Empower and Change

1
Empower and Change

• Multicultural Activism, Educational Reform, and
  Information Literacy

Lee LaFleur Social Sciences Bibliographer, Mann
Library, Cornell University ljl26_at_cornell.edu
2
Background and Introduction

• Great social transformations usually result in
  the marginalization of large sections of the
  population. Marginalization associated with the
  transition from the industrial to the information
  society has an important cultural element. The
  knowledge prioritized by the new forms of life is
  distributed unevenly among individuals, according
  to social group, gender, ethnic group, and age.
• -Ramon Flecha
• University of Barcelona, Spain

3
Background and Introduction

• Although the information revolution creates
  opportunities for improving the conditions of
  human existence, the social model that is
  becoming hegemonic in its wake deepens existing
  inequalities and generates others
• -Ramon Flecha
• University of Barcelona, Spain

4
Background and Introduction

• The challenge of education today to provide
  access to the new technologies and to the
  literacies needed for competence in order to
  overcome some of the divisions and inequalities
  that have plagued contemporary societies during
  the entire modern age.
• -Douglas Kellner
• UCLA

5
Empower and Change

• History and Principles of Multicultural Education
• Information Literacy
• Information Literacy as a Social Movement

6
Ethnic Studies

• 1960s
• African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos/as,
  Native Americans
• More diversity among faculty
• Curricular reform
• Knowledge relevant to community

7
Multicultural Education

• 1970s
• Women
• Gays and Lesbians
• People with Disabilities

8
Ethnic Studies and Multicultural Education

• Ethnic Studies
• Single or selected groups studied
• Single courses
• Academic programs and departments

• Multicultural Education
• All groups studied
• Across curriculum
• Interdisciplinary

-Thomas LaBelle and Christopher Ward
9
Multicultural Education
Multicultural Education that is also Social
Reconstructionist

• Equal opportunity
• Cultural pluralism
• Reflect the concerns of diverse cultural groups
• Acknowledge multiple identities

• Eliminate oppression of one group by another
• Cross-cultural coalitions
• Democratic process / decision making
• Social responsibility
• Real world relevance

Christine Sleeter and Carl Grant
10
Great social transformations usually result in
the marginalization of large sections of the
population. Marginalization associated with the
transition from the industrial to the information
society has an important cultural element. The
knowledge prioritized by the new forms of life is
distributed unevenly among individuals, according
to social group, gender, ethnic group, and age.
-Ramon Flecha University of
Barcelona, Spain
11
Is Information the Answer?

• The manner in which our country deals with
  the realities of the Information Age will have
  enormous impact on our democratic way of life and
  on our nations ability to compete in an
  international marketplace. Within Americas
  information society, the potential exists to
  address many long-standing social and economic
  inequalities. To reap such benefits, people- as
  individuals, and as a nation must become
  information literate.
• -National Forum on Information Literacy
• http//www.infolit.org/.

12
Report of the ALA Presidential Committee on
Information Literacy

• 1989 American Library Association
• To be information literate, a person must be
  able to recognize when information is needed and
  have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use
  effectively the needed information

13
Report of the ALA Presidential Committee on
Information Literacy

• Imagine, for example, a family which is being
  evicted by a landlord who claims he is within his
  legal rights. Usually they will have to accept
  the landlords expert opinion, because they do
  not know how to seek information to confirm or
  disprove his claim.

14
Report of the ALA Presidential Committee on
Information Literacy

• The process of searching and interacting with
  the ideas and values of their own and other
  cultures deepens peoples capacities to
  understand and position themselves within larger
  communities of time and place. By drawing on the
  arts, history, and literature of previous
  generations, individuals and communities can
  affirm the best in their cultures and determine
  future goals.

15
Report of the ALA Presidential Committee on
Information Literacy

• It is unfortunate that the very people who most
  need the empowerment inherent in being
  information literate are the least likely to have
  learning experiences which will promote these
  abilities. Minority and at-risk students,
  illiterate adults, people with English as a
  second language and economically disadvantaged
  people are among those most likely to lack access
  to the information that can improve their
  situations.

16
Information Literacy

• Information literacy instruction must present
  the political, social, economic and cultural
  contexts in which knowledge is created and
  organized.People need to understand the western
  model of discipline based research and how it
  structures and biases certain types of knowledge
  over others.
• -Thomas Eland, Minneapolis Community
  Technical College

17
Transformation through Information Literacy?

• What am I suggesting?

