2021‑2022 Antiracism Lectures

Lecture details:

Tuesday, September 14 @ 1pm ADT

Virtual via Brightspace Collaborate. Click this link to join. Read instructions above before accessing.

Kayla Lar-Son, Indigenous Programs & Services Librarian, X̱wi7x̱wa Library (UBC)

This lecture is an open classroom taking place as part of the course, INFO6610/MGMT4611 Information Policy taught by Dr. Jamila Ghaddar at Dal’s School of Information Management. Everyone is welcome! Stay tuned for future events!

Register: Please send your full name and any accessibility concerns to jghaddar@dal.ca.

Abstract: LIS institutions have long been the stewards of Indigenous cultural materials including Indigenous stories, Knowledges and Indigenous research that may or may not have been ethically conducted. But are libraries actually the best stewards for these collections? In this talk we will explore the concept of Indigenous Data Sovereignty and how it relates to libraries, as well as discover ways in which libraries can work with Indigenous communities to evaluate our own institutional priorities and procedures to develop culturally appropriate data protocols, and repatriate digital and non-digital collections.

Biography: Kayla Lar-Son is Metis and Ukrainian settler and originally from Treaty Six territory. Currently she is the Indigenous Programs and Services Librarian for X̱wi7x̱wa Library at the University of British Columbia, and the Program Manager Librarian for the Indigitization program.

Sponsors: This speaker series has been generously sponsored by the Master of Information program and the Master of Information program at Dal’s School of Information Management. 

Lecture Resources:

• Maggie Walter, Raymond Lovett, Bobby Maher, Bhiamie Williamson, Jacob Prehn, Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews and Vanessa Lee (2021) Indigenous data sovereignty in the era of big data and open data. The Australian Journal of Social Issues 56(2):143-156
• Stephanie Russo Carroll, Ibrahim Garba, Oscar L. Figueroa-Rodríguez, Jarita Holbrook, Raymond Lovett, Simeon Materechera, Mark Parsons, Kay Raseroka, Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear, Robyn Rowe, Rodrigo Sara, Jennifer D. Walker, Jane Anderson and Maui Hudson (2020) The CARE principles for indigenous data governance. Data Science Journal 19(1):43

Contact: Dr. Jamila Ghaddar at jghaddar@dal.ca

Wednesday, February 9 @ 10am AST:
“Hidden Voices - The Plurality of Provenance & the Deconstruction of Colonial ‘Truth’” with Jesse Boiteau, Senior Archivist, National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation  

Abstract: In post-TRC Canada, archives and archivists are beginning to acknowledge the role that archives have played in colonization and the urgent need to decolonize archival practices to accommodate the marginalized voices of those silenced by archival description and collection mandates. In the case of the archives at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), these are the voices of the Residential School Survivors, their families, and their home communities. These voices have the power to fill gaps in historical narratives and disrupt the roars of colonialism present across the millions of records created by the government departments and religious entities that ran the schools for more than a century. That said, how do we transition from acknowledging our past role as protectors of colonialism’s documented “success” to successfully implementing decolonizing practices? Jesse Boiteau’s presentation explores how the deconstruction of colonial records and colonial “truth” can help us understand and describe the plurality of provenance in archives. It will also confront our understanding of archival authorities to offer a more balanced relationship between the creator(s) and the so-called subject(s) of records by centering the latter as active participants in archival descriptive practices. ​

Biography: Jesse Boiteau is the Senior Archivist at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), and is a member of the Métis Nation. He completed his Masters in Archival Studies at the University of Manitoba, focusing on the intersections between Western archival theory and practice, and Indigenous notions of archives and memory to shed light on how the NCTR can accommodate and blend multiple viewpoints in its processes. Jesse works within a close archives team to process the records collected by the TRC, make new collections available online, and respond to access requests from Residential School Survivors. He is also continually researching ways to leverage new technologies to honour the experiences and truths of Survivors through innovative and participatory archival practices.

