While most reading groups usually meet to discuss written works, it is not unusual for the University’s “Underground” Reading Group to spend two hours watching and discussing a movie about a pet cemetery.

“The topics of discussion [in the film “Gates of Heaven”] were important: life, death, land ownership, pet ownership, animal-human relationships,” said Ben Weisgall ’10, one of the group’s members. “It was brilliant satire. The filmmaker was making meaning from snippets of what seemed like confessions.”

Despite the wide range of classes offered each semester, certain topics are bound to fall by the wayside. Fueled by their individual interests, Kohei Saito ’09 and Ed Quish ’09 formed the “Underground” Reading Group to engage in academic work during their free time and to simultaneously fill gaps in the University’s curriculum. The group’s focus is contemporary political thought from the radical left.

Each week, a member of the group chooses an article or movie to present, and about seven students meet to discuss the material. So far, the group has read the works of Immanuel Kant, Michel Foucault, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri.

In fact, the group originated across the world, when Saito was attending the University of Tokyo after graduating from high school. Upon discovering discrepancies in the university’s program of studies, Saito created a reading group with several friends to study Marx.

Shortly thereafter, Saito transferred to Wesleyan. Although the University offered courses on contemporary political thought, Saito wanted to focus on specific theorists within the field. In his sophomore year, he created the ’Underground’ Reading Group with Quish.

“Most people have the perception that these texts are determinist and revolutionist,” Saito said. “I wanted to study them objectively on their theories alone, without their historical associations.”

Until this semester, Saito and Quish would choose one book per term to read and discuss at weekly meetings. This term, in order to expand participation and attract a larger array of opinions, Saito and Quish utilized the student-run blog Wesleying to invite the greater student population to join in their discussions. New participants began showing up, including Arielle Berrick ’10.

“[The group] got me feeling confident about my legitimacy as a student,” Berrick said. “Plus, the students in the group were rad.”

For Berrick, a History major from Cape Cod, the independent nature of the group is nothing new—she spent last semester in Haiti studying Voodoo, and she spent this summer learning about Permaculture, forestry and appropriate technology.

“I have definitely had semesters where it seemed like I was being offered the same information over and over again,” Berrick said. “The Reading Group presents an alternative to the classroom.”

Similarly, Weisgall joined the club to discuss compelling topics outside of the classroom. Weisgall, a Maryland resident, lives in the Community Service House and combines Biology and Philosophy into his Science in Society major.

“The Reading Group is an ideal space for experimental speaking,” Weisgall said. “Not only due to the structure of the reading group, but also because the people that do show up are cool. It is decidedly not a classroom setting, which allows you to get to know the people you’re talking to better.”

The Reading Group offers a venue for students to share in their similar interests and expand their knowledge.

“We know that the topics deter most people, but they attract certain kinds of people who are interested in what we are [interested in],” Quish said. “There is something about people meeting outside class to discuss their own topics of interest that allows people to speak more freely. People’s character really comes out.”