Our July 2021 book club selection is here!

Dear Good Ancestors,

I'm popping out of my writing cave to share with you our July book selection for the Good Ancestor Book Club!

But first, how are you? How is your heart and your well-being?

I have been so appreciative of my time in my writing cave as I make steady progress towards completing the Young Readers' Edition of Me and White Supremacy. On a related note, today marks the three year anniversary of the original #MeAndWhiteSupremacy Instagram challenge. It's felt like both the shortest and longest three years of my life, and I am grateful to share that the book is also available in French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish. I never could have imagined that three years ago today!
 
Before I share this month's book selection, I wanted to let you know that my team and I will be taking a much needed break soon. In July we have our wonderful book club discussions, as well as two Good Ancestor Podcast episodes to share with you, and then we will be on break through August and September as we take the time to rest and restore ourselves.

We'll be back again in October with a brand new book club selection and new podcast episodes. However, if you are a member of our Patreon community, we'll continue to check-in and chat through that time. Without further ado, here is our latest book club selection….. 

In July we'll be reading (M)otherhood by writer and scientist, Pragya Agarwal.

Watch the video above to find out more about this fascinating book.

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About Pragya Agarwal:

Dr Pragya Agarwal is a behavioural and data scientist, author, speaker and a consultant. As a Senior Academic in US and UK universities, she has held the prestigious Leverhulme Fellowship, following a PhD from the University of Nottingham. Her publications are on reading lists of leading academic courses across the world. 

Pragya is the author of (M)otherhood: On the choices of being a woman a hybrid memoir and scientific analysis of women’s fertility, and an urgent and timely examination of how political ideas of womanhood and motherhood are constructed.

She is also the author of SWAY: Unravelling Unconscious Bias and Wish we knew what to say: Talking with children about race, a manual for parents, carers and educators of all backgrounds and ethnicities to talk to children about race and racism.

Pragya works as a consultant and speaker with organisations around the world, including universities, corporate and non-profits, and schools, delivering talks and workshops on bias, anti-racism, social inclusion, power and privilege. 

As a freelance journalist, Pragya writes - ethical, literary, scientific- articles widely. Her writing on bias and prejudice, motherhood, gender and racial inequality and mental health has appeared in The Guardian, New Scientist, Scientific American, Independent, BMJ, Times Higher Education, Huffington Post, Prospect, Forbes, and many more. 

About (M)otherhood:

This is a book about motherhood. And the shapes it takes.

This is a book about bodies. And how some are less than the sum of their parts.

This is a book about choices. The roads we follow, and those we are not allowed to walk.

In a world where women have more choices than ever, society nevertheless continues to exert the stigma and pressures of less enlightened times when it comes to having children. We define women by whether they embrace or reject motherhood; whether they can give birth or not.

Behavioural Scientist Pragya Agarwal uses her own varied experiences and choices as a woman of South Asian heritage to examine the broader societal, historical and scientific factors that drive how we think and talk about motherhood. She looks at how women's bodies have been monitored and controlled through history, and how this shapes the political constructs of motherhood and womanhood now.

Extremely open in its honesty and meticulously researched, (M)otherhood probes themes of infertility, childbirth and reproductive justice, and makes a powerful and urgent argument for the need to tackle society's obsession with women's bodies and fertility.

Please note that currently, this book is only available to purchase from the UK. Here are some places you can purchase the book from:

If you are not currently a member of the Good Ancestor Book Club, we would love to have you join us!

You can find out more about the book club at www.goodancestorbookclub.com. To join the book club simply join or upgrade your membership to the Good Ancestor Book Club member tier, where both monthly and annual subscriptions are available.

We begin our book discussions next week on Monday 5th July, and our author event with Pragya will be on Thursday 29th July.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. Looking forward to another incredible ride with another phenomenal book.

Layla Saad