Common Good Reads Discussion Series

Common Good Reads Discussion Series is supported by a Mass Humanities Common Good Reads grant, which is part of the Pulitzer Prizes Centennial Campfires Initiative. Roopika Risam, Assistant Professor of English at Salem State University, will lead a discussion of the novel with participants in Peabody, Massachusetts. The Common Good Reads Discussion Series will allow participants to engage in constructive dialogue on cultural diversity, immigration, and our negotiations of social contracts and notions of the common good, especially through readings of novels and articles—all winners of Pulitzer Prizes. Participants will consider the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, the challenges faced by immigrant groups, and the way the social contract shapes our understanding of national belonging. At stake in these conversations is the question of the responsibilities Americans have to one another and to the rest of the world. Peabody is a city rich in immigrant history and culture, and Greek, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish are languages spoken in many Peabody homes.

Free and open to the general public at http://www.peabodylibrary.org.