The Organic Intellectuals (TOI), the official podcast of the CRTcollective. TOI offers conversation with fascinating scholars, activists, pedagogues, and professionals. Not only do you hear about their great work, listeners also get a glimpse into the personal and professional journey that has led to TOI guest’s success and leadership.
Featured Episode
Sofia Leung
In this episode TOI connects with Sofia Leung who is one the more authentic critically conscious thought leaders in LIS. Many LIS critical thinkers know Leung through the co edited book, Knowledge Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Studies through Information Studies, a scholarly collaboration with Jorge Lopez McKnight. While others know her through her dynamic facilitations as Principal Of Do Better, Be Better LLC. In this interview we get to know Sofia as she shares with TOI about her Chinese American upbringing, her matriculation through higher education as well as her path to getting activated in social justice work.
Dr. Ana Ndumu
University of Maryland
This episode was recorded at the 2022 Association of Library and InformationScience Educators Conference aka (ALISE) held in October at the WyndamGrand Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We have two great guest for this@ALISE episode of TOI.Dr. Ana Ndumu is an Assistant Professor in the University of Maryland’sCollege of Information Studies. Her research often focuses on United States’Black colleges and universities also referred to as HBCUs and theircontributions to library and information science education.Dr. Shaundra Walker is the Associate Director for Instruction and ResearchServices at Georgia College. Her research interests include the recruitment andretention of diverse librarians and organizational development within the library.At the ALISE conference this dynamic duo presented their latest project,creating a national, virtual, program-independent student organization for thosewho identify as Black and/or African American and pursuing their Mastersdegree in Library and Information Science, which they coined as the iBlackcaucus. This effort is in partnership with the Black Caucus of the AmericanLibrary Association more often referred to as BCALA.
Recorded on October 25, 2022
Dr. Shaudra Walker
Georgia College & State University
Dr. Beth Paton
Syracuse University
In this episode we are recording at the 2022 Association of Library andInformation Science Educators Conference held at the Wyndam Grand Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. TOI caught up with Dr. Beth Patin, who is an Assistant Professor atSyracuse University in the School of Information; she is also theExecutive Director of Rocket City Civil Rights, a group seeking socialreform in Huntsville Alabama through archiving advocacy.We sat down with this dynamic scholar in the hotel lobby and discussedher conference contributions, which included being on two panelpresentations along with winning a best conference paper award.
Recorded on October 28, 2022
Listen to Past TOI Episodes
Dr. William A. Smith
Dr. Smith is best known for developing and evolving the concept of
Racial Battle Fatigue. He is the Chief Executive Administrator in the
Huntsman Mental Health Institute (HMHI) in the School of Medicine
and the Department of Psychiatry, where he leads HMHI in its
Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion efforts both locally and
nationally.
William is also a full professor and former department chair of
Education, Culture & Society at the University of Utah and has served
as the Associate Dean for Diversity, Access, & Equity in the College
of Education (2007-14) as well as Special Assistant to the President
as the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative (2007-13) at the
University of Utah. Dr. Smith is a distinguished and highly respected
member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated.
READ MORE ABOUT DR. SMITH AND LISTEN TO HIS 2-PART INTERVIEW
Jennifer A. Ferretti
Jennifer A. Ferretti is a first generation American Latina/Mestiza who is also the founder of We Here ®, (2016), a supportive community for library and archives workers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. She’s also the Creative Director of up//root: a we here publication. Jennifer is also adjunct faculty in San Jose State University’s School.
READ MORE ABOUT JENNIFER AND LISTEN TO HER 2-PART INTERVIEW
Martha Rivas, Ph.D.
Dr. Rivas is an accomplished author, academic scholar, educator, mother and peleonera. Born in Zamora, Michoacán, Mexico, she was raised as an undocumented child in Indio, CA, but has dedicated the last 25 years living, learning, and teaching in Los Angeles.
She is a first-generation academic scholar, holding four degrees from UCLA, including a Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in critical race theory bringing a critical discourse to various sectors serving historically marginalized communities.. Dr. Martha is a Chicana epistemic methodologist and academic scholar, bridging her training to community organizing and activism such as her efforts to intentionally engaged community members in Critical Pláticas (critical discussions), where she addresses white supremacy, systemic oppression, and the resilience of marginalized folks “as we, collectively, decolonize our practices to hone into our intuitive and ancestral knowledge”.
READ MORE ABOUT MARTHA AND LISTEN TO HER 2-PART INTERVIEW
Tracey Overbey and Amanda Folk
Tracey Overbey and Amanda Folk are colleagues at The Ohio State University (OSU). Tracey is a research and education faculty librarian; while Amanda Folk is the head of teaching and learning. Ironically, both of these organic intellectuals received their master degree in library science from the University of Pittsburgh. Yet, their paths did not cross until they became colleagues at OSU.
In this episode we dive into both of their personal backgrounds that lead them to librarianship, which includes how they developed their great working relationship. The connection between the two led to them working together on a set of reports recently published by the American Library Association (ALA) on libraries and the Black and African American experience. What comes through in this TOI episode is the commitment and social consciousness each of these research scholars brought to presenting their work as well as authentically sharing about the library experiences of Blacks and African Americans are both historic and current.
READ MORE ABOUT OVERVEY & FOLK AND LISTEN TO THEIR 2-PART INTERVIEW
Overbey & Folk’s interview was recorded September 2022
Sophie Ziegler
Sophie Ziegler is the former Head of Digital Programs & Services at LSU Libraries and a current research consultant. Sophie is also the founding editor of the Journal of Critical Digital Librarianship as well as being a respected voice on transgender experiences.
READ MORE ABOUT ZIEGLER AND LISTEN TO HER 2-PART INTERVIEW
Jennifer Esposito & Venus Evans-Winters
Jennifer Esposito and Venus Evans-Winters have been collaborative colleagues since their developing scholar days as doctoral students at Syracuse University and University of Illinois respectively. The duo’s most recent publication is Introduction to Intersectional Qualitative Research (Sage Publishing 201). The book’s premise is that race and gender matter, and that racism and sexism are institutionalized in all aspects of life, including research. This intellectually intriguing interview offers an abundance of authentic energy. Before sharing about their recent intersectional monograph they discuss their individual backgrounds along with insights on their collaborative relationship. The scholars also take on topics such as white supremacy, critical race feminism, and their experiences as mother’s while also being on the professorial tenure track.
READ MORE ABOUT ESPOSITO AND EVANS-WINTERS AND LISTEN TO THEIR 2-PART INTERVIEW
The 2023 Critical Pedagogy Symposium: A Focus on Critical Race Theory
With working Group Members: Symphony Bruce, Hebah Emara, and Shawn(ta)Smith-Cruz
