I'm seeing so many posts about MLA CFPs. These sessions look so great! But I wonder about how quickly we're forgetting the MLA's rejection of democratic discussion at MLA'25 under the guise of procedure. If you're going to MLA'26, could you share why? I would appreciate thoughtful discussion. - ThreadSky

rosecasey.bsky.social • 1 day ago

I'm seeing so many posts about MLA CFPs. These sessions look so great! But I wonder about how quickly we're forgetting the MLA's rejection of democratic discussion at MLA'25 under the guise of procedure.

If you're going to MLA'26, could you share why? I would appreciate thoughtful discussion.

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jeffreyinsko.bsky.social•1 day ago

I was asked by the Melville Society to organize a session well before that vote took place and felt an obligation to the society not to MLA

rosecasey.bsky.social•1 day ago

I really appreciate this answer, Jeff! Yours is not the only CFP I'm seeing (and feeling excited by, and therefore conflicted about not being able to attend!), to be clear. Thank you for taking the time to respond.

rosecasey.bsky.social•1 day ago

For me: the MLA could have allowed a BDS vote & chose not to hold it by refusing to forward a carefully written motion on professed grounds of fiduciary responsibility.

As a postcolonialist who works on occupation, dispossession, and colonial-racial-capitalism's enduring forms & harms, I can't ...

rosecasey.bsky.social•1 day ago

...participate when leadership uses "procedure" as a means to avoid discussion of politically fraught, ethically urgent discussions about how we as a profession understand our relationship to genocide & scholasticide.

If discussion had been allowed, whatever the outcome, I'd have stayed in the MLA.

rosecasey.bsky.social•1 day ago

But as a junior academic working interdisciplinarily, I confess that it pains me to no longer be able to participate in the most expansively interdisciplinary forum in our discipline. And it pains me to see that the consequences of the MLA's heavy-handed attempt to diminish risk have been so brief.

aktange.bsky.social•11 hours ago

I'm on ADE board, an org w/programming to support new chairs & one that ensures community colleges are at the table for convos about the future of higher ed in Engl depts; supports spotlight grants in combo w/NEH for under-resourced programs/initiatives; does studies of Engl major employment... 1/3

aktange.bsky.social•11 hours ago

offers 1-on-1 mentoring sessions at the convention; hosts sessions to encourage convos about how we collectively face existential crises in higher ed. It's not perfect, but it does a lot of good work to support faculty & programming across the spectrum of institutions & job titles, and I believe 2/3

aktange.bsky.social•11 hours ago

that professional orgs like this are an important way for us to think about our collective response to threats to higher ed from all sorts of external forces, in part because they are one of the few places/ways that it's easy for people to come together for these conversations in the first place 3/3

aktange.bsky.social•11 hours ago

In case it's not clear: the Assoc of Depts of English (ADE) & Assoc of Language Depts (ALD) are the prof dev orgs operating under larger umbrella of MLA as the scholarly academic association for language study. This work is spearheaded out of MLA main office & facilitated by volunteer board members

aktange.bsky.social•11 hours ago

The people who run these conferences, write up jobs reports, &c include lots of people (like me) who volunteer bc collaborating on how to face challenges in higher ed feels better than the alternative. Going to MLA gives me a chance to talk to people who are fighting these fights on different fronts

aktange.bsky.social•11 hours ago

More broadly, I think orgs that center expertise — both in subject matter & higher ed admin — are vital to support in the face of attacks on education, expertise, literacy, books, history & critical thinking. Nationally, we need more humanists in leadership & more strategic conversations, not fewer.

jsanofranchini.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is a tough thing to discuss publicly but I'll give it a try—with the caveat that I have only a vague sense of what's happened w/the MLA.

(Sorry about the long thread coming..!)

jsanofranchini.bsky.social•1 day ago

So the main reason I'll prob go is I'm on a forum EC, one of few dedicated to rhetcomp, an area that's underrepresented at MLA considering the significant proportion of folks teaching writing in English depts across the country. And I believe there's value in being in convo across areas of English+

jsanofranchini.bsky.social•1 day ago

I can't stand when orgs use the discourse of fiduciary responsibility & procedure as a rationale to not do something members are calling upon it to do. I get why it happens, but I wish folks would realize that in these situations it's not a good look & a sure way to lose folks we don't want to lose+

jsanofranchini.bsky.social•1 day ago

At the same time I recognize the difficult position those in leadership are in esp w/r/t this issue. And I get why they might not want to hold a kind of charade of a vote on an issue they already took a ton of time to deliberate & make a decision on based on info that not everyone might be privy to+

jsanofranchini.bsky.social•1 day ago

But maybe the biggest thing is I've come around to the belief that the dismantling & defunding of academic professional orgs is the last thing we need at a time when higher ed & the entire concept of expertise is under attack. IMO we don't need to be more disconnected from one another+

jsanofranchini.bsky.social•1 day ago

and I think we need to consider what happens when things like the sharing of scholarly expertise, learning and ability to have quick informal conversations from across institutions and contexts, professional development, and building of broad academic communities are slowed/hindered/inhibited.+

electrostani.bsky.social•1 day ago

I am not boycotting MLA & it's a big convo. But briefly:

I do believe the ECs statement that the MLA's endorsing BDS would have had repercussions. There are anti-BDS laws in 38 states. As a lit. professional I benefit from a strong prof. org.; others do too. IMO leaving the org. is self-defeating.

rosecasey.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is very helpful! And I'm sorry we didn't get to meet IRL in New Orleans :(

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