Modern Language Association

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The Modern Language Association of America (usually referred to as simply Modern Language Association or MLA) is the principal professional association in the United States for American and international scholars of literature and literary criticism that aims to "strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature."^[1] The MLA reportedly has "30,000 members in 100 countries," primarily academic scholars, professors, and graduate students who study and/or teach language and literature, including English, other modern languages, and comparative literature. Although the organization was founded in the United States and its offices are located in New York City, its membership, concerns, reputation, and influence are international in scope.

The MLA was founded in 1883 as a discussion and advocacy group for the study of literature and modern languages (that is, all but classical languages such as "ancient" Latin and Greek).

The current president of the MLA is Michael Holquist, Professor of Comparative Literature at Yale University. Holquist succeeded Marjorie Perloff of Stanford University in January 2007. Domna Stanton, Distinguished Professor of French at the City University of New York Graduate Center and the first female editor of PMLA, was MLA president in 2005. Other notable former presidents include Francis March, Stephen Greenblatt, Edward Said, Wayne Booth, Northrop Frye, J. Hillis Miller, and Barbara Herrnstein Smith.

1 Activities of the MLA
2 Notes
3 See also
4 Further reading
5 External links

[edit] Activities of the MLA

The MLA publishes several academic journals, including PMLA, one of the most prestigious journals in literary studies, and Profession, which discusses pedagogy in language and literature. It also publishes the MLA Style Manual, an academic style guide and the MLA Handbook based upon it. It produces the long-standing print and online database, MLA International Bibliography, the standard bibliography in language and literature.

The MLA's official website features the MLA Language Map, presenting overviews and detailed data from the United States 2000 Census about the locations and numbers of speakers of thirty languages and seven groups of less commonly spoken languages in the United States.

The MLA holds a national convention from December 27 to December 30 every year. Approximately eight to ten thousand members attend, depending on the location, which alternates among major cities in various regions of the United States. The convention is the largest and most important of the year for scholars of languages and literature; major university and many smaller college literature and language departments interview candidates for teaching positions at the convention, although hiring occurs all year long. In addition to such job-placement activities, nearly a thousand programs including presentations of papers and panel discussions on diverse topics (special sessions, forums, poetry readings, film presentations, governance meetings) and social events such as receptions and dinners hosted by academic English and language departments and allied or affiliated organizations, as well as massive press exhibits located in one of the main hotel or convention center exhibition areas, fill the convention's four days from early morning through late evening. The name MLA is often used colloquially among academics to refer to this convention (as in "Are you planning to attend MLA this year?").

While the national convention marks the largest annual event for the MLA as a whole, it should be noted that the MLA also operates several regional associations, which host respectively smaller conventions at other times during the year. These associations are:

Midwest Modern Language Association (MMLA)

Northeast Modern Language Association (MMLA)

Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA)

Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association (RMMLA)

South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA)

South Central Modern Language Association (SCMLA)

[edit] Notes

^ "About the MLA." Modern Language Association. 11 Nov. 2004. MLA. 17 Jan. 2007 <http://www.mla.org/about>.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

Barber, Virginia. "The Women's Revolt in the MLA." Change Magazine Apr. 1972. Rpt. in Women on Campus: The Unfinished Liberation. Ed. George W. Bonham. Introd. Elizabeth Janeway. Somerset, NJ: Transaction, 2006. 85-94. ["The Modern Language Association is finally opening its doors to professional women and their demands for reform."]
Howe, Florence, Frederick C. Crews, Louis Kampf, Noam Chomsky, Paul Lauter, and Richard Ohmann. "Reforming the MLA." Letter to the editor. New York Review of Books 19 Dec. 1968. 4 Feb. 2007.