Global Studies, Modern Languages & Literatures

College of Arts & Sciences

Moves to control what the public knows have a long history in most cultures. Bans of individual works serve to extend political control, maintain public “decorum,” protect community values and economic influence, and enforce traditional divisions in society. Censorship keeps books, poems, films, art, performances, even individual phrases and words out of general circulation around the globe. But is censorship necessary? What about our freedom of expression? How do we draw the line between individual rights and the common good? In this course we will look at theories behind censorship and explore twentieth- and twenty-first-century works of cinema, literature, visual art, and music banned around the globe to understand what motivates both the censors and the ingenious dissenters who find and share such “dangerous” material.