Course Offerings
Silencing Acts
What are the social and political motivations behind censorship? Who censors whom? How do considerations and arguments regarding censorship change depending on the medium or location of expression? What are the unintended consequences of these silencing acts? Our explorations will take us through oral history, print, music, television, film, videogame and online censorship in the United States. We will pair our analyses of these different types of texts with physical and virtual visits from representatives of local and online organizations that present distinctive views and objectives with regard to free speech. Some of our primary considerations will be self-censorship in our everyday lives, the protection of minors from sexual and violent content, and the ways the Internet has both revolutionized and challenged our notions of free speech.
Course taught by
Anna Cox