The Human Library
Don’t judge a book by its cover. We’ve all heard this, but it’s easier said than done. I’d like to judge people less than I do now. We tend to judge too quickly and harshly and this prevents us from learning more about others. We wear the clothes we like and act in a certain way to come across how we want to be perceived by others. Some people might not do this, but I think most people do. Whether it’s to fit into a certain crowd or show people what you’re interested in, it’s all a form of expression. When we meet new people the way we present ourselves enables them to make a snap judgment about us. In an instant, some people may even decide that they don’t like you or they feel some kind of way towards you. I find myself doing this when walking past people on the street. I make an uninformed guess about a person based on that brief second that I saw them for. Now, this judgement isn’t that bad if it’s done for harmless fun but could get worse if it becomes a habit and affects how you perceive yourself in relation to others. Making up our minds about someone before we’ve even met them, shouldn’t be the norm and we should give people the time of day without judgment.
That’s where The Human Library comes in. It’s known as “Menneskebiblioteket” in Danish which is where it started. Ronni and Dany Abergel started the project in 2000 for the Roskilde Festival in Copenhagen. The idea is to create a safe place for open dialogue. Volunteers are ‘open books’ and you can borrow them to ask them anything you’d like, giving everyone the opportunity to unjudge someone. The first festival contained 50 different ‘titles’, being people, that challenged people’s stereotypes and the great response surprised everyone involved. The concept slowly grew and is now estimated to have featured in 85 different countries in events around the world. In Denmark, there are 4 Book depots in Copenhagen and 3 in smaller towns. A book depot is a gathering of volunteer books and librarians who travel to local schools, libraries and festivals to get people chatting with people from society that they may never have spoken to before. They have partnered with some big brands, and I feel like this can be an important tool for diversity and inclusion.
They have a catalogue of ‘books’ with different labels on their website. Each person is a stereotype or has some form of diagnosis. Just reading through all the different people and what they are labelled as made questions pop into my head. I think I have a question for each and every person. That helped me realise the promise that this idea has. There are quite a few people willing to have an open discussion about their labels, but I thought I’d name all of them to give you an idea of what we’re looking at and possibly spark some questions in you. They are ADHD, alcoholic, Autism, bipolar, extreme body modification, brain-damaged, convert, deafblind, HIV positive, homeless, molested, Muslim, naturist, polyamorous, refugee, sexually abused, soldier (PTSD), unemployed and young mother. I have a question for each stereotype and I’m sure you do too. There seems to be a disconnect between each person that fits the stereotype and me. I either have assumptions about these people or I’ve always been curious about one thing or another. There is so much to learn about everyone around us. Can you imagine what society would be like if we weren’t making assumptions about people, but rather had the opportunity to ask them difficult questions directly? Being able to hear their point of view or what they experience can really change your perspective.
Homeless people are one that comes to mind, they get judged quickly and harshly. People don’t give them respect or time to understand what they’re going through. Each homeless person has a unique story that got them into their predicament. No one wants to live that way and yet people treat them like they had a choice. I came across the documentary His Name is Ray through a documentary filmmaker called Mark Bone on YouTube. His friend and director Michael Del Monte followed a homeless man, Ray, around for months documenting his day-to-day experiences. The trailer looks really good, and I can’t wait to watch the documentary. It’s unfortunately only available to rent in Canada at the moment, but I might use my VPN to watch it. It puts things into perspective and sheds light on the widespread opioid addiction that is the cause of a lot of homelessness.
It’s exciting to see the human library is going digital. During Covid, it has been nearly impossible to have these events for people to meet and talk with the ‘books’. They are developing an app that would enable anyone to chat with a ‘book’ and resources to learn more about other humans and explore diversity. New York has their first depot in Brooklyn, and it hosted an online Zoom meet-up in January of this year. The titles that featured were, “Unseen Disability”, “Homeschooler”, “Mother of a Transgender Daughter”, “Intersectional Blackness”, “Refugee”, “Mother of a son with Down’s Syndrome”, “Transracial Adoptee”, “PTSD”, “Non-binary”, “Lesbian”, “Lonely”, “Buddhist”, and “Formerly Incarcerated”. They also have a quiz that helps make you aware of your prejudices and hopefully gets you to unjudge. It’s very quick and just gets you to think a bit about why you assumed something about a person. Once everything begins to open up, I’m sure more events like this will start to happen in your city. Why not check it out and learn more about other human beings?