Event Type
Presentation
Location
U-Hall Classroom 3230
Start Date
21-7-2023 1:15 PM
End Date
21-7-2023 2:15 PM
Description
My first two years as a BIPOC community college librarian were fraught with confusing interpersonal and organizational interactions. I had trouble navigating the work environment, the organizational structure, and the closed-door approach to library work. I felt that I wasn’t understanding something, that I was doing something wrong, and that my work wasn’t valuable. However, after finding a community with other faculty and staff, I came to understand that this was a pervasive problem within the library department and even the institution as a whole. I also discovered that the confusion and doubt I experienced as a product of institutional and interpersonal racism even had a name: Racelighting. Racelighting is “the process whereby People of Color question their own thoughts and actions due to systematically delivered racialized messages that make them second guess their own lived experiences [and realities] with racism” (Wood & Harris III, 2021). This new framework provides a way in which we can understand our lived experiences as BIPOC library workers. Daily experiences with microaggressions and institutional disregard drive us to internalize these messages and doubt our abilities and contributions to our institutions, sometimes even leading us to leave the profession. Using my personal experiences as an example, this presentation will explore the issue of racelighting in the hopes that it will bring encouragement to others by naming these internalized racialized messages and expelling them. As we advocate for each other and affirm each other’s experiences and contributions, we will overcome the racial barriers in our profession and be able to fully serve our students.
Outcomes
- Attendees will be able to apply the framework of racelighting to their own experiences in the library work environment and identify experiences that were the product of racelighting.
- Attendees will develop strategies to cope with racelighting in the work place.
Session 2B: Racelighting: Understanding Experiences with Questioning Our Own Realities
U-Hall Classroom 3230
My first two years as a BIPOC community college librarian were fraught with confusing interpersonal and organizational interactions. I had trouble navigating the work environment, the organizational structure, and the closed-door approach to library work. I felt that I wasn’t understanding something, that I was doing something wrong, and that my work wasn’t valuable. However, after finding a community with other faculty and staff, I came to understand that this was a pervasive problem within the library department and even the institution as a whole. I also discovered that the confusion and doubt I experienced as a product of institutional and interpersonal racism even had a name: Racelighting. Racelighting is “the process whereby People of Color question their own thoughts and actions due to systematically delivered racialized messages that make them second guess their own lived experiences [and realities] with racism” (Wood & Harris III, 2021). This new framework provides a way in which we can understand our lived experiences as BIPOC library workers. Daily experiences with microaggressions and institutional disregard drive us to internalize these messages and doubt our abilities and contributions to our institutions, sometimes even leading us to leave the profession. Using my personal experiences as an example, this presentation will explore the issue of racelighting in the hopes that it will bring encouragement to others by naming these internalized racialized messages and expelling them. As we advocate for each other and affirm each other’s experiences and contributions, we will overcome the racial barriers in our profession and be able to fully serve our students.
Outcomes
- Attendees will be able to apply the framework of racelighting to their own experiences in the library work environment and identify experiences that were the product of racelighting.
- Attendees will develop strategies to cope with racelighting in the work place.
