6.0270 MLA in Newsweek (1/25)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Sat, 3 Oct 1992 11:24:09 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0270. Saturday, 3 Oct 1992.
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 10:26 EDT
From: "Mary Dee Harris, Language Technology" <MDHARRIS@guvax.acc.georgetown.edu>
Subject: MLA Makes the Big Time
The October 5, 1992, issue of _Newsweek_ magazine lists 100 members of
the Cultural Elite (as defined by Dan Quayle), including Houston
Baker, President of the Modern Language Association. The blurb
continues: "Once a home for footnote fetishists, the MLA put p.c.
scholarship on the map and takes the blame for inventing it."
When I read it last night, my first thought was that it referred to
"PC scholarship" as in using personal computers for writing. Since it
could be argued that introduction to computers in writing courses led
to more use of PCs among students and later to the "real" world, and
MLA (under the leadership of Hans R"utimann) was one of the first
major organizations to computerize at all, and MLA encouraged
Computers in Writing, especially through the ACH sessions at MLA in
the early 80's, my first thought upon reading the blurb (quoted above)
was that it was *US* -- the ACH and our knowledge of computing for the
humanities that led the MLA into the PC era.
But this morning when I re-read the blurb, I read "p.c. scholarship"
as "politically correct scholarship," which in fact makes more sense
in light of what Newsweek knows and cares about the "cultural elite."
Ah, well, here again we don't get credit for our contribution! But we
know the truth, right?
Mary Dee Harris