Dec 22 2023 46 mins
On this episode, we continue our Value/Values theme by thinking about the value of confronting works of art that challenge our values. Michael Borshuk speaks with Rob Weiner from Texas Tech libraries about transgressive cinema and the "video nasties" scandal of the 1980s in the United Kingdom, and then talks to Dr. Belinda Kleinhans, Associate Professor of German Studies, about censorship activities in Nazi Germany and an ironic tie to the practice of banning books in our contemporary moment.
Some of the contexts Michael Borshuk references in this episode:
Kat Eschner, "The Bowdlers Wanted to Clean Up Shakespeare, Not Become a Byword for Censorship"
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bowdlers-wanted-clean-shakespeare-not-become-byword-censorship-180963945/
American Library Association, "2023 Preliminary Data Shows Record Surge of Challenges in Public Libraries"
https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/book-ban-data