Book Club Ground Rules

The reading groups are intended to be interesting, challenging and welcoming spaces for collective thinking and exploration of ideas and experiences. We also hope that these meetings will encourage racial literacy and the ability to recognise, respond and counter racism in our communities. In support of these aims, we offer the following ground rules:

• Be willing to acknowledge that racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression exist. The book group is not a space for debate about their existence or people’s experiences of them.
• Recognise that we all have different starting points in learning about racism, sexism, and other structures of oppression. No one is expected to be an expert. People at all points of the learning journey are welcome.
• Practice empathetic listening. Don’t interrupt people who are speaking.
• No one is pressured to speak.
• People can feel comfortable sharing their honest thoughts and reactions, knowing the group will hold space for them, and challenge them respectfully when needed.
• Facilitators are there to facilitate the process. They are also there to learn. Facilitators are not experts.

Adapted from:

1. https://www.ucar.edu/who-we-are/diversity-inclusion/community-resources/ground-rules-tools
2. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/how-to-organize-and-facilitate-a-book-club-that-discusses-race
3. https://instr.iastate.libguides.com/c.php?g=991417&p=7172640