ENGL 3778

Free Speech, Censorship, and the Age of Global Media

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2022-2023.

This course will help us understand how our ideas about free speech are shifting in an age of global information by surveying the history of censorship from the late 16th-century to the present day. In democratic societies, freedom of expression is both a cultural value and protected right, and yet governments also routinely regulate speech through a variety of mechanisms: from direct censorship, to licensing and copyright laws, to high court decisions about what qualifies as "speech". We will consider how the categories of dangerous speech—blasphemy, pornography, treason, libel—and thresholds of toleration, have changed over time. And we will also consider forms of censorship that have sought to protect freedoms and ensure civil discourse, such as restrictions on hate speech, genocide denial, and "fake news". Authors and subjects may include Milton, Defoe, Freud, Foucault, Joyce, MacKinnon, Butler, Wiki-Leaks, campus speech debates, Anonymous, social media, net neutrality and the economic determinants of free speech.

When Offered Fall or Spring.

Distribution Category (ALC-AS, CA-AS)
Satisfies Requirement This course counts toward the post-1800 requirements for English majors.

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