On "Developing Information Literate Abilities": Uncovering Whiteness at the Center of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy

What does it mean to be information literate? Who is the model information literate individual? Taking its cue from Critical Discourse Analysis and Antiracist Black Language Pedagogy, this presentation questions the foundational image of the information literate individual lying at the heart of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy. Using critical race theory and an understanding of how whiteness functions as a presumed neutral background in our society, we begin to understand the whiteness of this individual. In this presentation, I briefly outline how whiteness functions and then move on to show how whiteness functions within the Framework more specifically. One of the main features of the Framework is an emphasis on “developing information literate abilities.” But for BIPOC individuals this fundamentally involves code-switching. As many scholars have recently argued code-switching causes harm beyond a change in individual language. When one’s understanding of what knowledge is and how information is constructed clashes with the aspirational model, one begins to question the validity of one’s own identity. As we begin to understand how whiteness underlies the Framework, we can begin to problematize its concept of information literacy and eventually find ways to allow a variety of information literacies to flourish.