Censorship vs. Selection

LCN617—Children’s Literature: Criticism and Practice. 2015.

Erica Hateley – erica.hateley@qut.edu.au

“That was mere foreplay. Wherever they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.” – Heinrich Heine

“Part of becoming a librarian is learning why and how you stand up against people who want to remove books from libraries.” – Elizabeth Briscoe-Wilson (West, Trust 167)

2013 event; 2015 confirmation

“Byrd-Bennett is asking principals to disregard an earlier order to pull the graphic novel “Persepolis” out of schools by the end of today, but she asked that schools stop teaching the book to 7th-graders. […] She specifically directed that the book not be removed from school libraries.” (Ahmed-Ullah and Bowean)

“But Chicago Teachers Union spokesperson Stephanie Gadlin dismissed the backtracking as "Orwellian doublespeak", pointing out that "unfortunately 160 elementary schools don't have libraries – and

they know that”.” (Flood)

"We understand why the district would be afraid of a book like this – at a time when they are closing schools – because it's about questioning authority, class structures, racism and gender issues," said Mayle. "There's even a

part in the book where they are talking about blocking access to education. So we can see why the school district would be alarmed about students

learning about these principles.” (Flood)

“The American Library Association, which tracks attempts to remove books from schools and libraries, said it had received no reports about "Persepolis" being challenged or scrutinized for possible banning.” (Ahmed-Ullah and Bowean)

N.B.: See Williams; Joravsky; for 2015 reportage of a LIS graduate student’s research into this series of events!

“It was brought to our attention…” – Barbara Byrd-Bennett

“assumptions” about censorship

“any work of literature at any level is potentially censorable by someone, somewhere, sometime, for some reason.”

“New books or ideas or teaching methods are more likely to be censored than anything hallowed by time.”

“Censorship more often than not comes unexpectedly,”

“Censorship is capricious and arbitrary, books used in one school or library being free from attack while in another school or library close by, those same books will be attacked.” (Donelson 404)

“Censorship is a real threat, but too many teachers and librarians regard it as they do cancer or highway accidents, a kind of it-can’t-happen-to-me, only-the-other-guy syndrome.”

“Censorship comes more often than not from outsiders, parents and the public at large, but censorship also comes from within the school and the library.”

“schools and libraries that have experienced censorship become fearful and tend to play things very cozy.” (Donelson 405)

Defining “censor”…

 censor, n. 1. The title of two magistrates in ancient Rome, who drew up the register or census of the citizens,

etc., and had the supervision of public morals.

   2. a. transf. One who exercises official or officious supervision over morals and conduct.

    b. spec. An official in some countries whose duty it is to inspect all books, journals, dramatic pieces, etc., before publication, to secure that they shall contain nothing immoral, heretical, or offensive to the government. More explicitly dramatic censor, film censor.

    c. In Universities and Colleges, the title of various officials.  At Oxford and Cambridge it is the title of the official Head of the Non-collegiate or ‘Unattached’ Students; in the Royal College of Physicians, the officers who grant licenses.

    d. U.S. (See quot.)

    e. An official whose duty it is to censor private correspondence (as in time of war: cf. CENSOR v.).

    3.    a. One who judges or criticizes (obs.).    b. esp. One who censures or blames; an adverse critic; one given to fault-finding.

    4. Psychol. [Mistranslation of G. zensur censorship.] A mental power or force which represses certain elements in the unconscious and prevents them from emerging into the conscious mind. Also attrib. Cf. CENSORSHIP 3.

censor, v.  trans. To act as censor to; see CENSOR n. 2b; spec. with reference to the control of news and the

departmental supervision of naval and military private correspondence (as in time of war) or to the censorship of dramatic or cinematographic productions. Often in ppl. a.

