Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance: Reflections on a Methodological Journey in the Furtherance of LIS Social Justice Research

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance:
Reflections on a Methodological Journey in the
Furtherance of LIS Social Justice Research

LaVerne Gray, Syracuse University, USA

Abstract

This article explains the researcher ownership of tools of inquiry. Using personal narrative, the
text highlights the elements of case study development presenting the familial as the impetus
for an alternative mode for LIS social justice research in an ethnic, racial, gendered community.

Using the researcher journey as an example, the approach is explored through a theoretical and
methodological iterative case development process. Implications in the furtherance of LIS social
justice inquiry models utilizing a critical-qualitative approach are explicated towards the

development of a case study in the pursuit of community-focused research.

Keywords: case study; iterative approaches; social justice; qualitative methods

Publication Type: research article

Introduction

n critical feminist circles, an often-used quote from Black feminist poet, essayist, activist,
and librarian Audre Lorde (2007) elucidates, “for the master’s tools will never dismantle the
master’s house” (p. 112). The power embedded with the brevity of the phrase is adaptable

as both a call to action and a mantra for social justice mobilization. This article resituates “tools”
to represent resistance to the prescriptive Library and Information Science (LIS) research
paradigm in the furtherance of locating and examining communal social justice. To accomplish
this, the text recounts the journey of development and implementation of a select critical-
cultural case study by exploring the information environment of African American activist
mothers in 1960’s Chicago Public Housing (Gray, 2019) using archival texts. The paper is
methodological explicating a multi-layered approach to the development of a social justice LIS

case study.

The ideation of the study is connected through familial ties. While conducting genealogical
research, I discovered my grandmother in a Chicago Defender newspaper article. She was
featured with other women in her public housing community for organizing justice activities.
Although unique and personal, the development of the case study illuminates racial, ethnic,
gender, and geographic approaches to the field of information study. Utilizing Black feminist
epistemology (Collins, 2000) in concert with LIS social justice (Mehra et al., 2006, 2009; Mehra
& Rioux, 2016) and information community theoretical perspectives (Fisher, et al., 2003), this
iterative approach demands the researcher focus on the matter at hand in the treatment of the
text in honor of the women in the community. This stance requires resistance to formulaic

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Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

approaches in methods examining communal information practice, through a deconstructive
inquiry process.

This reflective essay explains this journey using personal narrative. A narrative approach provides
the researcher the opportunity to use storytelling to examine life experiences (Clandinin &
Connelly, 2000). It is a process where “oppressed people resist by identifying themselves as
subjects, by defining their reality, shaping their new identity, naming their history, telling their
story” (hooks, 1989, p. 43). It’s important to note that the use of the term ‘subject’ here does
not align with positivist research traditions. The quote encourages so-called marginal

communities to repel narratives and research that addresses their experiences without their
input. Utilizing my voice as an African American woman, studying my ancestral public housing
community and recounting my narrative, resists external bias and subjectivity. My role in naming,
defining, and shaping the narrative illuminates my researcher voice. The resulting text is my
story within a story. I share my own resistance journey using creative and iterative research
approaches, while studying the information activist properties of a Black feminist collective.
Resistance occurs through deconstructive acts combating linear approaches to the research field,
thereby creating my own pathway to greater understanding of phenomena. The use of first person
reinforces my possession of the story and aligns with the use familial in the furtherance of

research.

To better explain the embrace and researcher ownership of tools of inquiry, this article will first
discuss the beginnings of the journey of developing the case using familial ties. Secondly, this
text will situate the case in Black feminism, information, and LIS social justice theory. Next, I
explore milestones and deconstructive application of the iterative case development process,
highlighting iterative elements of case study development presenting alternative modes for LIS
social justice research in ethnic, racial, and gendered communities. Lastly, implications in the
furtherance of LIS social justice inquiry models through a critical-qualitative approach will be
explicated towards the development of research and the researcher in the pursuit of social

justice and community-focused research.

