Editing Modern Language Association

{{Short description|US professional association for language and literature scholars}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                = Modern Language Association
| pronounce           = 
| full_name           = Modern Language Association of America
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| logo                = MLA-logo-4c.png
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| abbreviation        = MLA
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| formation           = {{Start date and age|1883}}
| founder             = [[Aaron Marshall Elliott]]
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| type                = [[Learned society]]
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| headquarters        = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
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| fields              = {{hlist | [[Language]] | [[literature]]}}
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| leader_title        = President
| leader_name         = Christopher John Newfield
| leader_title2       = Executive director
| leader_name2        = [[Paula M. Krebs]]
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| website             = {{URL|mla.org}}
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The '''Modern Language Association of America''', often referred to as the '''Modern Language Association''' ('''MLA'''), is widely considered the principal [[professional association]] in the United States for scholars of [[language studies|language]] and [[literary studies|literature]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Working in academia means living in crisis — and experiencing the sublime |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/03/14/modern-language-association-convention/ |access-date=2022-09-08 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en}}</ref> The MLA aims to "strengthen the study and teaching of language and literature".<ref name=About>[http://www.mla.org/about/ About the MLA"], ''mla.org'', Modern Language Association, 9 July 2008, Web, 25 April 2009.</ref> The organization includes over 20,000 members in 100 countries, primarily [[academia|academic scholars]], [[professor]]s, and [[graduate student]]s who study or teach language and literature, including English, other modern languages, and [[comparative literature]].<ref name=About /><ref name=ACLS>[http://www.acls.org/societies/societies.aspx?sid=81024862-C9A2-DB11-A735-000C2903E717 "Modern Language Association of America"], in "ACLS Member Learned Societies" (Directory), [[American Council of Learned Societies]] (ACLS), 2011, Web, 31 January 2011.</ref> Although founded in the United States, with offices in New York City, the MLA's membership, concerns, reputation, and influence are international in scope.<ref name=About />

==History==
[[File:Aaron_Marshall_Elliott.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|Aaron Marshall Elliott has been credited with founding the Modern Language Association.]]
The MLA was founded in 1883, as a discussion and advocacy group for the study of literature and [[modern language]]s (that is, all but [[classical language]]s, such as ancient [[Latin]] and [[Greek language|Greek]]).<ref name=About /> According to its profile featured by the [[American Council of Learned Societies]] (ACLS), "The Modern Language Association is formed for educational, scientific, literary, and social objects and purposes, and more specifically for the promotion of the academic and scientific study of English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and other so-called modern languages and literatures."<ref name=ACLS />

==Officers and governance==
The officers of the MLA are elected by its members. The 2019–2020 president was [[Simon Gikandi]], the first vice-president was [[Judith Butler]] and the second vice-president was Barbara Fuchs. The 2020–2021 president is Judith Butler.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mla.org/About-Us/Governance/The-One-Hundred-Thirty-One-Presidents|title=The One Hundred Thirty-One Presidents|publisher=Modern Language Association}}</ref>

The MLA is governed by an Executive Council, elected periodically by its members, according to the ''MLA Constitution''. The Executive Director is [[Paula Krebs]].<ref>"[http://www.lasalle.edu/blog/2017/06/08/modern-language-association-america-names-la-salle-university-alumna-paula-m-krebs-ph-d-executive-director/ Modern Language Association of America Names La Salle University Alumna Paula M. Krebs, Ph.D., Executive Director]". ''La Salle News''. 8&nbsp;June 2017. [[La Salle University]]. lasalle.edu. Retrieved 17&nbsp;September 2017.</ref>

==Activities==
[[Image:PMLA - Reproductions of Manuscripts and Rare Printed Books - 1950.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.5|Cover of ''Publications of the Modern Language Association of America'' issue from 1950]]