Source: Oxford English Dictionary

“Throughout the history of children’s literature, the people who have tried to censor children’s books, for all their ideological differences, share a rather romantic view about the power of books. They believe, or at least profess to believe, that books are such a major influence in the formation of children’s values and attitudes that adults need to monitor nearly every word that children read.” (West, “Censorship” 506)

Click icon to add picture Click icon to add picture“In ancient Rome the censor was a magistrate who prepared the census and oversaw public morals, and both “censor” and “census” derive from the Latin censere, meaning to value or to tax.” (Kidd 197)

“censorship involves more than simply excluding certain texts from the classroom, but also operates through school literacy practices that deny students the opportunity to interrogate what they read or to use texts for their own purposes” (Doecke and Hayes 36)

Sound Bite

“What I’m watching here is a story, and a pretty darn good one, but I’m bopping around in and out of everybody’s head and heart, and I can’t find any real bad guys” (Crutcher 134)

“The principle characters here are mad at one another for what they believe, so maybe the fact that they look good or bad to one another can take the place of good and evil in this story, should I actually try to get it down on paper, which I’ve been thinking would be a good idea.

I mean, wouldn’t it be cool if I could figure out how to turn this conflict into a book that humans could read and talk about?” (Crutcher 135)

The Human Factor

Books don’t “exist” independently of individual and social consumption. That is, the material object does, but a text exists when read.

Thus, we need to remember the human dimensions of censorship:

“Censorship also is local, which means that it is personal, affecting individuals before it is taken up as a cause by groups and organizations and becomes the subject of headlines and talk shows and newscasts.” (Cormier 67)

Source: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/statistics

ALA’s statistics tell us:

Little Wonder That “Parents” Loom:

“Censors, of course, often accuse teachers, librarians, authors, and even other parents as seeking to corrupt the young. But anticensorship advocates likewise construct censors as hopelessly Other.” (Kidd 204)

EXCEPT, WHEN “THE CENSOR” IS A PARENT:

“Who can quarrel with parents who try to shelter their children from what they perceive as bad influences, whether it’s a book or friends or strangers on the street?” (Cormier 73)

“And this is why censorship is so difficult to fight.

It’s the act of sincere, sometimes desperate people who are frightened by the world they live in and in which they are bringing up their children.” (Cormier 74)

Morality, Families, Societies…

Although frequently constructed as objective and universal, “morals” are a subjective and personal issue, but are nonetheless forms of social engagement

Q: How old does a person have to be before they are understood to be an autonomous moral agent?

Q: How far does “parental authority” extend?

Q: What is the relationship (real or ideal) between families and societies?

Sound Bite:

“I always tell kids in these places where the books have been taken off the school shelves that the most important things are the things your parents don’t want you to find out. So when they ban a book I tell them run, don’t walk, to the nearest bookstore and get it so you can find out what your elders don’t want you to know. Those secrets have power.”

– Stephen King (Bushman and Bushman 201)

Complicating the “Who” and the “How”: “Covert” Censorship in Libraries (Moody) and classrooms:

Vendor and Publisher Bias Acquisitions Outsourcing Pressure from Funding Bodies Self Censorship and ‘Community Standards’

Self Censorship “I have learned, astonishingly, that not all censorship is bad and that, in fact, censorship

for the writer begins at home.” (Cormier 69) “I knew instantly what I had done: I had been willing to inflict that chapter on other

people’s fifteen-year-old daughters but unwilling to inflict it on my own daughter. I removed the chapter.” (Cormier 71)

Self Censorship can also derive from fear—often well-founded—for one’s reputation, livelihood, and even for one’s life.

“Growing up as I did in the segregated South of the 1940s and 1950s, I grew up in a place where what I thought, what I wrote, and what I said could result in my death. That may sound like an exaggeration. It is not. I wanted and want to live a long and good life. However, I was in my teens when I decided that death was preferable to not being able to think, speak, and write as I wanted to. Even in a picture book for children. Especially in a picture book for children.” – Julius Lester (E-mail, 8 July, 2007)

“Positive” Censorship

“A more delicate issue is what we might call progressive censorship, the censorship of materials that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise out of line with contemporary social and ethical mores.” (Kidd 200)

The case of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

“A new challenge emerged in 1957 when the [NAACP] protested the racist aspects of the book and demanded that it be removed from high schools in New York City.” (Karolides et al. 336)

“textbook publishers up to 1975 met challenges by substituting euphemisms” (Karolides et al. 337)

