QUILTING POINTS:

 Thursday 5th December | 5:30 – 7:00pm | The Alumni Room (School of English) We will begin this academic year's reading group on Edward Said by reading Part 2 and 3 of the first chapter of The Question of Palestine (1978). Recently republished by Fitzcarraldo Editions, Said's seminal book frames the Palestinian conflict through ideas of empire, religion, and a critique of Western liberalism. Through these ideas, we will discuss other strands of Said's thought and postcolonial theory more broadly, as well as past and recent developments in the Palestinian conflict. The meeting will be held in the alumni room in the School of English  (Floor 1, House 10 Cavendish Road - https://maps.app.goo.gl/jVyNhfVTwsTHmBsb7 - https://what3words.com/courier.vase.valid)  on Thursday 5th December between 5:30-7:00pm, followed by a pub social.  Please do let us know if you have any questions, concerns or access requirements at quiltingpoints@gmail.com.

We are very pleased to announce the return of the interdisciplinary critical and cultural theory reading group Quilting Points for its thirteenth consecutive year!  This year, we will be reading the work of the Palestinian-American academic and literary critic Edward Said (1934-2003). Through regular reading group sessions, film screenings, and other events, we will discuss notions of empire, race, culture, and literary style.  More than 20 years after his death, Edward Said remains one of the most influential figures in 20th century political and literary thought. His book Orientalism (1978) is one of the foundational texts of postcolonial theory, as Said's critiques of the production and dissemination of power and knowledge still carry weight in the humanities. Said also wrote extensively about Palestine, giving us the chance to discuss the history and recent developments of the Palestinian conflict through his ideas. Indeed, we will start our reading group with The Question...

  Quilting Points are pleased to announce a symposium on the theme of ‘Racial Capitalism and Cultural Resistance’, inspired by our year-long consideration of the work of Cedric Robinson.  All are welcome to join a group of international researchers for a day of interdisciplinary papers, concluded by a keynote address from Dr. Dhanveer Singh Brar. Please find the full schedule below. There is no registration fee, we welcome people to drop-in on the day, and refreshments will be provided.  Any questions, queries or accessibility concerns please email  quiltingpoints@gmail.com Location : (Room LT 1.28, First Floor, Liberty Building (Moot Court), Belle Vue Road, Leeds. LS2 9JT -  https://maps.app.goo.gl/LbH9q7nj2mBjyXScA  -  https://what3words.com/busy.debit.shows ) Go through the main entrance and go straight ahead through two sets of double doors up to level one. The Moot Court LT is on your right . Accessibility information :  Entry is via the fron...

Wednesday 20th March | 4:00-6:00pm | The Meeting Room (School of English) Please join the Critical Life Research Collective and Quilting Points for a special collaborative session. This session will take its cue from Quilting Point’s year-long consideration of Cedric Robinson’s work, reflecting on that work in the light of a thinker who takes aspects of Robinson’s ideas in a different direction: Fred Moten. To this end, we will consider two short essay interventions into the aftermath of the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri – a critical event, the ramifications of which have been felt over the past decade.   Both Robinson and Moten want to think through the relationship between the symbolism of the killing and the singularity of Michael Brown. Brown’s murder occurred at the end of Robinson’s career. Nevertheless, it provided a final opportunity for him, alongside his then-wife and collaborator Elizabeth Robinson, to set out their political commitment...

Thursday 29th February November | 5:30 – 7:00pm | The Alumni Room (School of English) We are happy to announce interdisciplinary reading group Quilting Points will return after a short break. Following our readings of  Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition  last term, we will begin this year by reading two short essays in which Robinson develops the ideas of that book in relation to thinking about the legacy of decolonial struggles on the African continent. In ' The appropriation of Fanon ', Robinson takes issue with what he sees as postcolonial theory's depoliticized conception of Fanon, and opens this up into a critique of the "native bourgeoisie", which he then develops in ' In Search of a Pan-African Commonwealth ', into thinking through the association between Pan-Africanism and the form of the Nation-State.  Everyone (at whatever level of study & whether enrolled at the University or not)  is welcome, and no prior familiarity w...

Thursday 30 th November | 5:30 – 7:00pm | The Alumni Room (School of English) For this session, we will begin to explore Cedric Robinson’s notion of the Black Radical Tradition, which Robinson argues is that which is formed out of the rejection of racial capitalism as an “unacceptable” (p.28) value for life. Robinson spoke about writing and teaching Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition backwards, and it is in this spirit that we suggest Chapter 7 as a great introduction to this concept, condensed to a couple of pages. If you want to understand Robinson’s full reasoning and historical analysis, you can also extend this by reading  Chapter 6. Please read however much you have time for. In these chapters, Robinson focuses not on the major intellectual figures Black Marxism is usually associated with, but rather on a long tradition of anticolonial movements which produce from within their struggle different modes of being and producing knowledge. Everyone (at...