CRT AS A FRAMEWORK FOR DECOLONISATION:� �PURSUIT OF EQUITY IN INFORMATION PRACTICE, SCHOLARSHIP, AND EDUCATION
Grace O’Driscoll
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AGENDA
Introduction & context
Background
2020: COVID-19� 2020: BLM� Decolonising healthcare� Decolonising LIS
Critical Race Theory� CRT and ‘culture wars’� LIS and CRT� CRT tenets as a framework for analysis
Research findings
Opportunities identified
What’s next
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INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION: CONTEXT
2019
CityLIS MSc
[Retail]
2021
Dissertation
2023
Medical school curriculum decolonisation study
[UAL]
2020
COVID-19
BLM
2022
Information for Education
CRT special issue article
[Entry level library temp roles]
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BACKGROUND
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BACKGROUND: 2020 AND COVID-19
‘Among all staff employed by the NHS, BAME account for approximately 21 per cent, including approximately 20 per cent among nursing and support staff and 44 per cent among medial staff.
BAME individuals account for 63 per cent, 64 per cent and 95 per cent of deaths in the same staff groups. BAME patients also accounting for 34 per cent of the patients admitted to UK intensive care units with covid-19 but only 17 per cent of the UK population.’
Cook et al., HSJ 2020
BACKGROUND: 2020 AND COVID-19
BACKGROUND: 2020 AND COVID-19
Lester et al. (2020) find no published photos of skin-based symptoms of COVID-19 in black and brown skin at the height of the pandemic, despite emerging evidence of higher-than-average risk to Black and South Asian populations in the UK and US.
Otu et al. (2020) note that PHE’s June 2020 report detailing heightened COVID-19 risks faced by Black and South Asian populations was unaccompanied by proposals for action or mitigation to reduce the disparities.
BACKGROUND: 2020 AND BLM
BACKGROUND: 2020 AND BLM
BACKGROUND: �HEALTHCARE EQUITY
BACKGROUND: �HEALTHCARE EQUITY
BACKGROUND: �HEALTHCARE EQUITY
BACKGROUND: DECOLONISING HEALTHCARE EDUCATION
BACKGROUND: DECOLONISING HEALTHCARE EDUCATION
DECOLONISATION IN LIS
https://www.library.dartmouth.edu/digital/digital-collections/change-the-subject
DECOLONISATION IN LIS
DECOLONISATION IN UK LIS
“BAME populations are under-represented in clinical and healthcare research….different outcomes are not appropriately addressed, appropriate reasons or interpretations are not given, sometimes they are not acknowledged at all”
Ramona Naicker, CALC 2021
https://youtu.be/hlk96Ya5BMI
DECOLONISATION IN UK LIS
https://youtu.be/d8h1AREn5t0
“I’m very aware that it is difficult to speak about issues, there are repercussions a lot of the time for being so vocal”
Naomi Smith
https://youtu.be/d8h1AREn5t0
CRITICAL RACE THEORY & LIS
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CRT AND ‘CULTURE WARS’
CRT AND ‘CULTURE WARS’
CRT AND ‘CULTURE WARS’
Meghji advocates CRT as providing the means to examine the ‘realities and reproduction’ of racial inequity, particularly where the provisions of law look at equality of opportunities, not outcomes (2021)
CRT IN LIS: BACKGROUND
CRT was introduced to the UK academic and cultural discourse through education researchers and scholars (Warmington, 2020), and continues to be predominantly employed here within the education domain (Meghji, 2021).
Gibson et al. (2018) explored the prevalence of CRT in LIS education (in the US) and found that ‘the vast majority of the required foundational courses examined provided students with little to no exposure to CRT or critical theory.’
CRT IN LIS: GROWING AWARENESS
In 2021 a definitive text for CRT in LIS was published open access by the MIT press, authored by Leung and López-McKnight and examining and reaffirming the place of CRT in LIS and expanding on CRT tenets in information service contexts. We now have a textbook for CRT in the discipline.
DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11969.001.0001
The MIT Press, ISBN electronic: 9780262363204
CRT TENETS in library and information contexts, as listed by Leung & López-McKnight |
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RESEARCH PROJECT FINDINGS
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RESEARCH PROJECT SCOPE
Research undertaken;
LITERATURE ANALYSIS & CRT METHODOLOGY
CRT tenets | Emerging Themes |
Race as a social construct | Race as non-biological, and non-scientific |
Constructs of racial classification and categorisation | |
Race as identity and lived reality | |
Racism is normal
| Defining user communities; exclusion, adapting to demographic change |
Evidence of pervasive racial health disparities | |
Whiteness in librarianship | |
Erasure in clinical reference materials and research |
RESEARCH SURVEY FINDINGS
Belief in information services’ ability to contribute to health equity
N=32
RESEARCH SURVEY FINDINGS
RESEARCH SURVEY FINDINGS
RESEARCH SURVEY FINDINGS
RESEARCH INTERVIEWS FINDINGS
On probing potential barriers to EDI acquisitions, the need for guidance emerged as a theme;
‘I've been trying to put together a sort of equality project… that's something I'm struggling with’.
