Mon 2 March 2009 at 5.00 pm
The Literature Police
Research seminar:
Apartheid Censorship and its Cultural Consequences
Dr Peter McDonald (Fellow of St. Hugh's College, University of Oxford)
Taking Place: Buckley Building
Join Dr Peter McDonald, author of The Literature Police: Apartheid Censorship and its Cultural Consequences (OUP 2009), as he traces over 80 years of political, cultural and censorship activities of South Africa and the impact this made on the history of publishing in that country.
In a world of digital communication and transparent borders it can be hard to understand how censorship still exists, or how it came to exist in some countries. South Africa is just one such example that closely scrutinised its publications that were either made public or banned during the era of Apartheid. How did some books come to pass the guidelines and who chose what to restrict?
Peter McDonald is currently a fellow of St Hugh's College at the University of Oxford. He was born in Cape Town in 1964 and educated in
South Africa and the United Kingdom. Peter has written extensively on the history of 'literature' as a category from the nineteenth century to the present day, on publishing history, and on the relationship between literary institutions and the modern state.
His latest publication, The Literature Police, will be available to buy at a discounted price on the night. Please join us for what promises to be an engaging seminar.