The focus of my Social Justice ePortfolio is to examine the offerings of the Clifton Public Library located in Clifton, New Jersey and how they serve the Immigrant Population in their community. This page will focus on the inter-disciplinary perspective of this project.
*ALL TEXT IN BLUE ARE HYPERLINKS
The Clifton Public Library is surrounded by a melting pot of culture. Many different countries and languages are represented this includes a robust immigrant population. However, there are not enough resources provided by the library to help this population succeed. For this project the goal was to provide more resources to the Immigrant and New American population.
Immigrant Integration Infographic
(Inter) Disciplinary Lens
As a researcher on this project I chose to position my research within a social and political lens. Ming Hsu Chen describes the interdisciplinary perspective on immigration and migration best when he states that there are many nuances to understanding what exactly constitutes an "Immigrant" and what we can do best as a society to help them (Ming, 2023). I approached my research looking at it through a social science lens and political lens because I think both disciplines describe exactly how most people look at immigrants and how they treat them. From my research I found that not enough focus is placed in libraries on immigrants mostly because staff cannot relate to them on a human and social level. They are a very stigmatized population and that is where politics comes into play. With competing points of view lately in cities when it comes to migrants people argue whose rights come first?( Kelsey, 2022). It is our job as library workers to welcome everyone regardless of status. Although there are different perspectives one can choose to take with my research I believe that taking a social and political approach to my research has helped me gain a better perspective on my goal.
Theoretical/Conceptual Lens
The theoretical or conceptual lens that I used for this project was critical theory. In an article by William McCorkle he describes how immigration is one of the most controversial topics, especially in America (McCorkle, 2020). Viewing this topic of my research through a critical theory lens was the one I used because it best describes the type of perspective you gain when going through my research and research topic. Carlos Aguilar in his journal article introduces his own theoretical lens called " Undocumented Critical Theory" or UndocuCRIT for short (Aguilar, 2018). His theory is that this term better represents the nuances and struggle of the immigrant experience and challenges an immigrant binary rhetoric as well as embarking on a journey toward social justice and the empowerment of our communities. This is exactly what I wanted to convey with my project. The idea that we need to empower our communities and our libraries to include everyone. There is still a stigma against the undocumented in this country and the library should be a safe space not a place where community members feel like they do not belong. It is so important that we not forget about the marginalized and oppressed in our communities. Everyone needs to be seen and represented within the library space in some way shape or form.
SOURCES
1. Aguilar, Carlos. (2018). Undocumented Critical Theory. Cultural Studies & Critical Methodologies 1-9. DOI:10.1177/1532705618817911
2. Kelsey Norman, Hans Schattle & Willem Maas (2022) Cities and the Contentious Politics of Migration, Globalizations, DOI: 10.1080/14747731.2022.2086344
3. Ming H. Chen, Teaching Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Citizenship and Immigration, 67 St. Louis U. L.J. (2023). Available at: https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lj/vol67/iss3/6
4. McCorkle, William.((2020). Introducing Students to Critical Border and Migration Theories in an Era of Xenophobia. Critical Questions in Education 11:1 Winter 202. (pp.57-72) https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1287233.pdf