April 7, 2023: NeMLA Reflections: Elise Takehana on Making Meaning of Maps

[A coupleweekends back I was in Niagara Falls for the 54th annual NortheastModern Language Association Convention. Longtime readers will know well howmuch I loveNeMLA, the organization and the convention alike, and this year was noexception. So as usual, here are a handful of reflections on a great NeMLAconvention!]

Somebody’sgot to present on Sunday morning at a multi-day conference like NeMLA, but itsure is a tough time slot (especially at NeMLA, where it runs right up againstthe Sunday Member Brunch that is a conference highlight); and apparently one onwhich my FSU English Studies colleague and friend EliseTakehana has found herself multiple years in a row. So I was very glad tobe able to get to the Sunday morning roundtable on Women “Writing” Beyond thePage that featured Elise’s talk on a pair of experimental, compelling shortbooks about/using maps. As she did again with her FSU Harrod Lecture last weekon “Database and Algorithm as Literary Infrastructure,” Elise’s NeMLA talkchallenged me to rethink what I consider literature, as well as how literaryand cultural works work. I go to NeMLA every year for all sorts of reasons, asI hope these posts (like all my NeMLA reflections over the years) have madeclear—but thinking and rethinking are always among them, and I’m neverdisappointed!

Specialpost on scholarly organizations this weekend,

Ben

PS. If youwere at NeMLA, I’d love to hear your reflections too!