SC Book Club: March 7, 2022, 2-4pm – Fellows & External Fellows Only – Zoom Only

Book Club March 7, 2022, at 2-4pm – Fellows & External Fellows Only [note change]

Isabel Wilkerson,

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents

Chair: Marty Klein

(476 pp, Notes=81, available in e-book, audio-book, and large print format)

Published in 2020 amidst the turmoil of that year’s American election and before the Jan 6, 2021 assault on Congress, egged on by Donald Trump, this book explores the roots of “the missing puzzle piece of [American] history.” Caste is the master metaphor for unlocking not just India’s history, but Nazi and American experience too. The author gives emotional and psychological depth to the ‘in our bones’ ranking of human beings into hierarchies based on appearances, and the hate and cruelty that engenders. White supremacy – its nostalgia and narcissism – having found a home in Trumpism, will no doubt be playing out in the heat of the American midterm
election season as we read this probing compassionate book.

The deadline to register is 8:00am on the morning of the event. The Zoom link will be sent to registrants only.

If you have any questions, please contact the organizer – Linda Hutchen at l.hutcheon@utoronto.ca .