up//root as home
disruption, daydreaming
By Megdi Abebe & Kristina Santiago
When we joined the up//root editorial board in 2021 we were both MLIS graduate students making sense of ourselves and our place in the library profession. We saw up//root as a vessel to question, intervene and deconstruct the dominant narratives in LIS that have always been so dissatisfying to those of us who have learned differently through experience. Over time, we came to understand with more nuance the magnitude of community that up//root encompasses and holds. We hold tremendous respect for the responsibility and opportunity to co-create and hold space for BIPOC voices to critically challenge the structures and institutions which oppress us.
At the dawn of 2023, we found ourselves facing a lot of changes as up//root transitioned from one season to another. Our prior grant funding had expired, and our editorial team of five became a team of two as Sofia, Joyce and Jorge (up//root’s founding editors) had completed their terms. The prior year had seen its fair share of administrative, interpersonal and logistical challenges - the honest truth of maintaining an indie publication in current times- and as we regrouped as an editorial duo, we asked one another what the vision would be for up//root’s next phase. We took some time to rest, to dream, to heal and meditate and move slowly. We had long phone conversations where we laughed and asked questions and shared truths and readings with each other.
From that journey inward, we began to find footing again and to enter another phase of actualization. As the theme for HOME found its way to us through our dreams and ancestors, the time dawned to actualize a new season for this publication.
From its early renderings as a concept in the editors room, HOME: being and belonging in resistance has been a theme that is at once spiritual in nature, grounded in space and body, and deeply personal to interpret. While we asked contributors to reflect on home, we were engaged in parallel critical work as we reimagined up//root simultaneously.
The result - eleven rich features from library workers across the world - spans farther than we anticipated. Interpretations you’ll read in this collection on this theme for Home are wide-reaching and expansive: from Native Hawaiian sovereignty, the politics of familial relationships, diasporic research, to mapping Puerto Rico and our own bodies. Our contributors explore the challenges of fielding (un)safety within the people and places we love, while reflecting on the Self. We are so proud of this work, and we hope your experience reading this collection is as rich as our experience in curating and co-creating it.
We want to thank up//root’s founding editors Jorge Lopez McKnight, Sofia Leung and Joyce Gabiola for laying the groundwork upon which we have again and again found ourselves, and for inviting & entrusting us into this carefully crafted publication. Thank you for being in partnership & community with us, and for manifesting this space with valued care and intention.
We would also like to thank our we here collaborators Jennifer Ferretti, Jennifer Brown, and Becca Quon for the logistical and administrative support that too often goes unseen by anyone not in these trenches. The countless Slack messages and Zoom meetings pulled us through!
Lastly, we must thank our wonderful contributors: Arianna Alcaraz, Sabine Jean Dantus, Jewel Davis, Ramón Garcia, Kawena Komeiji, Shavonn Matsuda, Nisha Mody, Margie Montañez, Nicole L. Murph, Rosario Santiago, CKZ Shareef and Marlyn Terrell Thomas.
When we created the Call for Proposals, we could not have anticipated the beauty of your response. We are so proud of the breadth of work, and the abundance - the generosity you all have shared with everyone. Thank you.
Warmly,
Kristina and Megdi