Reading Cedric Robinson

We are very pleased to announce the return of the interdisciplinary critical and cultural theory reading group Quilting Points for its twelfth consecutive year! 

This year we will be thinking with the work of Black Radical theorist Cedric Robinson. 

Photograph of Cedric Robinson in a black jacket with his finger on his chin.
Widely reproduced image but unknown date and photographer.

Robinson has risen to increased prominence in the last few years partly due to the 2021 republication of his 1983 classic Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition by Penguin Books, and the purchase that some of his concepts such as ‘racial capitalism’ and the ‘Black Radical Tradition’ have had within activist communities around the Black Lives Matter movement. Our reading group will provide an opportunity to look at this work in-depth but also a rare opportunity to situate it in the context of Robinson’s entire oeuvre.

Through a regular reading group, film screenings, artist talks, and other events, we will use Robinson's work as a way of re-examining the relationship between theory and practice. What are the uses of theory for social movements and how can social movements inform theory? 

Run by postgraduate researchers in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Cultures, the directors for this year will be Poonam Sharma, Jack Rondeau, and Owen Atkinson. 

This year's meetings will take place in-person, with our first meeting of the year taking place on 26th October. More details coming soon.

We can't wait to see you all there!