Major
Microbiology
Advisor
Dewsbury, Bryan
Advisor Department
Biological Sciences
Date
4-2017
Keywords
human library, stereotypes, biases, social issues
Abstract
The Human Library Project was founded in Denmark as a way to respond to youth violence. It evolved into an event where people representing the biases and stereotypes that society holds engage with their peers to talk about them. They also discuss general current issues in today’s society. The representatives are called “books”, who are “checked out” by people participating in the event, the “readers”. Ultimately, the goal of this project is to provide a safe platform in which to discuss difficult issues that are relevant to society, and issues that some may find difficult to talk about with their fellow peers. I held a similar event at the University of Rhode Island for the local community to talk about their important issues. I used the data that I gathered from the participants in order to measure the impact that the event had on those involved and how successful the event was in general.