Discussing Decolonisation: ‘Resistant knowledges in educational spaces in action’ – An in-person workshop with the Critical Race Theory Collective  

This is the second event of our six-part mini-series, ‘Discussing Decolonisation’, taking place in person and online across the academic year 2023-24. Find out more and book your place at other events in the series here.

You can also read more about our intentions for the series and community expectations here.

Title: I am because we are, and since we are, therefore I am: Resistant knowledges in educational spaces in action  

Summary: 

In this workshop, Fezile Sibanda, Naomi Smith and Alice Corble from the Critical Race Theory Collective (CRTc) will share their experiences from working collectively and individually on issues of Racial Justice and decoloniality in Higher Education, Libraries and Information work. This workshop will include creative participatory activities that aim to unsettle the dominant structures that condition theory and practice in our sectors, thereby generating collective responses to individualised problems. Together we hope to inspire  individuals to take action in resistant, re-imaginative and collective ways. 

The CRTc is a community of international, interdisciplinary, and intersectional scholar-activists who are committed to cultivating knowledge and information across borders. Check out their current call for papers for the second CRTc Special Issue of IOS Press international peer-reviewed journal Education for Information: https://crtcollective.org/call-for-papers-2023-2024/ 

Speaker bios: 

Fezile Sibanda (She/her) is a doctoral researcher in Education at the University of Sussex, and Editorial Associate and Community Contributor at the Critical Race Theory collective (CRTc). With a focus on race, coloniality and higher education, Fezile is particularly interested in how marginalised groups experience education. She holds an undergraduate degree in Education from the University of Brighton, and a MA in Social Justice and Education from the University College London UCL, Institute of Education. Currently, Fezile is working on her doctoral research aimed at examining the experiences of Black Brit-ish academics in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in England.

Naomi L.A Smith (she/her) is a Critical Librarian recognised by International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), an emerging Race & Resistance Scholar and digital influencer advocating for Critical Racial Justice in the Library and Technology sectors, and Editorial Associate and Community Contributor at the Critical Race Theory collective (CRTc). Naomi is particularly passionate about the need for librarians to address the embedded racism within technology and, in March 2023, she organised and hosted a provocative webinar called #CritLibvsTech, Librarians for Critical Digital Justice. More recently, Naomi has begun creating an online educational platform called Black and Gold Education (@blackandgoldeducation), which she uses to build connections with an array of multifaceted individuals and organisations and to develop and foster global Critical Race awareness and discussion outside of academia and librarianship.  

Dr Alice Corble (she/her) is a transdisciplinary scholar-activist-educator whose praxis is based on the role that libraries and archives play in past and present intersectional social justice struggles, with a focus on coloniality and race. Alice is the co-founder and East Atlantic Lead for The Critical Race Theory Collective (CRTc). She has an MA in Cultural Studies (2008) and a PhD in Sociology (2019), both from Goldsmiths, University of London, where she also completed her PGCertHE and taught Sociology and Cultural Studies as an Associate Lecturer. Alice is currently a sessional lecturer at UCL, teaching on the MA/PGdip Library and Information Studies programme, and has recently moved from Teaching and Learning Support Services to the School of Global Studies at Sussex to commence her Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (2023-2026), with a project titled ‘Postcolonial library legacies and new transnational maps of learning’. 

Booking information:

Booking for this event, and all events in the mini-series, is via Eventbrite, here.

If you have any questions or concerns ahead of the event, please email co-organisers Lucy Potter (l.potter@yorksj.ac.uk) and/or Laura Key (l.key@yorksj.ac.uk) from the Teaching & Learning Enhancement Team, YSJU.