Chapter 2: Man, Becky, Bear! Surviving White Mediocrity and Striving Towards Anti-racism (STAR) in LIS

In this chapter, we draw on scholarship from library and information science (LIS) and education to explore how we as a field can move beyond white mediocrity by striving towards anti-racism (STAR). We first begin with an overview of whiteness as a concept and how it is operationalised in the LIS scholarship, describing the function of white mediocrity among individuals and institutions, underscore/ing the ways in which white villainy in action actively harms scholars of colour, and touch on the different types of white identities as described by Hesse. From there, we riff on a popular TikTok video describing the ‘Man or Bear’ meme by adding a third option, the ‘Becky’, and use this metaphorically to describe the current state of racism within LIS. Building on the ‘Man, Becky, Bear’ framework creates a foundation for our proposed STAR Model. In the subsequent section, we describe the structure and categories of the STAR Model. Each author then describes their experiences with this model from their own perspectives, as a Black and a white woman. After defining and applying the STAR Model in the context of our lived experiences, we call our communities to action to consider ways in which we can challenge ourselves and our communities to work together towards anti-racism. Using principles of Adrienne Maree Brown’s (2017) Emergent Strategy, we consider potential ways to challenge ourselves through the STAR Model to imagine an anti-racist future for the field.