Familial Inspiration

The exemplar study of activist-mothers in Chicago Public Housing grew from an archived
newspaper article found about a group of women fighting for a library to be built in their
community. The article, entitled “Blast City for Lack of Near Southside Library” (1963), featured
my grandmother’s voice blasting city officials for their apathy toward community needs. The

article detailed the plans of a committee of mothers to organize a protest march and meeting.

The text contained in the article is both personally inspiring and historically fascinating.
Personally, the fascination of a previously unknown circumstance involving my grandmother
induced pride. My assumptions about the life she lived and public housing community where my
mother grew up was demystified in ways I had not anticipated. Historically, this activist spirit
within a community of urban poor and working class African American women in public housing
is not told in the context of library history or examined in the context of information
environments. The discovery of the document ignited a curiosity which led to inspired research
through the development of a unique case for study.

From the discovery of the newspaper article, I began to explore and situate the historical setting
of the case. The activist mothers in the case study are situated historically in the experiences of

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Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

African American poor and working-class communities of the first half of the 20th century. My
family, like many other African Americans in Chicago, migrated from the southern U.S. to escape
racial apartheid (Wilkerson, 2010). The migrants to the city were described as “refugees from
the bondage of America’s cotton kingdom in the south” (Drake & Cayton, 2015, p. 32). In the
city, migrants were able to explore economic opportunities, pursue education, and participate
civically. Housing shortages for the African American population continued to be a problem
during the population booms before and after World War II. There was little housing built and
the South-side black belt of the city was described as blighted with extended families sharing
spaces in kitchenette apartments in overcrowded converted early 20th century homes (Drake &

Cayton, 2015; Fuerst & Hunt, 2005).

As the number of migrants grew, there were limitations to housing because of geographical
segregation. African American overcrowding in certain areas of the city was attributed to
restrictive covenant housing policies and red lining of neighborhoods (Hirsch, 1983; Rothstein,
2017). Segregation was maintained by providing African Americans with new public housing made
up of high-rise buildings in formerly blighted areas (Hunt, 2009). A unique feature of the lives of
the women in the public housing communities examined (Harold Ickes Homes and Dearborn
Homes) is the presence of a Henry Booth Settlement House (Gray, 2019). The settlement house
movement in Chicago began in the late 19th and early 20th century progressive movement, where
resident workers developed programs to foster aid, education, and democratic activities amongst
community members (Addams, 1910). By the mid 20th century, urban renewal in the form of
systematic state and local policies to improve housing conditions, expand city infrastructure, and
counter urban blight, saw the relocation of Henry Booth house from a traditionally Jewish,
German, and Mexican service area, to the new high-rise public housing communities (Hunt,
2009). This second ghetto (Hirsch, 1983), often described as paradise by early residents, saw the
proliferation of community engagement to enhance the lives of its members (Fuerst & Hunt,
2005). The settlement house acted as both a point of service and a space for agency. Although
traditionally situated in terms of lack and deficiency this case study uncovers agency through the
women constantly striving for the betterment of community.

Familial community-based activism was the flame that ignited my interest LIS social justice
research. The embrace of inspiration and ideation from under-examined communities is a
primary feature of situating a case that allows for a bottom-up rather than administrative view
of LIS research. The recognition of the individual life of my grandmother grew into an
understanding of her being a full participant of a community. My decision to further explore the
information dynamics of such a community provided the impetus of the case development. The
goal of the research simply became persistence and discovery. My continual examination of the
women in public housing drove me to situate them theoretically, historically, and situationally.
The task was scaffolded through reflexive examination of my role as a researcher and the story
that would unfold. This iterative take on research design involves risk, but trust in the process
of resistance enhances fulfillment. The next part of the text theoretically situates the journey
using LIS social justice theory and imagining an information activist community.

