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wooEveryone loves a good story. Narratives are a powerful communication tool and, when used properly, can bridge divides.
But instead of having to explain someone’s story by the printed word, what if you could hear it in person? What if you could ask a Holocaust survivor about their experience or talk to someone who challenges their notion of eating disorders?
now you can use human library, which invites readers to “borrow the humans who serve as open books”.
Each ‘book’ represents a group that struggles with prejudice or stigma based on their lifestyle, belief, disability or ethnicity.
Dealing with Prejudice with Science
Social divisions have reportedly widened during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 60% of people believe that national divisions have worsened Since the pandemic began, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
It shows how there has never been a better time to bring people together, a theme that resonates in World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022, which will be about ‘Working Together, Restoring Trust’.
According to Jean Bauer, career coach and author of The Essential Job Interview Handbook, it takes just three seconds for a person to decide whether they like you, or want to work with you. So how can we untangle our prejudices, prejudices, and stereotypical judgments?
A long line of research aimed at combating bias is called the “contact hypothesis”. According to this theory, contact between groups can help promote tolerance and acceptance when they are brought together in the right circumstances.
Previous research has also indicated that engaging people with another’s point of view for just 10 minutes can have long-lasting effects. For example, one study found that door-to-door preaching could reduce transphobia, which encouraged people to imagine the world from the perspective of a transgender person.
The Human Library works on the same principles.
How does the Human Library work?
human library Created 21 years ago by Danish human rights activist and journalist Ronnie Ebergel, after becoming interested in nonviolent activism.
It now hosts events in over 80 countries and has over 1,000 human books in circulation in over 50 languages.
Each ‘book’ has a title, such as ‘Chronic Depression’, ‘Survivor of Trafficking’, ‘Muslim’, ‘Transgender’, ‘Black Activist’, to describe the experiences of the people they represent.
“I had a theory that it might work because the library is one of the few places in our community where everyone is welcome, whether you’re rich or poor, homeless or living in a palace, professor or illiterate,” Abergel said in an interview with CNN, “It really is the most inclusive institution of our time.”
The human library creates a safe space for people to engage, whether face-to-face or in small groups, to encourage people to “judge” a book by its cover. The library tailors its approach to each individual’s biases and prejudices, rather than approaching diversity and inclusion with a one-size-fits-all solution.
“People want safe places to connect and maybe spread some tension in the air,” Abergel told CNN.
Diversity and Inclusion Strategies
Last year, The World Economic Forum released Its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 4.0 Toolkit, which aims to help companies use technology to build fair, equitable and diverse workplaces.
“Successful organizations are driven by the diverse opinions, skill sets and life experiences of their employees,” said Saadia Zahidi, managing director of the World Economic Forum. said in a press release at launch.
“Ensuring racial justice, gender equality, disability inclusion, LGBTI equality and all forms of human diversity must be the ‘new normal’ in the workplace set to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis and it is clear that technology is to be leveraged could. To help make it a reality faster. ,
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