Superficial Diversity of MLA

Accuracy in Academia ^ | Malcolm A. Kline

[Academiadotorg]

When you get right down to it, the institutions that cry the loudest for diversity, particularly in academia, aren’t that diverse themselves. “The pro-Israel campus groups Hillel International and the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) have been denied the right to present a discussion on Israel at the Jan. 9-12 Modern Language Association (MLA) convention in Chicago,” according to the JNS news service. “MLA’s convention includes a roundtable discussion that will feature supporters but no opponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.”

“The discussion—titled ‘Academic Boycotts: A Conversation about Israel and Palestine’—is seen as a possible precursor to an MLA academic boycott of Israel, which would mirror recent boycotts by the American Studies Association and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association. The MLA convention will consider a resolution that condemns Israel for alleged ‘arbitrary denials of entry to Gaza and the West Bank by U.S. academics who have been invited to teach, confer, or do research at Palestinian universities.’”

Alarming as the MLA’s decision might be, it is not especially surprising. Accuracy in Academia has been covering the MLA confabs for the past three decades and we will be at this one as well. Indeed, the divestment panel may be one of the most mainstream gatherings or events we expect to encounter.

Other MLA panels and presentations we may cover include: Teaching Racist Texts: Pedagogical Challenges; Genealogies of Anticolonialism;Literary Sociologies of Race and Ethnicity.

[SC_Pete]

The MLA has been a radical, leftist sewer for decades. They have declared Western Humanities to be worthless at best. Now with nothing to teach, they should just disband and go get jobs at Starbucks, tattoo shops, or medical marijuana stores.

[rarestia]

I wasn’t too far from getting my Master’s degree in English. I needed to complete one course and my thesis. I was so disgusted and fed up with the liberal hegemony at the university that I took my graduate certificate and ran.

MLA documentation formatting makes sense from the perspective of standardization, but I was disgusted by the crap they put out. I’m glad I put academe behind me. I feel better for it.

[JoyjoyfromNJ]

for your review & possible ping.