Safe Spaces and (Dis)Comfort Zones: Holding Conversations About Race in the LIS Classroom
Lightning Talk | Friday, May 19, 2021 | 12:00pm – 1:00pm EST
MLIS courses that address race and systemic racism in LIS can be emotionally fraught environments — particularly when the class, often a microcosm of the broader profession, is predominantly white. The discussions that take place in these spaces are not always easy or comfortable, but for some, it goes beyond comfort and becomes a matter of safety. Students with racialized identities, whose lived experiences may be reduced to topics of discussion in these courses, face the same potential risk of marginalization inside the classroom as they do outside it. How do we hold generative critical conversations about systemic inequities without replicating the very same power differentials in the classroom environment?
Drawing from my personal experiences as an MLIS student of colour, this presentation will discuss different considerations for creating spaces for meaningful learning and engagement, while mitigating the risk of harm for everyone involved.
[This talk will be recorded live.]
Presenter: Arianna Alcaraz / Presenter Slides / PDF version
Arianna Alcaraz is an MLIS student at the University of Alberta, and a first-generation Filipino immigrant settler living in Mohkinstsis (Calgary, Alberta, Canada). She works as a research assistant for the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and previously served as a Diversity Scholar for Michigan State University Libraries.