Book Banning: Power, Identity, and Library Ideology

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Nine
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Race Theory and Other Critical Theoretical Perspectives for Racial Justice (Table 7)

Abstract

The purpose of this critical discourse analysis is to better understand elements of power and identity in book banning discourse and the potential for furthering an exclusionary library ideology through discourse. Research that supports the importance of literature reflecting the diversity of human identities provides context for this study. Critical Race Theory’s tenets of Whiteness as property and counterstorytelling frame analysis of the power used in defining the library space and the identities targeted in book banning discourse. Preliminary findings indicate the emergence of an exclusionary library ideology that seeks to restrict the library space by targeting counterstories.

Author

• Kimberly Reichenbach Krutka, University of North Texas
  Presenting Author