Join our host Chris Stacey and fellow Columbia alumni as the book club discusses In Pursuit of Disobedient Women: A Memoir of Love, Rebellion, and Family, Far Away by Dionne Searcey; a selection by book club member Dr. John J. Kulczycki.

In 2015, Dionne Searcey decided to pursue a job as the New York Times West Africa bureau chief. Landing with her family in Dakar, Senegal, she quickly found their lives turned upside down as they struggled to figure out their place in this new region. In Pursuit of Disobedient Women follows Searcey’s experiences of her work in the field, the most powerful of which, for her, center on the extraordinary lives and struggles of the women she encounters. Searcey is gone from her family for sometimes weeks at a time, covering stories like Boko Haram–conscripted teen-girl suicide bombers or young women in small villages shaking up social norms by getting out of bad marriages. She weaves a tapestry of women living at the crossroads of old-fashioned patriarchy and an increasingly globalized and connected world. The result is a deeply personal and highly compelling look into a modern-day marriage and a world most of us have barely considered.

Date: Thursday, July 21, 2022

Time: 6:30 p.m. Central | 7:30PM Eastern | 4:30PM Pacific

Location: Zoom Video Conference

Cost: Free