Working Class Literature." The PMLA only lists two papers
whereas three are actually scheduled. The three papers are as follows:
-
"The Workings
of Cultural and Economic Capital in the Trials of Maria Barbella," Cheri
Louise Ross, Penn. State University, Harrisburg.
-
"Hard Work:
Re-membering African American Working Class Literature," Bill Mullen, Youngstown
State University.
-
"Teaching Ethnic
Working-Class Literature to Non-Working-Class Students," James Earl Messer,
Ohio University.
-
The session
is scheduled from 5:15-6:30 p. m. on Monday, 27 December 1999, Addams,
Hyatt Regency. Presiding will be C. Lok Chua of California State University,
Fresno.
Abstracts:
"The 'Workings'
of Cultural and Economic Capital in The Trials of Maria Barbella,"
Cheri Louise Ross, Penn. State University, Harrisburg
-
In 1895, Maria
Barbella, an Italian immigrant working as a seamstress in New York, slit
the throat of the man who had drugged her wine, seduced her, and then refused
to marry her. Convicted in her initial trial and sentenced to be the first
woman to die in the electric chair, she is imprisoned on death row while
her conviction is appealed. After two more trials, she is set free. Her
case became a 'cause celebre,' receiving as much attention in the media
of the times as the O. J. Simpson or Rodney King cases received a century
later. (For instance, some newspapers printed three "Extras" per day on
the story.)
-
My students
find the text irresistible; teaching The Trials of Maria Barbella provides
rich opportunities to introduce students to working class literature, as
well as a variety of other topics within that genre. These include the
immigrant experience, conflict between Old World and New World social codes
and cultures, the status of women, the judicial and prison systems, among
others. Class issues permeate every page of the text, and, drawing on Pierre
Bourdieu's theories of cultural and economic capital, as well as symbolic
capital and symbolic violence, I introduce my upper division and graduate
students to these theories as they illuminate the text. I also include
an application of the concepts of hyperreality when we discuss the media
of the times' distortion of many elements of the case, figuring working-class
Maria and her family as "barbarians" and "mental defectives," as the press
dubbed them.
-
My teaching
of the text revolves around class discussion, with mini-lectures interspersed
at appropriate times. Students also give oral reports on topics that arise
in the book but need further explanation, providing background in areas
with which they are unfamiliar. Most of my students are white, first-generation
college students (as I was) who have little idea of the conditions their
ancestors endured when they arrived at Ellis Island and attempted to learn
a new language, find work, and a place to live. This book therefore sparks
their interest in their own heritage. Many times my students report that
they have shared this book with a family member, or that our discussions
have led them to ask questions of their older family members. At Penn State-
Harrisburg, students have the opportunity to take courses in African American,
Asian American, Chicano/a, Jewish, and Native American literature, as well
as to read a variety of ethnic literature in American literature classes.
However, many times, The Trials of Maria Barbella is their first
experience with ethnic working class literature that falls outside of the
literatures mentioned above. In my paper, I will also discuss ways in which
this text can serve as a touchstone for comparing and contrasting the working
class ethnic novels of the cultural groups above.
"Hard Work:
Re-membering African American Working Class Literature," Bill Mullen,
Associate Professor of English, Youngstown State University
-
This paper will
present strategies for rethinking the vital presence of working-class literature
in the African American tradition. It will include recommendations and
rationales for classroom practices towards the teaching of African American
working class literature. It also will present texts and criticism for
possible inclusion in a course on African American Working Class Literature.
The paper intends to demonstrate the centrality of work, class, and 'working
class' life and ideas to African American literature.
MELUS Session
#2:
"Comaparative
Approaches to Margaret Walker and Gwendolyn Brooks." The session is scheduled
from 12:00-1:15, Wednesday, December 29, Addams, Hyatt Regency.
Presiding will be Mary Young, Berea College, who writes: Gwendolyn Brooks
(1917 - ) is a Chicago poet of extraordinary talent and success. In 1949
she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her collection of poetry, Annie
Allen. In 1968 she was named Poet Laureate of Illinois. Margaret Walker
is a Chicago novelist (Jubilee, a neo-slave narrative) and poet
(For My People). Her writings celebrate everyday black life. In
1998 she was inducted into the African American Literary Hall of Fame.
"The Blues
Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks," Reginald Scott Young, Wheaton College
Abstracts
from Other Panelists:
"A Point
of Departure: Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker, and the Racial Uncanny,
1945-1955," Michael Bibby, Shippensburg University
-
The decade immediately
following World War II occasioned a sense of optimism among many black
writers, and many argued for a new vision of African-American literature
commensurate with the coming new age. The Symposium on the Negro Writer,
featured in the Winter 1950 issue of Phylon, articulated one of
the most comprehensive reassessments by black writers and critics of the
literary field. Saunders Redding analyzed the contemporary scene for black
literature and attempted to map its future in the postwar era. A dominant
question animating these articles is What is Negro Literature? In stark
contrast to the race-assertiveness of the New Negro Renaissance, the essays
in this symposium argued repeatedly that Negro literature simply did not
exist and that race and race consciousness should be irrelevant to literature.
