Unearthing Racism in the Soil: Developing Collective Anti-Racist Consciousness in a Library and Information Science Classroom

Abstract

In the spring of 2021, the author embarked on a soulful exercise of teaching without bounds. The author’s vision was to create a communal classroom environment exploring Black feminist and critical race dimensions of the information stratophere. The course deceptively titled Information Justice & Community Engagement, surveyed contemporary texts that confront and critique the mechanizations of information studies that sustain White hegemonic norms. Each session was an exercise in reflection and creative expression. The author encourged students to name instruments of oppression, crtique information systems, and devise ways to dismantle racism though informed praxis. To accomplish this, the author prioritized intimacy, trust, and community building in the classroom space. The shared desire for the collective learning experience became love and liberation. Through this experience, the author learned that the teacher, as illuminated by bell hooks (1994) is more than instructor, but is truly engrossed in the work of freedom. This proposition, inspired by Paulo Friere’s (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, offers clarity in the sacred, spiritual, and soulful exercise of learning with a reciprocal benefit to teacher and student. Using personal narrative and learning products this chapter will present the journey to developing an anti-racist consciouness in teaching and learning in a library and information studies (LIS/IS) course.

Citation

Gray, L. (2023), "Unearthing Racism in the Soil: Developing Collective Anti-Racist Consciousness in a Library and Information Science Classroom", Black, K. and Mehra, B. (Ed.) Antiracist Library and Information Science: Racial Justice and Community (Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 52), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 51-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-283020230000052006