PHILADELPHIA – At the 125th annual Modern Language Association (MLA) convention, held last week in Philadelphia, professors and students of languages and literature examined the historic campaign and election of the nation’s first Black president – and how it impacted their fields.
As the four-day convention concluded last Wednesday, several sessions centered on the effects of Barack Obama’s election and presidency on the creation of literature, on teaching writing, and on academia in general.
“Teachers of writing have a lot to learn from President Obama,” Jeff Swift, a graduate student in English at Brigham Young University in Utah who teaches writing and composition, said during a session titled “The Impact of Obama’s Rhetorical Strategies.”
Considered the world’s largest scholarly gathering, the 2009 MLA convention attracted about 7,500 attendees with sessions on more than 750 topics related to languages and literature. This year’s theme, “The Tasks of Translation in the Global Context,” was addressed in more than 50 sessions, including talks on postcolonial translation, retranslation, and self-translation.
“The MLA annual convention is the central gathering place to exchange ideas on language and literature study and learning,” said MLA Executive Director Rosemary Feal.
More than a dozen convention speakers focused their talks on Obama, delving into topics from his impact on Black literary history to how his campaign’s use of digital media impacted how the nation experienced his historic inauguration.
During the session on Obama’s rhetorical strategies, arranged by the Council of Writing Program Administrators, speakers explained how writing instructors could embrace digital media, in ways similar to the president, as a teaching tool. Swift, of Brigham Young University, encouraged educators to incorporate the micro-blogging website Twitter into writing class as a tool to link students to their professor, their peers, and outside experts.
