Workshop 2 of the ARP involved us having discussions in small groups around different articles we had been given to read, focused on citation in academic research practices.
The others in my group had readings that focussed a lot on citational justice, feminist citations and breaking the cycle of white cis men in academic research citing each other in a cyclone of ‘insert witty metaphor about white cis men.’
Ironically my article to read was written by a white cis man.
It was a little on the dry side in comparison to the others, looking into how researchers (computer scientists and sociologists) ascribe functions to their citations. Why have they cited that particular citation? What is its purpose within the article/research paper?
There were 11 separate functions that came out of the research:
- Signposting
- Supporting
- Credit
- Position
- Engaging
- Building
- Tying
- Advertising
- Future
- Competence
- Topical
From our discussion I feel like there could be an extra function added to that list. Whilst actively choosing to cite women, women of colour and/or another group that face systemic barriers within the academic research world, could fall into the ‘position’ function; I feel like that function is more about setting the scene for the researcher’s position, in relation to other researchers in the same field. That could be a black woman, but it could also just be another white cis man with a differing opinion.
There could be a function added to that list that is solely focused on justice. Citing a researcher purposely because they are a black woman, or a queer researcher, or a disabled researcher. Citing someone to amplify a marginalised voice that is often suppressed and dampened, a voice that is valid and should be heard. A voice with a viewpoint that is all too often overlooked.
Now I hold my hand up guilty here. Not that I’ve been consciously quoting cis white male academics (I’ll do all I can do to not get sucked into that cyclone), but in previous units of the PgCert I have not been overly conscious of who am I citing (except maybe some in the IP unit). I have focused more on who is writing about the topic that relates to my research, and I quote them based on the words written and not who they are and who they represent.
How can I change that this time?
If I look back at the references I have used so far in my research and blogposts its clear the change has not been enacted:
Paulo Freire – Latinx Man
Hector Lanz – White Man
Bruce Harrington – White Man
Bella Martin – White Woman
Richard Krueger – White Man
Mary Anne Casey – White Woman
It’s looking pretty white and pretty male. Even the women that I have cited come secondary to the men in the order that they are credited as authors for their work. Why is that?
I suppose in a sense I’m communicating directly with my students (and I am hoping the focus group participants are representative of the diversity on my course) in order to uplift and acknowledge the voices of those who aren’t always heard. As I type this, I’m realising this isn’t citational justice, but it is striving for social justice.
I’m going to try and be more conscious of who I am citing within my ARP project and practice citational justice rather than just reading and writing about it.
References
- Ahmed, S. (2017). Living a Feminist Life. Duke University Press, pp.1–18.
- Harwood, N. (2009). An interview-based study of the functions of citations in academic writing across two disciplines. Journal of Pragmatics, 41(3), pp.497–518.
- Kwon, D. (2022). The rise of citational justice: how scholars are making references fairer. Nature, [online] 603(7902), pp.568–571.
- Templin, C. (2021) Why Citation matters: Ideas on a feminist approach to research. Blog ABV Gender- und Diversitykompetenz FU Berlin.