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-----Original Message-----
Registration materials are now available on the MLA Web site
at
http://www.mla.org/conference_on_disabi
=========================================
I write to invite you to the first national conference in
the humanities on disability studies, Disability Studies and
the
University, sponsored by the Modern Language Association and
Emory University. The event will be held 5-7 March 2004, at
the Emory University Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
The conference is scheduled to begin immediately after an
interdisciplinary workshop on law and disability, presented
by the Feminism and Legal Theory Project at the Emory Law
School. The keynote speaker will be Harriet McBryde
Johnson, whose recent articles in the New York Times
Magazine have garnered a great deal of attention.
The MLA has been at the forefront of efforts to incorporate
disability studies into the humanities and to make higher
learning more accessible to people with disabilities. This
conference is an extension of those endeavors. It is for all
who are working to make college campuses and curricula more
democratic and inclusive. We expect that the issues
addressed by the conference will attract a range of
university and college faculty members and also-- in fact,
especially--administrators.
Disability is a fundamental facet of human diversity--people
with disabilities make up the largest minority in the United
States--yet critical analysis of disability lags behind the
analysis of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and
class both inside and outside the university. Since the
passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990,
students with disabilities have become more numerous in
classrooms at all educational levels. Universities have
addressed this phenomenon more often in terms of access or
compliance with external mandates than in terms of
curriculum and academic programs. Disability Studies and the
University will set the tone for future interdisciplinary
study of disability in the humanities as
well as influence campus-wide efforts to shape new, more
inclusive learning environments.
The conference will be organized around the following
premises:
Disability has its own history and culture, which deserve
recognition in a comprehensive curriculum.
Disability may be viewed as a cultural construct that
undergirds socialpractices and cultural representation in
various media.
Many controversial issues in the arena of public policy and
culture are bound up with disability concerns, and literary
and mass cultures are saturated with images of disability.
Understanding disability in cultural and historical contexts
allows citizens to act in an informed and responsible way.
Universities in the United States and Canada (including the
University Of Illinois, Chicago; Ohio State University;
Temple University; Hofstra University; Syracuse University;
University of California, Berkeley;University of Wisconsin,
Madison; Brown University; University of Toledo; and Ryerson
Polytechnic University, Toronto) have instituted disability
studies programs. Many more institutions have developed
clusters or individual courses. There are thus strong
precedents and
multiple models for curricular development in this new area.
Check the web site to see the wealth of talent and the
variety of perspectives that will make Disability Studies
and the University a critical and transformative event. I
encourage you to attend this timely conference or to support
its goals by funding the attendance of a representative from
your division or department.
Registration materials are now available on the MLA Web site
at
http://www.mla.org/conference_on_disabi
Persons interested in serving as moderators of sessions
should contact Tom Couser, chair of the Conference Planning
Committee ([log in to unmask]).The committee will send
letters encouraging administrators to subsidize moderators'
attendance.
On behalf of the Conference Planning Committee I thank you
for your assistance in making this conference all it can be
by attending and encouraging others to do the same.
With good wishes,
Rosemary G. Feal
Executive Director
Modern Language Association
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