Abstracts
Abstract
This paper begins and ends with a provocation: I argue that refusal in librarianship is both impossible and necessary. Reviewing examples of crisis narratives which permeate both American and Canadian universities, I take a materialist perspective on the idea of refusal within academic librarianship. To do so, I draw on the work of Audra Simpson, Kyle Whyte, Eve Tuck, Mario Tronti, and Rinaldo Walcott to examine the sites of impossibility of refusal in the practice of academic librarianship within contemporary neoliberal education institutions. Then, I analyze the totality of capitalism in setting the limit for the practice of refusal through case studies of direct action, including the Icelandic Women’s Strike of 1975 and the 2020 Scholar Strike Canada. Finally, I identify private property and history as key frames for understanding the contradiction at the heart of refusal of crisis. As such, any refusal that does not address the centrality of labour and private property relations can thus be understood as harm reduction rather than emancipation. Ultimately, I argue that for librarians to refuse would require an abandonment of liberalism as librarianship’s guiding philosophy, and a redefinition of librarianship as such.
Keywords:
- capitalism,
- history,
- labour,
- materialism,
- private property,
- strikes
Résumé
Cet article s'ouvre et se clos par une provocation : je déclare que le refus en bibliothéconomie est à la fois impossible et nécessaire. En analysant des exemples de récits de crise qui traversent les universités américaines et canadiennes, j'adopte une perspective matérialiste sur l'idée de refus au sein de la bibliothéconomie universitaire. Pour ce faire, je m'appuie sur les travaux d'Audra Simpson, Kyle Whyte, Eve Tuck, Mario Tronti et Rinaldo Walcott pour examiner les sites d'impossibilité du refus dans la pratique de la bibliothéconomie universitaire au sein des établissements d'enseignement néolibéraux contemporains. Ensuite, j'analyse le capitalisme dans sa totalité pour fixer la limite de la pratique du refus à travers des études de cas d'action directe, notamment la grève des femmes islandaises de 1975 et la grève Scholar Strike Canada de 2020. Enfin, j'identifie la propriété privée et l'histoire comme des cadres clés pour comprendre la contradiction au cœur du refus de crise. De manière concrète tout refus qui ne traite pas de la centralité des relations de travail et de propriété privée peut être compris comme un geste palliatif plutôt que comme une action vers l'émancipation. En fin de compte, je soutiens que pour que les bibliothécaires refusent, il faudrait abandonner le libéralisme comme philosophie directrice de la bibliothéconomie et redéfinir la bibliothéconomie en tant que telle.
Mots-clés :
- capitalisme,
- grèves,
- histoire,
- matérialisme,
- propriété privée,
- travail
Appendices
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