“The novel has been frequently banned or challenged by school districts for its language, particularly its racial references and the use of the slur “nigger.” A significant number of such challenges have come from well-educated, middle-class, African-American parents who wish to prevent their children from exposure to such insulting references.” (Karolides et al. 337)

“The most comprehensive objection to the novel regarded its use in English classes at Taylor County (Butler, Georgia) High School in 1994, when challengers not only claimed that it contained racial slurs and improper grammar, but it also did not reject slavery.” (Karolides et al. 338)

Recently the “Gribbens” edition has renewed debate about Huckleberry Finn

Sound Bite:

“Last week a few Kindle owners awoke to discover that the company had reached into their devices and remotely removed copies of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. […] In June, fans of Ayn Rand suffered the same […] some customers have complained of the same experience with Harry Potter books.” (Manjoo)

“The worst thing about this story isn't Amazon's conduct; it's the company's technical capabilities. Now we know that Amazon can delete anything it wants from your electronic reader.” (Manjoo)

“Amazon deleted books that were already available in print, but in our paperless future—when all books exist as files on servers—courts would have the power to make works vanish completely. Zittrain writes: "Imagine a world in which all copies of once-censored books like Candide, The Call of the Wild, and Ulysses had been permanently destroyed at the time of the censoring and could not be studied or enjoyed after subsequent decision-makers lifted the ban.”” (Manjoo)

What gets censored?

In Australia? Lots of things – http://www.classification.gov.au

In the world of children’s literature? LOTS of things… Authors, Editors, Publishers,

Booksellers, Librarians, Teachers, Caregivers etc. etc. etc.

Case-by-case? Check out the ALA’s lists of “Most Frequently Challenged / Banned Books”—whichever way you slice the lists, children’s literature seems central!

What does “unsuited for age group” mean?

Most frequently challenged books of 2014

1)      The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

Reasons: anti-family, cultural insensitivity, drugs/alcohol/smoking, gambling, offensive language, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group, violence. Additional reasons: “depictions of bullying”

2)      Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi

Reasons: gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint. Additional reasons: “politically, racially, and socially offensive,” “graphic depictions”

3)      And Tango Makes Three, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Reasons: Anti-family, homosexuality, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “promotes the homosexual agenda”

4)      The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison

Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “contains controversial issues”

5)      It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris

Reasons: Nudity, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group. Additional reasons: “alleges it child pornography”

Source: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10

So, “as” Educators / Teacher-Librarians?

Know your history. Understand that in one way or another, libraries and schools have been

involved in censorship for decades (if not centuries).

Know your: Texts / Collection Students / Patrons Institution Community

You should have sound reasons for your particular stance on reading, books, censorship etc.

ALA’s “Strategies and Tips…” re: school libraries: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/challengedmaterials/support/strategies#schoollib

Policy & Practice Develop a policy; develop practices

“I would hope that any statement would at least consider five reasons why young people might like to read and might benefit from reading: First and foremost, reading provides enjoyment […] Reading allows kids to see themselves and their problems perhaps just a trifle more

objectively. […] Reading provides vicarious experiences beyond the possibility of any one person’s life

[…] Reading exposes young people to value systems and ideas and practices often quite

different from their own […] Reading allows students to discover the world as it was and is, a world neither all good

nor all evil, but a world all human.”

(Donelson 406)

Whether you agree with Donelson’s “reasons”, you should have your own reasons for your particular stance on reading, books, censorship etc.

What to do?: http://ccb.lis.illinois.edu/challenge.html

What does your library’s challenge form look like?

Perhaps, most importantly:

Take an informed position; be prepared to change your mind, listen to others, think and re-think the issues through;

As best you can, identify the ideological assumptions that underpin your position;

Be prepared to engage productively with those who do, and those who do not, share your position;

I believe that this issue is both profoundly individual AND beyond the individual, a point I make only to suggest that: it’s not, ultimately, about “you” or “me”, even as it is obviously about both.

