Last year, the LMMI made a Statement on Racial Injustice in which it acknowledged how L.M. Montgomery’s work requires scholars to look deeper into issues of colonialism, systemic racism, and intolerance. As part of LMMI’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, the LMMI EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Subcommittee is taking this opportunity to use the conference theme of L.M. Montgomery and Re-Vision to revise how we see Montgomery Studies by organizing a roundtable. This will begin the exercise of creating safe spaces for marginalized communities and reimagine how we discuss scholarship through a more diverse, post-colonial lens. The roundtable’s main question is: What does EDI look like in Montgomery Studies?
The LMMI EDI Subcommittee reached out to L.M. Montgomery scholars who have experience discussing Montgomery’s work in connection to conversations on queer theory and gender, colonialism, and diversity in literature. Dr. Poushali Bhadury, Dr. Yolanda Hood, and Dr. Laura Robinson will take part in the conversation. The LMMI Subcommittee Co-Chair, Melanie J. Fishbane, will be the moderator. We hope that this will begin a positive dialogue on the importance of EDI and its role in revisioning Montgomery Studies for future generations.
Biographies:
Dr. Poushali Bhadury is an Assistant Professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University. Her research and teaching interests include Comparative Children’s Literature, Postcolonial Literature (esp. South Asian), Book History, Queer Studies, and Digital Humanities. Her peer-reviewed publications include articles in Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, South Asian Review, and Journal of Lesbian Studies, among others. She had published two peer-reviewed journal articles on Anne, serves on the editorial board of JLMMS, is a member of LMMI’s EDI Subcommittee, and is a lifelong Montgomery fan.
Melanie Fishbane is the co-chair of the LMMI EDI Subcommittee. She also co-organized the current work-in-progress BIPOC Reading List on the Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies and is exploring questions of colonialism and politics in Montgomery’s work and life writing. Her essays are published in L.M. Montgomery’s Rainbow Valleys: The Ontario Years 1911–1942 and the Journal of L.M. Montgomery Studies. Her YA novel, Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery, was shortlisted for the Vine Awards for the best in Canadian Jewish Literature. She will be starting her Ph.D. in English and Writing Studies at Western University in September.
Dr. Yolanda Hood has been a librarian for sixteen years. She is a Teaching and Engagement Librarian at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Although she has many research interests, most of her publications center on African American YA and Children's Literature. The project she is most proud of, however, is the diverse families database which helps identify books that depict the growing diversity of families. Yolanda is also the editor for Young Adult Library Services, a journal of the Young Adult Library Services Association which is a division of the American Library Association.
Dr. Laura Robinson is the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and professor of English and Women's and Gender Studies at Acadia University. Former Visiting Scholar at the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island, she has published many articles on Montgomery's work. With E. Holly Pike, she edited the volume L.M. Montgomery and Gender (MQUP 2021). She also acted as a consultant on Historica Canada's L.M. Montgomery Heritage Minute and the Inspiring Places: L.M. Montgomery Literary Tour in PEI, and she created the travelling exhibit, "The Canadian Homefront: L.M. Montgomery's Reflection on the First World War."