Held from Thursday through Sunday, the 129th Modern Language Association Convention lacked the racial diversity it has seen in years past, one scholar of color noted, which some might read as a testament to certain “vulnerabilities in academia.” Yet attendees found a hefty program that represented a broad — and often arcane — array of scholarly interests.
A special session, titled “The Poetics and Politics of Ecocinema,” drew scholars from as far as Australia and Hawaii, who parsed elements of the fantasy drama film, “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Another session looked at “black vulnerability in ‘Three Days Before the Shooting,’” the title given to Ralph Ellison’s unfinished second novel.
