The critical race-theoretic turn in library and information science

Abstract

Despite decades of research disproving any scientific foundation of the existence of different races or of any hierarchy of races, despite countless resolutions, laws, political statements, discourse and awareness-raising actions against racism made by international organisations, racism continues to resist every attempt to stamp it out. The protests and affirmations against racism that followed George Floyd’s brutal murder in May 2020 and the rise of Black lives matter (BLM) movement have not been followed by a real change to root out systemic and structural racism which are at the core of racial inequalities. On the contrary, extremist views, racism, hate speech and hate crimes continue to proliferate in many European countries.
After reviewing the current state of the critical race-theoretic current sweeping across scientific disciplines, we take stock of how library and information science (LIS henceforth) is engaging with it and underline in particular the absence of European LIS in these initiatives. LIS and European LIS in particular have a moral and ethical obligation to explicitly embed anti-racism in its professional practices, recruitment processes, training and research programs as well as outcomes. The so-called 'neutrality' or 'objectivity' of viewpoint when building LIS’s knowledge artefacts and information systems is not only an illusion, it has for so long served as a façade to promote the dominant western ideologies and effect real inequalities.