Margaret Walker's article in the symposium celebrated contemporary poets
for whom "[r]ace is rather used as a point of departure toward a global
point of view than as the central theme of one obsessed by race.... The
new poetry has universal appeal coupled with...the return to form." Walker's
praise of a "return to form" mirrored the dominant New Critical attitudes
of white reviewers as well as many black critics rejections of experiments
in black vernacular.
-
Despite the
arguments against race consciousness in black poetics of the mid-century,
poets such as Walker and Brooks were most often praised by white critics
precisely for writing about their race. At the same time, the success of
Walker and Brooks in black literary criticism often stemmed from their
use of canonized verse forms. For Walker, it was in her use of Whitmanesque
poetics, while in Brooks it was the deft handling of traditional Anglo-european
forms, such as the sonnet. Ironically, white critics, despite the influence
of New Criticism and formalism, tended to focus on content in Brooks and
Walker, while black critics tended to focus on form. These tensions between
form and content in early postwar poetics were implicitly racialized and
reiterated prevailing racial discourses of the culture. While race was
often viewed as an obsession, something to get beyond, it nonetheless tangibly
circumscribed the reception of black poets in the mid-century.
-
My paper will
investigate the ways in which the argument against race consciousness in
poetry articulated by African-American writers registered the traces of
a racial uncanny haunting early postwar American culture. I focus on the
critical reception of Walker's For My People, Brooks's A Street
in Bronzeville and Annie Allen, the poems in these books, and
critical statements presented in the 1950 Phylon symposium. I draw
connections between the discourses of postwar black writers and a modernist
racial ideology, which historian Peggy Pascoe has defined as "the single,
powerfully persuasive belief that the eradication of racism depends on
the deliberate nonrecognition of race." Consistent with this ideology,
Brooks and Walker, I argue, viewed "race" as an outmoded concept, implicitly
pathological to the advancement of black poetics; yet at the same time
"race" occupies a central concern in their poetry. Race haunts the margins
of their poetics as its uncanny, its unheimlich, the strange familiar,
the known that is not known, the chronic reminder of difference impinging
on the possibilities for African-American expression in the early postwar
era. The "nonrecognition" of race warranted by postwar modernist racial
ideology was haunted by the concrete facts that despite New Deal politics,
World War II's triumph against racism, and growing optimism for civil rights,
the intensification of Jim Crow in the South, and the hate strikes and
massive resistance to housing integration in the North during the mid-century
made it clear that race maintained a strong hold on American life.
-
I will show
how the poetics of Brooks and Walker registered the unsettling presence
of something which, as Freud wrote, "ought to have remained . . . secret
and hidden but has come to light": the chronic persistence of "race" as
a primal force in American social life.
"TransFORMative
Forms: Political Aesthetics in the Sonnets and Ballads of Gwendolyn Brooks
and Margaret Walker," Adrienne McCormick, SUNY Fredonia.
-
Gwendolyn Brooks
has been writing poems for six decades. Over that time, she has transformed
her aesthetic practices and political views in profound ways. Book reviews
and critical responses to Brooks's work across the decades tell a complex
story about the relationship between poetic form and political subject
matter. To put it in the simplest terms, Brooks's early work has always
been approached as aesthetically accomplished, due in no small part to
her frequent use of traditional forms such as the sonnet, sonnet sequence,
and ballad. But in terms of political accomplishment and commitment, it
was not until after her exposure to the Black Arts Movement, when she began
writing less in traditional forms and more in free verse and organic forms,
that she began to be seen as a politically important poet, and consequently,
as no longer aesthetically accomplished. The poetry mainstream marked (and
continues to mark) that shift as a turning point from writing aesthetically
accomplished work to producing politically obligated poetry that is therefore
compromised as "good" art. Many practitioners of the Black Arts Movement,
on the other hand, viewed her early work as too concerned with aesthetics
and traditional forms, and as therefore compromised as a political art.
While these are generalizations, it is indeed true that to this day, interviews
of and critical works on Brooks continue to separate her career into these
contradictory categories which suggest that aesthetic and political concerns
are antithetical. Against such categorizations, I read the aesthetic and
political practices of Brooks as continuous throughout her career though
constantly transforming and transformed. By analyzing several of her sonnets,
ballads, and other poems, I argue that Brooks produces politically astute
and aesthetically accomplished poetry throughout her career, and that different
historical contexts must be taken into consideration whenever valuing how
a poet combines aesthetic and political concerns. I expand upon my reading
of Brooks's aesthetic and political practices by comparing her use and
transformation of traditional forms and aesthetic practices to those of
Margaret Walker. Like Brooks, Walker published poetry over six decades,
and has a large number of sonnets and ballads to her credit. Through a
close reading of several of these sonnets and ballads by Brooks and Walker,
I argue that the poetry exposes overly simplistic understandings of both
aesthetics in the poetry of the Black Arts Movement and politics in traditional
"aesthetically concerned" poetry. Traditional forms and aesthetic concerns
are in no way antithetical to the political concerns of any poet, and especially
not to Walker and Brooks, whose poems have explored issues of racism, sexism,
poverty, and violence throughout their careers.
