Vanishing jobs, skills and crafts.
A Human Living Library Event for the New South Wales Seniors Festival
They are serious for the camera, but what did they get up to in their off times? |
Photo credit: Metro Transportation Library and Archive ( 1958)"LAMTA - PBX Switchboard MTA_0067" by is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. |
Did you ever wonder what it was like to be a dunny man? What did telephone operators get up to when the phones weren’t ringing? Where did spice sellers in Iran get their stock?
Or, are you fascinated by Vietnamese or Persian traditional craft? Are you interested in learning some traditional Indigenous Australian life skills?
If you said 'yes', then this is the event for you!
Come along to our Human Living Library and be a “Reader” of some of our “Books” in a listen about past jobs and cultural crafts that you might have never thought about.
Human Living Libraries are a phenomenon that originated in Denmark in 2000 and have been staged by libraries around the world. Their goals are to promote social change by challenging stereotypes and reducing social stigmas. This works by opening up a dialogue between people to allow conversations that normally don't happen. Having these conversations promotes a wider understanding of human diversity and a realization that our similarities are greater than our differences.
During our Pearl Cove Library Human Living Library event the "Books" are our local community members who act as interactive "books" in short one-on-one sessions who are "checked out" by "readers" for an in-depth conversation around specific themes.
The theme of this session will be a lighter one with a look at social changes via a focus on jobs and skills that have been left behind through the stories of the people who worked them. These people are both the older members of the community, but also those who now call Australia "home" and have had to leave much of their physical culture behind. Learning their stories will build bridges to our past.
Saturday, 2 April 2022
10:00 am to 3:30 pm
The Pearl Room, Pearl Cove Main Library
$10.00 per participant
Bookings Open 15 March Online at: the Pearl Cove Human Library Eventbrite or on the day (depending on availability) but book early to avoid disappointment!
Our line-up includes an
· Indigenous Australian with knowledge of cultural practices
· Switchboard operator
· Dunny man
· Movie projectionist
· Drover
· Calculator (Human!)
· Hmong weaver,
· Vietnamese duck shell lacquer-ware artisan
· ( Former) Iranian spice seller
· Persian miniature painter
Are you interested in reading more about jobs that no longer exist? 24 Jobs That No Longer Exist | Mental Floss
Tradtional Crafts of Vetnam?
Crafts of Iran?
