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.
WHAT WE READ THIS YEAR
September 2023 - May 2024
CRYING IN H MART
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - CRYING IN H MART
One
What does this book reveal about the complications of growing up mixed-race?
Two
What do Chongmi’s habits and beliefs reveal about her?
Three
What did this book teach you about caregiving? What did this book teach you about grief?
Four
How does Michelle’s relationship with her mother evolve over the course of the memoir?
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - CRYING IN H MART
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.
Disability Visibility
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - Disability visibility
One
Two
This book addresses the practice of eugenics. In our current societal hierarchy, who decides what is considered normative, and whose lives sit where on the hierarchy of value?
Three
Four
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - DISABILITY VISIBILITY
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.
Daughters of smoke and fire
"A story of slowly-building self-liberation and resilience. . . . Our conversations around this book are going to be meaningful, engaging, and urgently necessary.” - Roxane Gay
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - Daughters of Smoke and Fire
One
Which character did you relate to the most and why?
Two
Three
Daughters of Smoke and Fire is the first novel published in English by a female Kurdish writer. What did you learn about Kurdish culture through this book?
Four
If you were to recommend this book, why would you say it is an important book to read?
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - Daughters of Smoke and Fire
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.
Hood FEminism
"In prose that is clean, crisp, and cutting, Kendall reveals how feminism has both failed to take into account populations too often excluded from the banner of feminism and failed to consider the breadth of issues affecting the daily lives of millions of women. . . . Throughout, Kendall thoughtfully and deliberately takes mainstream feminism to task . . . [but] if Hood Feminism is a searing indictment of mainstream feminism, it is also an invitation. For every case in which Kendall highlights problematic practices, she offers guidance for how we can all do better."
- NPR
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Two
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Four
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - Hood Feminism
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.
Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed
On September 26 2023 we discussed Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora. In Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, bestselling and award-winning authors as well as up-and-coming voices interrogate the different myths and stereotypes about the Latinx diaspora. These fifteen original pieces delve into everything from ghost stories and superheroes, to memories in the kitchen and travels around the world, to addiction and grief, to identity and anti-Blackness, to finding love and speaking your truth. Full of both sorrow and joy, Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed is an essential celebration of this rich and diverse community.
"With a standout roster of authors that includes Naima Coster, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed is the kind of anthology we’d gladly wait all year for. In fifteen works of poetry and essays—from tales of the supernatural to takedowns of anti-Blackness—this collection offers something for just about every kind of reader." - Harper's Bazaar
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS - WILD TONGUES CAN'T BE TAMED
Keep in mind the following discussion questions as you read:
One
What are common stereotypes and preconceptions that the contributors face and interrogate?
Two
How does colorism operate within the Latinx diaspora, as we see in this anthology?
Three
Did any of the pieces in this book change the way you think about assimilation? Is there pressure to assimilate? Are their consequences of assimilation?
Four
Was there a piece in this book that resonated with you? If so, which one and why?
SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES - Wild Tongues can't be tamed
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.SOCIAL MEDIA
Tag @witschicago and use #WITStudyHall to let us know you’re reading along with us!