I begin
by analyzing the use of traditional metrical patterns in "A Song in the
Front Yard," published 1945, and comparing them to the use of modified
metrical patterns in the closing stanzas of "In the Mecca," Brooks' first
post-Black Arts poem published in 1968. Both utilize complex aesthetic
practices and produce complex political critiques of the institutions of
racism and sexism. Next, I contrast several of Brooks' and Walker's sonnets,
to show how the form is not limiting to the poets in any way, but how,
through its transformation, the sonnet provides a location for the production
of a significant political art. Finally, I contrast Brooks' early ballad
forms, and her modification of the ballad stanza in "A Boy Died in My Alley,"
published 1975, with Walker's use of the ballad form throughout her career.
Both poets use ballads to tell stories of political import, while also
crafting aesthetically sophisticated poems.
Remembering
Amy Ling
-
We have had
many happy moments together in MELUS, but surely one of the best occurred
in Toronto two years ago when a glowing Amy Ling received our award for
distinguished scholarship on ethnic literature. We all knew Amy was ill,
but you'd never have known it that night. She charmed us with her funny,
touching, and eloquent acceptance speech, which she flawlessly delivered
without note one. Her family was there too, beaming with pride, along with
all of us in the audience-- her MELUS family. Amy was a very special person
who surmounted difficulties that would daunt anyone else-- and along the
way, she contributed vital, pioneering work in her field that will be of
great use for decades to come; gave stellar service to MELUS and many other
organizations; and became a revered teacher at every institution she served.
I cherish my memories of Amy, and will always think of her as an ideal
example of committed, compassionate service to others.
-
--John Lowe
Amy Ling,
friend and colleague
-
Amy Ling, our
friend, colleague, and an editor of the Heath Anthology of American
Literature, died on August 21 in Madison, Wisconsin, after a long battle
with cancer.
-
Amy was one
of the real pioneers in the movement to reconstruct the literary canon
and thus our understanding of what was socially and culturally significant
in this country. She was among the very first scholars to focus study and
teaching on the writing of Asian-Americans, beginning at a time when few
in our profession recognized that work as indispensable to the full picture
of life and letters in the United States. Indeed, for a time, Amy found
it impossible to get a regular job because the field she had chosen was
viewed as "marginal!"
-
Her initial
concentration as a critic was on the work of the Winnifred and Edith Eaton
(Onoto Watanna and Sui Sin Far), two nineteenth-century authors who were
the first of Chinese ancestry to publish fiction in the U.S. Research into
the Eaton sisters' writings and into the family's history projected Amy
into a then-new and exhilarating world of scholarship and personal involvement.
She brought to this field not only a gentle yet steadfast determination
but also the insights of a poet and painter, beautifully illustrated in
her chapbook, Chinamerica Reflections.
-
In time she
would write about many Asian-American authors, mainly women like the Eatons,
Chuang Hua, Maxine Hong Kingston, Diana Chang, and Han Suyin, among others.
Her work developed into a number of books: Between Worlds: Women Writers
of Chinese Ancestry; Reading the Literatures of Asian America,
which she edited with Shirley Geok-lin Lim; two collections co-edited with
Wesley Brown, Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land,
and Visions of America: Personal Narratives from the Promised Land;
a volume co-edited with Annette White-Parks, Mrs. Spring Fragrance and
Other Collected Writings of Sui Sin Far, among other works. She had
recently completed Yellow Light: The Flowering of Asian American Arts,
a set of interviews with Asian-American writers, filmmakers, performance
artists, and musicians, and she was working on a cultural study of Madame
Butterfly at the time of her death.
-
She had taught
at Queens, Rutgers, City College of New York, Georgetown, Harvard, and
Trinity, among other places, before becoming director of Asian-American
Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
-
But no list
of articles and books, no cv, can capture the spirit that Amy brought to
her work and to her friendships. Some years ago, some of us traveled with
her to the then-Soviet Union to participate in a conference at the A. M.
Gorky Institute of World Literature on American ethnic writing. Exploring
the streets and subways of Moscow, finding presents in out-of-the-way shops,
trying to understand how Russia's multicultural world weirdly differed
from yet paralleled our own, checking out revolutionary sites and Romanov
palaces in St. Petersburg, Amy's energy and irony kept us fresh. She is
remembered fondly and now with great sadness by her Moscow colleagues.
She brought those virtues of vivacity, determination, and wit to the editorial
board of the Heath Anthology, as well, establishing herself from
the outset as a collaborator and comrade whom one could absolutely depend
upon for getting the work done and for keeping us out of the ruts into
which projects can fall. "The memory is the entire."
-
--Paul Lauter
SECOND MELUS
EUROPE CONFERENCE, Universite de Orleans, France, June 22-25, 2000
-
You are cordially
invited to attend the Second MELUS Europe Conference that will take place
in June 2000 in (Old!) Orleans, France. The conference topic is "Europe
and the United States: Comparative Ethnic Literatures." Keynote speakers
are Wolfgang Binder, Barbara Christian, Robert Lee, Lisa Lowe, and Sterling
Stuckey, and we are delighted with the high quality proposals that have
been submitted. Of course, the city of Orleans and its university provide
us with an unforgettable venue. And of course, we have not forgotten to
plan a number of special events to fill our evenings. If you would like
to know more about the conference, consult our website at http://www.melus-europe.de.
