Afrocentricity, memory and information

Abstract

Highlighting the Afrocentric way of thinking, this article analyzes the concepts of memory and african-Brazilian heritage in the context of Library and Information Science. Asks how the theme of Afro-Brazilian culture is addressed in the specialized literature of the área. The hypothesis is that the historical process of enslavement and racism concealed black knowledge, reducing it to a presence on the margins of the dominant academic-scientific nucleus. The research is exploratory and the method used was qualitative and reflective, based on a literature review. A survey of scientific articles on the topic was also carried out in the BRAPCI database. The Sankofa philosophy was used to guide the construction of the article and the presentation of the arguments. The research is focused on understanding the scientific paradigms in Information Science, the absence of theories and methodologies in the treatment of ethno-racial information, the need to include Afrocentric content in teaching, the introduction of the theme in graduate research and for the formation of a capable professional to act in the development of culturally and socially representative collections. The discussion of the results was based on the categories developed in the review and those identified in the analysis corpus. It concludes that there is an emphasis on affirming the need to include the memories and knowledge of the Afro-Brazilian population in institutional environments, such as universities and information units. It contributes by showing that plurality and diversity in the formation of thought, in environments for the preservation of memories and the dissemination of knowledge will depend on increasingly practical actions and attitudes.