"While the scale has intensified dramatically, this enforcement of social hegemony through literary and aesthetic regulation is not a new phenomenon. Historian Andrew Hartman contends that "the history of America, for better and worse, is largely a history of debates about the idea of America." We are watching this ideological question play out violently, attempting to delineate which bodies are "American," what behavior is "American," and what art, what literature, what television is "American.""
"In late 2023, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an assembly bill into law protecting school curricula from gender- and race-based bans. Tony Thurmond, state superintendent of public instruction, celebrated this victory, proclaiming that the measure "sends a strong signal to the people of California - but also to every American - that in the Golden State - we don't ban books - we cherish them.""
Language restriction has been used as a tactic to erode civil rights and enforce social hegemony through literary and aesthetic regulation. Debates about the idea of America center on which bodies, behaviors, and cultural forms are considered American. Moral outrage over literature and the banning of books and educational materials function to police national identity. The 2023–2024 academic year saw a record number of book bans, prompting legislative responses like California's law protecting curricula from gender- and race-based bans. These protections do not extend uniformly; access to literature in state prisons remains heavily monitored and restricted.
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