Teaching Banned Books: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Young Adult Literature

According to Harvard historian and educator, Timothy Patrick McCarthy, "These are treacherous times in education. We are living in an age of bullies where schools are once again in the crosshairs of the culture wars. In this context, to fight the forces of bigotry and censorship is as risky as it is urgent." In this course we will examine some of the political and social movements over the last decades to ban certain books and topics in American classrooms. Our primary focus will be on reading the banned books and developing approaches to how they might be taught in a variety of educational contexts and the potential challenges that might arise. We will also examine the reasons for and value in teaching particular texts. Possible books include:The Bluest Eye, The Hate U Give, All Boys Arent Blue, Flamer, Felix Ever After. This course will be of particular interest to future educators who will be confronted by the many efforts to ban certain books or topics in American classrooms. However, our broader goal will be to better understand and challenge the efforts to limit what can be read and taught in our schools.This course fulfills the Race, Blackness, and Language requirement for English majors.