Three participants expressed concern that libraries may not have access to knowledge for collection EDI or know how to evaluate and acquire such resources.
RESEARCH INTERVIEWS FINDINGS
Four of the five participants related frustration at the absence of contemporary, evidence-based resources for EDI in the clinical context;
‘if the resources aren't there how can we ask suppliers to buy them?’
Three participants expressed a view that several or many fronts of action would be required to address and rectify the information inequalities and health disparities experienced by racially minoritised patient groups.
Consensus around inequity in healthcare collections coalesced at inequality of representation in research and publishing.
FINDINGS SYNTHESIS: CRT
Race as a social construct with material consequences: Disaggregated data is necessary to name and see both disparities and solutions Classification and categorisations applied to people must be constructed inclusively Ongoing challenge of inaccuracies, value judgements and orthodoxies, with information, is necessary |
Racism is normal There is a multiplicity and prevalence of racisms and embedded bias in institutions. Policies and active counter-measures required for equity to be sustainable. |
Experiences and knowledge of racially and ethnically minoritised people Diversity without systemic change is not sufficient and embeds risk for individuals. We must question the allocation of authority in academia and research, globally. |
FINDINGS SYNTHESIS: CRT
Interdisciplinary Information professionals can work across disciplines to drive change at pace. LIS is interdisciplinary by design, the levers of change are already adjacent. |
Critique of dominant ideologies Neutrality or passivity is inadequate and reproduces systemic racism. Diversity without systemic change is not sufficient and embeds risk for individuals. |
Interest convergence Information services benefit from completeness, there is interest convergence based on efficiency, efficacy, competence, and productivity, in ensuring that the full breadth of population diversity and global knowledge is instantiated. |
OPPORTUNITIES IDENTIFIED
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OPPORTUNITIES IDENTIFIED; POLICY & PRACTICE
Creation and adoption of central or national EDI collection policies for NHS healthcare information services.
Separation of healthcare and health information equity from workforce diversity workstreams, using quality improvement and impact frameworks to drive improvement in racial representation in research and pu.
Creation and adoption of ethical research and data standards, including the standardisation of disaggregated race data where relevant; to include consultation on language and categorisations.
OPPORTUNITIES IDENTIFIED; POLICY & PRACTICE
LIS drive for research, authorship, and publishing of resources for information equity in healthcare collections, with urgent focus on documented racial health disparities.
HEE and NHS clarity around NHS information provision for Continuing Medical Education (CME) and funding for resources required for CME as distinct from undergraduate medical education.
Increased inclusion of research of Global origin, with particular emphasis on research from and led by the Global South
WHAT’S NEXT
THANK YOU
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THANK YOU
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Decolonisation and social justice have long been established discourse in library scholarship, yet diversity remains the dominant paradigm through which action is taken. Findings in a recent study exploring progress on race and equity in healthcare information services, and the potential and imperative for libraries to contribute to health equity through resources and collections held, suggest more guidance is needed to effect change beyond diversity (O’Driscoll and Bawden, 2022). COVID-19 highlighted and gave transparency to the scale of health disparities experienced by racially minoritised people in the UK, making healthcare information an illustrative example of the scale challenges faced, and some opportunities to move the decolonisation conversation forward. Despite calls and efforts to decolonise medical education, significant deficits in racial representation in research and resources remain. Critical Race Theory (CRT) provides a framework for working towards deeper change in information contexts, particularly in public service and education environments. This presentation explores the utility and accessibility of CRT as a framework for decolonisation, adopting CRT tenets as detailed by Leung and López-McKnight (2021, p.13), including race as a social construct; racism as normal; challenges to dominant ideologies (here in both healthcare and Library and Information Science (LIS)); and interdisciplinarity as key to opportunities to address systemic racisms embedded in information systems and structures. This approach is advocated here as theoretical groundwork for identifying a breadth of actions for practice. CRT is also highlighted as an opportunity for LIS education to equip students for a landscape in which information equity and decolonisation continue to be both necessary and prevalent.
O’Driscoll, G., & Bawden, D. (2022), DOI: 10.3233/EFI-220051
Leung, S.Y., & López-McKnight, J.R. (2021) Introduction: This is only the beginning DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11969.001.0001
CRT as a framework for decolonisation