WITS Study Hall is a collaborative learning space for adult learners to actively participate in anti-racist conversation and enjoy the works of writers of color. We focus not just on anti-racist discourse, but celebrating the range of genres and stories by BIPOC authors.
WITS Study Hall explores one book every two months and is open to all readers. You can sign up to join our virtual meetings, or use this framework to start your own book club. We’ll provide the book selection, discussion questions, and supplemental resources. Whatever your engagement, we hope you join us in this important reading.
currently reading
About the Author
Gloria Jean Watkins (September 25, 1952 – December 15, 2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks (stylized in lowercase), was an American author, theorist, educator, and social critic who was a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College. She was best known for her writings on race, feminism, and class. The focus of hooks' writing was to explore the intersectionality of race, capitalism, and gender, and what she described as their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination. She published around 40 books, including works that ranged from essays, poetry, and children's books.
Teaching to transgress
Education as the Practice of FreedomJoin us on January 28 to discuss Teaching to Transgress by Bell Hooks, facilitated by Wayde Grinstead, M.A., M. Ed.
In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks—a writer, teacher, and passionate advocate for Black intellectualism—explores a transformative approach to education, viewing it as the practice of freedom. For hooks, the central goal of a teacher should be to guide students in "transgressing" racial, sexual, and class boundaries in order to attain true freedom.
Teaching to Transgress addresses the pressing issues in contemporary education: How can we redesign teaching practices in an era of multiculturalism? How can we effectively confront racism and sexism within the classroom?
Teaching to Transgress Facilitator:
Wayde Grinstead, M.A., M. Ed.
Wayde Grinstead is an educator with over twenty years of experience, spanning roles in the classroom, the education nonprofit sector, district-level leadership, and school-based coaching. Currently, Wayde is the Assistant Director of Civics Education at Big Shoulders Fund and previously worked as a Program Associate at Facing History and Ourselves. He is committed to providing teachers, students, and others with the tools and resources to engage in thoughtful discussions about U.S. history, equity, civic engagement, social-emotional learning, and anti-racist perspectives. In his free time, Wayde enjoys art, music, bicycling, exploring cities, and making connections. Wayde lives on the Northwest side with his partner and cats.
Our next meeting
January 28 2024
5:30-6:30pm CST
Zoom Link will be emailed
Sign up to attend
Please fill out this form to sign up for the next Study Hall meeting
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - Teaching to Transgress
Keep these discussion questions in mind as you read:
One
How does bell hooks define "teaching to transgress"?
Two
What are the challenges in teaching about complex social issues without perpetuating stereotypes?
Three
How can you address potentially sensitive topics in a way that is both educational and respectful?
Four
What have you learned from this session about being anti-racist, and how will you apply what you have learned to your life?
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - Teaching to Transgress
These additional resources will help integrate learning from our Study Hall books with additional interviews, articles, and podcasts. They may be referenced during WITS Study Hall meetings, so check them out.Previously read
All the Sinners Bleed
Join us on November 20 to discuss All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby.
"At once a narrative about a serial killer on the loose, a tale of the lingering effects of racism in the South, a contemplation of religious zealotry, an exploration of trauma, and a love story that bubbles under a lot of fear, blood, and tension, S.A. Cosby's All the Sinners Bleed elegantly walks a fine line between horror and the kind of gritty crime fiction that has catapulted Cosby to crime fiction stardom." - NPR
"Riveting. . . What elevates this book is how Cosby weaves politically charged salient issues -- race, religion, policing -- through the prism of a serial murder investigation and the perspective of one of the most memorable heroes in contemporary crime fiction. . . Deeply moving and memorable." - Washington Post
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - All the Sinners Bleed
Keep these discussion questions in mind as you read:
One
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby delves into themes of redemption, justice, and morality. How do these themes manifest in the actions and development of the main characters?
Two
How does the title, All the Sinners Bleed, reflect the novel’s exploration of guilt, forgiveness, and atonement?
Three
The novel features a diverse cast of characters, each with their own flaws and virtues. How does Cosby use these characters to challenge stereotypes and societal expectations?
Four
What have you learned from this session about being anti-racist, and how will you apply what you have learned to your life?
