[I’ve written a
good bit already about the upcoming 48th annual
NeMLA Convention (March 23-26 in Baltimore! Join us!). But since
I last wrote about it, we’ve added one very important event, which I wanted
to make sure to highlight—because whether you can be there or not, it’s
something we all should be thinking and talking about!]
The actions and
events I’m writing about in this post are entirely collective, organized and
driven by NeMLA Executive Director Carine Mardorossian, current President Hilda
Chacón, and our entire Executive Board.
So I want to start by quoting the two main sections from our recent NeMLA Statement on
Executive Orders on Immigration:
"In consideration of those affected by the travel ban, NeMLA is taking the following steps:
1. Implementing
a provisional policy for allowing those affected by the ban to present their
papers in absentia. For reasons central to the discussion and exchange that are
the hallmark of a lively NeMLA session, our policy is to not allow papers read
in absentia. We will make an exception for those presenters impacted.
2. NeMLA
Executive Board officers will introduce an open forum in which attendees can
discuss, respond to, contextualize, and strategize about the recent Executive
Orders on immigration. This special Roundtable Discussion, titled ‘NeMLA Forum
on the Executive Orders on Immigration,’ will take place on Saturday,
March 25, at 4:45 PM in Grand Ballroom VI.
We welcome your thoughts and
contributions on these issues as we prepare for our 2017 Convention.”
Indeed we do. It’s hard to say with any
certainty or clarity what an organization like NeMLA—or any academic,
scholarly, or educational organization for that matter—can do in response to
the broad issues in play here. Of course we can and should offer policy shifts
such as the one detailed in item 1; but while I value the support and
solidarity reflected in that change, I know that it will have (nor is it
intended to have) any effect on the sweeping communal and national and international
issues surrounding the travel ban. Again, I don’t know for sure what effect
NeMLA could have at all—but I know that we must think and talk and work actively
to consider that question, and so I’m very glad that we’re holding the open
forum and that I’ll be there and be a part of it. I know I speak for all of us
when I say that we’re open to any and all other ideas about things NeMLA can do
or offer (feel free to mention them in comments or email me with them!). But
whatever else it is or can be, this forum is a tangible reflection of our
collective commitment to the truest sense of public scholarship, of engaging
with these communal issues that affect us all.
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. Thoughts on
this event and conversation? If you share them here I can bring them to the
convention!
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