Essay proposals are invited for a volume in the MLA’s Options for Teaching series entitled Teaching Jewish American Literature, to be edited by Roberta Rosenberg and Rachel Rubinstein. The purposes of this volume are to create important links between the innovative scholarship emerging on Jewish American literature and classroom pedagogies and resources; provide crucial academic and pedagogical background to faculty members who now teach Jewish American studies without expertise in the field; reinvigorate the study of Jewish American texts and culture and create new audiences for stand-alone Jewish American literary courses; promote comparative literary studies of Jewish American literature in American mainstream and multicultural literature, Jewish studies, and contemporary literary theory; emphasize the global, multinational, multilingual nature of contemporary Jewish American immigrant and émigré literatures; offer pedagogical tools and resources that will enrich conversations on college campuses concerning challenging political and social issues; and develop new interest in teacher education courses that will rebalance the representation of Holocaust and Jewish ethnic literatures.

Your abstract should make your intended topic clear and explain its importance to the field of Jewish American literature, indicate the pedagogy or literary theory that supports the topic and the types of evidence you will use (e.g., sample assignments from a class you have taught), and outline the theories you hope to explore. Please note that any quotations from student papers will require written permission from students. Your abstract should also address the value of your intended topic to a broad range of instructors and students in literature and cultural studies.

If you are interested in contributing an essay of 2,500–3000 words, please submit an abstract of 350–500 words to Roberta Rosenberg, Christopher Newport University (rrosenb@cnu.edu), and Rachel Rubinstein, Hampshire College (rrHACU@Hampshire.edu) by 15 February 2016.  We will also have a volume development website on MLA Commons that we invite you to participate in:  https://scholcomm.commons.mla.org/blog/call-for-essay-proposals-on-teaching-jewish-american-literature.