Negotiating Indigeneity: Fostering Indigenous Knowledge within LIS Curricula

Abstract

As indigenous women and graduate students, we have negotiated academic spaces, bore witness to, and experienced the ways in which colonial pedagogy operates within academia. By drawing from our Māori, Metis, and Kalinago traditional knowledges; and examining our roles and experiences as information professionals, indigenous library and information science (LIS) students, and beneficiaries of LIS diversity initiatives, we explore how indigenous systems of knowledge have been incorporated into the LIS curriculum.

Our research critically evaluates five institutions offering ALA-accredited LIS degrees across the United States, Canada, and Aotearoa; and the presence of indigenous knowledge made available to graduate LIS students through curricula, course offerings, experiential learning, and general resources. We also offer our recommendations for further action and research in this field. Ultimately, we seek to reaffirm the complexity and validity of indigenous knowledge within Western academia; and investigate how implementing experiential learning and critical pedagogy can result in a more inclusive environment for LIS practitioners and patrons.