Affirmative action policies and the racial justice movement in academic libraries

Abstract

Affirmative Action Policies (AAPs) comprise initiatives aimed at addressing historically constructed inequalities that arise from structural processes of violence and discrimination. As suggested by Gomes, Silva and Brito (2021), Law nº 12,711/2012 may be regarded as one of the paradigmatic examples of AAPs in the Brazilian context, as it established a broad system of reserved places for the admission of Black, Indigenous, and Quilombola people, as well as individuals experiencing socioeconomic vulnerability, to programs at federal higher education institutions. The presence at universities of groups that have historically been excluded from these spaces has unveiled the ways in which epistemic racism unfolds within academic settings, including university libraries (ULs). In this regard, we adopt the perspective that libraries constitute spaces of memory which, despite being permeated by the logic of coloniality and racism, may nonetheless become spaces of resistance and re-existence, provided that the voices of historically marginalized subjects resonate through the practices that guide the work of ULs. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the views held by students who benefit from public affirmative action policies regarding ULs, as well as their demands for feeling welcomed and included in these spaces. Methodologically, the study adopted a qualitative approach, drawing on life histories and experiential accounts collected from four undergraduate and/or graduate students who use ULs and are also beneficiaries of AAPs at a Brazilian federal university. Overall, the findings indicate that ULs represent essential spaces for the retention of students who benefit from AAPs at universities. Although the research participants emphasized the importance of library collections, they also expressed a demand for ULs to become spaces permeated by cultural practices grounded in orality and led by masters and practitioners of popular knowledge. Finally, the study further revealed that ULs need to remove barriers that, at a subjective level, prevent more people from historically marginalized groups from occupying and belonging in these spaces.