-
--Heike Raphael-Hernandez
MELUS 2000:
Multiethnic Literatures and the Idea of Social Justice
-
The Convenors
of MELUS 2000 are delighted by the overwhelming response to the Call for
Papers. Over 350 paper/panel proposals were submitted and the Committee
is currently making decisions on materials. Letters announcing the results
of the Committee's deliberations were scheduled to be sent out towards
the end of November. Since several panels will be put together from the
individual paper submissions, we will have a few spots available--on a
first-come-first served basis--to individuals who would like to serve as
Panel Chairs. If you are a MELUS member planning on coming to the conference
in New Orleans and would like to serve in this capacity, please contact
us immediately so that we can send you the appropriate registration materials.
All others interested in attending the conference (March 9-12, 2000) should
also contact us for registration materials since the final date for registering
(and for choosing the luncheon options) is January 15th. Please visit us
at http://www.tulane.edu/~adst
for continuous updates on the conference. We look forward to seeing you
in New Orleans!
-
--Gaurav Desai
Amelia Catone,
MELUS Intern
-
Can anyone help
MELUS at the University of Massachusetts in tracking down a number of people
whose most recent copies of MELUS were returned?
-
There are no
forwarding addresses, and a thorough search of all their resources has
turned up nothing. The names and INCORRECT addresses are as follows:
Rahul Krishna Gairola
110 Governor St.
Providence, RI 02906
Heather N. Lukes
1748 N. Kingsley Dr. #7
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Tobey Burnett
24 Aberdeen Rd.
Brighton ???
Dana A. Williams
14167 Castle Blvd.
#102
Silver Spring, MO 20904
V. Lois Taylor
112 Jackson Ave SW
Washington, DC 20024
Michael Wilson
Dept. of English
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
R. G. Earnest
131 N. Jefferson
Mail Box 4
Springfield, MO 85802 (last at Drury College)
Michelle G. Trusty-Murphy
English Department
Western Nevada Community College
Gardnerville, NV 89410
In addition, we are looking for:
Ann Rayson
(last at Honolulu, HI)
Silvio Sirias
(last in Boone, NC)
Weihua Zhang
(last at Savannah, GA)
Gayla Bell
(last in Washington, DC)
Jeffrey FL Partridge
(last in Singapore)
Please e-mail your responses to both melus@english.umass.edu and melus@uconnvm.uconn.edu.
Thank you.
Interracial
Encounters, Kobe, Japan
-
In Kobe,
Japan, in October, we held a forum entitled "Interracial Encounters" It
was our tenth anniversary conference where many Japanese scholars discussed
various topics on Asian American Studies. Professor King-Kok Cheung and
Mr. Russel Leong joined us as our special guest speakers, as did the American
scholars of Asian American Studies. Further comments may be directed to:
Teruyo Ueki, Department of English and American Literature, Kobe Women's
University, 2-1 Aoyama, Higashi Suma, Suma-ku, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan. Phone:
81-78-731-4416 Fax: 81-78-732-5161.
-
--Taeko Inagi
MELUS-L:
-
We have
moved MELUS-L from Texas A&M University-Commerce to Texas Woman's University
-
We automatically
switched people who were subscribed to the MELUS-L over to the new list.
If you have any questions about the switch or about MELUS-L, please feel
free to contact either Stephen or me.
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--Rich Tuerk
INSTRUCTIONS
FOR SUBSCRIBING TO THE NEW MELUS-L MAILING LIST FROM TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY
To subscribe:
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Send subscription
request to:
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MELUS-L-request@twu.edu
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Send a copy
to: ssouris@iglobal.net
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Leave subject
line blank.
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space: subscribe MELUS-L
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a confirmation that your request has been forwarded to the list moderator.
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moderator processes your request, you will receive notification that you
have been added to the mailing list.
Beatriz Badikian's
new collection of poetry MAPMAKER REVISITED: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS
-
has just been
released from Gladsome Books, a collection about travel and loss, love
and life, focusing on the hybridity of today's world and Badikian's own
personal journey. For more information contact Gladsome Books at Gladsome
Books@aol.com.
CONFERENCE
ON ETHNICITY & GENDER IN APPALACHIA SCHEDULED
-
The Center
for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation,
will be presenting the conference, "Piecing It Together: Ethnicity and
Gender in Appalachia," to be held March 3-5, 2000 at Marshall University,
Huntington WV. The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia
examines the relationships of ethnicity, gender and the region, and is
seeking to provide a research database that mirrors the multi-dimensional
aspects within Appalachian identity. The Center (CSEGA) is the only higher
educational institution in the State of West Virginia to be awarded a residency
or fellowship grant by the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation. CSEGA recently
learned that in a rare decision by the Rockefeller Foundation, a second
grant will be awarded to continue this work.
