Living Books Exchange

Tuesday, November 19, 2024 — 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM EST

When: Tuesday November 19, 2024
Time: 12 – 2 p.m.
Where: Davis Centre Library, Silent Study Room

Join the Library for an opportunity to connect with others in the UWaterloo community!

Living ‘books’ will be sharing their unique set of life experiences, stories and knowledge during 25-minute one-on-one conversations that challenge stereotypes and promote understanding.

Browse the catalogue of available living books below to see which you would like to ‘check out’ for the opportunity to listen, learn and ask respectful questions in a safe space. No recording or photos will be permitted without explicit permission.

Register ahead of time to reserve your preferred living book and time slot. Reservations will be confirmed on a first come, first served basis. Drop-ins will also be welcome.

Register now

Living Books

Lexi (she/her)

“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution”

I’m a gendered and sexual violence prevention educator and experienced dancer within the local Latin dance community. As a white woman who dances Afro-Indigenous Latine dance forms, I consistently reckon with my positionality and how I take up space on and off the dance floor. I am passionate about fostering safer spaces for everyone to experience joy and community connection. I can share my experience and perspective on:

Practicing joy as an act of resistance and self-love as political warfare
Developing arts-based approaches to social change, particularly my experience in the Latin dance community
Navigating institutional ableism
Navigating how to take up and not take up space as a white woman, depending on the context
Practicing community care and advocacy while the world is literally on fire
Bonus: favourite spots in Kitchener-Waterloo & strategies to save on groceries

Mohamed (he/him)

"Project Baby”

I’m a Black male student at Waterloo who grew up in a challenging environment. I hope to share with you how I plan to “make it out.” As I navigate my journey toward success and seek to carve out a place for myself in the workforce, I draw on the collective strength of our community. I can share my experience and perspectives on:

Systemic barriers faced by Black men in disadvantaged communities
The impact of crime and gang violence on youth in low-income areas
Strategies for overcoming societal stigma and expectations
The importance of representation and role models in breaking cycles of poverty
The role of education and personal development in achieving success
Balancing individual aspirations with community responsibilities

Danielle (she/her)

“Balancing the Quiet”

I'm a student at Waterloo studying Legal Studies and Sociology and I want to be a human rights lawyer someday. But before I can get there, I have to go on the journey of managing the noise of external pressures (like work, school and societal expectations) while also quieting the internal struggles (anxiety, self-doubt and navigating identity). Some things I can talk about are:

Balancing work and school while pursuing further education
Overcoming anxiety and mental health challenges
Navigating internalized homophobia and finding community
Losing someone young and how it changes your outlook

Alex (they/them)

"Gender Justice Warrior"

I’m an activist, educator and advocate for gender justice. I teach, develop recommendations and create opportunities for social change. I strive for the intentional and meaningful inclusion of non-binary and gender non-conforming people in gender equality, social support services, and social justice programming in Canada and abroad. I am an immigrant, which adds complexity to my intersectionality and enriches my lived experiences with a more nuanced perspective on how people view gender equality. I can share insights on:

Living as a non-binary queer person
Experiences of ethnic stereotyping as an immigrant
Issues with collecting “gender” data in surveys and research
Perspectives on queer activism globally and in Canada
Challenges posed by the anti-gender movement
Non-binary perspectives on dating and dating apps
Reflections on living in Canada for 20 years (a.k.a. gender, race and class)

Mifrah (she/her)

“The Hyphenated Canadian”

I’m a Muslim-Indian-Canadian-Woman: there are a lot of hyphens in my identity, and I cannot think of any other way to describe myself. I am not just the sum of all my parts and identities — I am a blend of them (It’s hard to tell where one begins and another one ends.) I was born in Mumbai, India, grew up in Saudi Arabia and Pune, and then made Canada my home in late 2017. I used to teach English and Applied Linguistics to graduate students at a college in India. When I moved to Canada, I realized my foreign credentials were not enough to find a suitable job, so I did what most immigrants do: I pivoted. I began a podcast, made connections, found my passion in social justice, worked at grassroots levels with victims of hate, and here I am today, as a staff person at Waterloo. My journey to Canada is full of discoveries: from learning how to load a dishwasher, to finding my calling in anti-racism work — it has been a wild seven years! I can share my insights on:

Developing resilience,
Convincing folks I am not bald under my Hijab
Exploring Canada (so far, I have covered British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec!)
Building community
Bollywood music
Binge watching Friends as a youngster in urban India
Discovering Gilmore Girls only NOW
My weird occupation with Canadian politics
Tandoori chicken

Nick

“How Do I Put My Identity Back Together Again?

As Niigaan Sinclair likes to say, everything that has brought me here to this day — 'the good, the bad, the great, the ugly' — has made me who I am right now. My unique bundle of accumulated experiences and lived moments (from exhilaration to desperation, and everything in between) constitute my present living reality, and they cast shadows (to different degrees, for better or worse) upon all the people in my life.

I identify as a white-passing Chicano. I recognize the benefits of this, and of my birth into a middle-class existence in the imperial core in the last quarter of the 20st century. However, as a 'mature' international student in the 21st century (with a spouse and children), I have to navigate a base-level late-stage capitalist instability and uncertainty, and also confront the consequences of the choices that have brought me and my family here to Waterloo.

One of my goals in my doctoral work is to figure out ways to dependably disrupt colonial & imperial expectations and facilitate epistemic ‘openings’ for particularity, plurality, and *creativity-abundance* -- in the interest of the future of all living things. However, as I trace the contours of my network of relationships, and think on my preference of methods and practices to get to a desired future, I realize that I must also grapple with the engineered cultural fragmentation (centuries of racialized colonial partition and modern racist 'de-culturing' projects) that I have descended from ... in my endeavors as a student, but also as a partner and parent.

With these things in mind, I can speak to:

Elements and details of this journey over the last five years;
Insights into and challenges associated with my proximity to whiteness, Indigeneity, colonialism, and subjugation;
Elements and details of initiating graduate studies in a world that was turned upside down by pandemic;
Highs and lows of the 'virtues of restlessness and curiosity' ... while moving through the world and raising a family.

Viginia (Ginny) (she/her)

“Small Network, Big Experiences”

As a Euro-Canadian woman coping with acknowledging that I'm aging, I find myself with a very small network of family and friends in Canada. Many of my significant life-experiences have taken place outside of Canada, which means that it is often difficult to find common ground in conversations. I'm trying to think about writing up some of those experiences, but can't convince myself that I would write it well enough, or find an audience for a memoir.

Some lived experiences of developing the right to a sense of self

Living with a sense of being an outsider (e.g. at home, in the workplace, and while engaging in qualitative research)
Experiences of adapting to a new culture while living and working in another country.
The difficulties of writing about these experiences: e.g. incorporating theories of gender into writing about women's lives without solipsism or "essentializing" people and their knowledge; recognizing that while the issues are broad, the relevant focuses of attention in a given time and place need to be understood as specific to social and economic status, ethno-religious community and other factors.
Working with local and national advocates to incorporate gender matters and women's rights in economic-development-focused research in India and Pakistan

Garth (he/him) (time slots full)

"A Black neurodivergent restorative practitioner, activist and decolonial researcher”

I'm a Black neurodivergent restorative practitioner, activist and decolonial researcher whose work is grounded in the Love Ethic embodied by the Black Feminist and Womanist activists/scholars who inspire me. I can share insights on: