Special Session Proposal
M/MLA 2002
November 8-10, 2002
Minneapolis, MN
The University and its Discontents
With shrinking budgets resulting from a recessionary economy as well as a
post-September 11-world, universities and colleges currently face a period
of justification to the many publics it has ties to, including
legislatures, taxpayers, parents, and corporations. RepresentationsÑ-and
self-representations-Ñof the university, its faculty, its students, and
its missions, are now critical in both its justification and its outreach
to these publics. This panel will examine and analyze representations of
the modern university, both in the current situation and in its historical
contexts, in both fiction and non-fictional genres. Possible topics
include:
1. Popular images of campus and student life in novels, films, and
television series, including changes from past representations to present.
2. Representations of the profession (faculty) in academic novels, films,
and television series.
3. Self-representations of faculty in forms such as the essay (e.g.
Stanley FishÕs "Unbearable Ugliness of Volvos" or Mark EdmundsonÕs "On the
Uses of a Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment for Bored College
Students") or the academic memoir (e.g. Paul FussellÕs Doing Battle or
William PritchardÕs English Papers).
4. Metaphors of decline and conflict in studies of the university (from
KantÕs Conflict of the Faculties to Bill ReadingsÕ University in Ruins).
5. Teaching the Ôidea of the universityÕ in these contexts in the
undergraduate and graduate classroom.
Please send abstract and brief c.v. by February 25, 2002, to: Eric
Leuschner; 107 Tate Hall; University of Missouri-Columbia; Columbia, MO,
65211; or email: edl6c6@mizzou.edu. Electronic submission encouraged.
Inquiries welcomed.
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