Would you want to go to a living library?
A Living Library brings people together usually with a focus on investigating and challenging prejudices. A real library has books to search and learn about other people, and a Living Library allows people to speak to another person that has very different life experience and learn from about their life. The conversation is expected to be very frank and an opportunity to ask questions that otherwise a person might be intimated to ask.
The Living Library might be as simple as meeting in a conference room at a library, or it might be set up at other meeting places.
Would you be willing to talk about your life experiences, what would you write as your background and experience? What type of person would you want to meet and ask them questions?
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4 Answers
Sounds interesting to me. Yes, I’d try it.
A lifelong maxim of mine has been “Everybody knows something I don’t know.” Even at the most boring parties or events, I could always have fascinating conversations with people by trying to learn something I didnt know.
And yes, I’d be willing to talk about where I’m coming from and what I know.
I’d love it. I just want to hear about people’s lives, their perspectives, their beliefs… where they come from. I’d talk about enduring – double-digit sexual assaults (causing pregnancy and parenting at 16), an abusive marriage, and disabling health conditions from a COVID vaccine.
No.
First, one of the hallmarks of a library is that they curate (i.e. make considered decisions) about what they collect for their permanent collection. Another foundational principle of a library is that the collection is more-or-less permanent – the book’s content doesn’t change from minute to minute or day to day.
These people would (a) not be permanent and (b) what their saying would likely change from conversation to conversation.
This might be an interesting program for some sort of human relations activity, but in no way is it a library in any sense of the word.
Answering my own Q, I would be interested in listening to others and being able to ask questions with the set up that people might make a faux pas when asking questions and hopefully less risk of hurt feelings and less likely taking something offensively.
I guess I would just list that I could talk about growing up Jewish, growing up in the 80’s, growing up middle class, growing up female in the 80’s, working in retail for many years. Not sure what else.
I don’t think my life is very unusual or interesting. I did have health problems in my 20’s and 30’s, but I don’t think it is something I would list.
Who knows, maybe someone who grew up wealthy or poor in Iran would be interested in my middle class white female experience in America. You just never know what people will find interesting. Usually, assumptions about other people’s experiences are wrong.
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