As you begin to establish your voices as scholars, you'll notice that a good chunk of the literature you're reading is being produced and created by White scholars. Well, where's everyone else?
The lack of BIPOC voices in academic literature results from barriers in academic publishing and beliefs of knowledge-making in academia. Originally discussed in Richard Delgado's 1984 piece, the lack of representation in academic literature is still a huge problem.
One group of people fighting hard to raise awareness and combat this issue is the Cite Black Women Collective. We encourage our community to commit themselves to engaging with their praxis: naming, reading, acknowledging, and integrating the work of Black women into your classrooms, scholarship, and everyday lives. To learn more about their work you can listen to their podcast embedded below.
Below are a few scholars and works that have inspired me along my journey.
Cooke, N.A. & Jacobs, J.A. (2018). Diversity and cultural competence in the LIS classroom: A Curriculum audit. Urban Journal Review vol. 24 (1). https://academicworks.cuny.edu/ulj/vol24/iss1/2
Ettarh, F. (2018). Vocational awe and librarianship: The Lies we tell ourselves. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/
Hathcock, A. (2015). White librarianship in Blackface: Diversity Initiatives in LIS. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2015/lis-diversity/
Honma, T. (2005). Trippin' over the color line: The Invisibility of race in library and information studies. InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information studies, vol. 1 (2): 1-26. https://doi.org/10.5070/D412000540
Morales, M., Knowles, E.C., & Bourg, C. (2014). Diversity, social justice, and the future of library. Portal: Libraries and the Academy vol. 14 (3), 439-451. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/diversity-social-justice-future-libraries/docview/1546003757/se-2?accountid=1205
Ndumu, A. & Walker, S. (2021). Adapting an HBCU-inspired framework for Black student success in U.S. LIS education. Education for Information, vol. 37: 219-229. https://doi.org/10.3233/EFI-211511
Ramirez, M. H. (2016). Being assumed not to be: A Critique of whiteness as an archival imperative. The American Archivist, vol. 78 (2), 339-356. https://doi.org/10.17723/0360-9081.78.2.339.