Session 20 or 21
Depending on your topic, you may present before or after the MELUS conference.
Start by reviewing the MELUS program (PDF).
Your report should involve some interaction with a person, paper, topic, event, or text presented at the MELUS conference. Try to build on interests you have developed in this class; you might want to think of the report as leading to a longer research project at the end of the semester.
When you report to the class, try to connect what you saw or learned with themes we have discussed in class. Some approaches to try:
- Choose one or more panels or panelists on authors we have discussed in this class. I can supply abstracts for the paper(s) that interest you and contact information for the panelist(s). You may write the panelist(s) and ask for permission to read the paper(s) and report to the class before the conference. Or attend the panel and review it for the class after the conference is over. You may also choose a panel or panelist about an author you admire but who is not on our syllabus and report on your experience.
- Research these speakers and attend one or more of the keynote addresses:
- Iyko Day, Associate Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College and author of Alien Capital: Asian Racialization and the Logic of Settler Colonial Capitalism on Friday April 28, 12:00–2:00.
- Ayana Mathis, author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie on Saturday April 29 12:00–1:30.
- Samuel R. Delany, author of Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand on Saturday April 29, 6:00–7:30 (a reading).
- Attend the reading by Mia Heavener, Alaskan Yupik novelist and civil engineer, at the Welcome Reception on Thursday April 27 from 6:00–7:30. You may interview her during her visit and ask to read samples from her work in advance. She will speak in our class on Session 20.
- Attend the recommended exhibition “Club Americano” at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and report to the class.
- Interview MIT faculty and staff involved in the conference: Conference Committee members—Prof. Sandy Alexandre, Joaquin Terrones (lecturer in Literature), Alicia Mackin (administrator); or panelists Ana Schwartz and Lillian Mengesha (Mellon Predoctoral Fellows in Literature), or John Picker (lecturer in Comparative Media Studies/Writing). If you know Rosa Martinez or Theresa Rojas from when they were Mellon Fellows at MIT, they will be attending the conference as well. If you establish contact with a panelist who interests you, you may be able to interview that person during the conference or beforehand by Skype.
- If you have photographic skills, create a photo essay on the conference, using images to convey its distinctive flavor and surprising moments.