-
Fellow scholars
who will be presenting include Dr. Susan Eacker & Mr. Geoff Eacker,
Dr. Linda Tate, Dr. Roberta Campbell, Dr. Fred Barkley, and Drs. Ancella
Bickley and Rita Wicks-Nelson. Additional sessions will include a number
of scholars from throughout the region. On Sunday, the project, "The Irish
in West Virginia: Mapping Their Influence" will be presented, along with
a program on storytelling and a Master's Workshop. In the evening the children's
opera, "Fiddler's Ghost" will be presented.
-
Two other exhibits
will also be on display during the conference: "Banjo Women" (a photographic
collection of women banjo players along with taped examples) and "Pointing
The Way" (an interactive, multimedia exhibit of the work of the Rockefeller
scholars-in-residence). These two exhibits are partially funded by the
West Virginia Humanities Council, a state program of the National Endowment
of the Humanities.
-
There is no
registration fee required to attend the conference, but registration is
necessary. Due to limited seating capacity, early registration is encouraged.
-
For additional
information, contact Mary Thomas, Administrative Assistant, at the CSEGA
office at Marshall University, 304-696-3348, by e-mail at csega@marshall.edu
or by writing to her attention at CSEGA, 400 Hal Greer Blvd., Huntington,
WV 25755. You can also visit the CSEGA website at http://www.marshall.edu/csega/.
Asian American
Playwrights
-
Contributors
are sought for a reference volume titled Asian American Playwrights:
A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook, scheduled to be published
by Greenwood Press in 2000. (The manuscript of each entry will be due on
May 15, 2000) The volume will address over seventy Asian American playwrights,
especially those of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, and
Indian backgrounds. For further information, write to the editor, Miles
X. Liu, Ph.D., 4 Culdaff Street, Apt. L., Easthampton, MA 01027 or xliu@hcc.mass.edu
or (413) 552-2356. By the way, my membership is registered under my former
name: "Xian Liu." Thanks. --Miles X. Liu, Ph.D. English / Humanities Division,
(413) 552-2356.
Things
My Mother Told Me, by Maria Mazziotti Gillan
-
Guernica Editions
of Toronto, Canada and New York is pelased to announce the publication
of a new book of poems, Things My Mother Told Me, by Maria Mazziotti
Gillan, Director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College
in Paterson, New Jersey. In a clear and compassionate way, the book deals
with the subject of mothers and daughters, as well as other family relationships.
Things My Mother Told Me is Gillan's seventh book of poems, which
also include The Weather of Old Seasons (Cross-Cultural Communications),
and Where I Come From: New and Selected Poems (Guernica). Gillan
is the founder and Director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community
College and the editor of the Paterson Literary Review. With her
daughter, Jennifer Gillan, she edited Unsettling America: An Anthology
of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry (Viking/Penguin), Identity
Lessons (Penguin/Putnam), and Growing Up Ethnic in America (Penguin/Putnam).
Selected
Job Postings & Visiting Scholar Opportunities, SUNY College at Fredonia,
Two Full-Time Tenure Track Positions: Latina/o studies and Native American
Studies
-
SUNY invites
applications for two full-time tenure-track appointments in the multiethnic
studies program to begin in Aug'ust 2000. Terminal degree required. The
candidate's discipline and specialization are open, but the successful
applicant will demonstrate expertise in and teach topics related to (1)
Latina/o studies in one or more of the following areas: foreign language,
art/art history, literature, cultural studies, history, music, social policy,
anthropology/ethnography, or sociology; or, (2) Native American Studies
in one or more of the following areas: history, anthropology, art/art history,
literature, cultural studies, public policy, or sociology. Both positions
are joint appointments between the multiethnic studies program and the
appropriate department in the college. Candidates will work to develop
and implement goals associated with the multiethnic studies minor, including
a commitment to "the circumstance and perspectives of minority populations
in our region."
-
SUNY Fredonia
is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer. We actively seek and
encourage applications from minorities, women and people with disabilities.
Send letter of application, unofficial graduate transcripts, c.v., and
three letters of reference to Jacqueline Swansinger, Chair Search Committee,
History Department. Review of applications will begin on December 5, 1999
and will continue until the position is filled.
Trinity College,
Hartford, CT, THE ANN PLATO FELLOWSHIP
-
The Ann
Plato Fellowship, named for a 19th-century African-American poet, essayist,
and teacher, supports a minority doctoral student engaged in writing his
or her dissertation. The Fellow enjoys faculty status, delivers a formal,
public lecture in the fall semester, teaches one course in the spring semester,
and is expected to become engaged in the Trinity College community. The
Fellowship provides a $25,000 stipend; a campus apartment; an office; a
computer; library privileges at Trinity, including the Watkinson Library,
and our consortial colleges, and ready access to Hartford-area archives,
including the Connecticut Historical Society, the Wadsworth Athenaeum,
the state library, the Cities Data Center, and the Harriet Beecher Stowe
Center. Appointment is for one academic year with the possibility of renewal
for a second year.