Black Feminism, Community, & LIS Social Justice

To decipher the voices of the African American women, I looked to Black feminist theory. Patricia
Hill Collins (1998, 2000) describes Black women as outsiders-within. These women, by their
ethnicity, color, and social class are outside of white patriarchal, hegemonic spaces, but have
access through working in the system. It is like physically being within spaces of those that are

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Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

privileged, but never belonging. bell hooks (1990) refers to this marginality as places of
resistance. These marginal homeplaces became desirable outside spaces and represented a place
of struggle invoking courage and strength. Outsiders must stand alone or collectively with others
on the outside to bring change. The outside spaces are where African American women come to
voice (Gray, 2019; Collins, 1999). The activism and work of the women in public housing
demonstrate the outsider status in resistance and struggle. For the women, the public housing

community became an information space of social justice.

The idea of community as a site for information draws on the concept of information community

(IC). An IC is described as a “partnership of institutions and individuals forming and cultivating a
community of interest around the provision and exchange of information, or knowledge, aimed
at increasing access to that information or increasing communication, and thereby increasing
that knowledge” (Durrance, 2001, p.64). This definition exists in the realm of internet based
online communities. In my development of the case study the term community within the
concept was attractive to making sense of what was occurring on the ground with the women in
public housing. The case extends this meaning to increase capacity building in the interest of
knowledge and understanding of what occurs in dynamic communal space. In doing so, I
recognized the mobilization aspects of an IC, by incorporating galvanized structures in a
contained geographic space. My emphasis on the application of information to the resistance
activities in the physical environment shifted the view of the mobilized collective from an activist
group to an information-based community system that informs action. A spatial-traditional
interpretation of information communities creates a new application and analysis that supplants
the virtual with the physical.

Utilizing Fisher et al.’s (2003) characteristics, I explore how the traditional community activism
within geographical space is representative of an information-activist community (IAC) (See
Table 1). Collaboration is a common feature of IC and IAC applications. The IAC extends IC in
that collective use and need for information supports mobilization necessary for activism.
Collectivity is the main feature of IAC by viewing the community and its relationship in terms of
purpose reflecting a participatory force for the mutual good. Information in the IAC operates
similarly to IC in focus and intent, but information in IAC flows from within the collective. In the
context of the activist-mothers in public housing, the application of IC characteristics
demonstrates the influence of community-based information systems and structures.

Table 1. Information Activist Community

IC Characteristic IAC Application

Information Communities
emphasize collaboration among
diverse information providers

Collaboration is a function of information community
activist participation—diverse providers include both
internal and external sources

Information Communities
anticipate and often form around

people’s needs to get and use
information

Information use and need are purposeful to issues and
intentions for the collective good

Information Communities
effectively exploit the information Exploitation of information as aspects of performance in

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Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

sharing qualities of available
technology and yield multiplier
effects for stakeholders

mobilization and galvanization around community
participation and activities

Information Communities
transcend barriers to information-
sharing

Information-sharing is democratized and used as a tool
for dismantling divides for collective purposes

Information Communities connect
people and foster social
connectedness

Collectivity and connectedness are essential to the
social structure and necessary for activist community
praxis

Information Communities
emphasize collaboration among
diverse information providers

Collaboration is a function of information community
activist participation—diverse providers include both
internal and external sources

Information Communities
anticipate and often form around
people’s needs to get and use
information

Information use and need are purposeful to issues and
intentions for the collective good

Social justice research in LIS is rooted in communities that are serviced by library institutions.
Connecting community to research provides another opportunity to exercise engagement within
a social justice theoretical framework. The social justice theoretical perspective in LIS collates
communal ideals in the service of the collective good. It is at once both philosophical and
practical. The previous theoretical discussion on IC constructs demonstrates collective
community mobilization in naturalistic non-technological mediated environments. Here I extend
that discussion from a social justice information perspective. The LIS social justice meta-
theoretical assumptions communicate fairness, empowerment, equity, and change agency. The

distinction in the activist-mother community context is that information-as-service is
transformed to information-as-collective.

