Power, Control, and Fear: Eight Historical Tenets of Censorship

Censorship is an act of control, driven by a combustible mix of power, privilege, and fear. Large pro-censorship movements historically occur in response to social changes that alarms a privileged population, dictating access to information for the entire community according to the personal beliefs of the privileged group. This webinar will explore eight historical tenets of censorship that shed light on the current censorship movement, which are useful to libraries seeking ways to understand and to navigate the latest threat of book bans. While this new movement has added seemingly unthinkable dimensions, like laws that threaten to imprison libraries for simply doing their jobs, much of what is occurring now is also deeply rooted in past attempts to thwart social change.

About Dr. Paul T. Jaeger (University of Maryland), Allison Jennings-Roche (Towson University), Dr. Natalie Green Taylor (University of South Florida), and Dr. Ursula Gorham (University of Maryland).