Teaching to Dismantle White Supremacy in Archives

摘要

This article reflects on an exercise I developed to enable students to identify the ways in which white privilege is embedded in archival institutions and to collectively strategize concrete steps to dismantle white supremacy in their own archival practice. It argues that, in the face of disastrous political eventssuch as the election of an explicitly racist protofascist as US presidentLIS faculty must intervene pedagogically to meet the needs of their most vulnerable students and to model behaviors of critique and resistance if we aim to train students who will disrupt the status quo of oppression as LIS professionals. The article includes printable graphics designed by Gracen Brilmyer and generated by the class exercise to serve as a visual reminder of our obligation to dismantle white supremacy in archival studies and archives more broadly.