#decolonizingbeauty

Unfortunately I met a man in grad school who had the most gorgeous library and was into film and rock music and philosophy and would recommend me some great stuff, and I loved it... up until the elitism drove me up the wall.

Like I know some people here are into all this for fun, but he would totally take it seriously, dismissing some writers or musicians as unoriginal or their philosophy as watered down. (God forbid you listen to pop.) He always said, “Go to the sources.” Which, fine. I read Camus as a result. And listened to all sorts of “hip” bands. But after finishing a literature degree, I started disliking classics and the feeling that you had to read books “that are good for you.” I have to relearn to read them for their own sakes and not because I need to appear intellectual. (I did grow up reading things like Wilde and Poe, but only because my older sister got them)

So. Maybe we can think about the decolonization of pedagogical practices, and learning that isn’t Eurocentric. As much as I love the ideal of the Renaissance man, I think there are more bodies of knowledge we should focus on. Music, art and literature from around the world, rescuing our own languages that are endangered (rather than learning one that’s dead), learning with the body/senses and not just from books, learning outside the classroom, communities and relationships across the ages, with elders and children, learning that is accessible to more people.

What that means as an aesthetic, I don’t know. Some academic libraries are open to the public, and at UBC, there’s a small queer library in the student nest building, with a section of social justice books as well. (Lots of great books!) So even outside the academe, there are educational resources available. You can request interlibrary loans through your public library too. You can wear your tweed and wool coats, of course. And as for secret nooks and secret societies, think larger. The city itself holds secrets waiting for you to discover them. (Little stamp shops tucked in a nondescript building, the best place to get notebooks and art supplies, secondhand bookstores, coffeeshops, etc) Old buildings exist everywhere, and we could all do with learning the histories of our cities, including indigenous histories. (Especially if the school you go to is named after some white man who colonized these parts) And you can always start your own society of poets, wanderers, and dreamers. (Like Keri Smith’s, like people in the spoken word community, people in writers’ groups, etc)