CultureCAT Planning Thread

My goal for CultureCAT is for us to expand our horizons by reading about cultures and subcultures other than our own!

I think it can be expected that for at least some of us, one or two months may end up a culture we are already a part of. For that reason, I am seeking two or maybe three extra volunteers to host a Bonus CultureCAT. These would be posted in January (if at all possible), and then for any month which the CultureCAT is a culture you are part of, you can switch to doing a Bonus CultureCAT that month.

It may be nice to have hosts which can recommend books from their own culture or subculture, but that isn't a requirement — I'm not sure I can bet on someone willing to claim membership to criminal subculture!

Here are just a few ideas of some geographic cultures: Arabic, Baltic region, Black American (US), Indigenous American, Indigenous Australian/New Zealand/Maori, Jewish, Latin American, Southeast Asian & Pacific Islander, Romani, West African

And just a few ideas of subcultures: punk, LGBT+, bikers, Deaf culture, flappers, bodybuilders, hipsters, criminals, skater, role-playing gamers, hobbyists

These are all just some ideas, feel free to bring others to the table (even if you don't feel like you can host!)

January: LibraryCin - Featuring migration or displacement
February: Shimmermarie - Finno-Urgic peoples
March: Jackie_K - neurodiverse voices
April: Shimmermarie - TTRPG & LARPers
May: mstrust - punk/metal
June: JayneCM - Aboriginal Australia
July: LibraryCin - India
August: Free space - any culture you are not part of
September: Jackie_K - Working class cultures
October: sallylou61 - Non-Mainstream Religious Subcultures (Amish, Quakers, Mennonites, or Church of the Brethren)
November: GraceCollection - Indigenous North America
December: susanna.fraser - LGBTQ+
Bonus CAT 1: MissBrangwen - South East Asia/Pacific Islander
Bonus CAT 2: sallylou61 - wrongly convicted people

As for me, I'm planning to take November with Indigenous cultures of North America.

I'll probably host a month, but I need to figure out what I'd like to do for it. Thank you for the suggestions!

>3 LibraryCin: Of course! If you already know which month you'd like, I can reserve it for you and you can come back later to let me know what theme you've decided!

How about July?

>5 LibraryCin: It's all yours! Let me know when you've decided on a theme.

Hi! Could I host February? I was thinking of doing the Finno-Ugric peoples!

January for religious subcultures, (Amish, Mennonites, Quakers, etc.) please and thank you

I can do May. Can I do a combo of punk/metal reads? I've been collecting these books for years.

March for Muslim writers please.

>8 shimmermarie: >10 mstrust: I have you down!

>9 Tess_W: >11 pamelad: Your themes seem very similar to each other, I've put them down for now but I wonder if perhaps we could make these a little more different from each other?

>12 GraceCollection: They are not similar. Tess’s examples are Christian religious subcultures.

Islam is a completely different religion.

>13 pamelad: Tess said only 'religious subcultures' and made a very short list which ended with 'etc.' If Tess intended only Christian subcultures for her month, I will let Tess say so.

Otherwise, Islam is a religion, and can fit into 'religious subcultures,' which is a very broad idea. Perhaps the best solution would be for that to be made more specific, whether that is by specifying that they are Christian religions, separatist religions, etc.

OK. Leave me off please.

>15 pamelad: I apologise if I've said something offensive. I think the best solution here is for Tess to narrow down her topic to something a little more specific that would then exclude Islam.

If you do really want to be taken off, I can do that, too. I'm sorry again.

If it helps for me to clarify, I've chosen Indigenous Americans, and I could have provided a short list like 'Inuit, Cherokee, Haudenosaunee, etc.' and if someone came along and said they wanted a different month for Aztec culture, I would have then made my selection more specific in response. My short list only includes North American cultures, but Aztec is still an Indigenous American culture. It still fits the category I've chosen, even though it isn't part of the list (and even though that list does seem to imply more specific subdivision.)

I hope that makes sense. Sincerely, my intent was not to offend.

>7 GraceCollection: How about India/Indian authors for mine in July?

>18 LibraryCin: You're on!

>16 GraceCollection: No worries. Operating on different frequencies. No offense taken.

Could I take a month with Australian Aboriginal culture please? Maybe June as 3rd June is Mabo Day. Thanks!

>21 JayneCM: It's yours!

To further refine mine, Non-Mainstream Religious Subcultures (Amish, Quakers, Mennonites, Pietists, Louisiana voodoo, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, and Puritans, Moonies, Jim Jones, Hare Krishna, David Koresh) Each country's non-mainstream religious subcultures would look different. Also, each person's interpretation of what non-mainstream religious subcultures ARE could be different.

P.S. I thought Pam said 'Muslim Writers' which isn't a religion?

I'd be happy to do another month on table top role-playing gamers and LARPers if that's okay? :D April maybe?

I can do LGBTQ+ culture in December.

>23 Tess_W: Updated!
Islam is the religion of the writers, which was what stood out to me as being similar to religious subcultures. Nonetheless, at Pam's request I have removed her host and March is open.

>24 shimmermarie: >25 susanna.fraser: You've got it!

I can take March, for neurodiverse voices.

I would like to host BonusCAT 1 for South East Asia/Pacific Islanders. None of the remaining months suits me, so I am opting for the Bonus - I hope that's ok?

>27 Jackie_K: >28 MissBrangwen: Sounds awesome! I'm adding you both.

I have noticed that there are still several slots open and I have wondered why. I have been thinking about whether the topics that are suggested might be a bit specific, so people might not be that comfortable hosting them?

So I wondered if maybe we could have some more general topics that might be easier to host, and also to find books for!

