What is Book Clubs for Change?

Book Clubs for Change is a group dedicated to holding space for friends and colleagues to come together and discuss good, thought-provoking literature. Steven James Mockler (they/he) created the group in the Spring 2020 as part of his work at Middlebury Office of Digital Learning and Inquiry.

At the time, reading How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny O'Dell felt like a way to claw back a little time from the go-go-go culture that surrounded the original nine participants. Little did they know that a global pandemic would soon give them a whole lot of time to do nothing. Meeting every other week to discuss the book became a kind of meditation and provided space for the group to add a little sense to a senseless time.

Since the first club, BC4C continues continues to develop and change in response to current events and the interests of the participants. In Spring 2020, Lydia Gentry volunteered to facilitate a club on Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble. Steven and Lydia are happy to continue their partnership and are always looking for BC4C conspirators and colleagues.

BC4C is a space to practice different restorative justice strategies, community building techniques, and allow participants to practice living in a world they envision together. Organizers invite you to sign up for a current club or to use our resources to facilitate your own book club.

How Do I Run A Book Club?

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Current Book: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Click the link to view the welcome page and sign-up for our Fall Book Club

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Upcoming Book: TBD

Watch this space for our winter book. Most likely some short fiction. Please sign-up to be a part of our community and leave your suggestions in the comments!

Book Clubs

Check out the library below to navigate to the websites for each of our book clubs!

The Library

Land Acknowledgement

These book clubs are designed to challenge participants to question their everyday structures, habits, and even the land underneath their feet. Many of us reside on unceded, indigenous land that imperial powers procured through inhumane violence and trickery. No matter how much work we do, how much change we strive for, history makes us complicit in this cruel, bloody legacy.

Please view this map to see what land you occupy:

Native-Land.ca

Research the people and use the resource below to craft your own land acknowledgment to share in your email signature and on your profile pages.

A guide to Indigenous land acknowledgment - Native Governance Center

To date, these book clubs have been developed on land belonging to: