Mazungumzo Book Club Project

This was the first book to be reviewed by the book club. With its protagonist Mersault, he was generally considered an outsider to the society he lived in because of his actions and omission. This at many times brought him into conflict with the society as he was seen as a total stranger. This greatly led to his execution which was majorly based on his conduct other than the crime he had committed.

We learnt; That getting in conflict with society isn’t always a good norm. In all our endeavors, there is need for harmonious living with other societal creatures and this should be done with due respect to the social norms that do govern us.

The value of honesty and telling the truth. That no matter what kind of an obstacle you are faced with, truth is what you must stand for. A time reached and everyone begged Mersault to lie so as to save his life. But he was never subdued as he stood for the truth. With this, he turned out to be a Christ like figure who died for the truth on the day of his execution.

That as the youth, as we enjoy our life whether socially or in any other form, society is always watching us. And in enjoyment of our rights, let it be in harmony with society so that peace can continue prevailing amidst all of us.

which speaks to the very crucial life stage between youth hood and adulthood plus the state of dilemma that young people find themselves in as they embrace adulthood and its expectations. The Defining Decade was an important opportunity for our community members to have intimate and authentic conversations of the social pressures that life throws at them simply as a result of age transitions. We learnt to be vulnerable to each other while embracing growth as a necessary part of living.

This is basically a contrast of societal, cultural expectations, generational contrasts and the place of capitalism and neo liberalism in today’s African society. It is a controversial play that covers post-colonial themes of class struggle, poverty, gender, culture, religion, modernity vs. tradition, and marriage and family and this provoked us to have a conversation on the role institutions like the church, the clan and family have in reinforcing gender stereotypes which often times are discriminative and create unnecessary burdens onto the individual. The book further facilitated a conversation on the importance of ‘harambe’ which is doing things collectively as opposed to individualism.

This was a conversation on the place of intellectual activism especially in a community like Mazungumzo and an appreciation of black consciousness. The Groundings was a unique opportunity to appreciate the earlier struggles and stages of civil engagements, activism and the unique, often not so rosy path that activists have taken to bring change to their communities. Through Groundings we found validation and affirmation on the important role of community building and had important reflections on the nature of community that we are building as Mazungumzo.

A number of people have come on board to see that our sessions are a success: participants, discussants, moderators, and the technical team who have volunteered to keep the club operational. Books to be reviewed are suggested by members and the project head chooses which book is to be reviewed either from these or elsewhere while paying attention to Mazungumzo ultimate vision.

Moving on, we are planning on having physical sessions for our Book club so as to help build a larger network for us as an entity, for our members and all our participants.

This was a conversation on the place of intellectual activism especially in a community like Mazungumzo and an appreciation of black consciousness. The Groundings was a unique opportunity to appreciate the earlier struggles and stages of civil engagements, activism and the unique, often not so rosy path that activists have taken to bring change to their communities. Through Groundings we found validation and affirmation on the important role of community building and had important reflections on the nature of community that we are building as Mazungumzo.

A number of people have come on board to see that our sessions are a success: participants, discussants, moderators, and the technical team who have volunteered to keep the club operational. Books to be reviewed are suggested by members and the project head chooses which book is to be reviewed either from these or elsewhere while paying attention to Mazungumzo ultimate vision.

Moving on, we are planning on having physical sessions for our Book club so as to help build a larger network for us as an entity, for our members and all our participants.