Discussion Guide
Grades 6-8
Grades 9-10
Grades 11-12

The Taste of Mango: Discussion Guide

Using This Guide

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use The Taste of Mango to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues, and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively. The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit https://communitynetwork.amdoc.org/.

Sources

About the authors

Junauda Petrus

Junauda Petrus is an abolitionist, writer, filmmaker, and performance artist of Black Trinidadian and Crucian descent, born on Dakota/Anishinaabe land (Minneapolis). Her work fuses ancestral dreaming, poetics, and radical imagination to envision Black liberation and sweetness. She is the 2025–2026 poet laureate of Minneapolis and author of The Stars and The Blackness Between Them (Coretta Scott King Honor), and Can We Please Give The Police Department to the Grandmothers? (Minnesota Book Award Finalist). Her interdisciplinary work includes plays, immersive performance, aerial dance, and film projects centering Black queer futures, abolition, and healing. She has created original work with the Kennedy Center, Heart of the Beast Theatre, Intermedia Arts, and Pillsbury House Theatre, and is a Jerome Fellow and two-time Jerome Travel and Study Grant recipient.

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