Consider ‘Dictionary’ as Literature

Keywords~ Decolonize. Definitions. Provocative. Unlearn. Reframe.

Words form stories.

Stories collect to shape history.

Question one, and dismantle them all.

illustration by Siddhi Gupta

‘Consider ‘Dictionary’ as Literature’ was/is an hour-long workshop that asks you to unlearn and relearn the ‘definitions’ of words. Words are one of the first things we are taught in our primary education. Therefore it is imperative that we start dismantling and rebuilding the ‘world’ as we know it from there.

Consider ‘definition’ to be a ‘suggested’ meaning of a word or phrase, instead of a fixed enforced identity.

This workshop was/is an effort to unlearn what we know to be ‘fact’ or ‘truth’ by questioning well-known definitions of terms used in the context of discussing Decolonization, like ‘History’, ‘Colonizer’, ‘Equality’. Reconsidering the singular words we use is the first step towards examining the ‘stories’, that later go on to form ‘history’.

At the heart of this workshop was/is to begin the process of accepting that the view of the colonizer is only one perspective of a story or a word and the other perspective, which is that of the colonized, is equally important in telling the whole story or ‘truth’.

The workshop did/will have the participants redefining terms according to their own understanding, and responding to other people’s views. The hope is to provoke a conditioned perspective. We need to begin to consider that it is not what we think, but how we think that is going to slowly transform the world we live in. It is a risk to challenge adult perceptions as they are fully developed through their life experiences however, the process of unlearning and relearning is a necessity.

illustration by Siddhi Gupta

The workshop was/will be divided in two parts:

1. There were/are ten words provided to you; norm, diverse, history, colonizer, colonized, tokenism, decolonize, equality, inclusive and privilege. The Oxford English Dictionary definitions, and my own personal redefinitions for each word were/are also included. I then asked/ask the participants to write their own individual understandings of the words. 
2. The participants write out a list of words they had/have problems with. Then choose one, or more, of those words to redefine.

illustration by Siddhi Gupta

This workshop was fist conducted at the Royal College of Art WIP show, and then as the first session for That’s the Tea Societea’s Workshop Series. It was supposed to be taking place at the first Risk and Resilience Design Conference by LDOC in April 2020, however, due to Covid-19 it has been postponed.

NO MATTER 🙂 This workshop is an exercise that can ‘easily’ be conducted online as well, or so is the hope. The responses that came from the physical workshops are documented in this blog, on The Alternative(s) Dictionary post. By going onto that post you can have a look at the words other people have redefined and add onto theirs and/or write out your own words with their redefinitions. If you are unable to post onto the page, please email me on ravista.mehra@network.rca.ac.uk and I will add your words+redefintions for you.