Written By: Dr. Mónica Colón-Aguirre & Dr. Nicole Cooke
Abstract:
At its core, social justice seeks to find ways in which societies can eliminate the systems and barriers that create unearned privilege and marginalization, while upholding human rights (Cooke et al., 2016). One way to seek social justice in Library and Information Science (LIS) is to incorporate the principles of Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT, which originated in critical legal studies, and has been adapted to many social science fields, most prominently education, is a movement which seeks to explore the role of racism and its effects on society. By understanding the barriers created and enabled by these effects, social justice advocacy is in a better position to eliminate them. This conceptual piece will introduce LibCrit and discuss why it is ethically necessary to incorporate it into the library and information science profession (LIS).
Citation:
Colón-Aguirre, M., & Cooke, N. A. (2022). LibCrit: Moving Toward an Ethical and Equitable Critical Race Theory Approach to Social Justice in Library and Information Science. Journal of Information Ethics, 31(2), 57-69.
Download Here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nJDLnb9y0z3VF_VqP8rnNV8kMtD4j7l2/view?usp=sharing
Written By: Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic
Abstract:
Critical race theory (CRT) took start in the mid-1970s with the realization that the civil rights movement of the 1960s had stalled and that many of its gains, in fact, were being rolled back. Many believed that new tactics and theories were needed to understand and come to grips with the complex interplay among race, racism, and US law. Beginning with the ground-breaking works of Derrick Bell and Alan Freeman, the body of CRT scholarship now contains several books and more than 200 articles. A bibliography lists and annotates the major entries within the CRT corpus. For each entry is supplied a brief summary, along with one or more numbers corresponding to a list of major CRT themes. The bibliography does not attempt to list every article that could arguably be included within the CRT corpus. Short pieces that seemed duplicative of an author's previous work were omitted, as were articles detailing with the legal problems of blacks or people of color in general.
Citation:
Delgado, & Stefancic, J. (1993). Virginia Law Review, 79(2), 461–516. https://doi.org/10.2307/1073418
Links to Access:
Written By: Gloria Ladson-Billings & William F. Tate
Abstract:
This article asserts that despite the salience of race in U.S. society, as a topic of scholarly inquiry, it remains untheorized. The article argues for a critical race theoretical perspective in education analogous to that of critical race theory in legal scholarship by developing three propositions: (1) race continues to be significant in the United States; (2) U.S. society is based on property rights rather than human rights; and (3) the intersection of race and property creates an analytical tool for understanding inequity. The article concludes with a look at the limitations of the current multicultural paradigm.
Citation:
Ladson-Billings, G., & Tate, W. F. (1995). Toward a critical race theory of education. Teachers college record, 97(1), 47-68.
Links to Access:
Written By: Kevin Hylton
Abstract:
Over the last decade there has been a noticeable growth in published works citing Critical Race Theory (CRT). This has led to a growth in interest in the UK of practical research projects utilising CRT as their framework. It is clear that research on ‘race’ is an emerging topic of study. What is less visible is a debate on how CRT is positioned in relation to methodic practice, substantive theory and epistemological underpinnings. The efficacy of categories of data gathering tools, both traditional and non-traditional is a discussion point here to explore the complexities underpinning decisions to advocate a CRT framework. Notwithstanding intersectional issues, a CRT methodology is recognisable by how philosophical, political and ethical questions are established and maintained in relation to racialised problematics. This paper examines these tensions in establishing CRT methodologies and explores some of the essential criteria for researchers to consider in utilising a CRT framework.
Citation:
Hylton, K. (2012). Talk the talk, walk the walk: Defining critical race theory in research. Race ethnicity and education, 15(1), 23-41.
Links to Access:
Written By: Fiona Campbell
Abstract:
This paper is an attempt to theorize about the way disabled people live with ableism, in particular internalized ableism. Typically literature within disability studies has concentrated on the practices and production of disablism, examining attitudes and barriers that contribute to the subordination of people with disabilities in society. My exploration occurs through examining the insights of critical race theory (CRT) and the contribution that CRT can further make to thinking through the processes, formation and consequences of ableism. A focal concern is the possible ways that the concept of internalized racism, its deployment in CRT and application to critical disability studies. The paper is interested in working through points of difference between the way internalized racism/ableism are mediated in the processes of subjectification and identifying points of convergence that can benefit dialogue across varied sites of scholarship. The author concludes that the study of ableism instead of disability/disablement may produce different research questions and sites of study.