When used as a tool, social justice becomes operationalized in information spaces. It functions
within environmental structures that inform practical activities in information centers. The
library is often seen as the manifestation of where the tools are utilized in the service of
information need, access, use, and evaluation. Within libraries the implementation of social
justice is mediated by the physical institution, staff, policies, political, and community
structures. The case of the activist-mothers opens the concept of operationalization of social
justice within community spaces. The case embodies social justice information frame by
considering a community activist structure. My work is situated similarly to the Mehra et al.
(2006) article that outlines social justice frames in LIS that include underserved population
needs, communities of practice, action, empowerment/change agency, and diversity. My
interpretation of the frames centers the community, without incorporating the lens of the
information professional. The theoretical threads indicated through concepts provide the
structure for the framework. The language collectively illustrates the elements present in social
justice LIS research and practice.

The IC formed by the collective work of the members require grounding from social justice

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Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

informational tools into an interactional space where they gather. The marginalized homeplace
of the activist-mothers embodies the use of information as a social justice tool. This departure
from the institutional frame posits a spontaneous informal mechanization of information in the
context of the greater good through social justice activities.

Understanding the case both through the lens of information activism and social justice provides
a way forward in the construction of this case study. The use of theory to inform how information
activism is placed within the community using a LIS social justice frame supports case
development in resistance to linear research design. I understood that reframing of IC to an

information activist community changed the language and brought with it a reframing of
information concepts. At the same time, I explored the case in a variety of mini projects
reflecting qualitative milestones. To make sense of this process of iterative case construction, I

studied principles of historical research and qualitative approaches from a critical perspective.

Case Development

Qualitative research using a critical paradigm reflects socially constructed knowledge that
uncovers historical insights. It is an alternative view of society, where centrality is focused not
on institutions but the participants in history. Critical-historical research views history as a living
process confronting issues of stability and revolution. It challenges long-held confirmed views of
what we are and how we came to be (Brennen, 2013). An example of this is the long-held view
that libraries were designated in poor, rural, and racially segregated communities through
philanthropic, municipal, and white middle-class values being imposed on groups (Mehra & Gray,
2020). I embarked on a revisionist telling of how empowered community members utilized their
voices within an information environment to gain library facilities (Gray, 2019). The case study
viewed the women and the community through a lens of abundance rather than deficit. Deficit
positioning demotes the persons under study to a marginal space, devoid of information (Ford et
al, 2001; Valencia & Solórzano, 1997). An abundance perspective takes the researcher beyond
discourse that pre-defines communities. Abundance is situated in terms of an equilibrium of
embodied systems and networks within a community, countering imposed hegemonic aspirational

outcomes (Gray, in press). This positioning allowed for greater understanding of the community
as free with the ability to control their destiny.

The tools of a qualitative academic inquiry involve a rigorous philosophical exercise of exploring
lived experiences utilizing text, theory, and methods that contribute to greater understanding
of phenomena (Denzin & Lincoln, 2013). Replication of approaches provides a guide while limiting
effectiveness by bounding the researcher in the inquiry process. In qualitative social science
research, a case study is defined as “an in-depth description and analysis of a bounded system”
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2015, p. 37). In my study of the IC of activist mothers in public housing, the
case is bounded by the time where the activism took place through the auspices of the
aforementioned Henry Booth Settlement House. It is representative of a community case study
which “is small enough to permit considerable cultural (or subcultural) homogeneity, diffuse
interactions and relationships between members, and to produce a social identification by its
members” (Berg, 2009, p. 331). The geographic location of the near south side Douglass
community in Chicago bounds a marginalized community identifiable by a segregated and
predominantly African American public housing community. The identification of the information
space as a clustered community of women participating in justice work, clarified my intention
to discover the unique nature of the public housing environment (Gibson & Kaplan, 2017).

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Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

Illuminating the critical-historical and geographical components of the case evolved throughout
the development process.

