DB Roundup
The related topics of academic journal publishing and scholarly citational practice seemed fairly new to most people, and I hope you gained some insight into both. In particular, the articles on citational practice relate to several themes of this course–whose perspectives and voices are included, whose are excluded, and what harms are done by the exclusion.
The point that Ray (along with Mott & Cockayne) makes is not to artificially inflate citations for scholars of color, but rather to acknowledge and work to counter the long history of racial exclusion in the academy, and the effects that racial exclusion has. At the end of the article, Ray offers some preemptive responses to critics, one of them being the “history of racial exclusion in academe makes it difficult to claim that citation patterns are neutral measures. ” Academia likes to believe itself a meritocracy, where the best ideas rise to the top and get cited more, but this ignores systemic racism that is elided by using the concept of meritocracy.
Mott & Cockayne are more direct in their assessment of the issue. They say “citation is equally a technology for reproducing sameness and excluding difference” and “careful and conscientious citation is important because the choices we make about whom to cite – and who is then left out of the conversation – directly impact the cultivation of a rich and diverse discipline, and the reproduction of knowledge” and “conceptualizing citation as a performative act means paying attention to why and how authority congeals around certain bodies and voices, and thinking through how this authority might be dismantled” and “well-cited scholars have authority precisely because they are well-cited”.
This last argument is a version of ‘we do it this way because we always have’ and is directly related to Cathy O’Neil’s talk about algorithms, and how they can model forecasts from existing data. If the input data only looks one way, the forecast will as well.
As all of these authors indicate, this is a known problem in multiple academic disciplines, which suggests the problem lies in the structure and practices of the academy, and not with individual scholars. Mott & Cockayne offer alternative ways of approaching citational practice, and there are others whose goal is to amplify marginalized voices, like the Cite Black Women project.
Weekly Readings & Assignment
This week the readings are pretty light, a combination of short videos and short readings. As always, find the readings on the course schedule. The assignment is the third and final reading quiz, available here.
Course Admin
While I talked to almost everyone about their lit reivew topic and what to expect for the assignment, you can find details on paper structure, a timeline, and some sample papers here.
