This semester, the Stan State community has two virtual book clubs to choose from. The two clubs they are offering are the Social Justice Book Club and the UndocuBook Club. Each club focuses on different topics, so read along to figure out which book club is right for you!
The Social Justice Book Club
The Social Justice Book Club is a collaboration between the Warrior Cross Cultural Center, Undocumented Student Services, the Stan State library, and Dr. Dana Nakano, who is a sociology professor at Stan State. They’ve worked together to help develop the club, choose books and facilitate discussions.
The club initially started in the fall semester of 2020. Their goal is to create a community of people who will read various works of literature that relate to social justice. In order to do this, the club even provides their members with copies of each book.
The book club held their first meeting on February 26, where they discussed the book March: Book One, which is written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin and illustrated by Nate Powell. The book focuses on the Civil Rights Movement as it was seen by the late Congressman John Lewis.
Carolina Alfaro is the director of the Warrior Cross Cultural Center, and she hosts the club. When asked about why they chose this book, Alfaro stated that it was to compliment Black History Month, and it is a graphic novel, a genre that many people may have not read before.
Alfaro found that many of the members enjoyed the experience greatly. She even spoke about her own experience with the book, stating that she was able to read the graphic novel with her teenager. She followed that by saying, “Not only are we exposing these folks to these genres, but we’re also creating opportunities for them to read these genres with their family members at home.”
This month, they will hold a meeting on March 26 and they will be discussing the book Hermosa, which is written by Yesika Salgado. Like the previous book, this one is also a genre that isn’t read often, poetry. It is currently Women’s History Month, which is another reason that they chose this book. According to Alfaro, the book is provocative in the sense of it testing how people see womanhood and systems of oppression.
The club’s final meeting will be conducted in April, where they will discuss the book Asian American Dreams by Helen Zia. Like their previous meetings, the organizers of this club chose to follow a theme. May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, which is why Asian American Dreams is fitting.
With the March meeting being days away, the registration for this month is closed. However, there is still room for April sign ups! For anyone interested in attending the final meeting, the membership application can be found here.
The UndocuBook Club
The UndocuBook Club was also formed in the fall 2020 semester and it was created out of the Social Justice Book Club, with the help of Dr. Dana Nakano and Undocumented Student Services. The purpose of this club is to focus solely on the undocumented and immigrant experience. Overall, this club’s goal is to expand their member’s literature experience by reading and discussing works relating to social justice, immigration, identity, empowerment and personal growth.
Polet Hernandez is the Undocumented Student Services coordinator, and she hosts the club. She felt it was important to share that this book club is for everyone even though they are focused on the undocumented experience. So if anyone just wants to learn about the experience or struggles of undocumented students, that is absolutely okay, and they are welcome to join the club.
So far, the club members have read books such as Children of the Land, which is written by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo. The book is a memoir of the author recounting his experience of growing up while being undocumented. Hernandez stated that the book “Really helped us explore the experience of the undocumented and of attaining status. First as a documented [person] and after becoming a resident.”
The club is currently reading Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas. Hernandez stated that this book shares a different perspective for the club members because the author is Filipino while most of the club members are part of a different culture.
The club meets two times per month, and meetings occur every other week. The club assigns readings based on length of book and semester. Once a person registers, they get sent a schedule, and books are sent to them.
Registration is only made available around a month before the start of each semester. This is so that the organizers can ensure that they will be able to provide books for each member. Unfortunately, this also means that registrations are no longer open. However, for the fall 2021 semester a registration link will be provided on both the Undocumented Student Services website and the University Events Calendar website.
Previous articles have been written on the Social Justice Club and they can be found here and here.