Journey Milestones

The case study represents both continued development and the culmination of experience. I
began my journey through milestones of the treatment of data in different ways. An initial failed
foray into historical narrative propelled me to continue to research the women’s movement for
library facilities. I then expanded my work to focus on the entirety of the community and the

information properties found in grassroots social justice mobilization. Each milestone expanded
my understanding through examining data using different approaches. After developing the
historical narrative, I mapped the community and examined the discourse through an exercise
that conceptually grounded the campaign for a library facility in the greater public housing
community. I dissected the elements to better grasp past work. Each milestone in my research
journey consistently used the same data (Chicago Tribune Newspaper Articles n=1; Chicago
Defender Newspaper Articles n=7; Chicago Public Library Archival Manuscripts n=12; Henry Booth
House Manuscript Collection n=4). Each phase was a separate mini project on the campaign for
library facilities by the collective of women in the public housing community.

In each phase I read the evidence differently. In Phase 1, my question focused on what happened.
In Phase 2, I outlined which entities shaped the information environment. In Phase 3, I searched
for the voices of the women. The treatment of the evidence throughout the milestones brought
me closer to understanding how to honor the women and their activities. Utilizing a Black
feminist epistemology, I searched for, read, and analyzed the documentary evidence using an
abundance lens to view community and social justice practices. This stance reinforces centering
of the African American community, and their voices in the iterative process.

Phase 1: Library Campaign History

This phase involved writing a historical narrative that chronologically examined the activities of
the library committee’s effort to establish library facilities. The initial exploratory project
examined the available historical evidence related to the campaign for library facilities. The
project was limited by time constraints and relied on direct access to newspaper database
sources and archives housed at both the University of Illinois Chicago and the Chicago Public
Library. I had only a week to explore the contents of the archives and decided to limit document
review to those items that clearly related to the community’s push for a library. Contextual
historical evidence about the community was noted, but not used. The study was itself anti-
theoretical, but established a curiosity for feminist, specifically Black feminist epistemology, in
understanding how the community structures impacted the actions of the mothers of the library
campaign. Findings showed a building of momentum and social movement strategies and their
effectiveness. It also provided the lens of the community from a non-administrative perspective
in terms of the need for libraries.

Phase 2: Community Information Network (Visualization)

The project used qualitative social network analysis by employing an exploratory inductive
examination of documents related to the library campaign. The analysis created data
visualization by highlighting the complexity of communication and relationships in social
movements (Miles et al., 2013). Data represented individuals, organizations, and political

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Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

structures that were present in primary source documents (Scott & Carrington, 2011). Each
primary source document was analyzed and organized according to communication lines,
relationships, influence, and collective attributes. Each document was coded for relevant
organizations, groups, institutions, government/municipal agencies, and significant individuals.
The resulting relational network showed the community and municipal divide. It also centered
the women and allied community connections and overlapping activities. This phase mapped the
relationships of the community. Through the exercise, I saw the hegemonic complexity of the
municipal agencies and how the women used tactics from the grassroots level to campaign for a

library. The mapping showed the collective empowerment at the community level.

Phase 3: Activist Community Collective-Determination Model

The Activist Community Collective-Determination Model was developed through grounded theory
inductive analysis (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) of documents related to the campaign of library
facilities. The study was exploratory and empirical in nature. Units of analysis included the
entirety of news articles and sections of the meeting minutes applicable to the campaign for
facilities. The findings of the constant comparative analysis of evidence texts revealed the
following concepts: Coalition Building, Equity of Access, Learning Spaces, and Performance. In
this phase I was able to clearly define what community-based social justice properties were
present in the activities of the women. I clarified a framework for defining the elements of
collective advocacy for community betterment. The impetus for the activities of the women was
education. The library was seen as a vehicle for community development.

The phases looked at the issue of petitioning for a library. They represented stops in the journey
to understanding informational aspects of the community. The next step in the journey focused
on broadening the case to examine the community as a whole. The phases told the story, mapped
relationships, and defined the elements of social justice activities. An informational examination
of the community as a whole would provide a complete picture of the justice activities of the

women.

