Anti-racism is a lifelong commitment to doing the work, and that commitment can start with reading. This LibGuide aims to serve as a resource for self-education as to ways racism and white supremacy are woven into the fabric of our society. We hope this resource will inspire you to act by taking an active and academic interest in these topics, sharing your knowledge with your networks, and using what you learn to take actions toward social justice. The Guide is a work in progress; we will add to the guide on a regular basis and we encourage everyone to contribute to the contents by emailing suggestions to the library using the contact information under the Library Information tab above.
The following articles delve deeper in how reading can serve as a catalyst for change:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
It is based on the The Antiracism Guide at the University of Oregon Libraries and the The Antiracist Bookshelf at the William & Mary Libraries.
Anti-racism: It is the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably (NAC International Perspectives: Women and Global Solidarity).
Intersectionality: Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, it is the theory that the overlap of various social identities (such as race, gender, sexuality, and class) contributes to the specific type of systemic oppression and discrimination experienced by an individual, and define how one is valued.
Institutional or Systemic Racism: refers specifically to the ways in which institutional policies and practices create different outcomes for different racial groups. The institutional policies may appear neutral on the surface but have an exclusionary impact on particular groups - their effect is to create advantages for white people and oppression and disadvantage for people from groups classified as non-white (Racial Equality Resource, W.K. Kellogg Foundation).
Historical Trauma: first coined by Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, it is “a constellation of characteristics associated with massive cumulative group trauma across generations.” These experiences, shared by communities, can result in cumulative emotional and psychological wounds that are carried across generations (University of Minnesota Extension).
Lived Experience: used to describe the first-hand accounts and impressions of living as a member of a minority or oppressed group (Geek Feminist Wiki).
Racism: a complex system of beliefs and behaviors, grounded in a presumed superiority of the white race. These beliefs and behaviors are conscious and unconscious; personal and institutional; and result in the oppression of people of color and benefit the dominant group, white people. A simpler definition is racial prejudice + power = racism (National Conference for Community and Justice).
Whiteness: Racism is based on the concept of whiteness—a powerful fiction enforced by power and violence. ‘Whiteness,’ like ‘color' and ‘Blackness,' are essentially social constructs applied to human beings rather than veritable truths that have universal validity. Whiteness is a constantly shifting boundary separating those who are entitled to have certain privileges from those whose exploitation and vulnerability to violence is justified by their not being white (Kivel, 2017, p. 19) & (Henry & Tator, 2006, p. 46-47).
White Privilege: The unquestioned and unearned set of advantages, entitlements, benefits and choices bestowed upon people solely because they are white. Generally white people who experience such privilege do so without being conscious of it (Peggy McIntosh – Racial Equality Resource)