2025-09-05 – September Bokprat: I Talk About It All the Time by Camara Lundestad Joof (Online and In-Person)

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Dr. Maren Johnson, Luther College's Associate Professor of Nordic Studies and Torgerson Center for Nordic Studies Director, facilitates a monthly bokprat, discussing Scandinavian authors and Scandinavian life. Join us in September for a discussion of I Talk About It All the Time by Camara Lundestad Joof. 

In this biting, lyrical memoir, Camara Lundestad Joof, born in Bodø to Norwegian and Gambian parents, shares her experiences as a queer Black Norwegian woman. Joof's daily encounters belie the myth of a colorblind contemporary Scandinavia. She wrestles with the fickle palimpsest of memory, demanding communion with her readers even as she recognizes her own exhaustion in the face of constantly being asked to educate others. "I regularly decide to quit talking to white people about racism," writes Joof. Such discussions often feel unproductive, the occasional spark of hope coming at enormous personal cost. But not talking about it is impossible, a betrayal of self. The book is a self-examination as well as societal indictment. It is an open challenge to readers, to hear her as she talks about it, all the time.

Registrants should secure their own copy of the book (available for purchase soon through the Vesterheim Museum Store) and have read it prior to the discussion. 

Students will need to provide a computer, laptop, or tablet with a camera and mic as well as a fast, reliable internet connection.

Special Instructions:  

When registering for the class, please make sure to use the mailing and email addresses you'd like the Zoom meeting invitations sent to. You will receive links to the Zoom sessions by email sometime during the week prior to the class. If this class is a gift, please sign up with the recipient's mailing and email addresses or be prepared to forward the kit and all communications.

Enrollment Deadline: 

August 22, 2025

Click Here to learn more about instructor Dr. Maren Anderson Johnson.

Vesterheim’s Bokprat classes are supported in part by a generous gift to the Vesterheim Annual Fund from Bruce Gjovig from Grand Forks, North Dakota. 

Vesterheim’s 2025 online programming is supported in part by a generous gift to the Vesterheim Annual Fund from Sons of Norway - Noreg Lodge 3-466.