Dimensions of Censorship

2009

'...censorship is not reducible to a circumscribed and predefined set of institutions and institutional activities, but is produced with an array of constantly shifting discourse, practices and apparatuses. It cannot, there be regarded as either fixed or monolithic. [it...] is an ongoing process embodying complex and often contradictory relations of power.' - Helen Freshwater 

Dimensions of Censorship questions how internet censorship, for better or worse has affected the transient state of China. It is common knowledge that the media has always been susceptible to censorship, however the topic of censorship has always been a deeply complicated and moreover a pervasive element in human history. The question that arises is; has there even been such a thing as free speech at all? Or is it that every statement's coherence lies firmly within the 'interpretative community' that receives it? In light of this, can censorship be a productive force?

 

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