Lecture Resources:

• Association of Canadian Archivist’s Response to the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Taskforce (2020) A reconciliation framework for Canadian archives.
• Jesse Boiteau (2017) “Introduction” and “Conclusion” in The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and the pursuit of archival decolonization, Thesis (University of Manitoba).
• Crystal Fraser & Zoe Todd (2015) Decolonial sensibilities: Indigenous research and engaging with archives in contemporary colonial Canada. L’internationale.
• First Archivist Circle (2007) Protocols for Native American Archival Material.

Wednesday, February 16 @ 10am AST:
“Identity Captured in the Archives” with Elder Harry Bone, Elder Florence Paynter and Raymond Frogner (Head of Archives) from the National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation

Abstract: This talk will briefly consider the evolution of concepts of race, ethnicity and culture as these concepts are expressed in the standards, policies and practices of public archives. The records of the residential school program in Canada will be used as an example.  It will look are the origins of the concepts and discuss their evolution in archives. It will conclude by looking at the current projects of the National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation designed with the view to decolonize the social role of archives.

Biographies:

• Elder Florence Paynter is from Sandy Bay First Nation and a band member of Norway House Cree Nation. She is a third degree Mide Anishinabekwe and holds a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Manitoba. Florence speaks Anishinabe fluently and has been involved in many language and cultural initiatives and ceremonies. She helps teach the cultural and spiritual knowledge and traditions of the Anishinabe people. Florence attended residential school and works hard to teach about the history of our people, the legacy of Indian residential schools, and its impact on us as people. She believes that we can be proud of who we are by learning about our own families, our own histories and our own languages.
• Elder Harry Bone is a member of Keeseekoowenin Ojibway Nation, where he served as a Chief and Director of Education. He was also a Director of Native Programs for the Federal Government and he served as a Vice-President of Aboriginal Cultural Centres of Canada. Elder Bone is currently a member of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Elders Council where he continues to be the Chairperson of his colleagues. His distinguished achievements in leadership, scholarship, and public service have been widely recognized by the many individuals and communities who have touched by his work. The University of Manitoba honoured Elder Bone with an Honorary Doctor of Law degree for his tireless and trendsetting work that continues to advance Aboriginal education in Canada. In December 2017, Elder Bone was announced as an appointee to the Order of Canada “for his contributions to advancing Indigenous education and preserving traditional laws, and for creating bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and communities.”
• Raymond Frogner graduated with an M.A. in history from the University of Victoria and an M.A.S. from the University of British Columbia. He was the archivist for private records at the University of Alberta where he taught a class in archives and Indigenous records. He was formerly an archivist for private records at the Royal BC Museum where his portfolio included Indigenous records. He is currently the Head of Archives at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. He is also the co-chair of the International Council for Archives Committee on Indigenous matters. In 2019 he was the principal author of the ICA’s Tandanya/Adelaide Declaration concerning Indigenous self-determination and archives.  He has published two articles in Archivaria on the topics of archives and Indigenous rights. Both articles have won the W. Kaye Lamb Prize. He continues to publish and present on issues of Indigenous identity and social memory. In 2020 he was nominated a Fellow of the Association of Canadian Archivists.

Lecture Resources:

• Raymond Frogner (Spring 2015) “Lord, Save Us from the Et Cetera of the Notary”: Archival Appraisal, Local Custom, and Colonial Law. Archivaria 79: 121-158.
• Raymond Frogner (2021) The Train from Dunvegan: Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in Public Archives in Canada. Archival Science: 1-30.
• Larry Chartrand (2016) Indigenous Peoples: Caught in a Perpetual Human Rights Prison. Ottawa Faculty of Law Working Paper No. 2016-26: 167-186.

