At the “Human Library,” you can “loan” a person to tell you their life story, an original concept born in Denmark that is designed to challenge prejudice and which has spread around the world.
Iben — a quiet 46-year-old sexual abuse victim with mental health issues who doesn’t give out her last name — is one of eight “books” curious people can loan on this autumn day in Copenhagen.
For 30 minutes, you can ask anything you want, either one-on-one or in a small group.
Photo: AFP
“The Human Library is a safe space where we can explore diversity, learn about ways in which we’re different from each other, and engage with people we normally would never meet... and challenge your unconscious bias,” explains Ronni Abergel, the project’s garrulous initiator.
He created the living library in 2000 during the Roskilde music festival and went on to build a non-profit organization.
The concept has since found its way into more than 70 countries.
“A reading truly is a conversation,” says Abergel.
“I’m going to take a few minutes to explain my topic, my background and to make sure that you can ask me anything about being HIV (positive) or disabled, or transgender, or a refugee or Jewish or Muslim or whatever my topic may be.”
BLANK PAGES
In most cases the conversations flow freely, typically held in a calm environment like a city library, a meeting room, or as today, in the garden of the Human Library’s premises.
“Sometimes people ask a lot and the conversation flows. But sometimes I maybe need to tell them a little bit more, ask my readers questions in order for them to reflect or ask new questions,” says Anders Fransen, a 36-year-old blind and hearing impaired “book.”
People are encouraged “to ask really difficult questions,” Abergel says, stressing that nothing is off limits, no matter how sensitive the subject may be.
People who loan Iben can choose between three of her oral books: sexual abuse victim, living with borderline personality disorder or severe post-traumatic stress disorder.
She has on occasion refused to answer questions.
“I have said that that page wasn’t written yet. So they just smiled and said okay,” she recalls.
But she’s never had a bad experience in her four years.
“All my readings are different,” and they’ve evolved over the years, she says. “When I started, I was in a totally different place... I’ve been working on myself for years.”
Fransen says he’s proud to have helped people develop how they think about handicaps.
After a recent ‘reading’ with some eighth graders, he overheard them talking to their friends.
“They were saying ‘hey, this guy is a cool guy, he has a cool story to tell.’ So I made an impression on them,” he smiles.
‘NEUTRAL LEARNING SPACE’
‘Loanees’ come away with powerful experiences too.
“All the responses we’re getting indicate that it’s a high impact experience,” Abergel says.
He was recently contacted by a reader who borrowed a human book in 2004.
“She was telling us about the impact [the book had] on her view on Muslims... And she had used that information in the 17 years that have passed. So that has been to the benefit of the community, her and other people of Muslim background.”
In an increasingly polarized world, Abergel wants his initiative to help people become “less apprehensive, more open, more understanding and accepting of your right to be different.”
But, he insists, the organization is not about promoting diversity or combating prejudice.
“We run a neutral learning space where there is an opportunity for you to engage, learn about yourself and other groups,” he says.
“What you learn and what you do with your learning is entirely in your hands.”
One of those loaning a book is 41-year-old Karem.
“To see the person and listen to him or her and see the perspective, the whole story that is almost unfolding in front of you” is “very touching”, he says.
“It lets people see that at the end of the day we are a lot of titles, but the same flesh and blood and bones.”
May 11 to May 18 The original Taichung Railway Station was long thought to have been completely razed. Opening on May 15, 1905, the one-story wooden structure soon outgrew its purpose and was replaced in 1917 by a grandiose, Western-style station. During construction on the third-generation station in 2017, workers discovered the service pit for the original station’s locomotive depot. A year later, a small wooden building on site was determined by historians to be the first stationmaster’s office, built around 1908. With these findings, the Taichung Railway Station Cultural Park now boasts that it has
The latest Formosa poll released at the end of last month shows confidence in President William Lai (賴清德) plunged 8.1 percent, while satisfaction with the Lai administration fared worse with a drop of 8.5 percent. Those lacking confidence in Lai jumped by 6 percent and dissatisfaction in his administration spiked up 6.7 percent. Confidence in Lai is still strong at 48.6 percent, compared to 43 percent lacking confidence — but this is his worst result overall since he took office. For the first time, dissatisfaction with his administration surpassed satisfaction, 47.3 to 47.1 percent. Though statistically a tie, for most
In February of this year the Taipei Times reported on the visit of Lienchiang County Commissioner Wang Chung-ming (王忠銘) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and a delegation to a lantern festival in Fuzhou’s Mawei District in Fujian Province. “Today, Mawei and Matsu jointly marked the lantern festival,” Wang was quoted as saying, adding that both sides “being of one people,” is a cause for joy. Wang was passing around a common claim of officials of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the PRC’s allies and supporters in Taiwan — KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party — and elsewhere: Taiwan and
Six weeks before I embarked on a research mission in Kyoto, I was sitting alone at a bar counter in Melbourne. Next to me, a woman was bragging loudly to a friend: She, too, was heading to Kyoto, I quickly discerned. Except her trip was in four months. And she’d just pulled an all-nighter booking restaurant reservations. As I snooped on the conversation, I broke out in a sweat, panicking because I’d yet to secure a single table. Then I remembered: Eating well in Japan is absolutely not something to lose sleep over. It’s true that the best-known institutions book up faster
RSS