Teaching to Dismantle White Supremacy in Archives

TitleTeaching to Dismantle White Supremacy in Archives
Publication TypeJournal Article
AuthorsCaswell, Michelle
JournalThe Library Quarterly
Volume87
Issue3
Pagination222-235
ISSN0024-2519
AbstractThis article reflects on an exercise I developed to enable students to identify the ways in which white privilege is embedded in archival institutions and to collectively strategize concrete steps to dismantle white supremacy in their own archival practice. It argues that, in the face of disastrous political events—such as the election of an explicitly racist protofascist as US president—LIS faculty must intervene pedagogically to meet the needs of their most vulnerable students and to model behaviors of critique and resistance if we aim to train students who will disrupt the status quo of oppression as LIS professionals. The article includes printable graphics designed by Gracen Brilmyer and generated by the class exercise to serve as a visual reminder of our obligation to dismantle white supremacy in archival studies and archives more broadly.
URLhttps://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/692299
DOI10.1086/692299