Reading Group

From October to December, Danelle Ortiz, Y Vy Truong, and Simon Grefiel are hosting a weekly reading group at Centre A, Tuesdays 7-9pm. We will be reading a variety of texts that include fiction, poetry, and critical theory. Broad issues and areas of study will include Asian diaspora, decolonization, cultural criticism, and art criticism.

For the month of October, we will be examining the relationship between history and academic/artistic practice.

Week 1 (October 3) — We will be discussing Vinh Nguyen’s essay, “M?-search, Hauntings, and Critical Distance”, explores his relationship to the archive and the materiality of history as an academic and researcher. Where is the I in research? How can we link personal and collective histories with pedagogy? : https://www.dropbox.com/s/fa29ofnr6z87wna/M%20search%20Hauntings%20and%20Critical%20Distance.pdf?dl=0

Week 2 (October 10) — We will be hosting a film session. Rithy Panh’s film, The Missing Picture (2013), asks: how can one investigate missing histories? Why is history so connected to images and how can history be reconstructed from sutured archival material? Are memories enough? Can archives and memories themselves experience violence?

Visit our Facebook group for more information about the upcoming readings and meet ups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1279881315456182/