The UNM English Department was well represented at the Modern Language Association Conference 2020 in Seattle, Washington. Drs. Jesse Alemán, Feroza Jussawalla, Nahir Otano Graçia, and Melina Vizcaino-Alemán all presented along with graduate students, Aspyn Maes, Emma Mincks, David Putoff, Dalicia Raymond, and Rebekah Rendón.
Jesse Alemán, ALS Professor, participated as a speaker in a linked session discussing “the experiences of established scholars [to ask] what has and hasn’t changed in the field in the past five decades [and how] the production, teaching, and study of literatures of people of color make an impact on the cultures and practices of higher education in the United States and Canada.”
Feroza Jussawalla, BILS Professor, presented her paper discussing Muslim women’s writing during the session, “Being “Human” behind the Veil: “Precarity” of Muslim Women as Characters and Authors,” presided over by alumna of Medieval Studies, Doaa Omran. Jussawalla also presented papers at the conjoint South Asian Literature conference, and furthermore was elected to the organizing committee of the MLA.
Emma Mincks, BILS PhD Student, presented a paper about teaching, “Positionality, Ethos, and Classroom Intimacy as an Antidote to Populism” in the session about “Teaching in an Age of Populism”, a panel which ALS PhD Candidate, David Puthoff presided over.
Emma Mincks, Rebekah Rendon, and another student 
Feroza Jussawalla & David Puthoff 
Student, Jesse Aleman, Nahir Otano Gracia 
Dalicia Raymond, Feroza Jussawalla, and Aspyn Maes
