IS THERE A BLACK LIBRARIANSHIP IN COLOMBIA?

CONCEPTUAL APPROACH FROM AN ONGOING RESEARCH

Authors

Keywords:

Black librarianship - Colombia, information science, afrodiasporic epistemologies, Afro-Colombians

Abstract

This article presents the conceptual foundations of a larger research project on Black Librarianship in Colombia, organized in five methodological phases: (1) conceptual and epistemological framework; (2) archival and historical tracing; (3) field work with living institutions and contemporary actors; (4) critical analysis of Colombian Information Science; and (5) synthesis and knowledge production. Corresponding to Phase 0, this work employs documentary analysis of international literature on Black Librarianship from the United States and Brazil, as well as Afro-Colombian studies on knowledge management, with the aim of proposing an operational definition of Black Librarianship for the Colombian context. The analysis shows that, although the field has not been named as such in Colombia, its constitutive practices (the management, preservation, and transmission of knowledge by Black people grounded in Negro-African and Afrodiasporic epistemologies) have been present throughout Colombian history, in both formal and non-formal spaces. The proposed definition integrates four dimensions: historical practice of documentary management by Black people; foundation in Negro-African and Afrodiasporic epistemologies; critical questioning of racial structures in information systems; and production of situated academic knowledge from these epistemologies. It is concluded that naming this field constitutes an act of epistemic reparation.

Author Biographies

  • Natalia Duque Cardona, University of Antioquia

    Ph.D. in Humanities and Social Sciences from the National University of Colombia. She is currently pursuing a postdoctoral research program on Critical Theory and Political-Methodological Perspectives on Transformative Inclusive Education in the Global South at the Center for Latin American Studies on Inclusive Education (CELEI) in Chile.  Master’s degree in Education from the University of Antioquia. Associate Professor at the Inter-American School of Library Science. Coordinator of the research line “Libraries from Abya-Yala: Society and Cultures from the Global South” within the Information, Knowledge, and Society Research Group at the University of Antioquia (UdeA).

  • Franciéle Carneiro Garcês-da-Silva, Federal University of Para

    Black librarian - CRB -11/1236 - Founder and director of Quilombo Intelectual - Coordinator of Selo Nyota - Leader of Orìkí-BiCi and deputy leader of NERSI-UFMG. Ph.D. in Information Science from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Adjunct Professor at the School of Library Science and Information Science, Federal University of Pará (FABIB-UFPA). Tenured Professor in the Graduate Program in Information Science at the Federal University of Pará (PPGCI-UFPA) and Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Program in Information Management at the State University of Santa Catarina (PPGInfo/UDESC).

Downloads

Published

2026-11-13

Conference Proceedings Volume

2026: XXVI ENCONTRO NACIONAL DE PESQUISA E PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM CIÊNCIA DA INFORMAÇÃO

Section

GT 1 – Estudos Históricos e Epistemológicos da Ciência da Informação

Categories