What’s At Stake? From Alexandria in 48BC(?) to Iraq in 2003 (see Byrne), books are often only fully appreciated

during or after their destruction

I understand that my belief in freedom of thought, speech, and access to culture is in and of itself a very specific ideological position, derived from very particular socio-cultural conditions and conditioning. Despite, or perhaps because of, this understanding, I cannot simply dismiss these beliefs. I demand, in fact, that all books, all forms of culture, remain available to all so that those who disagree with me, those who come after me, can read and make up their own minds.

I also make the point, however, that there is a difference between access/availability and consumption… Everyone has the right to refuse to read a book.

Who has the right to stop another from reading? Who has the right to destroy a book?

Joseph Brodsky, 1987 Nobel Laureate, suggested:

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”

Discussion Prompts

As Teacher Librarians, what might you want to include or exclude from your library?

Are there any circumstances in which excluding a book from a school library is appropriate or acceptable? What are your personal “limits”? (I’m not asking people to air or share their deeply-held beliefs here, I’m just inviting folks to think about what books would you always have in your library; what books would you never have in your library?)

Have you given any thought to library policies to handle book challenges or censorship requests?

Read your example “Collection Development Policy” for this week—what does it have to say about challenges or censorship?

Is it possible to disentangle our thoughts and actions around this issue ‘as’ TLs, from our ‘other selves’ (i.e. as parents or caregivers, as teachers, as consumers, as citizens)?

If you have a chance to read Kenneth Kidd’s article, what are your thoughts about ‘positive censorship’ (only including the "best" in libraries)?

Works Cited:Ahmed-Ulla, Noreen and Lolly Bowean. “CPS Tells Schools to Disregard Order to Pull Graphic Novel.” Chicago Tribune March 15, 2013. Online. Available at: http://bit.ly/17AlKp1

Bushman, John H. and Kay Parks Bushman. Using Young Adult Literature in the English Classroom. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River: Merrill, 1997.

Byrne, Alex. “The End of History: Censorship and Libraries.” Australian Library Journal 53.2 (2004): 133-151. DOI: 10.1080/00049670.2004.10721620

“censor”. Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Ed. John Simpson. Oxford: OUP, 1989.

Cormier, Robert. “A Book is Not a House: The Human Side of Censorship.” Authors’ Insights: Turning Teenagers Into Readers and Writers. Ed. Donald R. Gallo. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1992. 65-74.

Crutcher, Chris. The Sledding Hill. 2005. New York: HarperTempest, 2006.

Doecke, Brenton and Terry Hayes. “Good Dreams/Bad Dreams: Text Selection and Censorship in Australia.” English in Education 33.3 (1999): 31-42.

Donelson, Kenneth L. “What To Do When the Censor Comes.” Elementary English 51.3 (1974): 403-409.

Flood, Alison. “Persepolis Battle in Chicago Schools Provokes Outcry.” Guardian March 19, 2013. Online. Available at: http://bit.ly/102aTUa

Joravsky, Ben. “How CPS Officials Decided to Pull Persepolis from the Classroom.” Chicago Reader February 11, 2015. Online. Available at: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/e-mails-show-cps-officials-pull-persepolis-classrooms/Content?oid=16355626

Karolides, Nicholas J., Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova. 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature. New York: Checkmark Books, 1999.

Kidd, Kenneth. “‘Not Censorship But Selection’: Censorship and/as Prizing.” Children’s Literature in Education 40.3 (2009): 197-216.

Manjoo, Farhad. “Why 2024 Will Be Like Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Slate.com July 20, 2009. Online. Available at: http://www.slate.com/id/2223214

Moody, Kim. “Covert Censorship in Libraries: A Discussion Paper.” Australian Library Journal 54.2 (2005): 138-147. DOI: 10.1080/00049670.2005.10721741

West, Mark I. “Censorship.” International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. Eds. Peter Hunt and Sheila Ray. New York: Routledge, 1996. 498-507.

---. Trust Your Children: Voices Against Censorship in Children’s Literature. 2nd ed. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 1997.

Williams, Maren. “Grad Student Uncovers Truth About Persepolis Ban in Chicago Public Schools.” Comic Book Legal Defense Fund February 19, 2015. Online. Available at: http://cbldf.org/2015/02/grad-student-uncovers-truth-about-persepolis-ban-in-chicago-public-schools/