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Another Look at a Knowledge Organization Pioneer: Traces of Racism in Paul Otlet's Writings.

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Title: Another Look at a Knowledge Organization Pioneer: Traces of Racism in Paul Otlet's Writings.
Authors: Ibekwe, Fidelia1 fidelia.ibekwe@univ-amu.fr
Source: Knowledge Organization. 2024, Vol. 51 Issue 1, p3-18. 16p.
Subjects: Knowledge management, Library schools, Sex discrimination, Racism, Race relations
Abstract: Critical strand of studies in Knowledge Organization (KO) and Library and Information Science (LIS) have been focused on gender bias and power inherent in the classification of knowledge artefacts. From the mid-2000s, attention turned to other types of biases notably racial biases. These studies have exposed and rightly critiqued how the supposedly "universal" classification and knowledge artefacts designed by LIS and KO pioneers were designed mostly by white men. Wiegand (1996) demonstrated that Melvil Dewey, the creator of DCC, was a notorious racist and antisemite. This paper raises the issue of how the LIS and KO communities have dealt with the legacy of one its most celebrated pioneers, Paul Otlet, whose writings had imprints of white supremacist ideologies at least in two of his texts 'Afrique aux Noirs' and 'Monde. Essai d'universalisme'. In particular, we speculate about the quasi-omerta that had surrounded Otlet's writings on race and racial relations considering the amount of exegesis done on his works. The one-sided narrative portraying Otlet mostly in a positive light and magnifying his works has led to epistemicide and "documentary injustice". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Knowledge Organization is the property of IMR Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Engineering Source
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  Data: Another Look at a Knowledge Organization Pioneer: Traces of Racism in Paul Otlet's Writings.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ibekwe%2C+Fidelia%22">Ibekwe, Fidelia</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> fidelia.ibekwe@univ-amu.fr</i>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Knowledge+Organization%22">Knowledge Organization</searchLink>. 2024, Vol. 51 Issue 1, p3-18. 16p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Knowledge+management%22">Knowledge management</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Library+schools%22">Library schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sex+discrimination%22">Sex discrimination</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Racism%22">Racism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Race+relations%22">Race relations</searchLink>
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  Label: Abstract
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  Data: Critical strand of studies in Knowledge Organization (KO) and Library and Information Science (LIS) have been focused on gender bias and power inherent in the classification of knowledge artefacts. From the mid-2000s, attention turned to other types of biases notably racial biases. These studies have exposed and rightly critiqued how the supposedly "universal" classification and knowledge artefacts designed by LIS and KO pioneers were designed mostly by white men. Wiegand (1996) demonstrated that Melvil Dewey, the creator of DCC, was a notorious racist and antisemite. This paper raises the issue of how the LIS and KO communities have dealt with the legacy of one its most celebrated pioneers, Paul Otlet, whose writings had imprints of white supremacist ideologies at least in two of his texts 'Afrique aux Noirs' and 'Monde. Essai d'universalisme'. In particular, we speculate about the quasi-omerta that had surrounded Otlet's writings on race and racial relations considering the amount of exegesis done on his works. The one-sided narrative portraying Otlet mostly in a positive light and magnifying his works has led to epistemicide and "documentary injustice". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Knowledge Organization is the property of IMR Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.5771/0943-7444-2024-1-3
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        Text: English
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      – SubjectFull: Knowledge management
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Library schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Sex discrimination
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Racism
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      – SubjectFull: Race relations
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      – TitleFull: Another Look at a Knowledge Organization Pioneer: Traces of Racism in Paul Otlet's Writings.
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              Text: 2024
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