Consciousness Raising and Negotiations of Social Reproduction From Within a South Sudanese Diaspora Book Club

Book clubs have a long history of steadily catalysing consciousness raising and social change. Drawing on research predominantly sourced from within an online book club, established and constituted by a group of 1.5 generation South Sudanese-Australian women, I examine how this book club functions as a key site for consciousness-raising and, consequently, intergenerational negotiations around social reproduction and identity. Ethnographic methodologies were employed, through qualitative interviews and participant observation during book club meetings. Reading the work of authors such as Adichie, Angelou, Evaristo and hooks, the readers interacted with experiences of gender and race identities spanning continents and decades.