Lecture Video and Recap: Thuy Vo Dang on 'TEACH: Transforming Education, Archives and Community History'

Thuy Vo Dang, Assistant Professor of Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

Lecture Video

Lecture Recap

Colloquium held March 28, 2024.

Based on a decade of practical experience as the curator of the University of California, Irvine Libraries Southeast Asian Archive, Thuy Vo Dang believes that academic librarians and archivists may work toward transforming education, archives and community history (TEACH) through implementing a CARE approach. This includes a commitment to antiracist and person-centered praxis and pedagogy in archives co-creation and partnership with community organizations at the frontlines of documenting and preserving marginalized histories. Caring, in the archival context, begins with an acknowledgement of the harm mainstream archival institutions have caused for minoritized groups and then moving towards implementation of non-extractive, flexible and ethical partnerships and/or stewardship of cultural heritage materials. This talk provides examples of community-centered archival projects involving faculty, students, librarians/archivists and community-based organizations that implement a CARE approach and suggests possibilities for building stronger support for community archives.

About Thuy Vo Dang

Thuy Vo Dang is assistant professor of information studies at UCLA. She holds a PhD in Ethnic Studies from University of California, San Diego and a BA in English and Asian American Studies from Scripps College. Her previous role was curator for the UCI Libraries Southeast Asian Archive and research librarian for Asian American Studies. With research and teaching expertise in oral history, Southeast Asian diaspora, community archives and cultural memory, Thuy brings an interdisciplinary approach to co-creating digital humanities and archival documentation projects with educators and community-based organizations. She is co-author of the books A People’s Guide to Orange County (2022) and Vietnamese in Orange County (2015). Thuy serves on the board of directors for Arts OC and the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association.