18
Information Literacy as a Social Movement

• Social Movement-
• a collective enterprise seeking to establish a
  new order of life. They have their inception in
  a condition of unrest and derive their motive
  power on one hand from dissatisfaction with the
  current form of life, and on the other hand, from
  wishes and hopes for a new scheme of living
• -Herbert Blumer

19
Organization and Resource Mobilization
Information Literacy as a Social Movement

• General Social Movements
• Specific Social Movements

• Revolutionary
• Reform

Information Literacy as specific social movement
for educational reform
20
Organization and Resource Mobilization

• Social Movement Organization (SMO)
• Social Movement Industry (SMI)
• Social Movement Sector (SMS)

John McCarthy and Mayer Zald
21
Organization and Resource Mobilization

• Social Movement Sector (SMS)

ALA (SMO)
Information Literacy (SMI)
ACRL (SMO)
Greenpeace (SMO)
Environmentalism (SMI)
Feminism (SMI)
NOW (SMO)
Multiculturalism (SMI)
NAME (SMO)
SMO Social Movement Organization
SMISocial Movement Industry
22
Organization and Resource Mobilization

• Adherents
• Those individuals and organizations that believe
  in the goals of the social movement
• Constituents
• Those individuals and organizations providing
  resources for a social movement

• Potential Beneficiaries
• Those individuals and organizations that would
  benefit from the goals of a social movement

23
Information Literacy that is Multicultural and
Social Reconstructionist

• Recruit constituents
• Convey Value and Utility

• Resource sharing
• Social movements with mutual goals
• Information Literacy Multiculturalism
  Environmentalism

• Partner with potential beneficiaries
• Underserved groups
• Community Technology Centers
• Information Literacy Social capital
  Cyberpower
• -Abdul Alkalimat

24
Information Literacy that is Multicultural and
Social Reconstructionist

• Administrative Considerations
• Instructor preparation
• Assessment

25
References

• American Library Association. Presidential
  Committee on Information Literacy. Final Report.
  (Chicago American Library Association, 1989)
• Blumer, Herbert, Social Movements in Studies in
  Social Movements a Social Psychological
  Perspective, (New York Macmillan, 1969).
• Abdul Alkalimat and Kate Williams, Social Capital
  and Cyberpower in the African American Community
  A Case Study of a Community Technology Center in
  the Dual City. lthttp//www.communitytechnology.org
  /cyberpower/gt (21 March 2002).
• Shirley Behrens, Conceptual Analysis and
  Historical Overview of Information Literacy,
  College and Research Libraries (July 1994)
  p.309-322.
• Thomas Eland, lthttp//www.earlham.edu/discus/messa
  ges/51/51.htmlgt
• Ramon Flecha, New Educational Inequalities in
  Critical Education in the New Information Age,
  (Lanham, MD Rowman Littlefield, 1999), p.67.
• Douglas Kellner, Multiple Literacies and
  Critical Pedagogy in a Multicultural Society,
  lthttp//www.gseis.ucla.edu/courses/ed253a/dk/mlmc.
  htm.gt (25 March 2002)

26

• Thomas J La Belle and Christopher R. Ward, Ethnic
  Studies and Multiculturalism (Albany, NY State
  University of New York Press 1996), p.2
• Thomas J. La Belle and Christopher R. Ward
  Multiculturalism and Education Diversity and its
  impact on Schools and Society, (Albany, NY State
  University of New York Press 1994) p.1.
• John D McCarthy and Mayer N. Zald, Resource
  Mobilization and Social Movements A Partial
  Theory, American Journal of Sociology 82, no. 6,
  (1977) p.1212-1238.
• National Forum on Information Literacy-An
  Overview lthttp//www.infolit.org/gt(25 March 2002)
• Saundra L. Shirley, Digital Divide-Technology
  Policy Brief (Washington DC Office for
  Information Technology Policy of the American
  Library Association, 2000).
• Christine E. Sleeter and Carl A. Grant Making
  Choices for Multicultural Education Five
  approaches to Race, Class and Gender (New York
  Wiley 1999)

27

• The concept of information literacy has created
  some controversy because its nature continues to
  evolve.
• - National Institute on Information Literacy