QUILTING POINTS:

When : 4:30pm, Thursday the 25th of February, 2016 Where : LHRI Seminar Room 1, 29–31 Clarendon Place ( map ) Main Text 1 : Gramsci (1971) Some theoretical and practical aspects of "economism" ( download ) Main Text 2 : Gramsci (1971) The study of philosophy ( download ) Supplementary Text : Hall (1988) Gramsci and Us ( download ) The Quilting Points reading group continues reading Stuart Hall through the theorists who informed his thought. In this session we take two excerpts from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci—arguably Hall's greatest influence. We will look at Gramsci's notion of 'common sense', which is used extensively by Hall, and touch on the concept of 'hegemony', Gramsci's most widely cited idea. As ever, Quilting Points is an inter- multi- cross- and counter-disciplinary reading group, and everyone is welcome to attend. We look forward to seeing you there. QP

When : 4:30pm, Thursday 11th February 2016 Where : LHRI Seminar Room 1, 29–31 Clarendon Place ( map ) Main Text : Althusser (1969) Contradiction and overdetermination ( download ) Supplementary Text : Sparks (1996) Stuart Hall, cultural studies and Marxism ( download ) The Quilting Points reading group is back for the second half of our Reading Stuart Hall series. Last semester we read Hall's own work, and this time we will read those who influenced him, starting with a chapter by Louis Althusser. Althusser's brand of Marxism was an important theoretical foundation of early cultural studies (see Sparks 1996), and we intend to follow the theoretical journey from those early structuralist leanings through to Hall's later encounters with Gramsci, Foucault, and others. The supplementary text by Colin Sparks offers an interesting and insightful history of the relationship between cultural studies and Marxism. As ever, Quilting Points is an inter- multi- cross- and counter