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Presentation for the Information Literacy Advisory Group of Oregon conference, 2015 in Hood River, OR A discussion about Culture and Information Literacy. By Culture, I mean Colonialism and also the dominant Culture in the US and it's filtration of information. As a student of color, it is near impossible to get a non-mediated version of information that is not tainted with White-Supremacy's cultural values. This topic is rarely discussed and has huge implications for Students of Color, for the dominant culture as well as education in general.
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- 1. Information Literacy and Colonialism Max Macias ILAGO, 2015
Editor's Notes
- Have you ever thought about Culture in relation to Information Literacy, Education and knowledge in general?
- One aspect of any definition of Information Literacy is a vigorous, thorough, critical analysis of a source of information.
- IL in the US accomplishes this aspect in many areas, but fails miserably when it comes to cultural bias and the implications of colonialism on IL and by extension on the general quality of information and knowledge produced by our educational system. IL in the US accomplishes this aspect in many areas, but fails miserably when it comes to cultural bias and the implications of colonialism on IL and by extension on the general quality of information and knowledge produced by our educational system.. IL in the US accomplishes this aspect in many areas, but fails miserably when it comes to cultural bias and the implications of colonialism on IL and by extension on the general quality of information and knowledge produced by our educational system.. IL in the US accomplishes this aspect in many areas, but fails miserably when it comes to cultural bias and the implications of colonialism on IL and by extension on the general quality of information and knowledge produced by our educational system..
- This session seeks to begin defining colonialism’s impact on information and knowledge in a system that is almost completely uncritical of this aspect of Information Literacy. An okay outcome would be that you think about this more when you leave. A good outcome will be that you investigate further and attempt to implement mitigation of colonialism’s damaging impact on POC and the dominant culture in this country.
- The definition of colonialism used herein is that of an empire that establishes their own ideology in foreign lands, puts their people in power (their people can also be local people who are in service to the empire). The justification and sustainability of this colonial state is part of the colonial worldview.
- The worldview of an author has a direct impact on the work produced. No author can be objective. Therefore it is incumbent on Information Literacy to investigate the impact of the colonial worldview and it’s impact on information and knowledge produced by educational systems that are not only uncritical, but bolster this colonial worldview.
- As an Information Science student it was striking to me that there was very little criticism of colonialism in Information Literacy. What I was exposed to stayed at the level of cataloging terms. As a person of color, I cannot help but think that the lack of people of color in Information Science has had an impact in this area of critical thinking in IL.
- Back in graduate school I asked if there were libraries in the ancient Mesoamerican world. My professor instructed me that there were no libraries in this world. I already knew there were vast libraries in the ancient Mesoamerican world, but that they were mostly burned. Books from Mesoamerica can still be found in European museums and are known as codices. When basic misinformation like this spreads via ignorant professors in Universities, then it is no wonder that uncritical claims in Information Science get published in Library association literature and books.
- In my opinion, most Historical literature we have can only be seen as the writings of the conquered and do not provide ANY sort of balanced viewpoints of what happened in the past. Therefore, when one investigates history in an academic manner, almost all sources are tainted with a European worldview that takes for granted the colonial viewpoint. People like me, a third generation Mexican-Indigenous American have to look to Historical works published in other countries originally such as Memory of Fire by Eduardo Galeano, to get any sort of balanced viewpoints on the history of the Americas.
- Library Science and Information Literacy in particular pride themselves on informing the public so the public can make informed political and other important life decisions. If the public is not informed of the impact of the colonial worldview on the information and knowledge that is consumed by our culture, then they are not making decisions based on the best available information. These people then make decisions based on biased, slanted information that is geared toward the maintenance and extension of colonial power.
- Information and knowledge created in a system that is uncritical of the colonial worldview that information and knowledge is little more than propaganda. One area one can see this effect is in the area of scholarship called political Science. It assumes that the US is in a state of hegemony and has claims to the world’s resources via military strength and economic power. When this assumption is held uncritically, then academia will publish works that are uncritical of this viewpoint.
- One can see this in the current scholarship that states the US has a right to “Nation-build” in the middle-east and elsewhere in the world. In even a cursory critique of this statement, one can see that, even under the US’s own ideology the US has no right to go into a country, take out the government and install a government that is US policy friendly.
- What is now the US had successive European colonies culminating with the English colonies that became this country. All these European colonies imposed a system of racial caste and slavery. This system justified slavery and also described Indigenous people and Africans as sub-human. Along with this set of beliefs, the colonist disregarded and destroyed histories, books and other artifacts without regard to their value.
- These beliefs became a fundamental; part of US education to justify genocide, land-theft and slavery. These same beliefs are also used to justify the murder of POC on a routine basis by law enforcement. The high rates of incarceration and the criminalization of POC are also results of the colonial worldview. This worldview must be unpacked and understood in order for us to understand it’s impact on information and knowledge.
- Lets talk about this now! This topic is rarely discussed and has huge implications for Students of Color, for the dominant culture as well as education in general.