Censorship shapes what societies are permitted to know, remember, create and debate. Although often associated with authoritarian governments and formal prohibitions, it also operates through democratic institutions, educational systems, publishers, cultural organisations, religious authorities, digital platforms and professional or economic pressures. By determining which voices can be heard, which histories are preserved and which ideas may circulate, censorship remains a central instrument through which political and cultural power is exercised.
Contemporary technologies have transformed these practices without replacing their historical forms. Platform governance, algorithmic filtering and automated content removal now coexist with book bans, restricted archives, state control of the media, political interference in research and the suppression of artistic or oppositional expression. Censorship may be overt or informal, imposed externally or internalised through self-censorship. It raises fundamental questions about authority, legitimacy, resistance and the unequal distribution of expressive freedom.
This Collection welcomes research examining censorship as a historical, political, cultural and social phenomenon. We encourage contributions from across the humanities and social sciences, including history, literature, philosophy, political science, sociology, anthropology, law, education, publishing, media and communication studies, religious studies, art history and film studies.
We invite papers engaging with topics including, but not limited to:
- Censorship, government and political power
- Censorship in democratic and authoritarian societies
- Propaganda, information control and public opinion
- Histories and theories of censorship
- Literature, publishing and translation
- Academic freedom and knowledge production
- Artistic and cultural expression
- Archives, heritage and public memory
- Religion, morality and cultural authority
- Colonial and postcolonial censorship
- Self-censorship and cultures of silence
- Digital censorship and resistance
We particularly welcome comparative and interdisciplinary research that examines how censorship is produced, legitimised, negotiated and resisted across different political, historical and cultural contexts, and how it intersects with broader structures of inequality, authority and resistance. Contributions highlighting under-represented regions, languages, communities and forms of expression are especially encouraged.
