QUILTING POINTS:

We are happy to announce that the next Quilting Points session for 2026 will take place on Thursday, 26 th  March. In this session, we will discuss Sontag’s essay 'Fascinating Fascism' (1974) from  Under the Sign of Saturn (1980). Our discussion will be supplemented by the chapter 'Peeking Under the Black Shirt: Italian Fascism’s Disembodied Bodies' from Fashioning the Body Politic: Dress, Gender, Citizenship (2002) edited by Wendy Parkins. We hope to see you there! Time: 5.30 pm – 7.30 pm + optional pub social Location: Alumni Room, House 10 Cavendish Road 

 We are happy to announce that the first Quilting Points session for 2026 will take place on Thursday, 29 th January. In this session, we will discuss Sontag’s essay Notes on Camp (1964).  Our discussion will be supplemented by the chapter 'Gesture, Ephemera, and Queer Feeling' From José Esteban Muñoz's Queering Utopia . We hope to see you there! Time: 5.30 pm – 7.30 pm + optional pub social Location: House 10, Cavendish Road — first door on your left when you come in    

We are happy to announce that the final Quilting Points session for 2025 will take place on Wednesday, 17th December. In this session, we will watch together and discuss To Tell a Story (1983) - Susan Sontag's televised dialogue with John Berger, in which the two debate the role of the storyteller across media and form. No advance reading required! Time: 5.30 pm – 7.30 pm + optional pub social Location: House 10, Cavendish Road — first door on your left when you come in

The final   Quilting   Points   reading group session by the current organisers will take place on Thursday October 9th. Fittingly, we will discuss the first chapter of Edward Said's   On Late Style  (published posthumously in 2006), one of his last works. Drawing on Adorno's idea of lateness, Said asks whether there are identifiable 'unique qualities of perception and form that artists acquire as a result of age in the late phase of their career'.  You can access the selected reading   here . As the essay draws heavily on Adorno, we have added a completely optional secondary reading:  'Lateness and Modernity in Theodor Adorno', by Robert Spencer,  which offers a reading of Adorno that deviates significantly from Said's. We will also use this session to discuss future plans for the reading group. A separate call for organisers for the upcoming academic year will be sent next week; however, if you have any plans or ideas for Quilting Points, p...

Dear all, As part of this year’s Quilting Points critical reading group sessions, we are delighted to welcome Dr Anna Bernard from King’s College London, who will be giving a talk on Edward Said and Palestinian solidarity. The talk will take place in the Alumni Room at the School of English (Cavendish Road 10) on  May 22nd from 15.30 to 17.30,  followed by a drinks reception.  Everyone (at whatever level of study and whether enrolled at the University or not) is welcome, and no prior familiarity with Said’s work or related areas is necessary. Please do let us know if you have any questions, concerns, or access requirements by contacting us at quiltingpoints@gmail.com. Dr Bernard’s talk will last approximately 45 minutes, and it will be followed by a Q&A and a general discussion. Please find more information on Dr Bernard's talk below, and we hope to see you there! About the talk: ‘Edward Said and Solidarity’ This talk will consider Edward Said’s legacy not only a...

  Dear all, The fifth Quilting Points reading group session of this academic year will take place on  Thursday, May 1st, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm . In this session, we will discuss 'Speaking Truth to Power', the fifth part of Said's  Representations of the Intellectual  (1994), a collection of essays based on his 1993 Reith Lectures. Said's essay, which argues that "one of the main intellectual activities of our century has been the questioning, not to say undermining, of authority", speaks to contemporary anxieties about intellectual authority, resistance, and the future of the humanities, and will be a useful springboard for discussing the role of the intellectual in our times. The reading can be accessed  here , and it is also available  as a lecture on the BBC website . The session will be held in the Meeting Room in the School of English (House 10 Cavendish Road — first door on your left when you come in), followed by an optional pub social. Everyone ...

  Dear all, We are happy to announce that the fourth  Quilting   Points  reading group session of this academic year will take place on March 20th. In this session, we will discuss ideas of culture and resistance through   Said’s  Culture and Imperialism  (1993), focusing on its Introduction and on the fourth subchapter of Chapter 3: ‘The Voyage In and the Emergence of Opposition’. You can access the selected reading  here . As an optional (but very helpful!) secondary reading, we also invite attendants to read a text by one of the theorists of culture that Said is engaging with in  Culture and Imperialism : Raymond Williams’s 1958 essay  ‘Culture is Ordinary’.   Important: We will have a 20-minute break for Iftar at around 6:20 pm so that attendants observing Ramadan have the chance to break fast. This means that we will be starting at 17:30 sharp to ensure that we leave enough time for discussion. Everyone is welcome to bring thei...

The third Quilting Points session of this academic year will take place next Thursday, 13th February. In this session, we will discuss   selected excerpts  from Said’s groundbreaking work  Orientalism  (1978). Following our discussions on  The Question of Palestine  and  In Search of Palestine: Edward Said’s Return Home  in prior sessions, we now turn to  Orientalism  where we will examine themes of representation and the West’s depiction of the ‘Orient’. Additionally, we will critically analyse the influence of recent Orientalist discourse in the media and academia based on Said’s ideas. The reading for this session includes two sections from Orientalism . Everyone (at whatever level of study and whether enrolled at the University or not) is welcome, and no prior familiarity with Said’s work or related areas is necessary.   The session will be held in the Meeting Room in the School of English (House 10 Cavendish Road — first door o...

 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...