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October 2017
Meet Oakland Free University!
Join us for a BBQ to launch Oakland Free University, a community education project dedicated to creating free and accessible alternative learning opportunities for students of the humanities. We'll provide free meat/veggie burgers, dogs, and beer. All you need to bring is your curiosity and enthusiasm for helping us build this exciting new community!
Find out more »January 2018
Between Past and Future: The Works of Hannah Arendt
This course will begin by touching on two of Arendt's most influential political texts: Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963) and The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951). Later in the course, the focus will shift to Arendt's works involving action, thought, and human potentiality by reading The Human Condition (1958), The Life of the Mind (1978), and Between Past and Future (1961).
Find out more »Levinas for End Times
The plan is to read two texts very slowly over the course of 2018: Totality and Infinity and Otherwise than Being. We'd spend the first half of the year on the former, taking a break over the summer, meeting one or twice a month to discuss the text (depending on participant interest/availability), digging into the latter text over the fall/winter. We'd work super slowly in order to really dig in, and we'd do so using a simple seminar model: that is, actually sitting around a table and talking…
Find out more »May 2018
Wild Gift Reading Series at The Bookmark
Join us for the inaugural Wild Gift reading event at The Bookmark, featuring poets Amber Butts, Tongo Eisen-Martin and Sara Larsen. Wine has generously been provided by Ordinaire, and we'll even have a few items to raffle off. 100% of the proceeds go to the Oakland Public Library. $5 suggested donation, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Come, enjoy some incredible poets and support a good cause.
Find out more »August 2018
Oakland Free University Presents: Summer School
About the Summer School: The Oakland Free University Summer School is a collaborative, non-institutional, space of learning & gathering dedicated to collectively envisioning our communities through study, discussion, and the arts. Over the course of two days, we plan to gather and host a series of discussions, panels, workshops, and performances exploring the themes of Crisis & Liberation. Interpreting these themes broadly, we hope to provide a space for collectively grappling with questions, envisioning the communities we want, sharing knowledge,…
Find out more »October 2018
Wild Gift Reading Series Presents Caroline Knapp, Terry Taplin and Jacob Kahn
We are pleased to welcome Caroline Knapp, Terry Taplin and Jacob Kahn to The Bookmark for an evening of readings. As is our custom, 100% of the proceeds donated at this event will be given to the Oakland Public Library to show solidarity with our local community. If you have questions about this event, please email hey@oaklandfreeuniversity.org. Terry Taplin is the inaugural Lambda Literary Fellow. He holds a BA in Classical Languages: Greek and Latin. He is a former slam champion…
Find out more »March 2019
I’ve Got the Light of Freedom
We are planning to read I've Got the Light of Freedom, which is a history of the Mississippi civil rights movement and the political organizing that went into it. We thought it would be fun to organize a reading group for this. We will convene the first Saturday of each month at 3 pm at 287 Mather St, apt 4, Oakland, CA for discussions. For the current month's reading assignment, please email the course organizer. A pdf of the book…
Find out more »July 2019
Learning Ancient Greek…Slowly
This is a reading group focused on slowly learning ancient Greek. No familiarity with ancient Greek is required, but an understanding of the Greek alphabet is recommended.
Find out more »October 2019
Tongo Eisen-Martin: What Is To Be Thought About?
The Bookmark Bookstore is pleased to welcome back Tongo Eisen-Martin as he presents a political education session following on his work at the Oakland Summer School. Tongo is continuing a whirlwind 2018 in which he won the California Book Award, the American Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. All are welcome to this free event, but space is limited so please arrive early. If you have questions about this event, please email hey@oaklandfreeuniversity.org.
Find out more »Lou Keep’s “Uruk Series”
Lou Keep is my favorite undiscovered writer. He writes sam[]zdat, which is kinda about everything (think Slate Star Codex, if Scott Alexander was obsessed with questions of meaning & power). Lately I've been captivated by his Uruk Series. The Uruk Series is about "modernity, nihilism, and power." It's nominally a review of four books: Seeing Like a State – James C. Scott The Great Transformation – Karl Polanyi The True Believer – Eric Hoffer The Culture of Narcissism – Christopher Lasch But the…
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