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Thesaurus (CV)

The Anti-racism Thesaurus is an attempt to express the concepts and terms that are the essence of humankind as one global human family. In keeping with the linked data movement, we envision the Thesaurus to be a series of small, extensible, controlled vocabularies (e.g. schema.org). Thus, the Glossary, an alphabetical list of terms and their definitions has some of the word stock for developing the hierarchy and relationships. Glossary terms and phrases, when completed, will describe anti-racism policies, strategies, and movements, beyond the context of the U.S.A. but in the global arena. Some of these terms are currently used to identify anti-racism themes and concepts in the Collections of the Digital Library. Library of Congress Subject Headings and the Library of Congress Demographic Groups Terms (2015) are two of the main controlled vocabularies used, but others may also be used. Example: The preferred (professional) occupation hierarchy is from the Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT).

 

Source for the Thesaurus/CV: The Representation and Treatment of "Anti-racism" in Bibliographic Information Systems and Knowledge Structures: A Research Study by Anita Coleman reported at the Annual Conference of the American Theological Librarians Association, Long Beach, June 2016. Available online.

Anti-racism Controlled Vocabulary: The preliminary framework for a faceted thesaurus has emerged as follows:

Core concept: Anti-racism

Preliminary Facets: 

Beliefs/Values (e.g. Community, Cosmopolitanism, Democracy, Diversity, Equality, Equity, Faith, Hospitality, Human Rights, Humanism, Inclusion, Justice, Non-violence, Peace, Solidarity, Spirituality, Tolerance, Unity); 

Actions – Practices - Strategies (e.g. Advocacy, Anti-racism training, Anti-violence training, Awareness training, Community building, Conflict resolution, Cultural action,  Cultural democracy, Cultural transformation, Dialog/discussions, Education/Educational events, Empathy, Non-violence, Organizational change, Youth activities, Skill-building training); Political participation; Identity politics; Reparation, Investment

Movements (e.g. Black Lives Matter (1913 on, USA); Civil Rights (1950s - 1960s, USA); Decolonization (1950s on, Global); Interspirtuality (Global); Movement beur (1980s France); Niagara Movement (Canada); Nonviolence movement (1930s-1940s, India); Rhodes Must Fall (2015, South Africa))

Policies (this includes laws and declarations too, e.g. Germantown Declaration (1688); Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) USA; European Union Anti-racism Action Plan, 2020-2025); 

Organizations (e.g. Showing up for Racial Justice (2009 on) Presbyterian Women, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Community Change, Inc., United Nations; Catalyst Project; Anti-racism for collective liberation), 

People (e.g. groups such as African Americans; Indian Americans - use LCDGT); 

Periods (e.g. modern, 1492 onwards; can also use Era such as Antiquity, Medieval, Renaissance, Islamic Renaissance, Hindu Golden Age);

Space (e.g. United States - use LCSH or the list of countries and other divisions in any standard gazette);

Concepts of anti-racism: Anti-racist education; Bystander anti-racism; Integrative anti-racism; Tolerance; Inclusion;

Closely related concepts: Diversity, Empathy, Family, Racial imagination (race-based categories/taxonomies/typologies)Racial equity, Racial healing, Racial justice, Restorative justice; Competitive advantage; Innovation

Related concepts: Anti Anti-racism; Anti-racialism; Race; Racism; Racialization, Multiculturism (narrow term); Social justice (broad term) 

Domains/Disciplines: Cultural/Ethnic studies, Education, Identity Politics, International Indigenous studies, Positive peace, Theology;

Peripheral areas: Biology, Cultural anthropology, GenomicsPsychology, Sociology;

Anti-racist policies (examples):

  • diversity
  • inclusivity (or inclusion)
  • neutrality or “colorblindness”* (in the sense of acknowledging color differences but without placing value or constructing hierarchy);
  • cooperative (rather than hostile) workplace environment;
  • affirmative action initiatives and scholarships directed towards increasing diversity;
  • multi-culturalism / pluralism /solidarity

Anti-racist actions (some examples of how people are actively practicing anti-racism):

  • Practicing Cultural Humility – LCSH: Cultural humility
  • Acknowledging White Privilege  – LCSH: White Privilege
  • Interfaith Dialog – LCSH:  Interfaith dialog
  • Christian Witnessing  - LCSH: Witness bearing (Christianity)
  • Community Building
  • Faithful Rhetoric – LCSH: Faith; Rhetoric; Civic Engagement
  • Standing in Solidarity – LCSH: Solidarity
  • Original Purpose/Divine Calling (for everybody not just clergy) – LCSH: Vocation

Anti-racist movements (examples):

Anti-apartheid movements; Black Lives Matter; Civil Rights Movement; Indigenous or Self-development of People movement; Interfaith movements; Interspirituality movements; Niagara movement, Sustainability movements (e.g. campus sustainability); crowdsourced syllabi (campus activism movement, Open Syllabus); Reclaiming (movements where people co-opt previously negative language or right wrongs in epistemic practices #citationjustice to make it positive); Reparation.