Changing Course: Collaborative Reflections of Teaching/Taking 'Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Information Professions'

摘要

This article is an attempt to reflect on the institutional and disciplinary context of a course on "Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Information Professions" from the perspective of instructors and students. It examines the effectiveness of a course like this as an intervention to the normative landscape of the Library and Information Science (LIS) field that often privileges White, male, middle-class, heterosexual, U.S.-based values and interests. In this article we provide a brief background for the re-establishment of this course, offer a literature review defining the normative landscape of LIS, and discuss the positive aspects and pitfalls of injecting this course into the curriculum as a "diversity" intervention. Finally, we offer recommendations for how to further make visible and shift the hegemonic landscape in LIS toward an inclusivity that actively deals with how race, gender, class, and sexuality deeply informs our profession.