Iterative Case Construction

The deconstructive approach to the research field follows an iterative process ignited through
the discovery of the familial document. The familial document, a newspaper article, was the
initial evidence piece that linked persons, place names, organizations, and institutions. The
document revealed the link to the Henry Booth settlement house and the network of community-
based representation from various organizations which led me to manuscripts in the archives and
other media documents. The cyclical aspects of the case development process began with critical
text inquiry. There are seven elements related to case development: idea and inspiration,
evidence collection, concept development & pilot projects, exploratory investigation, emerging
questions, research objectives, and exploratory evidence gathering. Each part represents
research actions. The actions are not mutually exclusive and occur in no specific order. The
practice is dynamic and can begin at any point, not following any prescribed flow. The
developmental aspect of case development is iterative by nature and represents the culmination

of previous works, theoretical examinations, and reflection.

The inspiration occurred through the connection of my grandmother to the need for libraries in
the public housing community in which she lived. There are subsequent inspiring and idea
generating documents which pushed the research forward, for example, the Henry Booth House

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Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

report on the committee, and the news articles on the planned protests. The gathering and
examination of details within documents generated new questions and influenced the objectives
of research. The case development activities represent the exploration of the unknown and
learning to trust myself as a researcher. The development requires attention to everything that

is known and discoverable.

Idea and inspiration involved open-ended inquiry and discovery. As mentioned in the beginning
of the text this occurred with the discovery of the familial document. It led a questioning beyond
the personal and subjective to a more observational view of my grandmother’s experience in the

context of activism and libraries and the community she lived in. Each step into the rabbit hole
uncovered more inspirational artifacts that showcased not only her involvement in community-
based working structures, but the community mobilization structures. Subsequent inspiring finds
include a scrapbook of photographs, a conference paper written by the social worker on the role
of the settlement house in a public housing community, and an adult education leadership class

report found in the archives.

More inspirational finds guided me towards evidence collection, which involves continuous data
gathering. I found materials through archival and online searching. Closer inspection of individual
documents led to related materials that further explained the historical-contextual aspects of
the public housing community. This continuous exercise helped to establish boundaries for the
case geographically and historically by time period.

Concept development occurred through theoretical readings of the evidence. Readings from
Black feminist texts, information theories, sociology, history (geographic and racial), and cultural
studies, provided a matrix of theories to draw from. Exploratory investigations were signified by
researcher generated milestones. These investigations occurred with each examination or study
previously mentioned. The diversity of the exercises inspired the researcher to utilize various

types of methodological approaches toward framework development.

Emerging questions requires the continuous process of questioning of evidence, processes, and

the phenomenon. This is found both in the questions informing research tasks and questions of
evidence which inform a grounded theory approach to research. In this study, questions changed
and developed over time, and as more evidence was collected and concepts were developed,
the questions evolved. A similar process emerges with the development of Research objectives
that are adapted throughout case inquiry. When performing milestone mini projects, the
objectives were adjusted and modified as evidence and preliminary analysis occurred.
Exploratory evidence gathering involves data collection at crucial points throughout the iterative
cycle. Each element is addressed in terms of deconstruction including cultural community
aspects (race, gender, geography), social justice information science research, (re)defining

methodology, and the role and posture of the researcher (as an objective/neutral observer).

Conclusion: Reflecting on a Journey

As a researcher, I struggled with scope, approaches, and tools. As I became close to the
development of what my intentions were, I struggled to name the approach. I settled on calling
the exercise a critical-cultural historical case study. I explored how this qualitative investigation
of a historical phenomenon would be represented theoretically in the literature and decided to
detail that journey through the documentation of milestones. With that documentation done, I
furthered my discovery through rigorous analysis by presenting a case that repels descriptive

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Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

limitations. My intent became to expose the voice of the women, and ensure their values are
accounted for in LIS research and discourse. The challenge and struggle became an opportunity
to develop a creative and innovative approach to research. My empowerment as a human being
and as a researcher pushed boundaries of LIS research and theory towards social justice. My work
challenged the perceived imbalanced power dynamics on many levels including the content of
the topic (i.e. African-American women), what information science research is, methodology,
and the role of the researcher (as an objective/neutral observer). In the future, I will continue
to trust the immersive iterative nature of revelatory practices through critique of the knowledge

structure of the discipline of information science.