-
Applicants should
send a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, a copy of their dissertation
proposal, a 10-20 page writing sample, and three letters of recommendation
to the Ann Plato Search Committee, c/o Janet Marotto, Williams 232, Trinity
College, Hartford, CT 06106 by January 15, 2000. Trinity College is an
Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer
The Center
for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia (CSEGA) at Marshall
University, Resident Fellowship funded by the Rockefeller Foundation
-
CSEGA
invites humanities scholars to apply for a resident fellowship at Marshall
University, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. We particularly welcome
proposals that fit the interdisciplinary focus of the Center, which is
to examine the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and region (Appalachia),
with a primary goal of developing a research database to undergrid paradigms
that encompass multiple aspects of identity. Preference will be given to
scholars who focus on those ethnic and gender aspects of identities that
have been most invisible-African Americans, especially women; persons of
alternative gender identities; persons of Native American ancestry.
-
Scholars are
also encouraged to use Oral History as a primary methodology in their research.
Questions that scholars could address include: How has African American
identity been shaped by the Appalachian identity (Affrilachian)?; How was
slavery different in Appalachia than in the South and what legacy did Appalachian
slavery leave for Appalachian race relations?; What is the meaning of 'interracial
marriage' in Appalachia;? How has gender identity in Appalachia been challenged
by the gay and lesbian movement?; What is the nature of racism and/or homophobia
in Appalachia?; How has Native American identity reasserted itself in Appalachia?
-
To be considered,
candidates should have the doctorate or equivalent professional experience.
Awards will be a maximum stipend of $17,500 for a semester, plus housing
stipend, travel allowance, and health benefits. Complete applications,
including letters of reference, are due by Feb. 15, 2000 for a resident
fellowship in the fall of 2000 or spring of 2001.
-
For more information
and application materials, contact: Mary Thomas, CSEGA, 400 Hal Greer Blvd.,
Huntington, WV 25755. Email: csega@marshall.edu. Web Page: http://www.marshall.edu/csega/.
Asian/Pacific
American Diasporic and Cross-Cultural Studies
-
The Ethnic Studies
Department of Mills College invites applications for a full-time, tenure
track position at the level of Assistant Professor in Asian/Pacific American
Diasporic and Cross-Cultural Studies, to begin Fall 2000. Required at time
of appointment: Ph.D in Ethnic Studies or other appropriate Humanities
field (i.e. English, Cultural Studies, Comparative Literature). We seek
applicants with a strong record or potential for teaching and research
in one or more of the following: Literature, cultural production, gender
and sexuality. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mills College is
a private liberal arts college for women with coeducational graduate programs
(see http://www.mills.edu). Persons
of color and those committed to working in a multicultural environment
are encouraged to apply. AA/EOE
-
Please send
letter detailing interests and qualifications, current vitae, and contact
information for three referees to: Julia Sudbury, Chair, Search Committee,
Ethnic Studies Dept., Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland CA 94613.
Screening of applications begins January 15, 2000.
Announcing
AMERICAN INDIAN LITERATURE AND THE SOUTHWEST: CONTEXTS AND DISPOSITIONS
(Austin: U of Texas P, 1999).
-
This book by
MELUS member Eric Gary Anderson (Assistant Professor of English at Oklahoma
State University) was published in February 1999. Culture-to-culture encounters
between "natives" and "aliens" have gone on for centuries in the American
Southwest--among American Indian tribes, between American Indians and Euro-Americans,
and even, according to some, between humans and extraterrestrials at Roswell,
New Mexico. Drawing on a wide range of cultural productions including novels,
films, paintings, comic strips, and historical studies, this book explores
the Southwest as both a real and a culturally constructed site of migration
and encounter, in which the very identities of "alien" and "native" shift
with each act of travel. The book discusses, among others, Leslie Marmon
Silko's ALMANAC OF THE DEAD, Wendy Rose's poetry, Apache autobiographies
by Geronimo and Jason Betzinez, paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe, Frank Norris's
MCTEAGUE, Sarah Winnemucca's LIFE AMONG THE PIUTES, Willa
Cather's THE PROFESSOR'S HOUSE, George Herriman's modernist comic
strip KRAZY KAT, and A. A. Carr's Navajo-vampire novel EYE KILLERS.
Selected Calls
for papers
For access
to more CFA sites, link to the MELUS
Journal or MELUS
2000
Deadline January
2000
January 1,
2000
Proposed
Collection of Essays Titled Mixed Messages: Multiple Ethnic Identities
in the Academy, Co-Editors: Beatriz Badikian and Carol Roh-Spaulding
We seek
essays for a collection on the dilemmas, struggles, and unique positioning
of academics (scholars, teachers and writers) of mixed ethnicity. In recent
years, multi-ethnic academics like Patricia J. Williams, Gloria Anzaldua,
and Naomi Zack have helped to redefine the way we think about ethnic and
racial categorization. Nevertheless, academics from multiple cultural and
ethnic backgrounds seldom have the possibility of acceptance on the basis
of that multiplicity, especially within institutions that define multiculturalism
(whether explicitly to implicitly, in policy decisions or in the curriculum)
tribally--as the study of historically and socially discrete groups of
people. Consequently, in the classroom, their scholarship, in the applications
for funding, and so on, multi-ethnic academics are often forced to privilege
one ethnicity over the other(s). In many cases, that choice is imposed
on them by academy hegemony. These definitions, in turn, influence outcomes
that may perpetuate static and insular notions of identity on personal,
professional, curricular, and scholarly levels. The ideal essay will interweave
personal experiences with a more scholarly approach. Deadlines: Abstracts
(2 page maximum) by January 1, 2000. Papers (20 page maximum) by March
1, 2000. Send abstracts or completed papers to: Dr. B. Badikian, 1867 North
Bissell, Chicago, IL 60614. Inquiries by e-mail to: badgart@aol.com.
