December 1996 News

New Publications

• Alain J.-J. Cohen, "Stochastics of sex and death in Basic [filmic] Instinct," Semiotica "Homage to Christian METZ," 112-1/2 (1996): 109-122.
  
• Stephen Cox, "The Devil's Reading List," Raritan, 16.2 (Fall 1996): 97-111.
  
  
• Stephen Cox, Review of Michael Valdez Moses, The Novel and the Globalization of Culture, Liberty, 9.6 (July 1996): 53-54.

• Stephen Cox, "Textual Gnats, Political Camels" [comment], Bible Review, 12.4 (August 1996): 6.

• Stephen Cox, et al., "Art and Artifact" [symposium on literature and technology], Reason, 28.7 (December 1996): 36-45.

• Ramon Garcia, Poesída: An Anthology of AIDS Poetry From the United States, Latin America and Spain. New York: Ollantay Press, 1995.

• Ramon Garcia, "Psalmo: Para El," Best American Poetry 1996. New York: Scribner, 1996.

• Ami Silber, "Pacific" (short story), Glimmer Train Stories, 21 (Winter 1997). First Place Prize, New Fiction Writers' Competition.

• Wai-lim Yip, eight poems (in English) will appear on CD-ROM (Lightspan Partnership, Inc., June 1997) as interactive educational programs for third- and fourth-graders: "Spring is here," "Blue Sky far," "Mountain is a book skybig," "Sleep bundled up," "Jingling tingling morning," "Mother Tree," "White Egrets and Sunset," and "To net the stars."

• Wai-lim Yip and Ian Tyson have created a "surimono" ("printed matter")--a poem by Wai-lim Yip, printed in English, followed by the Chinese text in Professor Yip's calligraphy, facing artist/printer Ian Tyson's minimalist interpretation of the poem. The edition comprises 85 signed copies, of which 50 are for sale. Proceeds will be used to enhance acquisitions in the Mandeville Special Collections Library.

• FALL 1996 LITERATURE DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM
  Theorizing Borders, Diasporas, and Migrations: Three Literary Case Studies
  Rosemary M. George, "Introductory Comments"
  Liza Nelligan, "Settling the Savage Soil: 16th Century Ireland, British Imperialism, and Edmund Spenser"
  Gema Guevara, "Cuban Patriots in Exile: The Nationalist Writings of Félix Varela and José Antonio Saco"
  Carlton Floyd, "'There's No Place Like Home': James Baldwin and a Life in Exile"
  Tuesday, December 3, 4:00 p.m.
  deCerteau Room, 155 Literature Building

• RETHINKING THE ENLIGHTENMENT (FROM AN IRISH PERSPECTIVE)
  Kevin Whelan, Department of History, University of Notre Dame, "Rethinking the Enlightenment"
  Luke Gibbons, Department of Communications, Dublin City University, "The Famine in Popular Representation: Art and the Unimaginable"
  David Lloyd, UC Berkeley, Respondent
  Wednesday, December 4, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
  deCerteau Room, 155 Literature Building

• The 1996 Modern Language Association Convention, scheduled this year in Washington, D.C., will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, December 27, and end at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, December 30. The convention will take place at the Sheraton Washington (English Sessions, Exhibits), Washington Hilton (Foreign Language Sessions) and the Omni Shoreham (Job Information Center and Child Care). All MLA members and others involved in the study or teaching of language and literature must register in order to attend or participate in meetings, visit the exhibit hall, take part in the job service, or reserve hotel rooms at special MLA rates. Regular and nonmembers will receive a discount if they pay registration fees before December 6. For further information see Barbara Saxon or Quinny. Graduate students who are interviewing at the convention may obtain $100 towards their travel expenses (see Quinny). Plane fares to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport are approximately half the cost of flying into the National or Dulles Airports. BWI is a 35-minute shuttle ride from downtown (see Linda Lewis for details).

• Conference on the Future of the Humanities, UCSD, January 31 and February 1, 1997. The conference, organized by George Mariscal and Winifred Woodhull (Department of Literature) and Michael Meranze (Department of History), is funded by the UCSD Center for the Humanities. Questions to be addressed include: (1) What specific methodologies can be identified as properly literary and historical? (2) How do the two disciplines overlap in terms of research tools and scholarly goals? (3) To what extent do traditional concepts of the humanities continue to be productive? (4) Can we still speak of the study of literature and history as the basis for an ethics? (5) What is the value of humanistic studies at the end of the century? Manning Marable (Columbia University) will be the keynote speaker and panelists will include Susan Buck-Morss and Page duBois.

