Book censorship


Book censorship is the act of some authority taking measures to suppress ideas and information within a book. Censorship is "the regulation of free speech and other forms of entrenched authority". Censors typically identify as either a concerned parent, community members who react to a text without reading, or local or national organizations. Marshall University Library defines a banned book as one that is "removed from a library, classroom etc." and a challenged book as one that is "requested to be removed from a library, classroom etc." Books can be censored by burning, shelf removal, school censorship, and banning books. Books are most often censored for age appropriateness, offensive language, sexual content, amongst other reasons. Similarly, religions may issue lists of banned books, such as the historical example of the Roman Catholic Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum, which do not always carry legal force. Censorship can be enacted at the national or subnational level as well, and can carry legal penalties. Books may also be challenged at a local community level, although successful bans do not extend outside that area.

Background

"Almost every country places some restrictions on what may be published, although the emphasis and the degree of control differ from country to country and at different periods." There are a variety of reasons for which books may be censored. Materials are often suppressed due to the perceived notion of obscenity. This obscenity can apply to materials that are about sexuality, race, drugs, or social standing. The censorship of literature on the charge of obscenity appears to have begun in the early 19th century. The rise of the middle class, who had evangelical backgrounds, brought about this concern with obscenity.
Governments have also sought to ban certain books which they perceive to contain material that could threaten, embarrass, or criticize them.
Throughout history, societies practiced various forms of censorship in the belief that the community, as represented by the government, was responsible for molding the individual.
Other leaders outside the government have banned books, including religious authorities. Church leaders who prohibit members of their faith from reading the banned books may want to shelter them from perceived obscene, immoral, or profane ideas or situations or from ideas that may challenge the teaching of that religion.
But even religious materials have been subject to censorship. For example, various scriptures have been banned. The Bible has been censored and even banned, as have other religious scriptures. Similarly, books based on the scriptures have also been banned, such as Leo Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You, which was banned in the Russian Empire for being anti-establishment.
Banning of a book often has the effect of making people seek the book. The action of banning the book creates an interest in the book which has the opposite effect of making the work more popular.

Methods

Book burning

is the practice of destroying, often ceremonially, books or other written material. It is usually carried out in public and is generally motivated by moral, religious, or political objections to the material, with a desire to censor it. Book burning is one of the original types of censorship dating back to 213 BCE. Book burning has historically been performed in times of conflict, for example Nazi book burnings, US Library of Congress, Arian books, Jewish Manuscripts in 1244, and the burning of Christian texts, just to name a few. In the United States, book burning is another right that is protected by the first amendment as a freedom of expression.

School censorship

In the United States, school organizations that find contents of a book to be offensive or unfit for a given age group will often have the book removed from the class curriculum. This type of censorship usually arises from parental influence in schools. Parents who do not feel comfortable with a child's required reading will make efforts to have the book removed from a class, and replaced by another title.

Banning books

According to the Marshall University Library, a banned book in the United States is one that has been "removed from a library, classroom, etc". In many situations, parents or concerned parties will ban or propose a ban based on the book's contents. The American Library Association publishes a list of the top "Banned and Challenged Books" for any given year. The American Library Association also organizes a "Banned Books Week", which is “an annual event celebrating the freedom to read." The goal of the project is to bring awareness to banned books and promote the freedom to learn.

Shelf removal

School libraries

According to the American Library Association, "the school library is a unique and essential part of the learning community, and when led by a qualified school librarian, prepares all learners for college, career, and life." In certain scenarios, concerned third parties often voice their concerns over certain titles in libraries that they deem to be unfit for students. In 1982, the Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 versus Pico was taken to the United States Supreme Court. In the case, students and parents challenged the board's removal of certain titles from the school library. The books included texts which the board considered to be "anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy." The Supreme Court Justices stated removal of books from libraries was only permissible if the books were considered educationally unsuitable.

Public libraries

are considered to be open to the public within a town or community. Similar to school libraries, removal of books from public library shelves is often the subject of heavy debate. "Public schools and public libraries...have been the setting for legal battles about student access to books, removal or retention of 'offensive' material, regulation of patron behavior, and limitations on public access to the internet." In 2014, Singapore removed And Tango Makes Three, as well as The White Swan Express from public libraries based on the book's gay and lesbian couples. The National Library Board takes a "a pro-family and cautious approach in identifying titles for our young visitors", and later pulped the books.

Reasons

Book censorship can arise for any number of reasons. Concerned parties may find certain texts to be unfit for a learning environment. Some of the most common reasons for censorship include:

Nazi-Era Germany

During the Second World War, the German Nazi party hosted frequent book burnings following seizures of property belonging non-Nazi Germans. The burnings were organized along with the efforts of an all-powerful Aryan Race that were being instated in the government by Joseph Goebbels; the Nazi Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda. These events were seen as a symbolic cleanse for the German people, ridding their country and Aryan identity of anything that was 'un-German' in its ideals. The materials included in the burning were not limited to works made within the Weimar Republic of the time, and the blacklist being followed reached to American authors as well as socialist and communist works. Ultimately, the blacklist for book burnings was focused on any content that would threaten the totality of Nazi power in Germany.More than anything else, these book burnings were remove Jewish cultural influences in Germany, at the order of the rising Nazi regime.

Ireland's Censorship of Publications Act of 1929

Ireland's relationship with censorship was connected to the passing of the Censorship of Publications Act in 1929 as a result of an all-encompassing effort on the part of the Catholic Actions groups. The 1929 act would not be repealed until 1967. For the 38 years before the act was repealed, the status of Irish works was left completely at the whim of members of the Catholic Church. In accordance to the act, the censorship board put into place would be composed of a member of the Catholic Truth Society of Ireland or a Knight of St. Columbanus as well as three additional Catholics and a final Protestant. This congregation were tasked with deciding whether or not a work had any tendency towards the "indecent or obscene". For a work to be prohibited there was a required four-to-one majority following an intense analysis of the work for any potentially problematic content. Works that were deemed too provocative would be banned by the deciding board.

Apartheid South Africa

The nearly 50 year period of Apartheid in South Africa, under influence of the severe policies of racial segregation, silenced the voices of many who were critical of the government. The censorship of such writings was legalized under the institution of the 1950 Suppression of Communism Act. This act was the governments tool to refute any anti-government propaganda being released against the Apartheid, allowing the works of any person who had left the country or who was considered to have acted against the state to be prohibited entirely. Banned people were marked with a Communist label, making it clear that no works being produced on their behalf were to be consumed by a South African Citizen.
It was not until the early 1990s, the South African Government began a process of evaluating the banned materials looking to decide if certain works should still be considered prohibited in the country. This evaluation led to much of the considerations for prohibited materials to become limited to explicit topics instead of politically driven messaging. Though some materials remained undesirable following this reevaluation, there were major publications that were then allowed to be distributed in South Africa. Especially notable was the country's growing openness to various works of political thinkers such as Nelson Mandela, Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Credit for this new perspective can be offered towards an increasingly liberal political climate coming into place during the early 1990s.

Challenged books

By country