January
10, 2000
Queer Chicana/o
Cultural Production and "The" Community Proposed panel for the annual meeting
of the American Studies Association, "The World in American Studies/American
Studies in the World," Detroit, MI, October 11-14, 2000
-
How do
queer Chicana and Chicano artists and authors identify their audiences
and communities? How do they construct and perform queer Chicana/o identities
in Chicano spaces? in queer spaces? How do these communities react to such
cultural productions? Since the beginning of the El Movimiento Chicano,
Chicano art and literature has been linked to--and often judged on its
representation of--the issues and goals "the" Chicano community. Similarly,
the marketing of post-Stonewall gay and lesbian cultural production has
emphasized positive representation of gay male and lesbian communities.
In keeping with ASA 2000's examination of the relationship between American
Studies and the "world outside," this panel will explore the diverse ways
in which contemporary Chicano cultural production by and about sexual minorities
represents, interacts with, and crosses diverse communities.
-
Submissions
from all disciplines are encouraged. Send 200-word abstracts and a one-page
vita by January 10, 2000 to Catriona Rueda Esquibel at the address or e-mail
listed below. Electronic submissions must be in ascii (plain text), html,
or MSWord format. To facilitate submission of the panel proposal, please
indicate audio-visual needs for your presentation.
Panel participants
will post their papers on the Internet, via Crossroads, one month before
the annual meeting. All participants must register for the Annual Meeting
and be members of the ASA or of an affiliated, international American Studies
Association. Catriona Rueda Esquibel, Department of English, MSC 3-E, Box
30001, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001, crdaesq@nmsu.edu,
http://www2.ucsc.edu/woc/ASAcre.html.
January
15, 2000
AFRICAN
AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE SOCIETY / CALL FOR PAPERS / AMERICAN LITERATURE
ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE May 25-28, 2000 / Long Beach, California, Hyatt
Regency Hotel
-
The African
American Literature and Culture Society (AACLS) invites you to become part
of a well established tradition by submitting a proposal for a paper or
panel presentation at the next American Literature Association conference,
where it is known for scholarly papers of the highest quality on the spectrum
of the African American literary tradition.
-
Submit proposal
and detailed abstract of 150-200 words on general topics in African American
literature: genre, authors, autobiography, theory, etc. You may submit
them by email or FAX, but you must also mail a hard copy. The American
Literature Association will meet in LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA May 25-28, 2000.
Proposal and Abstract Deadline January 15, 2000. Mail to: Dr. Wilfred D.
Samuels, Department of English, University of Utah, 255 South Central Campus
Drive, 3500 LNCO, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, 801/581-3288, 801/585-5167(FAX),
wilfred.samuels@m.cc.utah.edu. For complete details see www.atomicage.com/aalcs.
-
Please note:
The AALCS is also sponsoring an international conference: "Looking Back
with Pleasure: A Celebration" (AALCS 2000), October 25-29, 2000, in Salt
Lake City, UT, to celebrate 100 years of literary contributions by African
Americans. (For complete details see www.atomicage.com/aalcs.) This Call
for Papers is separate from the Call for Paper for AALCS 2000
January
30, 2000
Constructions
of Memory in Contemporary American Literature International Conference
organised by Universite Paul Valery, Montpellier III at Centre Universitaire
Vauban, Nemes June 21-23, 2000
-
The construction
of American identity accompanying the territorial expansion of the United
States involved the rejection or negation of Old World and Native American
cultures. Now, however, with the rise of ethnic or minority literatures,
contemporary U.S. writers are returning to this "forgotten" past. These
alternative sites of memory may have no more valid claims to representing
objective reality than the federating concepts that formed an earlier national
literature. But in contrast to that work of homogenization, the new literatures
of the United States are characterized by plurality, interactivity and
synergy. They announce a multi-cultural United states whose features are
not yet defined. Contemporary acts of memory are not simply nostalgic returns
to the past; rather, in the most accomplished works, they are transfigurations
of the present. We invite scholars of contemporary literature to reflect
on the rediscovery and transformation of the past, following a number of
possible directions:
-
the representation
of pre-Colombian cultures
-
the representation
of ways of life that were abandoned during the great waves of immigration
-
the return to
continents left behind--Africa, Asia, Europe
-
the return to
key moments in the history of the U.S.
