Friday, April 7, 2023

April 7, 2023: NeMLA Reflections: Elise Takehana on Making Meaning of Maps

[A couple weekends back I was in Niagara Falls for the 54th annual Northeast Modern Language Association Convention. Longtime readers will know well how much I love NeMLA, the organization and the convention alike, and this year was no exception. So as usual, here are a handful of reflections on a great NeMLA convention!]

Somebody’s got to present on Sunday morning at a multi-day conference like NeMLA, but it sure is a tough time slot (especially at NeMLA, where it runs right up against the Sunday Member Brunch that is a conference highlight); and apparently one on which my FSU English Studies colleague and friend Elise Takehana has found herself multiple years in a row. So I was very glad to be able to get to the Sunday morning roundtable on Women “Writing” Beyond the Page that featured Elise’s talk on a pair of experimental, compelling short books about/using maps. As she did again with her FSU Harrod Lecture last week on “Database and Algorithm as Literary Infrastructure,” Elise’s NeMLA talk challenged me to rethink what I consider literature, as well as how literary and cultural works work. I go to NeMLA every year for all sorts of reasons, as I hope these posts (like all my NeMLA reflections over the years) have made clear—but thinking and rethinking are always among them, and I’m never disappointed!

Special post on scholarly organizations this weekend,

Ben

PS. If you were at NeMLA, I’d love to hear your reflections too!

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