Pushing the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS

509 Pages·2018·4.685 MB·English

by  Rose L. Chou, Annie Pho (eds.)

PUSHING THE MARGINS
This book is number three in the Series on Critical Race Studies and
Multiculturalism in LIS, Rose L. Chou and Annie Pho, series editors.
PUSHING THE MARGINS:
WOMEN OF COLOR AND
INTERSECTIONALITY IN LIS
Rose L. Chou and Annie Pho
Editors
Library Juice Press
Sacramento, CA
Copyright respective authors, 2018
Published in 2018 by Library Juice Press
Library Juice Press
PO Box 188784
Sacramento, CA 95822
http://libraryjuicepress.com/
Front cover design by Grace Danico.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Chou, Rose L., editor. | Pho, Annie, editor.
Title: Pushing the margins : women of color and intersectionality in LIS /
Rose L. Chou and Annie Pho, editors.
Description: Sacramento, CA : Library Juice Press, [2018] | Series: Series on
critical race studies and multiculturalism in LIS ; no. 3 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018027564 | ISBN 9781634000529 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Minority women librarians--United States. | Minorities in
library science--United States. | Women in library science--United States.
| Intersectionality (Sociology)
Classification: LCC Z682.4.M56 P87 2018 | DDC 020.820973--dc23
LC record available at
Contents
Acknowledgements - Rose L. Chou and Annie Pho ix
Foreword - Fobazi Ettarh xiii
Introduction - Rose L. Chou and Annie Pho 1

Chapter 1. “When I Enter”: Black Women and Disruption of
the White, Heteronormative Narrative of Librarianship - Caitlin
M. J. Pollock and Shelley P. Haley 15
Chapter 2. Sisters of the Stacks - Alexsandra Mitchell 61
Chapter 3. I Am a Muslim, a Woman, a Librarian: Muslim
Women and Public Libraries - Negeen Aghassibake 77

Chapter 4. The Other Asian: Reflections of South Asian Ameri-
cans in Libraryland - Nisha Mody, Lalitha Nataraj, Gayatri Singh,
and Aditi Worcester 93
Chapter 5. I AM My Hair, and My Hair Is Me: #BlackGirl-
Magic in LIS - Teresa Y. Neely 121

Chapter 6. The Voice of a Black Woman in Libraryland: A
Theoretical Narrative - LaVerne Gray 147
Chapter 7. A Woman of Color’s Work Is Never Done: Inter-
sectionality, Emotional, and Invisible Labor in Reference and
Information Work - Kawanna Bright 163
vi Pushing the Margins

Chapter 8. “Sister, You’ve Been on My Mind”: Experiences
of Women of Color in the Library and Information Science
Profession - Alyse Minter and Genevia M. Chamblee-Smith 197
Chapter 9. Small Brown Faces in Large White Spaces -
Rosalinda Hernandez Linares and Sojourna J. Cunningham 253
Chapter 10. I, Too: Unmasking Emotional Labor of Women
of Color Community College Librarians - Alyssa Jocson Porter,
Sharon Spence-Wilcox, and Kimberly Tate-Malone 273
Chapter 11. The Burden of Care: Cultural Taxation of Women
of Color Librarians on the Tenure-Track - Tarida Anantachai
and Camille Chesley 301
Chapter 12. Authenticity vs. Professionalism: Being True to
Ourselves at Work - Jennifer Brown and Sofia Leung 329
Chapter 13. Identity, Activism, Self-Care, and Women of
Color Librarians - Alanna Aiko Moore and Jan E. Estrellado 349
Chapter 14. When Will My Reflection Show?: Women of Color
in the Kennesaw State University Archives - JoyEllen Freeman 391
Chapter 15. Selection and Self-Identity - Robin Bradford and
Stephanie Sendaula 415
Chapter 16. Reflections on the Intersection of Publishing
and Librarianship: The Experiences of Women of Color -
Charlotte Roh 427
Contents vii

Chapter 17. Positionality, Epistemology, and New Paradigms
for LIS: A Critical Dialogue with Clara M. Chu - Todd Honma
and Clara M. Chu 447
About the Contributors 467
Index 481

Acknowledgements
Rose L. Chou and Annie Pho
Without our community, this book would not exist, and we want to
acknowledge the many people who have helped us get here. We pursued
this project in order to give back to them, because this book is for our
communities.
Our peer communities in LIS have truly helped sustain and support
us throughout graduate school and our careers. Not only have they
provided us with professional guidance, but we have formed genuine
friendships outside of LIS work as well. For all the Hackers in Hack
Library School, thank you for trying to improve an education system that
is hard to change. For the LIS Microaggressions collective, thank you for
providing a space for library and information workers to vent and share
the egregious microaggressions that they face in the workplace, and for
creating a community so that people know that they aren’t alone in their
experiences. For the Minnesota Institute for Early Career Librarians
2014 cohort, we’re grateful for the real talk about our jobs and careers,
learning about navigating predominantly white spaces in libraries, and
the many happy hours at Applebee’s. We’ll forever be grateful for our
friendships that were forged over that week in Minneapolis.
The idea for this book was rooted in our initial research project,
Intersectionality at the Reference Desk: Lived Experiences of Women of Color
Librarians. We cannot thank enough the women of color who so honestly
shared their stories and experiences with us. We hoped to honor and
ix