The ABCs of Book Banning
Censorship through the eyes of the next generation
The ABCs of Book Banning (2023)
Directed by Sheila Nevins, Trish Adlesic, Nazenet Habtezghi, 27 mins
Livestreamed screening and discussion
In recent years, more than 2,500 books have been removed from school districts around the US, labeled as banned, restricted, or challenged, and made unavailable to millions of students.
By no accident, the themes targeted are the usual scapegoats of the American Right: LGBTQ+ issues, Black History, and women’s empowerment, impeding the power of future generations to develop their own thoughts and opinions on critical social issues.
By weaving together a lyrical montage of young readers and authors, Oscar-nominated The ABCs of Book Banning reveals the voices of the impacted parties, and inspires hope for the future through the profound insights of inquisitive youthful minds.
At Global Health Film, we see The ABCs of Book Banning as a fantastic springboard into many wider considerations around the control of knowledge and information in global health including:
- equitable and self-determined access to education and information
- politics and control, such as the promotion/restriction of health information during the Covid pandemic and the early years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic
- epistemic justice: who produces the knowledge? who gets credit? which and whose knowledge counts?
Panel discussion
We will explore these themes - and many more - at the panel discussion after the screening.
That discussion will be moderated by Dr Dawn Henwood, knowledge translation specialist; Dawn will be joined by Dr Sridhar Venkatapuram, Associate Professor in Global Health and Philosophy at King's College London, and Trish Adlesic, co-director of The ABCs of Book Banning. More panel details to follow shortly.