UNLEARNING LIBRARY

ABOUT

A foundational project of the Postcapitalist Design Lab, the Unlearning Library is intended to be a participatory knowledge base for new worlds. Spanning a range of disciplines, this growing collection of books responds to the lab’s core research questions: What is capitalism, and how do we design something better? By tracing capitalism’s historical and philosophical emergence, the library invites readers to contextualize, denaturalize and effectively neutralize capitalism’s grasp on reality. At the same time, the library encourages readers to decenter capitalism and instead adopt a pluralistic lens grounded in economic diversity, indigenous epistemology, scientific breakthroughs, and the mutualistic patterns of the natural world. Finally, the library weaves together design and movement building to empower readers to reclaim their agency under capitalism, discover their inner organizer, and practice the worlds they need right here, right now.

The Unlearning Library began as an exhibition at WSA in NYC for NEW INC’s DEMO2024. Using a cheap scanner, some basic code, and the depths of the Internet Archive, this website translates the installation into a new medium, giving further shape to the emerging field of postcapitalist design. 

How to use this library:

1. This site works best on a desktop. If you’re using an iPad, please rotate to landscape.
   
2. Each book has a corresponding annotation that highlights is significance to the contributor. These are intended to provide framing context and facilitate aimless browsing.
3. Each book clicks through to an embedded digital version of the text, primarly from Internet Archive. It may take a moment for the embedded content to load. If you are only able to see a “limited preview” of the book, click the linked title at the top of the embedded content box. This will show the full Internet Archive page and allow you to sign into an existing IA account or create a new one. It’s essentially a free library card that will allow you to read to your heart’s content! Here is a guide to creating a new account.
4. You will notice a few books have been “removed” from Internet Archive. This is because, in 2020, the Association of American Publishers, led by four major publishers, took the site to court for copyright infringement. The result was the removal of over 500,000 books from Internet Archive in 2023 when the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of the publishers. IA is currently appealing this decision. You can sign their petition here and contact us for alternative online resources. 
5. Want to contribute a book (or many books!) to the library? Shoot us an email! We will be developing a more formal contribution process soon.
   

About the artist: Molly Ragan is a postcapitalist designer based in Queens, NY. She organizes faculty and student workers with the United Auto Workers, teaches business strategy and management at Parsons School of Design, and studies the ways capitalism shapes society (and vice versa). She is especially interested in democratic organizational practices as a means of collective resistance.