The Black Studies Reading Room discusses HONEYPOT: BLACK SOUTHERN WOMEN WHO LOVE WOMEN at Trident Booksellers & Cafe

The Black Studies Reading Room is a monthly conversation on black lit, art, and ideas. Its purpose is to make more space for the creative and communal work of black study in and around Boston. Join us in January to discuss Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women. E. Patrick Johnson’s Honeypot opens with the fictional trickster character Miss B. barging into the home of Dr. EPJ, informing him that he has been chosen to collect and share the stories of her people. With little explanation, she whisks the reluctant Dr. EPJ away to the women-only world of Hymen, where she serves as his tour guide as he bears witness to the real-life stories of queer Black women throughout the American South. The women he meets come from all walks of life and recount their experiences on topics ranging from coming out and falling in love to mother/daughter relationships, religion, and political activism. As Dr. EPJ hears these stories, he must grapple with his privilege as a man and as an academic, and in the process he gains insights into patriarchy, class, sex, gender, and the challenges these women face. Combining oral history with magical realism and poetry, Honeypot is an engaging and moving book that reveals the complexity of identity while offering a creative method for scholarship to represent the lives of other people in a rich and dynamic way.

The BSRR is coordinated by Jovonna Jones, PhD candidate in African & African American Studies at Harvard University.

*Enter HONEY20 at checkout online or in-store for a 20%-off discount!*

This event is free and open to the public, no RSVP necessary!