Liberation Bibliography

Description Drawing on liberation theology, Black Studies, Black feminist criticism, and feminist bibliography, this talk offers liberation bibliography as a conscious and intentional practice of identifying and repairing the harms of systemic racism, anti-blackness, sexism, heteronormativity, and other oppressive forces in and through bibliographical study, broadly conceived. Projects from David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829) to the Colored Conventions Project (2021) model liberation bibliography as a practice of freedom: it is not a destination, but rather an ethics and methodology. It marks the necessity of thinking bibliography through the needs of minoritized and oppressed communities and centers the ongoing work—both traditional and non-traditional—emanating from these communities. Liberation bibliography makes visible those knowledge systems and sites of knowledge production, activism, and possibility that institutions have historically rendered invisible or irrelevant. Finally, liberation bibliography changes and challenges how we do this work, with scholars and projects focusing simultaneously on the ethics of studying “the book” at the same time as they engage in an ongoing reconsideration of citational practices, archives, power, and our relation to them. Keynote lectured presented at the Annual Meeting of the Bibliographical Society of America. Sponsored by Christie's.

AudiencesGraduates, Professionals, Scholars, Undergraduates

Access TermsLiberation theology, Bibliography

TagsLiberation Bibliography, Black Bibliography, BSA Annual Meeting