Do You Have a Love of Reading and Learning? Are You Passionate About Social Justice and Ready to Grow?

If so, you’re in the right place!  The Social Justice Sci-Fi Book Club, facilitated by Dr. Tee Williams, is designed to help you increase your knowledge and awareness of social justice issues in a fun, safe and supportive learning environment.

About The Book Club

BOOK CLUB COST: $35/month

The purpose of the Social Justice Sci-Fi book club is to help its participants learn more about Social Justice issues while simultaneously indulging a love for the genres of Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

Why a Social Justice Book Club based in Sci-Fi & Fantasy? Both of these genres have a long and distinguished history of  tackling Social Justice related topics in thoughtful and nuanced ways. In addition, authors that were once actively excluded from the genre are now experiencing a more welcoming environment. This means that now, more than ever, we are experiencing stories that include diverse groups of characters that are being told from diverse points of view. This also means that these authors inevitably include story arcs that reflect the experiences of disenfranchised groups in our society. And the results are amazing: well crafted, award-winning books that provide a rich ground for discussions on Social Justice.

Allison Tenney
Allison Tenney Fitness

Being a part of Social justice Book Club with Dr. Tee has allowed me the opportunity to learn about subject matter that is both deeply enriching and also transforming my world view. The books chosen contain a wide variety of social justice issues but all share a common thread of empowering accounts of survival, strength and resilience. For me, they become a call to action. Through this book club, Dr. Tee has helped facilitate my learning about oppressive systems that have been invisible to me as a white/privileged person and has expanded my world view in ways that are both enriching and daunting. Without the support of this group and Dr. Tee, I’m not sure I would have been able to navigate the task of this worldview reconstruction in an empowering and impactful way for my own life. Dr. Tee provides language, tools, and a framework that helps me to understand these oppressive systems that affect us all. His extensive background, knowledge, and experience allows him to teach this subject matter with a breadth and depth that is unmatched. He provides the space for learning about racism and other oppressive systems without shame, blame, and guilt that typically accompany such nuanced and complicated topics. Dr. Tee truly embodies what it means to fight for and learn about social justice. The Engage Change Book Club allows me to engage with other people about social justice with empathy, inquiry, compassion, and ultimately, with love.

Steph Ondrusek
Stong By Steph

I wasn’t sure I’d have the time to commit to book club, but I’m so glad I did! It’s quickly become one of the most fun part of my Wednesday nights. Dr. Tee has assembled people with bright senses of humor, sharp wits, and insightful perspectives. I always walk away noticing new details about the book I’ve already read! Our discussions cover a wide range of topics, which shed light on everyone’s individual experience in the group. As a result, I’ve come to enjoy talking with and getting to know not only Dr. Tee every other Wednesday, but the whole group! Everyone is fun, inquisitive, sassy, and understanding. I’ve learned so much from each member, and book club has shown me that I’m not alone in this work and that it can be super fun.

What we’ve read has spanned genres from academic texts to sci-fi fantasy, and Dr. Tee has pointed out themes in each one with a level of care and detail that continues to impress me. He has changed the way I read, because after listening to Dr. Tee share his perspective on each text (and taking note of the individual sentences he picks out for discussion), I am more aware of details and dynamics in text. There are social justice themes running through each book that are not just plot devices, but real-life experiences that I can now see play out thematically in my everyday life. Book club has changed how I show up in and connect to the world for the better.

Sasha Brainard
You Must Fitness

Dr. Tee has combined his love and knowledge of Social Justice, with his love of books, to create something special. Along with his knowledge, which is vast and seemingly never-ending, he brings so much of himself to this community; his humor, sarcasm, endless enthusiasm, patience, friendship. He holds space for everyone who wants to learn and grow and engage in the change we want to see in the world.

This Book Club continues to be the highlight of my Wednesday evenings, when we meet online to discuss each section of our current reading. We’ve read many forms of Social Justice literature, from Dr. Tee’s Dissertation on Internalized Oppression (it’s incredible, google it and read it), to Memoirs, to most recently, Social Justice Science Fiction. Throughout each meeting, we dig deep as we talk out the themes, the systems of oppression, the harsh dynamics found within the words, and how these dynamics compare to the oppressive realities facing our world today.

What Dr. Tee, and what this community does every time we come together, is create an environment to talk these important issues out. We all hold space for each other to discuss the hard and the necessary. Dr. Tee facilitates the meeting with questions to get us started, and we flow into a discussion for 2 hours. I always leave the meetings full and heart-happy from the group’s positive energy, and secretly wish 2 weeks would fly by so we can do it all over again at our next meeting.

This group means so much to me, both the incredible learning opportunity it creates, as well as being part of such a positive community. I have literally moved my work schedule around for it, and I have become so much more alert to, and engaged with the systems around me Because Of This Club. I know adjusting work schedules isn’t possible for everyone. If Wednesday night meetings don’t work for you, but you want to participate in this group, Dr. Tee records each session so you can keep up with the reading on your own, and listen to each meeting at your own convenience. Long story short, this is an incredible group, and if it’s calling to you, contact Dr. Tee and we’ll see you next Wednesday!”