Wednesday, March 9 @ 10am AST:
“Trans-feminist/Queer Praxis in the Information Fields,” a conversation with Dr. Rebecca Noone (Postdoctoral Fellow, University College of London), Mariam Karim (Doctoral Candidate, University of Toronto), Dr. Danielle Allard (Assistant Professor, University of Alberta) and Carina (Islandia) Guzmán (Doctoral Candidate, University of Toronto)

Abstract: What can feminism(s) bring to the information fields? What have they already brought? How have scholars, educators and practitioners in the information fields drawn on feminist practices and theories to inform and deepen their work? This open classroom stages a conversation between scholars, practitioners and activists who are drawing on diverse feminist traditions and bodies of knowledge in order to intervene within libraries, archives, museums, digital domains and information system design. Here, a feminist lens is understood as one that not only focuses on oppression based on gender and sexuality, it is a framework that interrogates the “interlocking” nature of colonial, imperial, racial, ableist, and hetropariarchical systems of oppression (Razack 1998), all of which are foundational to the information fields.

Biographies:

• Dr. Rebecca Noone is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Information Studies, University College London, and recently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Information. Situated in the areas of critical information studies and feminist media studies, her research focuses on the politics, discourses, and practices of locative media.  
• Mariam Karim is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Information and a fellow at the a CDHI, University of Toronto. She is a course instructor at the department of visual studies where she recently taught a course on Visual culture and media infrastructures. She holds an M.A. in Cultural Studies & Critical Theory from McMaster University. She is currently in the process of writing her dissertation on 20th century Arab women's movements from the Middle East. Her dissertation is supported by the SSHRC doctoral fellowship
• Dr. Danielle Allard is an assistant professor at the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta. Her research falls at the intersections of culture and community, information (its usages, representations, and institutions), and the role that information and information institutions might play in feminist, decolonizing, and anti-violence efforts. In partnership with Sex Professionals of Canada's Executive Director Amy Lebovitch and Dr. Shawna Ferris, her present SSHRC funded research (2018-2022) on the Sex Work Activist Histories Project (SWAHP) engages an exploration of sex work activism in Canada and the production of related histories, representations, and archives. In collaboration with Dr. Tami Oliphant and public librarian Angela Lieu, her most recent research draws from feminist anti-violence frameworks to examine patron-perpetrated sexual harassment in libraries.
• Carina (Islandia) Guzmán is a Doctoral Candidate at the Faculty of Information and the Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. They have an Undergraduate degree in History and Master's in Geography from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Under the co-supervisorship of Dr. T.L. Cowan and Dr. Jas Rault, in their dissertation, “Stor(y)ing Mi Desmadre: Trans-Feminist and Queer Community Archival Digital Custodial Praxes in Latin America,” they develop a speculative-pragmatic framework to study how lesbian and trans communities use histories of performance art and nightlife, improvised territories and the Latin American concept of memoria (counter-hegemonic historiographic text that emerges from silenced resistance movements) to activate archival and story-telling digital initiatives. They are furthermore a Connaught International Fellow, an Inaugural Dissertation Fellow at the Queer and Trans Research Lab and an Inaugural Doctoral Fellow at the Critical Digital Humanities Initiative, all at the University of Toronto.

Lecture Resources:

• Sherene Razack (2005) “How is white supremacy embodied? Sexualized racial violence at Abu Ghraib.” Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 17(2): 341-363. 
• Cait McKinney (2020) Introduction to information activism: A queer history of lesbian media technologies (Durham: Duke University Press), pp.1-30. 
• TL Cowan and Jasmine Rault (June 2020) (under review at Punctum Press) Heavy Processing, Digital Research Ethics Collaboratory: Part I – “Lesbian Processing”; Part II – “Central Processing Units”; Part III – “Risking IT”. [Currently available through Digital Research Ethics Collaboratory website.]
• Audra Simpson (2007) On ethnographic refusal: Indigeneity, ‘voice’ and colonial citizenship. Junctures: The Journal for Thematic Dialogue 9: 67-80.