Citation:
Campbell. (2008). Exploring internalized ableism using critical race theory. Disability & Society, 23(2), 151–162. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687590701841190
Links to Access:
Written By: David Stovall
Abstract:
Among the communities of critical race theorists and its detractors in education, there is an apparent rift as to what theoretical construct best contributes to the social justice project in education. Conferences and meetings have served as quasi‐battle grounds for theorists, activists and scholars to go back and forth about what theoretical construct has the greatest bearing on educational praxis. Debate notwithstanding, the following document argues critical race theory (CRT hereafter) as a viable theoretical construct to address issues of social justice in education. In so doing, the following document couches the discussion in three tasks. The first is to identify the contributions of CRT in education. Second, the document argues for a closer read of the theoretical construct and its subsequent application. The concluding task will be an example of how the points of contention and compliance can be located through an example (in this case narrative) of a school with a social justice agenda at its center. As Yamamoto suggests, the occupation of the socially conscious scholar is to participate in the activities that challenge hegemony at both the grassroots and intellectual levels. From this we can engage CRT in education with a concerted effort to change our present realities.
Citation:
Stovall. (2006). Forging community in race and class: critical race theory and the quest for social justice in education. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 9(3), 243–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320600807550
Links to Access:
Written By: David Stovall
Abstract:
Among the communities of critical race theorists and its detractors in education, there is an apparent rift as to what theoretical construct best contributes to the social justice project in education. Conferences and meetings have served as quasi‐battle grounds for theorists, activists and scholars to go back and forth about what theoretical construct has the greatest bearing on educational praxis. Debate notwithstanding, the following document argues critical race theory (CRT hereafter) as a viable theoretical construct to address issues of social justice in education. In so doing, the following document couches the discussion in three tasks. The first is to identify the contributions of CRT in education. Second, the document argues for a closer read of the theoretical construct and its subsequent application. The concluding task will be an example of how the points of contention and compliance can be located through an example (in this case narrative) of a school with a social justice agenda at its center. As Yamamoto suggests, the occupation of the socially conscious scholar is to participate in the activities that challenge hegemony at both the grassroots and intellectual levels. From this we can engage CRT in education with a concerted effort to change our present realities.
Citation:
Stovall. (2006). Forging community in race and class: critical race theory and the quest for social justice in education. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 9(3), 243–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320600807550
Links to Access:
Written By: David Stovall
Abstract:
Among the communities of critical race theorists and its detractors in education, there is an apparent rift as to what theoretical construct best contributes to the social justice project in education. Conferences and meetings have served as quasi‐battle grounds for theorists, activists and scholars to go back and forth about what theoretical construct has the greatest bearing on educational praxis. Debate notwithstanding, the following document argues critical race theory (CRT hereafter) as a viable theoretical construct to address issues of social justice in education. In so doing, the following document couches the discussion in three tasks. The first is to identify the contributions of CRT in education. Second, the document argues for a closer read of the theoretical construct and its subsequent application. The concluding task will be an example of how the points of contention and compliance can be located through an example (in this case narrative) of a school with a social justice agenda at its center. As Yamamoto suggests, the occupation of the socially conscious scholar is to participate in the activities that challenge hegemony at both the grassroots and intellectual levels. From this we can engage CRT in education with a concerted effort to change our present realities.
Citation:
Stovall. (2006). Forging community in race and class: critical race theory and the quest for social justice in education. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 9(3), 243–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613320600807550
Links to Access:
Written By: Rosemary Closson
Abstract:
Critical race theory (CRT) was developed to examine the persistence of racism. This literature review attempts to understand CRT as it has been applied in related fields such as higher education and possible reasons for its limited application in adult education theorizing about race and racism. This analysis of CRT is framed against a backdrop of the evolution of an adult education discourse on race and racism over several decades and distinguishes CRT from other racial theories that have been used in the field. CRT tenets are discussed using examples that demonstrate how CRT reveals areas of racism left untouched by other forms of theorizing. The author provides a critique of CRT, caveats for those adult educators who might choose to use it, and examples of areas within the field of adult education that might benefit from a CRT lens.
Citation:
Closson. (2010). Critical race theory and adult education. Adult Education Quarterly, 60(3), 261–283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713609358445
Links to Access: