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shado’s Bookshelf: Caste and Identity

shado has launched a book club to bring people together to explore some of the brilliant authors using storytelling for social justice

shado’s bookshelf is an online book club split into 3-month clusters where we will be exploring a theme through a fiction, memoir and non-fiction book.

FINAL SESSION + MEMBERSHIP BOX, £20



 

Next session: Monday 27th June 6.30pm BST The Doctor and the Saint by Arundhati Roy

In this cluster our first theme is Caste and Identity and the sessions will be led by shado’s editor Sharlene Gandhi. In this cluster we will be exploring what caste discrimination looks like in South Asia, and how cultural norms perpetuate this type of discrimination too, along with calls to action and ways communities can contribute to change.

We are aiming for our meetings to be conversation-led and informal, where everyone can feel safe and empowered enough to bring their own ideas, thoughts and reflections to the meeting!

Rather than reading the whole book, we’ll be asking people to read a short extract and then we will use that extract to explore the topic and themes further.

Every three months, we’ll look at a new theme through a different text per month: one fiction, one non-fiction and one memoir.

The monthly sessions will take place on Zoom, and will be non-hierarchical and welcoming. There’s no expectation to read the full book, either – we’ll be using extracts, sent prior to the meeting as a PDF, as jumping off points for an inclusive conversation.

Membership includes:

1. Access to all three sessions

2. Unique resources and personalised newsletters sent straight to your inbox where we will share information about the book club, calls to action and resources related to the theme.

3. A special welcome box, with a copy of the first text alongside goods from some of our favourite socially conscious brands and businesses!

Our first theme is Caste and Identity and the three texts will be:

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Black Coffee in a Coconut Shell, edited by Perumal Murugan

The Doctor and the Saint by Arundhati Roy

We will use extracts from these texts to discuss what caste discrimination looks like in South Asia, and how cultural norms perpetuate this type of discrimination too, along with calls to action and ways communities can contribute to change.

Sessions:

1. Monday 25th April 6.30pm BST The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

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2. Monday 23rd May 6.30pm BST Black Coffee in a Coconut Shell, edited by Perumal Murugan

3. Monday 27th June 6.30pm BST The Doctor and the Saint by Arundhati Roy

**To keep the book club a space for conversation, resource sharing and action we are limiting attendees to 20 people.

Design: Tinuke Fagborun

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