The MLA publishes several [[academic journal]]s, including '''''Publications of the Modern Language Association of America''''', one of the most prestigious journals in literary studies, and ''Profession'', which is now published online on ''MLA Commons'' and discusses professional issues faced by teachers of language and literature. The association also publishes the ''[[MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers|MLA Handbook]]'', a guide that is geared toward high school and undergraduate students and has sold more than 6,500,000 copies.  The MLA produces the online database, ''MLA International Bibliography'', the standard bibliography in language and literature.<ref>{{citation |title=eReviews: MLA International Bibliography |work=Library Journal |date=September 1, 2012 |url=http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/09/reference/ereviews/ereviews-mla-international-bibliography-september-1-2012ciation-international-bibliography-september-1-2012/ |access-date=July 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525142311/http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2012/09/reference/ereviews/ereviews-mla-international-bibliography-september-1-2012ciation-international-bibliography-september-1-2012/ |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Image:LOA booth.jpg|thumb|right|Exhibit hall booths at MLA 2007 convention in Chicago]]

Since 1884 the MLA has held a national, four-day convention. For many years it was held the last week in December. Beginning in 2011, the convention dates moved to the first Thursday following 2 January. Approximately eight to twelve thousand members attend, depending on the location, which alternates among major cities in various regions of the United States. The MLA Annual Convention is the largest and most important of the year for scholars of languages and literature. Language departments of many universities and colleges interview candidates for teaching positions at the convention, although hiring occurs all year long. The organization's ''Job Information List'' (''JIL'') is available online.<ref>{{cite book|last=Burton|first=Antoinette|author-link=Antoinette Burton|title=After the Imperial Turn: Thinking with and through the Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-cQTZzbhc8C&pg=PA90|year=2003|publisher=Duke UP|isbn=9780822384397|page=90}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Formo|first1=Dawn M.|last2=Reed|first2=Cheryl|title=Job Search in Academe: How to Get the Position You Deserve|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uc307dJ-YgEC&pg=PA4|year=2012|publisher=Stylus|isbn=9781579225384|page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://chroniclevitae.com/news/708-are-more-mla-faculty-jobs-on-the-way|title=Are More MLA Faculty Jobs on the Way?|last=Wood|first=Maren|author2=Brock Read |date=16 September 2014|publisher=Chronicle Vitae|access-date=22 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/12/21/report-reveals-divergent-trends-modern-language-job-market|title=English Down, Languages Up: Report reveals divergent trends in modern language job market|last=Flaherty|first=Colleen|date=21 December 2012|newspaper=[[Inside Higher Ed]]|access-date=22 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hume|first=Kathryn|title=Surviving Your Academic Job Hunt: Advice for Humanities PhDs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ifwavtz1ooC&pg=PA21|year=2010|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9781137068293|page=21}}</ref>

In addition to its job-placement activities, the convention features about 800 sessions, including presentations of papers and panel discussions on diverse topics (special sessions, forums, poetry readings, film presentations, interdisciplinary studies involving art and music, governance meetings) and social events hosted by English and language departments and allied or affiliated organizations.<ref name=About /> There are also extensive book exhibits in one of the main hotel or convention center exhibition areas.

[[Image:MLA13- Accessibility, Disability - 8432382667.jpg|thumb|left|Table for attendees with disabilities, at MLA 2013 in Boston]]

In November 2016, the association launched ''Humanities Commons'', an open-access, crossdisciplinary hub for anyone interested in humanities research and scholarship. Other not-for-profit organizations involved in this project include [[College Art Association]]; [[Association for Jewish Studies]]; and the [[Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies]].

The MLA's Web site features the MLA Language Map, which presents 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 and Canada.

The association has highlighted issues such as race, gender and class in its professional deliberations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kushner|first=Eva|date=2003|title=The Modern Language Association of America|journal=Diogenes|volume=50|issue=2|pages=136–137|doi=10.1177/039219210305000217|s2cid=146988960 }}</ref> In ''[[The New Criterion]]'', a [[Classicism|classicist]] and politically [[Conservatism|conservative]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-29-ca-1737-story.html|title=Art : Commentary : The Little Journal That Can't : The New Criterion, now in its 10th year under Hilton Kramer, has looked to neoconservative doctrine as its muse|last=Knight|first=Christopher|date=December 29, 1991|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=January 9, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115211534/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-12-29/entertainment/ca-1737_1_hilton-kramer |archive-date= Nov 15, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/15/arts/think-tank-at-20-a-conservative-gadfly-can-still-bite.html|title=Think Tank; At 20, a Conservative Gadfly Can Still Bite|last=Honan |first= William H. |url-access=subscription |author-link=William Honan|date=September 15, 2001|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=January 9, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> magazine, [[Roger Kimball]] and [[Hilton Kramer]] argued that this was part of a "rampant politicization of literary study that the MLA has aggressively supported" in American colleges and universities, including elevating popular culture to a position of parity with great works of literature as subjects for classroom study, and other "radical" postures.<ref>[http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Farewell-to-the-MLA-5090 Farewell to the MLA"], Roger Kimball and Hilton Kramer, ''New Criterion'', February 1995. [[World Wide Web|Web]].</ref>