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - All the Sinners Bleed
These additional resources will help integrate learning from our Study Hall books with additional interviews, articles, and podcasts. They may be referenced during WITS Study Hall meetings, so check them out.
The Undocumented Americans
Join us on September 25 to discuss The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. The Undocumented Americans combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories, we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American." - Goodreads
“In her captivating and evocative first book, The Undocumented Americans, [Karla] Cornejo Villavicencio aims to tell ‘the full story’ of what it means to be undocumented in America, in all of its fraughtness and complexity, challenging the usual good and evil categories through a series of memoir-infused reported essays. In doing so, she reveals how her subjects, including her own family members, struggle with vices like adultery and self-harm, even while doing backbreaking, demeaning work to support their families. ... Cornejo Villavicencio reveals a fullness of character that feels subversive, simply because of how rare it is.”—The New York Times Book Review
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - The Undocumented Americans
Keep in mind the following discussion questions to get you thinking as you read:
One
Why is the prevalent use of the term “undocumented workers” hugely problematic? What troublesome ideas about human value does it reinforce or emphasize?
Two
Why do you think that the author chose to weave memoir with reportage, creative ethnography, and elements of fiction such as magical realism? How does the book also fit within the Latin American genre of testimonio? What broader questions does this raise about what it means to bear witness to what is happening to undocumented immigrants in America not only for the author (who is both witness and subject) and other writers, but for all readers of the book?
Three
How does the healthcare system fail and endanger undocumented Americans and what role do alternative medicine and ceremony play in their lives?
Four
What have you learned from this session about being anti-racist, and how will you apply what you have learned to your life?
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - The Undocumented Americans
These additional resources will help integrate learning from our Study Hall books with additional interviews, articles, and podcasts. They may be referenced during WITS Study Hall meetings, so check them out.
WHAT WE ARE READING THIS YEAR
September 2024 - May 2025
Wednesday, September 25
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm CTThe Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio // Memoir // 208 pages
"One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation. The Undocumented Americans combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories, we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American." - GoodreadsAbout the Author
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is an Ecuadorian-American writer and the author of The Undocumented Americans, a National Book Award finalist. Her work, which focuses on race, culture, and immigration, has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, Elle, n+1, The New Inquiry, Interview, and NPR.
Wednesday, November 20
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm CTAll the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby // Novel // 341 pages
"At once a narrative about a serial killer on the loose, a tale of the lingering effects of racism in the South, a contemplation of religious zealotry, an exploration of trauma, and a love story that bubbles under a lot of fear, blood, and tension, S.A. Cosby's All the Sinners Bleed elegantly walks a fine line between horror and the kind of gritty crime fiction that has catapulted Cosby to crime fiction stardom." - NPRAbout the Author
S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.
Tuesday, January 28
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm CTTeaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks // Nonfiction // 216 pages
"In Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks—writer, teacher, and insurgent black intellectual—writes about a new kind of education, education as the practice of freedom. Teaching students to "transgress" against racial, sexual, and class boundaries in order to achieve the gift of freedom is, for hooks, the teacher's most important goal.
Full of passion and politics, Teaching to Transgress combines a practical knowledge of the classroom with a deeply felt connection to the world of emotions and feelings. This is the rare book about teachers and students that dares to raise questions about eros and rage, grief and reconciliation, and the future of teaching itself." - Goodreads
About the Author
bell hooks (born Gloria Jean Watkins) was an African-American author, feminist, and social activist. Her writing focused on the interconnectivity of race, class, and gender and their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and domination. She published over thirty books and numerous scholarly and mainstream articles, appeared in several documentary films, and participated in various public lectures. Primarily through a postmodern female perspective, she addressed race, class, and gender in education, art, history, sexuality, mass media, and feminism.
Wednesday, March 19
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm CTChain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah // Novel // 367 pages
Chain-Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system’s unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration, and a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country means." - Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book ReviewAbout the Author
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is the New York Times-bestselling author of Friday Black. His work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Esquire, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. He was a National Book Foundation's "5 Under 35" honoree, the winner of the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and the Saroyan Prize, and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Award for Best First Book, along with many other honors. Raised in Spring Valley, New York, he now lives in the Bronx.