For example:
- Read a book from a culture you are interested in/want to know more about
- Read a book featuring migration or displacement
- Read a book from a culture not your own that is not a novel (can be nonfiction, poetry, graphic novel, short stories, play, coffee table book,...)
- Read a book from a culture not your own that has been translated

Topics such as these would give people more freedom to choose the cultures they wish to read about and might make hosting a bit more open to everyone.

What do you think?

I think those are good ideas!

Personally, I think that the reason some slots are unfilled is GraceCollection's apparent lack of trust in people's suggestions. She tried to combine #11 Pamelad's request for Muslims with #9 Tess_W's request for Amish, Mennonites, Quakers, etc. As a Quaker, I find trying to combine Muslims in with Quakers appalling and unacceptable.

Why doesn't she honor people's requests?

I notice that Tess_W's request for January is not yet filled in and Pamelad's request for March was not accepted and filled in with another request.

>32 sallylou61: It does appear that Pam asked to be removed from March. See >26 GraceCollection:.

>33 LibraryCin: That was after GraceCollection tried to combine >11 pamelad: Pamelad Muslim with >9Tess_W various Protestant subgroups. I feel strongly about GraceCollection's lack of respect for suggestions concerning specific requests. I know that Pamelad asked to be removed after her request was not honored. I still think that combining Muslims and Quakers is highly inappropriate; they are different religious cultures.

Why shouldn't people's suggestions be taken and accepted as requested, especially concerning different cultures? This is supposed to be a CultureCAT.

>34 sallylou61: "Why shouldn't people's suggestions be taken and accepted as requested, especially concerning different cultures?"

I agree. It doesn't matter in the slightest if there is some overlap in topics.

>32 sallylou61: I asked to be removed. After looking at many of the topics, I felt that I was not interested or that books would not be readily available from my shelves. I also do not do well with many rules that confine my reading. (See my 2025 cat intro!) I run away from the slightest conflict--life is too short. Grace graciously removed me.

I was trying not to sign up for another one, as I'm doing a bunch of other months for many of the other CATs/KITs, as well, but since we need more here, why don't we slot me in for January. I'll do one of ones suggested in >30 MissBrangwen:.

Put me down in January for "Featuring migration or displacement".

October for a shortened version of Tess_W's suggested topic: Non-Mainstream Religious Subcultures (Amish, Quakers, Mennonites, or Church of the Brethren) please. People in other countries are welcome to do a non-mainstream religion of their country.

>38 sallylou61: Thanks, Sally. I'm glad someone picked that one up!

Thank you all for the suggestions. I was not trying to imply that Muslims and Quakers are the same, as I have explained and apologised about before. I was simply taking the named description of 'religious subculture' at face value. Islam is a religion. I was never trying to combine them; simply seeking some more specificity so that there was no overlap. I have not removed any participants without their specific request.

No worries to anyone who is unhappy; I don't plan to host again.

>37 LibraryCin: >38 sallylou61: Sounds great! You've got those.

I think it would be fine for you to host again if you take people's requests as requested.

I'm sorry that finding hosts has been such a difficult commitment for you.

>42 sallylou61: If you still want an additional host, there's still a bonus slot open. I request that these are posted in time for people to participate in January if at all possible, but if not then just the sooner the better.

I intended the bonus slots to be a way for people to still read a culture other than their own, if we get to a month and the theme is a culture they are already a part of. So people could theoretically switch to that topic at any part of the year, and which month they might participate would be different for everyone.

If you want the bonus slot, it's yours. Just let me know.

>43 GraceCollection: No thank you; I'm not interested in a bonus slot. One month is plenty for me; I am also hosting a month in another CAT. I was just thinking of helping out for a regular month if you needed more hosts.
I think many people do not read every month in a CAT; only ones they are interested in.

I could take September for working class cultures (I'm thinking of a focus on poverty and inequality, but happy to widen it out).

>45 Jackie_K: Exciting! You've got it.

>1 GraceCollection: I was reminded that it's already time to post January's thread (almost)! I am working on it now and I usually put a link to the wiki in my post.

Grace, do you know how to set up a wiki? Would you like me to do it?

Just so everyone knows, I misjudged the timing, and didn't get ahead of things to plan to post January's thread already!

I would like to include a link to the wiki once that's set up, but it may still be a couple of days before I post the thread, anyway. Busy weekend, plus it not registering how close we are to 2025 already!

That's okay, you have plenty of time!

I hope it's ok, but I've gone ahead and created the wiki.

It is here:
https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2025_CultureCAT

For August and the Bonus #2, I just put TBD (To Be Determined).

If I don't get January's thread posted this evening, I should get to it tomorrow.

>43 GraceCollection: I've thought more about the Bonus #2 and am willing to take it for wrongly convicted people. There are several interesting books on that topic to suggest.

>50 LibraryCin: Thank you for setting it up! I took a long weekend away due to illness. I'm not hugely familiar with the wiki so I appreciate you taking that up for me.

>51 sallylou61: You've got it!

>52 GraceCollection: Glad you're feeling better! I'll also update Bonus #2 in the wiki. :-)

>54 LibraryCin: Thank you!! Still not feeling 100%, but glad to be able to be doing stuff again.

I think I'll wait a few more days to see if anyone takes August (fingers crossed), and if not, I'll make it a 'freebie' of 'any culture/sub-culture you aren't in.' Since I'm hosting CultureCAT overall I'll make the thread for it, but right now I don't know what my August will look like, so I don't plan to put together recommendations or anything. Does that sound amenable to everyone?

>55 GraceCollection: Sounds good to me. It will be good to have a freebie in the middle of the year.

>55 GraceCollection: Sure, I'm good with that!

>55 GraceCollection: Works for me!

I could go over and over this, but I decided to just go ahead and post what I've got for January, so here it is:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/366574

No one claimed it at the weekend, so August will be our freebie month. Thanks all for joining me in this journey, here's to our 2025 reading!