Wednesday, March 16 @ 10am AST:
“Confronting Historical Metadata Debt" with Itza A. Carbajal, PhD Student, Information School, The University of Washington Seattle

Abstract: This discussion will focus on the aftermath of developing and applying post-custodial metadata practices for transnational archival projects led by Latin American and United States based organizations and practitioners. As documented in the article, "Historical Metadata Debt: Confronting Colonial and Racist Legacies Through a Post-Custodial Metadata Praxis," Carbajal will address and explore project obstacles brought forth by the decisions of predecessors including decisions driven by cultural, ethical, and situational viewpoints as well as ongoing tension resulting from power, cultural, and geographical differences. Given the commitment to applying antiracist and anticolonial principles towards projects, work, and partnerships, Carbajal engages in difficult reflections on how partners made decisions, adjusted expectations, or created their own future hurdles in regards to metadata systems and descriptive practices of archival collections. Audience members will be encouraged to bring forth questions and ideas on how the work could have been addressed differently given the lessons brought forth in the article by Carbajal.

Biography: Itza A. Carbajal is a Ph.D student at the University of Washington School of Information focusing her research on children and their records. Previously, she worked as the Latin American Metadata Librarian at LLILAS Benson after having received a Master of Science in Information Studies with a focus on archival management and digital records at the University of Texas at Austin School of Information. Knowing firsthand the affective value of records, Carbajal is pursuing doctoral research that will engender ways for people, and in particular children, to grapple with and learn from some of their most painful memories encapsulated through their records. Research focus strives to use archives as a mechanism to confront these stories in order for children to recognize and utilize their memories for healing, personal development, and building community resilience.

Required Readings:

• Itza A. Carbajal (2021) Historical metadata debt: Confronting colonial and racist legacies through a post-custodial metadata praxis. [Special issue on Unsettling the Archives.] Across the Disciplines 18(1/2): 91-107.
• ALA (2021) ALA welcomes removal of offensive ‘Illegal aliens’ subject headings
• Tonia Sutherland and Alyssa Purcell (2021) A weapon and a tool: Decolonizing description and embracing redescription as liberatory archival praxis. The International Journal of Information, Diversity & Inclusion 5(1): 60-78.

Wednesday, March 23 @ 10am AST:
“Provenance as Whiteness? Colonialism and the ‘Migrated Archives’ Problem” with Riley Linebaugh (PhD), Research Associate, Leibniz Institute for European History

Abstract: In her ground-breaking article, “Whiteness as Property,” legal scholar Cheryl Harris has argued that, ‘racial identity and property are deeply interrelated concepts.’ Harris elaborates that, ‘whiteness and property share a common premise — a conceptual nucleus — of a right to exclude.’ (Harris, 1714) This talk extends this analogy to the racialized and imperial context shaping current archival provenance and custody debates surrounding the so-called ‘migrated archives’. Drawing from “The archival colour line: race, records and post-colonial custody,” Linebaugh will provide historical background to the ‘migrated archives’ dispute before commenting on how recordkeepers within the UK government have made flexible use of the ‘provenance’ concept in order to justify proprietary claims in the face of restitution demands by former colonies.

Biography: Riley Linebaugh (PhD) is a research associate at the Leibniz Institute for European History in Mainz, Germany. Her PhD, “Curating the Colonial Past: Britain’s ‘Migrated Archives’ and the Struggle for Kenya’s History,” analyzes the politics of the ownership, location and use of colonial archives in the Kenya-British case (1952-present day). Previously, she received her MA in Archives and Records Management from University College London. She has worked as an archivist in Uganda, England, and the U.S.

Lecture Resources:

• Riley Linebaugh and James Lowry (2021) The archival colour line: race, records and post-colonial custody. Archives and Records, doi: 10.1080/23257962.2021.1940898.
• James Lowry (2017) “Introduction: Displaced Archives” in James Lowry, ed., Displaced Archives (Routledge), 1-11.
• ACARM (2017) Migrated Archives: ACARM Position Paper. Adopted at the ACARM Annual General Meeting, Mexico City.
• United Nations’s Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of State Property, Archives and Debts (1983)
• Alina Sajed (July 27, 2020) From the Third World to the Global South. E-International Relations.