=== Proposed academic boycott of Israel ===
On January 7, 2017, the MLA rejected a proposed boycott of Israeli academic institutions in a 113–79 vote during its annual meeting in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Schuessler|first1=Jennifer|date=7 January 2017 |title=Modern Language Association Moves to Reject Academic Boycott of Israel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/arts/mla-reject-academic-boycott-of-israel.html?_r=1|website=New York Times|access-date=27 February 2017}}</ref> Activists within the association had since 2014 pushed for such a boycott because they believed Israel was guilty of human rights violations and should be subjected to a boycott similarly to how South Africa was boycotted by the [[Anti-Apartheid Movement]]. The inspiration for the boycott came from the [[Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions]] (BDS) movement which is a global movement that calls for comprehensive boycotts of Israel.<ref>{{cite web|title=Resolution|url=https://mlaboycott.wordpress.com/resolution/|website=MLA Members for Justice in Palestine|date=15 November 2015 |access-date=27 February 2017}}</ref> 

The activists calling themselves ''MLA Members for Justice in Palestine'' presented a resolution in December 2016 calling for a boycott. The call to boycott received support from scholars such as [[Judith Butler]] and novelist [[Viet Thanh Nguyen]], but also opposition from scholars such as [[Cary Nelson]] and historian [[Kenneth Waltzer]] as well as a group calling itself ''MLA Members for Scholars Rights.''<ref name="bds2017mla">{{cite web | title=Why was BDS beaten at the MLA conference? | website=BDS Movement | date=January 16, 2017 | url=https://bdsmovement.net/news/why-was-bds-beaten-mla-conference | access-date=August 21, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Speyer|first1=Lea|title=Prominent Scholars Slam Modern Language Association for Entertaining 'Shameful' BDS Resolution, Politicizing Academia|url=https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/01/03/prominent-scholars-slam-modern-language-association-for-entertaining-shameful-bds-resolution-politicizing-academia/|website=Algemeiner|access-date=27 February 2017}}</ref> A group of Israeli scholars sent videotaped messages stating Israeli universities are multicultural and calling the BDS campaign one of harassment and slander.<ref>{{cite web|title=Resolution| website=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XV54KQFTEQ| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211118/2XV54KQFTEQ| archive-date=2021-11-18 | url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> On the other side of the debate, another group of Israeli scholars came out in support of the boycott, arguing that "the Israel-led campaign against the boycott of Israeli academic institutions rallies around the claim that if adapted it will hurt progressive Israeli scholars. Campaigners use this tactic to divert attention from the plight of the entire Palestinian population living under Israel's elaborate system of colonial repression and injustice to a manufactured victimization of Israeli academics. This is a manipulative inversion of victimhood."<ref name="bds2017mla"/> 

In a strongly worded letter, the pro-Israeli [[Brandeis Center]] threatened to sue MLA if the resolution was adopted. In the letter addressed to the association's President [[Kwame Anthony Appiah]] and Executive Director Rosemary G. Feal, the center claimed that the resolution was ''[[ultra vires]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=LDB to MLA: Drop Ultra Vires Boycott Resolution|url=https://brandeiscenter.com/ldb-to-mla-drop-ultra-vires-boycott-resolution/|website=Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law|date=20 December 2016 |access-date=27 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Speyer|first1=Lea|date=3 January 2017 |title=Prominent Scholars Slam Modern Language Association for Entertaining 'Shameful' BDS Resolution, Politicizing Academia|url=https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/01/03/prominent-scholars-slam-modern-language-association-for-entertaining-shameful-bds-resolution-politicizing-academia/|website=[[Algemeiner Journal|Algemeiner]] |access-date=27 February 2017}}</ref> That is, that it would take the association in a direction that went beyond its original mission. Supporters of the boycott argued that it was not ''ultra vires'' because the Association had in the past been engaged in human rights issues.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Palumbo-Liu|first1=David|date=27 December 2016 |title=Brandeis Center Threatens Lawsuit Against Academic Organization for Supporting Call for Palestinian Rights|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-palumboliu/brandeis-center-threatens_b_13861048.html|website=Huffington Post|access-date=27 February 2017}}</ref>

