MLA Convention Seminars
MLA convention seminars are meant to catalyze scholarship on research topics that cross areas of study, disciplines, methods, and perspectives. They provide opportunities for participants to find support for networking as well as writing and publishing, and for facilitators to practice scholarly leadership. Seminars are offered during the MLA Annual Convention, next held in New Orleans in January 2025, and will take place in a three-hour block on Friday or Saturday morning of the convention.
Applicants who wish to participate in one of the five seminars (see below for topics and descriptions) must submit an abstract (up to 250 words) that outlines the main argument of the proposed submission, a brief CV or bio (no more than two pages), and a statement (up to 250 words) that details interest in the seminar and how it relates to professional development or future research work. The deadline for submission is 30 April 2024.
If selected, participants agree to
- submit materials to the seminar facilitator (no more than 1,500 words in length) by 1 November 2024;
- register for the MLA convention and attend the seminar in New Orleans in full; and
- arrive at the seminar having prepared to discuss all papers submitted for the seminar.
The seminar will provide participants an opportunity to give and receive substantive feedback on their submitted drafts and to connect with others who are working on similar topics. Participants are asked to consider the seminar as a step toward individually or collectively generated scholarship such as conference panels and roundtables, journal articles and clusters or special issues, or edited volumes.
We encourage submissions from applicants at all career stages (including graduate students), and especially encourage applications from scholars from underrepresented backgrounds, access-oriented institutions, and contingent working conditions. Seminars are anticipated to include perspectives from across the disciplines represented by the MLA, including languages, literature, writing studies, ethnic and cultural studies, composition and rhetoric, and others.
Seminar attendees will be listed in the Program for the MLA Annual Convention. All seminar participants must be MLA members and register for the convention. Seminar participants who do not register or submit their paper by the 1 November deadline may be asked to withdraw. For this second pilot year, seminar participation will not count toward the two-appearance limit.
The deadline to submit application materials is 30 April. Notifications will be sent to all applicants by 7 May. Those selected are expected to submit their work to seminar facilitators by 1 November.
Topics and Descriptions
World Languages and AI
This seminar will explore how recent developments in AI, natural language processing, and computational linguistics influence postsecondary language study. It welcomes participants from every stage of career and seeks to include educators who represent a broad range of world languages. Contributions may focus on current research and future implications of AI on the profession; practical strategies for using AI in the classroom; reflections on ethical, mission-driven policies; and questions of equity and access. Participants are welcome to choose a genre that best reflects their current engagement with AI, including a traditional short paper, an annotated example of their pedagogical practice, or an op-ed piece. This is a closed session.
Facilitator: Kevin Gaugler (Marist Coll.)
Community-Engaged Pedagogy and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
This seminar will give participants an opportunity to develop writing in the scholarship of teaching and learning, particularly grounded in community-engaged pedagogy. Seminar participants should be working toward the production of a specific project in the scholarship of teaching and learning, with a focus on the practices and outcomes of community-engaged pedagogy. This is a closed session.
Facilitator: Jennifer Maloy (Queensborough Comm. Coll., City Univ. of New York)
Climate Humanities
This seminar will give participants an opportunity to develop writing grounded in the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches of climate humanities. Seminar participants should be working toward the production of a specific project and may engage with ecocritical methodologies, themes of the anthropocene, climate change and crisis, climate and the built world, and more. This is a closed session.
Facilitators: Margaret Koehler (Otterbein Univ.) and Molly Volanth Hall (Rhode Island School of Design)
Monuments
This seminar will give participants an opportunity to develop writing that critically examines our commemorative landscapes, architectures, and infrastructures. Seminar participants should be working toward the production of a specific project and are welcome to take interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to commemoration, reparation, practices and objects of monumentalizing, and so on. This is a closed session.
Facilitator: Jessica Enoch (Univ. of Maryland, College Park)
Audio Past and Future
This interdisciplinary seminar will give participants an opportunity to develop writing focused on audio media and sound studies, including topics such as musical influences in/on literature, translations of literature in and through sound (from music to audioplays), and the relationship of sound and print cultures. Seminar participants should be working toward the production of a specific project. This is a closed session.
Facilitators: Elicia Clements (York Univ., Keele) and Debra Rae Cohen (Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia)