ENGL 2775

ENGL 2775

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2016-2017.

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."  This course will survey the history of free expression and the free press from the late 16th-century to the present day through a series of case studies on authors and topics ranging from Milton and Defoe to Joyce and Rushdie; from music, intellectual property, and the parody of 2 Live Crew  to corporate speech; from "seditious libel" to Wiki-Leaks; and from slander and hate speech to obscenity and pornography. We will consider how the categories of dangerous speech, and thresholds of toleration, have changed over time. And we will compare the different standards brought to bear on "political" versus "artistic" speech.

When Offered Spring.

Distribution Category (CA-AS)

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Syllabi: none
  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16279 ENGL 2775   LEC 001