At the 2025 annual meeting in New Orleans, the MLA executive council blocked a member vote on a resolution endorsing BDS and acknowledging [[Palestinian genocide accusation]] and [[scholasticide]], prompting protest and campaign for members to lapse membership in the organization. The executive council released a statement in advance stating that while they are "appalled by the continued attack on Gaza," a BDS resolution would present "legal and fiduciary" challenges.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilkins |first=Brett |last2=Rosane |first2=Olivia |date=January 12, 2025 |title=MLA Members for Palestine Protest Denial of BDS Vote at National Assembly |url=https://www.commondreams.org/news/mla-bds |access-date=2025-01-13 |website=[[Common Dreams]] |language=en}}</ref>

==Regional associations==
There are several regional associations that are independent of the primary MLA, and which host smaller conventions at other times of the year:
* Midwest Modern Language Association
* Northeast Modern Language Association
* Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association
* Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association
* South Atlantic Modern Language Association
* South Central Modern Language Association

==Affiliated and allied societies==
[[Image:Transactions and Proceedings of the Modern Language Association of America 1884–5.png|thumb|right|upright=1.1|Cover of ''Transactions and Proceedings of the Modern Language Association of America 1884–5'']]
*[[Association of Departments of English]]
*Association of Departments of Foreign Languages
*[[Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship]]
*[[International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures|The International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures]] (FILLM)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fillm.org/news/2016/welcomeMLA.html|title=News: The Modern Language Association Joins FILLM! |date=15 September 2015 |website=FILLM. fillm.org |access-date=2016-09-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mla.org/About-Us/Governance/Organizational-Memberships|title=Organizational Memberships|website=Modern Language Association|access-date=2016-09-19}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of most commonly learned foreign languages in the United States]]
*''[[MLA Handbook]]''
*''[[MLA Style Manual]]''
*[[Style guide]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Barber, Virginia. "The Women's Revolt in the MLA". ''Change Magazine'' April 1972. Rpt. in ''Women on Campus: The Unfinished Liberation''. Ed. George W. Bonham. Introd. Elizabeth Janeway. Somerset, NJ: Transaction, 2006. pp. 85–94. ["The Modern Language Association is finally opening its doors to professional women and their demands for reform."]
* [[Florence Howe|Howe, Florence]], [[Frederick C. Crews]], Louis Kampf, [[Noam Chomsky]], [[Paul Lauter]], and [[Richard Ohmann]]. [https://www.nybooks.com/articles/11463 "Reforming the MLA."] Letter to the editor. ''[[New York Review of Books]]'', 19 December 1968. Web. 4 February 2007.
*Kimball, Roger. ''Tenured Radicals: How Politics Has Corrupted Our Higher Education''. New York: [[Harper & Row]], 1990. Rev. ed. Chicago: Elephant Paperbacks ([[Rowman & Littlefield|Ivan R. Dee]]), 1998. {{ISBN|1-56663-195-5}}. {{ISBN|978-1-56663-195-2}}. Print.
*Kushner, Eva. "The Modern Language Association of America". ''[[Diogenes (journal)|Diogenes]]'' 50.2 (2003): 135–138. Web. 1 July 2016.

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.mla.org}}
* ''[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/004529018 Publications of the Modern Language Association of America]'', 1884–1922, full text online via [[HathiTrust]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Modern Languages Association}}
[[Category:Organizations established in 1883]]
[[Category:1883 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Learned societies of the United States]]
[[Category:Bibliographic database providers]]
[[Category:Member organizations of the American Council of Learned Societies]]
[[Category:Literary criticism organizations]]
[[Category:Modern Language Association| ]]