Article
Totally Invisible: Asian American Representation in the Dewey Decimal Classification, 1876-1996
Knowledge Organization
(1998)
Abstract
The term “Asian American” emerged on college campuses in the 1960s to replace the term “Oriental.” It was a political term, chosen by students to gather people from different ethnic communities under one pan-ethnic banner. We examine the representation of Asian American materials in the first twenty-one editions of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and discusses the findings in relation to the history of the term “Asian
American.” We aim to 1) relate existing literature on bias and knowledge organization to Asian American studies and critical race theories including the possessive investment in whiteness and racial formation; 2) compare the history of the term “Asian American” as a self- identifying term to the evolution of the term in DDC; and 3) lay a historical foundation from which to consider the treatment of the term “Asian American” in the contemporary DDC and by extension other modern knowledge organization systems.
Keywords
- Asian American identity,
- racial representation,
- knowledge organization systems,
- Dewey Decimal Classification
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter December, 1998
Citation Information
Molly Higgins. "Totally Invisible: Asian American Representation in the Dewey Decimal Classification, 1876-1996" Knowledge Organization Vol. 43 Iss. 8 (1998) p. 609 - 621 ISSN: 0943-7444 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/molly_higgins/21/