why “kitchen table talks”?

The idea for the name came about after a few conversations with members of the American Studies department - either “off campus” in a pricy cafe close by, or in the hallways of the university while waiting for the next class.

One person said that it is very hard to be in exchange with others because there is no common room, or kitchen for members of the department. “The main building of HU is structured in a very lonely manner with no place to talk, sit or rest together.”

In general, space is scarce at university and not accessible for all.

We also got inspired by Jin Haritaworn’s book “Queer Lovers and Hateful Others” (2020) who introduced “the kitchen table” as follows:

“The kitchen table has a long history in feminist and other struggles that do not rise to the status of a social movement. Writing about feminists in the US civil rights and South African national liberation movements, M. Bahati Kuumba (2001) argues that their contributions have been erased as they fall ouside of dominant conceptions of the political, which locate 'social movements' in the public sphere and privilege visibility, numbers, legal reform, and other quantifable, measurable outcomes. (...) Kuumba thus urges us to turn to the kitchen table and other informal spaces, networks of communication and action, where theory often emerges. (...)