QUILTING POINTS:

A workshop on  Michel Foucault’s writings on the Iranian Revolution led by Professor Michael Dillon (Lancaster University). In 1978, Michel Foucault visited Iran twice as the Revolution began to unfold and subsequently interviewed the Ayatollah Khomenei in his Paris exile. He went on to write some 15 articles for the Corrierre della sera , Le nouvel observateur and Le monde reflecting upon the implications of the Islamic Revolution. To be sure, Foucault’s writings upon Iran are now some of the notorious in his body of work and have been roundly criticised by scholars for at best political naivete and at worst complicity with Khomenei’s regime. However, after more than 30 years of radical political Islamism of all persuasions, the ‘Iranian’ Foucault also begins to seem remarkably prescient, almost prophetic: Foucault was arguably one of the first western thinkers to grasp the complex nexus of religion and revolutionary politics that has become one of the defining chal...

We warmly welcome all of those interested in 'the past'/past(s), how it is constructed, remembered, memorialized, theorized and otherwise invented, objectified, subjected and/or turned into 'History' - in short Philosophy of History and theories of History - to come along to the meetings.  Please do not feel that you don't 'know enough'.  Philosophy of History is only now re-emerging as a serious, critical topic, and our group was the first new collection of scholars in the UK and other English-speaking contexts to form together to discuss the issues in over a decade.  In this we were quickly followed and since then have been lucky to partner with these developing networks and programs, as well as the previous generation of groups and scholars.  The point is that the material, ideas and discourses are fresh to most of the people who come to the meetings, so please feel open to attend.  The discussions, although lively and serious, are also ver...

The next meeting of Quilting Points is Wednesday 4th December, 3.30pm, Alumni Room, School of English We will be continuing our exploration of history and redemption by discussing Benjamin's "Eduard Fuchs: Collector and Historian" which is available here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/96807532/Walter-Benjamin-Eduard-Fuchs Also recommended to accompany this, is his shorter essay "Unpacking my library" which is available here: http://art.yale.edu/file_columns/0000/2138/benjamin.pdf The text will be introduced by Leila Nassereldein (School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies) We hope you can join us! As this is our last session this semester, there is talk of going for a drink after the discussions.

Quilting Points: Reading Benjamin will meet: Wednesday 20th November, 3.30pm, The Alumni Room, School of English We shall be continuing our discussion of Theses on the Concept of History – use this link for a (perhaps) better translation than the one used last week http://cscs.res.in/dataarchive/textfiles/textfile.2010-11-02.7672177498/file In addition, we shall consider Adorno’s essay ‘Progress’, which can be accessed in full in google books (the ‘Critical Models’ volume) here: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=W1Refr-z8roC&pg=PA143&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false All welcome!

Quilting Points: Reading Benjamin will meet: Wednesday 6th November, 3.30pm, The Alumni Room, School of English (House 10) We shall be discussing two texts: Benjamin's Theses on the Concept of History (especially Theses I - IX) http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/benjamin/1940/history.htm Giorgio Agamben's essay 'Walter Benjamin and the Demonic: Happiness and Historical Redemption' [For a copy, please contact Stefan Skrimshire S.Skrimshire@leeds.ac.uk or quiltingpoints@gmail.com ] The discussion will be introduced by Catalin Taranu (School of History)

Dear all, On behalf of our colleague Silvana De Paula, we would like to draw your attention to the play "Hilda & Freud", written and directed by Antonio Quinet, a  Brazilian psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and philosopher (Paris VIII), who is very well acknowledged in Brazil for his clinical work and for his contributions to the lacanian field through  the publication of his own  books as well as for  his translations of Lacan's.  Quinet studied and worked with Lacan for many years. In the last 10 years or more,  he has also worked with theater, and his plays have been also well received.  One of them, "La leçon de Charcot", was staged in Paris  a couple of weeks ago by invitation of the  International Colloquium La Salpêtrière: un théatre de l'hystérie - Charcot, Freud, Lacan", at the 120th anniversary of Charcot's death. "Hilda & Freud" will be staged  in English at the Freud Museum...

You are warmly invited to join us for the next meeting of Quilting Points: Reading Benjamin on the 23rd of October at 3.30 pm. This week we will meet in Seminar Room 6 (School of English, House 9). We will be reading Benjamin's 'On  the Theory of Knowledge, Theory of Progress' . For an accompanying reading, following Layla's advice, we suggest Rolf Tiedmann's 'Dialectics at Standstill.' If you would like a copy of the text, please contact the organisers at quiltingpoints@gmail.com . The reading group is generously supported by the LHRI. If you are interested in introducing one of the texts in the future, please contact the organisers.

