Modern Language Association#Activities

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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). 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."

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.{{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}}

The MLA is governed by an Executive Council, elected periodically by its members, according to the MLA Constitution. The Executive Director is Paula Krebs."[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 June 2017. La Salle University. lasalle.edu. Retrieved 17 September 2017.

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The MLA publishes several academic journals, 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, 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.{{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 }}

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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.{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}

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. There are also extensive book exhibits in one of the main hotel or convention center exhibition areas.

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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.{{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 }} In The New Criterion, a classicist and politically conservative{{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 }}{{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}} 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.[http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Farewell-to-the-MLA-5090 Farewell to the MLA"], Roger Kimball and Hilton Kramer, New Criterion, February 1995. Web.

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.{{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}} 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.{{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}}

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.{{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}}{{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}} A group of Israeli scholars sent videotaped messages stating Israeli universities are multicultural and calling the BDS campaign one of harassment and slander.{{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}} 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."

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.{{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}}{{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 |access-date=27 February 2017}} 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.{{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}}

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.{{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}}

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

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• Association of Departments of English
• Association of Departments of Foreign Languages
• Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship
• The International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM){{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}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.mla.org/About-Us/Governance/Organizational-Memberships|title=Organizational Memberships|website=Modern Language Association|access-date=2016-09-19}}

• List of most commonly learned foreign languages in the United States
• MLA Handbook
• MLA Style Manual
• Style guide

{{Reflist|30em}}

• 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."]
• 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 (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 50.2 (2003): 135–138. Web. 1 July 2016.

• {{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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