Thread by @citeblackwomen

We had a great conversation @UNCWomensCtr about the politics of citation a black women’s knowledge production. One of the things that came up was this issue of action. How do we begin to systematically change the culture of citation that erases Black women? #citeblackwomen

One of the things that we discussed was pushback. Oftentimes the decision to #CiteBlackWomen gets pushback from professors, reviewers and colleagues. How do you deal with this pushback? What are your strategies?

So one piece of advice that came out of our conversation yesterday was mentorship. We need to create networks of support inside and outside of academic spaces-but particularly within the university-to be able to 1) teach students how to cite properly;

2) teach the practice of decolonizing syllabi by centering Black women's work in ways that actually honor the work rather than give passing reference to it; 3) hold those who misappropriate black women's work accountable. #CiteBlackWomen

Not only are students not being taught how to engage in proper citational practices, but there is also a culture of citational erasure in the academy that necessarily locates Black women's work as irrelevant and unimportant.

The consequence is that people seriously engage with non-Black women's work while they use Black women as sources of "intellectual nurturing" and then give no credit for that labor. #CiteBlackWomen

For example, one thing that came up was the widespread practice of seeking Black women professors out to "have coffee" or chat about research and then not attributing the advice that we give (which is often coming from our own research). #CiteBlackWomen

Another thing that often happens is students (particularly graduate students) taking Black women's classes or assigning us to thesis committees but not citing our work, which is inevitably the source of our conceptual feedback on students' academic projects. #CiteBlackWomen

And of course there is the opposite practice of professors taking graduate students' work without citing it, which is also widespread but much more acknowledged than the former. #CiteBlackWomen

There is also the question of the psychological trauma of citational erasure: we discussed the impact that it has on Black women who write and research. Frequently, those who have been the victims of plagiarism develop what I would call a kind of trauma akin to PTSD...

that leads Black women to be afraid t *expose* their ideas by sharing them, presenting them or even publishing them for fear of being copied/appropriated/erased. #CiteBlackWomen

If you know that someone has plagiarized a Black woman's work (paraphrased, copied, or otherwise appropriated ideas without adequately crediting those ideas) then you should not cite them, assign them or otherwise recommend their work. Full stop. #CiteBlackWomen

Adding the question of sponsorship to this thread, which was brought up by @HeatherAKeith. Sponsorship is key: Black women need people in the room to speak up and point out when out work is not being properly cited.

This means allies/sponsors: if you truly care about Black women read our work so you can recognize it when someone is not citing and speak up even when we are not in the room. #CiteBlackWomen

And be sure to consistently cite us even when we are absent from the space of conversation: #CiteBlackWomen

For example: if you are on a panel and someone defended the work of somebody who paraphrases a Black woman’s work but doesn’t cut it then politely call them out AND cite that Black woman then and there. #CiteBlackWomen

Also look at the bibliographies of the books you read: do the authors #CiteBlackWomen? If not, you should probably question why not and look into the inherent oversights in the argument.

Should say *cite it. AutoCorrect is the devil.😕