You are cordially invited to the first meeting of this reading group Reading Benjamin dedicated to critical and cultural theory across the disciplines. Wednesday 9th October, 3.30pm, The Alumni Room, School of English, University of Leeds We shall be reading Benjamin's 'The Life of Students' ( http://libcom.org/library/life-students-walter-benjamin ) - a pertinent little piece for the start of term, and a feisty little introduction to his wider thought on History. We'll also be discussing the remaining programme of texts for the semester.

Our theme for this year is   Lacan Read(s) Across the Disciplines . It   aims to examine the academic and intellectual work of the psychoanalyst and anti-philosopher Jacques Lacan, whose research and writings intersect disciplines across the Humanities and Social Sciences.  The organizers believe that such an approach is particularly fruitful for quilting together scholars from fields usually considered mutually exclusive, as well as clarify relationships in those disciplines with ambiguous liminality.     In order to read Lacan reading across the Disciplines, we will critically engage with the texts that influenced his thought and style.  The scope of these texts ranges in genre from literature and poetry across history and medieval studies to philosophy, psychology and anthropology.  Each meeting will focus on a particular essay by Lacan and be introduced by a member of the group; the work of the reading group will be punctuated by four semi...

Building on last year's successful 'Lacan Read(s) Across the Disciplines', this year the Quilting Points Reading group will focus  on the work of the German philosopher and critical theorist Walter Benjamin. The focus for readings in the first semester will be History, Time and the Messianic and the second, the theme of Violence. Each meeting will be introduced by a member of the group; the work of the reading group will be punctuated by four seminar papers presented by leading scholars from around the United Kingdom. The aim  of this group will be to allow staff and research students across  the Faculty to deepen their engagement with the primary and  secondary texts with the benefit of different disciplinary expertise   both within the university, and by inviting experts for other   universities to present one-off seminar introductions. It is also hoped that the reading group will bridge research interests of the  new...

The last meeting of the Lacan Read(s) Across the Disciplines Reading Group will take place in the Alumni Room of the School of English at 5.15pm on Thursday, 2nd of May. Nicholas Ray (English) will be introducing the text, "On a Question Prior to Any Possible Treatment of Psychosis", Ecrits , trans. Bruce Fink, pp. 445-488. Wine and orange juice will be served, all are welcome. As this will be the last meeting of the year, we will also discuss what our theme will be for next year: bring ideas and suggestions! Lacan Read(s) Across the Disciplines has been generously funded by the LHRI's Graduate Research Group Scheme .

CALL FOR PAPERS: UNIVERSITY OF YORK CENTRE FOR MODERN STUDIES THIRD ANNUAL POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM, BOWLAND AUDITORIUM, HUMANITIES RESEARCH CENTRE, FRIDAY 31/5/2013. Commercial speech – advertising – makes up most of what we share as a culture . . . As the language of commercialism has become louder, the language of high culture has become quieter.                 –  James B. Twitchell,  Twenty Ads that Shook the World Throughout the modern period, advertising and consumer culture have dominated everyday life; moreover, the trappings of commercialism permeate much of supposed ‘high culture’. Commodities clutter the pages of novels from Dickens and Zola to Bret Easton Ellis; works by Joyce and DeLillo are enlivened by advertising jingles and slogans; brands and trademarks pervade the practice of artists from Picasso to Warhol and the visualisation of consumer desire is appropriated and challeng...

For the last meeting of the term, we will be reading the second half of "The Paradox of Jouissance", Part Three of Lacan's The Ethics of Psychoanalysis (Chapters 16,17 & 18). We will meet in the Douglas Jefferson Room of the School of English on Tuesday 12th of March at 5.15pm. John Mark Derbyshire (English) will introduce the text. Wine, as always, will be served. Orange juice on prior request. We are grateful to the Leeds Humanities Research Institute for funding.

The Second Research Seminar for Lacan Read(s) Across the Disciplines will be held in the Douglas Jefferson Room of the School of English on Monday the 25th of February at 5.15pm. Our speaker will be Professor Lorenzo Chiesa (Kent) and the title of his paper will be: "Lacan on Religion and Love" Lorenzo Chiesa is Professor of Modern European Thought at the University of Kent. His books include Subjectivity and Otherness: A Philosophical Reading of Lacan (MIT Press, 2007) and Der Möglichkeitspunkt der Freiheitsfunktion. Essays zu Politik, Ästhetik und Psychoanalyse (Merve Verlag Berlin 2013). He is currently completing a new monograph on Lacan entitled For Lacan: Science, Logic, Love (MIT Press, 2014). Lacan Read(s) Across the Disciplines is funded by the Leeds Humanities Research Institute .

In celebration of Valentine's Day, we will be reading the first half of "The Paradox of Jouissance", Part Three of The Ethics of Psychoanalysis (Chapters 13,14 & 15). It seems like a good way not to give ground regarding our desire. Timothy Roby (English) will introduce the text. Wine, as always, will be served. Orange juice on prior request. We are grateful to the Leeds Humanities Research Institute for funding.