The IRDL Scholars Speaker Series is designed to shine a spotlight on voices and ideas that challenge traditional ways of conducting research. It surveys various topics, including specific research methods and critiques of processes associated with western social science approaches, with the intention of inspiring research explicitly rooted in social justice. As librarians, educators, and researchers, we welcome this opportunity to reflect and incorporate what we learn from these speakers into our own research efforts, so that our methodologies integrate anti-racist and anti-colonial practices.
The series is coordinated by a working group of IRDL Scholars. Each speaker session is free to attend via Zoom; anyone interested is welcome. Please see below for the speakers and the dates of their presentations, to register. The hashtag for the events will be #IRDLSpeakers.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services RE-40-16-0120-16.
View the recordings by clicking on the title Speaker Series.
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Erasure and Essentialism: Situating Black Immigrants in LIS Research and Practice
Ana Ndumu
Ana Ndumu, MLIS, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland College Park's College of Information Studies who primarily researches and teaches on library services to immigrants—particularly, Black diasporic immigrants—along with methods for promoting racial representation and inclusion in LIS. A former HBCU librarian, she is interested in the cross between Black identity, library and information services, and social inclusion. Ndumu serves on the executive boards of numerous LIS organizations and directs several grant-funded library initiatives. You can connect with her at anandumu.com or andumu@umd.edu.
Recommended reading:
- Ndumu, A. (2020). Disrupting Digital Divide Narratives: Exploring the US Black Diasporic Immigrant Context. Open Information Science, 4(1), 75-84.
- Ndumu, A. (2020). Toward a new understanding of immigrant information behavior: A survey study on information access and information overload among US Black diasporic immigrants. Journal of Documentation, 76(4), 869-891.
Ana is the featured speaker for the Erasure and Essentialism: Situating Black Immigrants in LIS Research and Practice event on February 24, 2021, 12:00-1:30 p.m. PST.
Moderated by IRDL Scholars Tatiana Bryant and Kai Alexis Smith.
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Critical Race Spatial Analysis: Exploring New Possibilities for Mapping Racial (In)justice
Verónica N. Vélez
Dr. Verónica N. Vélez is an Associate Professor and the Founding Director of Western Washington University's (WWU) Education and Social Justice Program. Her research is grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT), Latinx Critical Theory (LatCrit), Radical and Tactical Cartography, and Chicana Feminist Epistemologies. Influenced by these frameworks, she developed Critical Race Spatial Analysis (CRSA), a framework and methodological approach that seeks to deepen a spatial consciousness and expand the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in critical race research in education. As a result of this work, Dr. Vélez is featured in the second volume of ESRI Press's Women and GIS: Mapping Their Stories. Dr. Vélez pursued her graduate studies at UCLA, completing an MA and PhD in Social Science and Comparative Education with a specialization in Race and Ethnic Studies. She is also a National Academies Ford Foundation Fellow and a Faculty Fellow with the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE).
Recommended reading:
- Vélez, V. & Solorzano, D. (2017). Critical race spatial analysis: Conceptualizing GIS as a tool for critical race research in education. In D. Morrison, S.A. Annamma & D. Jackson (Eds.), Critical Race Spatial Analysis: Mapping to Understand and Address Educational Inequity (pp. 8-31).
Verónica is the featured speaker for the Critical Race Spatial Analysis: Exploring New Possibilities for Mapping Racial (In)justice event on February 18, 2021, 12:00-1:30 p.m. PST.
Moderated by IRDL Scholars Michael Flierl and Rosalinda Linares.
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De/colonizing Qualitative Research: For Whom is the Work?
Kakali Bhattacharya
Dr. Kakali Bhattacharya is Professor at University of Florida and a qualitative research methodologist, trained from the University of Georgia. Dr. Bhattacharya serves the College of Education and other social science students across campus. Her interests are in de/colonizing epistemologies and methodologies, creativity as inquiry, contemplative practices and pedagogies, and technology-integrated learning and social spaces. She is a nepantlera, moving in and out of multiple worlds without being indoctrinated in any one.
Recommended reading:
- Bhattacharya, K. (2009). Othering Research, Researching the Other: De/Colonizing Approaches to Qualitative Inquiry. In J. Smart (Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory of Research (pp. 105-150).
Kakali was the featured speaker for the De/colonizing Qualitative Research: For Whom is the Work? event on February 12, 2021, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PST.
Moderated by IRDL Scholars Lorelei Rutledge and Eamon Tewell.
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From Story to Research: Storying Human Experience Narratives
Emily Ford
Emily Ford is an associate professor and an urban & public affairs librarian at Portland State University Library in Portland, Oregon. She loves stories. She is curious to understand what makes people tick and how we can connect in community via lived experience. Although her research is focused on opening scholarly peer review, she views the peer-review system as one comprised of human experience stories. Her book, Stories of Open: Opening Peer Review through Narrative Inquiry, will be published by ACRL Press this Spring. When not immersed in stories, she is most likely found trail running, practicing yoga, or petting her cats and her pet rats.
Recommended reading:
- McCormack, C. (2004). Storying stories: a narrative approach to in-depth interview conversations. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 7(April), 219–236.
- Ford, E. (2020). Tell Me Your Story: Narrative Inquiry in LIS Research. College & Research Libraries, 81(2).
Emily is the featured speaker for the From Story to Research: Storying Human Experience Narratives event on February 4, 2021, 12:00-1:00 p.m. PST.
Moderated by IRDL Scholars Nicole Branch and Sophie Rondeau.
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Standing With and Speaking as Faith
Kim TallBear
Kim TallBear is an associate professor, faculty of native studies, University of Alberta, and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience & Environment. She is also a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation Fellow. TallBear is the author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science. Building on her research on the role of technoscience in settler colonialism, TallBear also studies the colonization of Indigenous sexuality. She is a regular commentator in US, Canadian, and UK media outlets on issues related to Indigenous peoples, science, and technology as well as Indigenous sexualities. She is a regular panelist on the weekly podcast, "Media Indigena." She is a citizen of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate in South Dakota.
Recommended reading:
- TallBear, K. (2014). Standing With and Speaking as Faith: A Feminist-Indigenous Approach to Inquiry. Journal of Research Practice, 10(2).
Kim was the featured speaker for the Standing With and Speaking as Faith event on January 27, 2021, 1:00-2:30 p.m. PST.
Moderated by IRDL Scholars Hailley Fargo and Jamillah R. Gabriel.
