In memoriam: Susan Leigh Star

We regretfully pass along news of the death of our author Susan Leigh Star, who passed away unexpectedly on March 24. At the time of her death, Star was on the faculty of the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Along with her husband, Geof Bowker, Star was a leader in the study of organization of information. One of her major works - Sorting Things Out, coauthored with Bowker - was a study of classification: the role that categories and standards play in the shaping of the modern world, and the moral-political consequences of classification systems. Here is a taste of the way they set out the contours of the study:

To classify is human. Not all classifications take formal shape or are standardized in commercial and bureaucratic products. We all spend large parts of our days doing classification work, often tacitly, and we make up and use a range of ad hoc classifications to do so. We sort dirty dishes from clean, white laundry from colorfast, important email from e-junk. We match the size and type of our car tires to the amount of pressure they should accept. Our desktops are a mute testimony to a kind of muddled folk classification...Any part of the home, school, or workplace reveals some such system: medications classed as not for children occupy a higher shelf than safer ones; books for reference are shelved close to where we do the Sunday crossword puzzle; door keys are color-coded and stored according to frequency of use.

These standards and classifications, however imbricated in our lives, are ordinarily invisible. The formal, bureaucratic ones trail behind them the entourage of permits, forms, numerals, and the sometimes visible work of people who adjust them to make organizations run smoothly. In that sense, they may become more visible, especially when they break down or become objects of contention. but what are these categories? Who makes them, and how may change them? When and why do they become visible? How do they spread?

Star's graduate students have set up a blog, Remembering Leigh, to share memories of their former teacher. According to the university, the funeral will take place on Tuesday, March 30, at Freyvogel Funeral Home in Pittsburgh.

She will be missed.

Comments

[Joanna Alvarado]

I research and wrote a report on Susan Star and (WOW!) what an amazing woman!