-
Emphasis should
be given to the new artistic forms employed in these acts of memory and
to the redefinition of American modes of expression that they entail. Send
abstracts of 150-200 words before January 30, 2000 to any of the organizers
listed: by e-mail to: Wendy Harding: harding@bred.univ-montp3.fr; Jacky
Martin: jwmartin@bred.univ-montp3.fr; Simone Pellerin: by post to: Jacky
Martin Universite Paul Valery Route de Mende 34199 MONTPELLIER CEDEX 5
France.
January
31, 2000
CALL FOR
PAPERS: LOOKING BACK WITH PLEASURE II: A CELEBRATION / AFRICAN AMERICAN
LITERATURE AND CULTURE SOCIETY 2000 OCTOBER 25-29, 2000 / Little America
Hotel Salt Lake City, UT
-
The African
American Literature and Culture Society of the American Literature Association
invites your participation in "Looking Back with Pleasure II: A Celebration,"
October 25-29, 2000. This international conference will culminate a month-long
festival, in October 2000, celebrating one hundred years of African American
contributions in literature and culture (music, art, film, and dance).
Satellite activities include various lectures; an art exhibition of the
works of Faith Ringgold; a dance performance by the Alvin Ailey II Repertory
Dancers; and photo exhibitions by Lynda Koolish, Frances B. Johnston, and
Titus Brooks Heagins.
-
A stellar list
of writers and scholars have been invited, including William Andrews, Maya
Angelou, Bernard Bell, Kimberly Benson, Hazel Carby, Barbara Christian,
Keith Clarke, Nikki Finney, Chester Fontenot, Henry L. Gates, Jr., F. Lee
Greene, Karla Holloway, Trudier Harris, Patricia Hill, Clenora Hudson-Weems,
Sandra Jackson-Opoku Charles Johnson, Randall Kenan, Yusef Komunyakaa,
David L. Lewis, Paule Marshall, Clarence Major, Deborah McDowell, Nellie
McKay, Ethelbert Miller, Gloria Naylor, Arnold Rampersad, Ishmael Reed,
Kalamu ya Salaam, Hortense Spillers, Quincy Troupe, Alice Walker, Jerry
Ward, Daniel Wideman, John Edgar Wideman, Richarad Yarborough (to name
a few), and YOU.
-
There will be
concurrent panel presentations, plenary sessions, roundtable discussions,
keynote addresses, performances, and book exhibits and signings. (Confirmed
speakers will be posted on website.)
-
Paper Topics:
Proposals on the following topics and others will be considered: Individual
Authors. African American Drama, Fiction, Folklore, Poetry, Slave Narrative/Black
Autobiography. Neo Slave Narratives. Black Women Writers. Feminisn, Womanism,
or Africana Womanism. Postmodern theories. Critics Past and Present. Black
Literary Journals and Professional Organizations. Crossover Fiction. Super
Fiction. Science Fiction. Pop Culture. Conjuration and Spirituality. Music
and Texts. Writing the Diaspora. Atlantic Connection. Afro-Caribbean Connection.
The African Connection. Bridging Ethnicities. Anthologizing the African
American Literary Tradition. Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois and the Twentieth Century.
Directions in the Twenty-first Century. ETC.
-
Submit a proposal
and detailed abstract of 150-200 words by the deadline, January 31, 2000.
You may submit it by email or FAX, but you must also submit a hard copy.
Mail to: Program Committee AALCS 2000, c/o Dr. Wilfred D. Samuels, Department
of English, University of Utah, 255 South Central Campus Drive, 3500 LNCO,
Salt Lake City, UT 84112, 801/581-3288, 801/585-5167 (FAX), wilfred.samuels@m.cc.utah.edu.
For complete details, see www.atomicage.com/aalcs.
-
NOTE: This Call
for Papers is separate from the Call for the Annual ALA conference scheduled
for Long Beach, California in May 2000.
Deadline February
2000
February
1, 2000
ALA 2000
/ MLA 2000
-
Proposals are
invited for the following sessions sponsored by the Mark Twain Circle of
America at the American Literature Association Conference 2000, May 25-28,
Long Beach, CA, and at the Modern Language Association convention 2000,
December 27-30, Washington, DC.
-
AMERICAN LITERATURE
ASSOCIATION 2000, May 25-28, 2000, Long Beach CA
-
Panel topic:
Mark Twain on Race, Ethnicity and Class. Send proposals to Joseph B. McCullough
[joemcc@nevada.edu]. DEADLINE: January 5, 2000
-
Panel topic:
Mark Twain and Native Americans. Send proposals to Lauren Muller [lsmuller@uclink4.berkeley.edu].
DEADLINE: January 5, 2000
-
MODERN LANGUAGE
ASSOCIATION 2000
-
Open panel topic:
any aspect of Mark Twain's work/life. Send proposals to Shelley Fisher
Fishkin [sfishkin@mail.utexas.edu]. DEADLINE: February 1, 2000
-
Panel topic:
Mark Twain's Literary Daughters-on any women writers who were influenced
by Twain or whose fiction is implicitly or explicitly in conversation with
Twain. Send proposals to Shelley Fisher Fishkin [sfishkin@mail.utexas.edu].
DEADLINE: February 1, 2000
