MLA Special Session Proposals Accepted for the Annual Meeting
1996 Albee and Adoption, session leader Marianne Novy, Univ. of Pittsburgh
- “The Bumble of Joy: The Adoptee as Fantasy Space in the Drama of Edward Albee,” Gary Leonard, Univ. of Toronto, Scarborough
- ”Cultural Narcissism: The Adoption Triad in Plays by Albee and Thatcher,”
S. Michael Bowen, Whitworth Coll. - “Performativity and Adoption: Citational Practices in the Plays of Edward Albee,” Jill Roberts, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst
2001 Adoption, Nation, and Race: Family as Contact Zone, session leader Marianne Novy
- “Renaming the Body, Rewriting Race: Adoption in Anglo-Indian Novels,” Nancy Louise Paxton, Northern Arizona Univ.
- “Ramona’s Uneasy Adopted Mexicanness,” Robert McKee Irwin, Tulane Univ.
- “Adoption as Foreign Policy in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I and Pearl Buck’s Welcome House,” Danielle Glassmeyer, Loyola Univ., Chicago
2003 Adopting Identities: Race, Nationality, and the Transethnic Adoption Narrative, session leader Emily Ann Hipchen, Univ. of Wisconsin, Whitewater
- “The Implications of Interracial Kin Adoptions for Black Identity Formation,” Darcy P. Y Ballantyne, York Univ., Strong Coll.
- “Adopted Children, Adopted Countries?” Ruth Phyllis Haber, Worcester State Coll.
- “Adoption and Adaptation: Namibia’s German Democratic Republic Kids,” Jason Paul Owens, South Dakota State Univ.
2006 “Saved? Religion in Literary Representations of Adoption. Presiding: Emily Hipchen, Univ. of West Georgia
- “Words Made Flesh: Silas Marner and Pigs in Heaven,” Margaret Homans, Yale Univ.
- “Calculating Differences: Adoption and Individuation in William Faulkner’s Light in August,” Mark Jerng, Univ. of California, Davis
- “Conservative and Liberal Religion in Contemporary Adoption Fiction,” Marianne Novy
Respondent: Carol J. Singley, Rutgers Univ., Camden
2007 Writing Transnational Adoption across Asia and America. Presiding: Mark Jerng; Marianne Novy
- “Ghostly Selves in Korean Adoption Narratives: H. K. Fenkl, D. B. Liem, and J. J. Trenka,” Patricia P. Chu, George Washington Univ.
- “Representing Transnational Chinese Adoption in a Hemispheric Context,” Claudia Sadowski-Smith, Arizona State Univ,
- “Racial Identity and the Making of ‘Adoption Nation,’” Vincent J. Cheng, Univ. of Utah
2008 Strained Relations: (Narrative) Conflict in the Literature of Adoption. Presiding: Marianne Novy
- “The Happy-Ending Myth: Juno and the Idealization of Adoption,” Janet Mason Ellerby, Univ. of North Carolina, Wilmington
- “Reading for Adoption in Disability Life Writing: Adam Dorris and The Broken Cord,” Emily Hipchen, [canceled because of illness]
- “Searching for Koreatown: Afro-Asian Adoption in A Gesture Life and Country of Origin,” Jenny Wills, Wilfrid Laurier Univ.
2009 Birth Mothers: Reclaiming Missing Voices in the Literature of Adoption. Presiding: Emily Hipchen
- “The Too-Embodied Voice: Reading Trauma in Surrendered Child: A Birthmother’s Journey.” Emily Hipchen
- “Mothers Global and Local: Representations of Birth Parents in Transnational Adoption Narratives and the Politics of Social Exclusion,” Marina Fedosik, John Jay Coll. Of Criminal Justice, City Univ. of New York
- “When Birth Mothers and Adoptees Speak Together,” Margaret Homans
Respondent: Marianne Novy