Mobilizing the Values of Our Profession:

Sara Schumacher; Marika Cifor

Mobilizing the Values of Our Profession

An Interview with Marika Cifor

Sara Schumacher Texas Tech University
Marika Cifor University of Washington

Keywords: social media, archives, community archives, radical care, social justice, interview

Abstract

In this transcript from a Zoom interview, Assistant Professor in the Information School at University of Washington and adjunct faculty member in Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Marika Cifor tackles critical issues in the cultural heritage space by striving for a balance between professional ideals and practical circumstances. The conversation delves into complex topics like radical care and empathy, attunement to power and moving away from Anglocentricity, privatization of information and social media engagement, and archives as grief work requiring trauma-informed approaches. While Cifor's research is rooted in archival practice, she evokes diverse information spaces, including prison libraries, public libraries, digital community archives, and academic special collections.

Author Biographies

Sara Schumacher, Texas Tech University

Sara Schumacher is the Architecture Image Librarian in the Architecture Library at Texas Tech University Libraries.

Marika Cifor, University of Washington

Marika Cifor is Assistant Professor in the Information School and adjunct faculty in Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington. She is a feminist scholar of archival studies and digital studies. Her research investigates how individuals and communities marginalized by gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity, and HIV-status are represented and how they document and represent themselves in archives and digital cultures.

Published

2023-12-13

Issue

Vol. 50 No. 2 (2023): Fall/Winter

Section

Perspectives

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