Discussing How We Address the Ways Our Institutions are Deeply Rooted in Past & Current Injustices
Channel: SPARCvideo
Date: 2022-09-09

Our knowledge systems exclude many perspectives because legacies of injustice are built into their foundations. Racism, colonialism, and other forms of discrimination limit whose voices are heard, whose interests are prioritized, and whose knowledge counts. Openness can create pathways to more equitable systems of knowledge sharing; however, in pursuing this potential, it is important to explicitly recognize the ways these inequities are built into the foundations of academic systems.

To help situate the work of opening up research and education within this essential context, SPARC is hosting a discussion series to provide an introduction to broad concepts and considerations of epistemic injustice and knowledge equity in the areas of academic libraries and archives. These discussions will examine how universities, and thus academic libraries, are rooted in oppressive systems like white supremacy, racism, and settler colonialism, and how that is connected to our current work in libraries.

In the fourth panel of SPARC's Knowledge Equity Discussion Series, we are joined by the speakers below for a 60-minute discussion on how we actively address the ways our institutions are deeply rooted in past and current injustices.

- Jen Brown, Undergraduate Research and Learning Librarian, University of California Berkeley and Community Manager, We Here

- Fobazi Ettarh, Scholar-Activist, Independent Consultant and PhD student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign iSchool

- Sofia Leung, Editor, up//root: a We Here publication

Moderator: Kanishka Sikri, PhD Candidate, York University and Research Associate, Knowledge Equity Lab