Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
March 15-18, 2012
Rochester, New York – Hyatt Rochester
Host Institution: St. John Fisher College
Keynote speaker: Jennifer Egan, 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner, A Visit from the Goon Squad
Language, Literature and the Practice of Democracy
Philosopher Martha Nussbaum in her recent book, Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, observes that “[d]istracted by the pursuit of wealth, we increasingly ask our schools to turn out useful profit-makers rather than thoughtful citizens. Under pressure to cut costs, we prune away just those parts of the educational endeavor that are crucial to preserving a healthy society.” The manner by which the humanities cultivate cross-cultural sympathy becomes then “a particularly dangerous enemy of obtuseness and moral obtuseness is necessary to carry out programs of economic development that ignore inequality. It is easier to treat people as objects to be manipulated if you have never learned any other way to see them.”
This conflict between the pragmatic or technical over the intellectual also interested Paul Freire, who discussed the integration of conformity into the curriculum over “the practice of freedom;” bell hooks, who insisted that those of us “who continue to work to educate for the practice of freedom, see first-hand the ways that democratic education is being undermined as the interests of big business and corporate capitalism encourage students to see education solely as a means to achieve material success;” Henry Giroux, who certainly spoke of the political function of the educator; and John Dewey, who argued that “democracy has to be born anew in each generation, and education is its midwife.”
This panel seeks to understand the relationship between the humanities and the practice of democracy, focusing on the tendency in U.S. education to privilege the pragmatic/technical over the intellectual. How do we assess the role of the humanities at this moment? How do we ensure the centrality of the humanities in the college curriculum? How do we express or bear witness to the humanities as integral to the practice of democracy? What is the role of feminist theory and feminist pedagogy in the humanities and across democratic institutions?
Please forward questions and abstracts (500 words) to:
Elizabeth M. Huergo, Ph.D.
English Professor
Montgomery College
Elizabeth.Huergo@montgomerycollege.edu<mailto:Elizabeth.Huergo@montgomerycollege.edu>
Deadline: September 30, 2011
Please include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee with registration)
The 43rd annual convention will be held March 15-18th in Rochester, New York, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown, located minutes away from convenient air, bus, and train transportation options for attendees. St. John Fisher College will serve as the host college, and the diverse array of area institutions are coordinating with conference organizers to sponsor various activities, such as celebrated keynote speakers, local events, and fiction readings.
Building upon the excellence of past NeMLA conferences, the association continues to grow as a vibrant community of scholars, thanks to the wide array of intellectual and cultural opportunities at every venue. Compact yet diverse, Rochester also boasts important historical connections; it is the site of the home, publication operations, and orations of Frederick Douglass, where he edited the North Star, as well as his eponymous periodical, and delivered the speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”. Visitors can explore the houses of abolitionist, suffragette, and reformer Susan B. Anthony and the inventor of devices popularizing photography, George Eastman, as well as shopping and eateries; attendees will also be within reach of the beautiful Finger Lakes region, known for its local wineries.
Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable. http://www.nemla.org/convention/2012/cfp.html