• 31st Annual Local Authors Exhibit, San Diego Public Library. The San Diego Public Library is searching for local authors who published books in 1996. Publications will be displayed in the lobby of the Central Library from the end of January through February 1997. Books must be submitted by December 16, 1996. For further information, call 236-5847.

• Coolbrith/Poet Laureate Poetry Competitions. The Department of Literature is accepting submissions for the Ina Coolbrith Memorial Poetry Prizes and the Poet Laureate Awards. The Coolbrith competition was established by friends of the late Ina Coolbrith, former Poet Laureate of California. $400 is available annually for prizes, to be apportioned by the judges. Awards are made for the best unpublished poem or group of poems by an undergraduate student at the UC campuses, University of the Pacific, Mills College, Stanford University, the University of Santa Clara, or St. Mary's College. The Poet Laureate competition was established by the Ina Coolbrith Circle. Four prizes ($100; $75; $50; $25) are awarded for the best poetry submissions from graduate or undergraduate students at any of the UC campuses. Manuscripts must be typewritten or clearly printed. A duplicate should be kept, as manuscripts cannot be returned. A 4x6 index card with the following information should be attached: name, local address, telephone number, permanent address, social security number, U.S. citizen (yes or no), major, student status (graduate or undergraduate), title of entry, and name of contest (Coolbrith or Poet Laureate). Students may enter both contests, but not with the same poems. A faculty judge from the Department of Literature will select three finalists for each contest from the UCSD submissions. These entries will be forwarded, via the Committee on Prizes at UC Berkeley, to a panel of judges who will select the winners. UCSD entries must be submitted to the Undergraduate Office, Room 110 Literature Building, by no later than Wednesday, December 18, 1996.

Research Funds/Fellowships

• Intercampus Exchange Opportunity Fund Grants. Airfare is provided to Academic Senate members and registered graduate students for travel to other UC campuses and/or facilities for study and research, and to faculty invited to UCSD from other UC campuses for the purpose of research consultations which will benefit UCSD faculty. These funds may not be used for travel to attend conferences that happen to take place at UC facilities. Awards are made for the lowest published airfare not to exceed $250 (or mileage in lieu of airfare), but not per diem. See Linda Lewis for an application.

• University of California Humanities Research Institute (HRI) Call for Program Proposals.
  • 1997-87 Residential Fellowships for Research Group Participation. HRI invites applications from all UC faculty, postdoctoral scholars and advanced graduate students for residential fellowships to participate in one of the following research groups that will convene during 1997-98: "Jewish Identity in the Diaspora," Fall 1997, Convener, Howard Wettstein, Department of Philosophy, UC Riverside; "The Culture of the Americas and the Narratives of Globalization," Winter/Spring 1998, Convener, Gwen Kirkpatrick, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, UC Berkeley; and "Multiculturalism(s) in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand: Legal and Pedagogical Implications," Winter/Spring 1998, Convener, Brook Thomas, Department of English and Comparative Literature, UC Irvine. The deadline for faculty applications is December 15, 1996; for graduate student applications the deadline is February 1, 1997 (graduate student applicants must be advanced to candidacy by June 1997). Postdoctoral scholars (Ph.D. from the UC within the past two years or by June 15, 1997) must also apply by February 1, 1997.

  • 1998-99 Research Group Proposals. HRI is currently seeking proposals for research groups to be in residence in Irvine for from one to three quarters during 1998-99. Research groups bring together scholars to work in collaboration on interdisciplinary topics which advance the Institute's commitment to promote new and exciting scholarship in the humanities. Proposals must be postmarked by December 15, 1996. During 1997-98, applications will be solicited from UC faculty to work in the research groups selected. For further information contact THE FELLOWSHIP COMMITTEE, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA HRI, 307 ADMINISTRATION, IRVINE CA 92697-3350; (714) 824-8177; or see Lucinda Rubio-Barrick.

• Call for Program Proposals, UCSD Center for the Humanities. In the 1997-98 academic year, the Humanities Center will consider support in the following categories:
  • Collaborative Group Research Planning Grants (maximum award $12,000): The center will provide initial support for group projects that have the potential of attracting outside support or projects seeking seed funds to develop applications for specific programs such as programs of the Humanities Research Institute. Interdisciplinary research will be supported under this category.

  • Conferences (maximum award $20,000): The center will provide funds, matching grants and seed money for the organization of conferences on significant issues in the humanities that are of interest to the university and the community.

  • Community Outreach (maximum award $12,000): The center will support events that involve the local community, community organizations and, in general, contribute to the interaction of the UC faculty and the San Diego community.
    Eligibility is limited to members of the Academic Senate. Graduate students and juniors and seniors (GPA of 3.5 or higher) are eligible to serve as research fellows on projects initiated by faculty. Submissions must be received by the Center for the Humanities (0406) by January 10, 1997.