Brisbane Free University are hosting our very first Radical Reading Group! The idea is pretty simple: a bunch of folks getting together to think through some big ideas, drink tea, embrace our deeply earnest enthusiasm for critical theory and gooey philosophical chats.

The focus of this reading group will be on counter-canonical works; writing by and about Indigenous, queer, black, POC, anti-capitalist and feminist ideas and theories. The first month of readings are uploaded in a google drive. You can access it through the link below. Beyond that, we’ll be opening up the reading list to suggestions from participants.

These discussion groups will be open to everyone, regardless of whether or not you participate in the reading side of things. Each week, we’ll upload the readings as well as a short summary and some framing questions. You can read through those, or just show up on the night to listen and think with us. We hope this reading group will be earnestly fun, accessible, fumble-friendly.

Where?  Hope St Cafe, Boundary Street, West End

When?   5.30pm – 6.30pm, Wednesday 25 January, 2016

What?   Casual discussion and reading group
READING AND DISCUSSION GUIDE:

Week 1: Wednesday 25 January, 5.30pm – 6.30pm

Discussion topic: Indigenous feminism, postcolonialism and the politics of representation

CORE READINGS

1. Aileen Moreton-Robinson, “Talkin’ Up to the White Woman”
Introduction: Talkin’ the talk
Chapter 6: Tiddas Speaking Strong

2. Irene Watson, “Power of the muldarbi, the road to its demise”

SHORTER OPINION PIECES:
3. Celeste Liddle: “How to show solidarity with Indigenous Australians this Invasion Day”

4. Amy McQuire: “All feminists are created equal, but some are more equal than others”

FICTION AND POETRY:
5. Oodgeroo Noonuccal: “Racism” | “I am Proud” | “Then and now”

6. Alexis Wright, “Carpentaria,” (Chapter 1)

READINGS AVAILABLE HERE: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B88BefcZ-uPCSElNeVBWVXFreEE

Week 2: Orientalism, Exoticisation and Postcolonial Theory

ACADEMIC WORKS:

Edward Said, “Orientalism,” pp 1 – 57

Franz Fanon, “The Wretched of the Earth,” pp 1 – 62

SHORTER ARTICLES:

Zoe Samudzi: “The Women’s March and the difference between unity and solidarity”
https://www.bgdblog.org/…/the-difference-between-unity-and…/

bell hooks, interviewed by i-D, “A discussion of the black female and modern day feminism with bell hooks”
https://i-d.vice.com/…/a-discussion-of-the-black-female-and…

POETRY & FICTION:

Maya Angelou, “Still I rise”

Junot Diaz, “How to date a brown girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie”

BACKGROUND:
“Colonialism” – Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy

You can find the full text of each of the readings in the following google drive folder:
https://drive.google.com/…/fo…/0B88BefcZ-uPCRVNsUDMzOXlSYlU…

We acknowledge that we’ll be meeting on stolen land. We acknowledge and thank the traditional owners of the lands on which we live and work. We work to remedy the wrongs of colonialism, and their ongoing legacies. Sovereignty never ceded.