Denzin and Lincoln (2013) stress that qualitative research is “endlessly creative and interpretive”
(p. 30). My creative turns often provided a pathway to designing a case study rooted in social
justice in a marginalized community. My reflections on this journey offer a narrative of
development in the construction of a case study, trusting oneself as a researcher. In lieu of

prescribed recommendations or suggestions I offer the reader the following lessons-learned:

Follow Inspiration: The location of my grandmother’s participation in a campaign for a library
branch in a public housing community was an inspiring story and great family artifact. As I
considered areas of study, I returned to the artifact as a point of reference to reflect on myself
and heritage. It became a passion which supported a curiosity to apply research to a familial
ancestral community. My knowledge of the community from familial stories at times hindered
questioning and limited the observational eye. In the pursuit of this research and the process of
developing the case, I recognized my internal tension of what is “known” based on my closeness
to the community and the assumptions that creep into my evidentiary discovery and examination.
My persistence in discovery of the complexities of the artifact, and how it led me to others
strengthened my ability to interrogate the informational aspects of the community environment.

Creativity and rigor can coexist: Often times in the case construction process, I looked to
established templates by qualitative scholars to follow a rigorous exploration in studying the
community. I trusted my inclination to approach the archival research field creatively and
iteratively. Each element used did not simply follow prescriptive steps. It required me to be
reflexive in the furthering my process.

Consider the journey: The case is built on the milestones developed from the mini-projects. I
knew in each application of inductive coding, relational mapping, and the historical narrative
that I was on to something. The ability to learn from each phase and apply that to the iterative
case development allowed me to embrace the process and surrender intellectually to next step
in the journey. I often return to small projects to inform larger questions in determining how to
investigate the informational world around me.

Illuminate LIS social justice: The matrix of theories used complement the gender, race, and
informational aspects of the community of women under study. My journey contributed to my
framing of the case utilizing an epistemology of resistance and social justice in LIS. The library
was the tool, but the community of women represented the information nexus. My initial desire
to limit the case to the campaign excluded the promise of developing the case around the

information activist community.

Researcher discovery through iterative rigorous analysis extends descriptive limitations by
seeking to expose the activist-voice of the subjects, ensuring their belief systems and values are

https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index

Case Study Inquiry & Black Feminist Resistance

The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
ISSN 2574-3430, jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index
DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

accounted for in LIS research and discourse. This challenge and struggle provide opportunities
for the development of creative pathways for research. The master’s tools are tossed aside and
new tools in support of constructing new modes that defy replication in research are developed.
This pushing of boundaries allows for expanded social justice LIS research, theory, and model
development. Challenging perceived imbalanced power dynamics on many levels including
ethnic, race, gendered, and geographic, case study development requires a resistance mindset,

which is at the heart of LIS social justice research.

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The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 5(2), 2021
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DOI: 10.33137/ijidi.v5i2.34913

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LaVerne Gray (lgray01@syr.edu) is an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University’s School of
Information Studies, where she teaches in the Library and Information Science program. After an
eight-year career as an academic librarian, she earned her PhD at the College of Communication
and Information at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2019. Her dissertation, “In a
Collective Voice: Uncovering the Black Feminist Information Community of Activist-Mothers in
Chicago Public Housing, 1955-1970,” won her college’s outstanding dissertation award in 2019
and placed second at ALISE’s Jean Tague-Sutcliffe Doctoral Student Research Poster
Competition.

LaVerne Gray’s research explores Black feminism, community, and social justice in information
spaces. In addition to a M.L.I.S. from Dominican University, she holds a M.S.Ed. in Educational
Psychology from Northern Illinois University and a B.S. in Rehabilitation/Child Development from

Wilberforce University.

https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/index

Introduction
Familial Inspiration
Black Feminism, Community, & LIS Social Justice
Case Development
Journey Milestones
Phase 1: Library Campaign History
Phase 2: Community Information Network (Visualization)
Phase 3: Activist Community Collective-Determination Model

Iterative Case Construction

Conclusion: Reflecting on a Journey
References