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About

WE MEET EVERY TUESDAY 7PM ET ON ZOOM!

* QTRG has relocated from Berlin to New York City, but with COVID-19, we are holding all meetings online for the time being. *

This reading group functions as an interdisciplinary education forum based in living rooms and parks rather than the traditional structures of the ivory tower. The reading group came about to create a space for people to come together and critically engage with texts that we find interesting and are related to queer theory.

QTRG is here to facilitate conversations between people with interests in fields such as feminist theory, critical race and whiteness studies, Black studies, post-colonial theory, decolonial critique, trans* studies, indigenous studies, disability studies, diaspora studies, religious studies, gender studies, queer/gay/lez theory, activism and social movements, critical urban studies, contemporary art and theory, visual culture, languages and linguistics, literature, some philosophy, gay science, +++

QTRG welcomes people from non-academic as well as academic backgrounds — everyone is welcome to chat at the table. This group is not intended to be a queer theory 101 crash course, but it’s also open to anyone who wants to read and take part in the discussion.

We meet every Tuesday from 7 – 8:30pm ET on Zoom. Every week we read a new text. No books, just selected articles, essays, or chapters, because let’s be real, almost no one has time to read a whole book in a week. We want to be able to read and digest the texts every week so that our conversations IRL are engaging and informed. The reading list is always open to collaboration, edits or critique.

QTRG is a noncommittal group, you can come one week and not come the next. Drop-ins always welcome. The main point is to read, be together, share drinks and food, have exciting conversations, learn something new, make a friend or two, and build community. Keep in mind that we’re all coming to this group with the intent of learning, so do the readings and be on time!

The readings will be uploaded online every week. You don’t need to buy any books or texts! Please communicate any concerns you may have regarding access and/or language.

QTRG critically tries to create and host an anti-racist, pro-Black/Indigenous + Indigenous Peoples of the Americas + POC, pro-femme, pro-fat, pro-disability justice, anti-ableism, anti-misogyny (gay included), prison + police + ICE abolitionist, pro-reparations, anti-Islamophobia, multi-lingual, gender flux, pro-queer, trans, intersex, Two-Spirit, non-binary, bi, lez, dyke, butch + queer-inclined gathering. QTRG cannot guarantee this, but the group does take measures to manage this, and to put reflections and requests into action. Please be in touch if you have concerns. QTRG takes this very seriously and your input can remain anonymous if you prefer.

QTRG would be nowhere without and is indebted to Black brilliance and Black lives.

In Berlin, many Tuesday nights ended at Möbel Olfe. After the reading group we’d all head there, pushing our bikes, maybe stop for a falafel, and squeeze into that smokey, sticky queer filled Kotti bar many of us love. There was so much touch — at the end of the night you had brushed up against just about everyone in there, just trying to get a drink, or seeing a friend across the bar, wedging yourself between dykes in all directions to get to the other side. Until we can hug, greet, and kiss our friends again in person, we’ve taken that long kitchen table online so that friends across geographic time zones can see each other, talk theory, and check in on one another.

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS!

QTRG was created in 2015 in Berlin by Casey Detrow and Sonya Merutka. Since 2017 it has been organized by Sonya (white, queer, currently able-bodied, cis-ish/nb) with the help of local and distant queers.