Episode 259: Censorship and Obscenities with Michael Adams

Indiana University English professor Michael Adams returns to talk about taboo language and historical attempts to document it and suppress it. He bravely takes on the fraught issues around the f-word, bathroom graffiti, obscene literature, Shakespeare, and even hate speech. Along the way, he enlightens us about the Comstock Act, Tijuana bibles, smuggling contraband books, and daring scholars who persisted in studying forbidden language, particularly those supported by Madeleine Kripke, whose remarkable book collection continues to be literally unpacked by the Lilly Library. We also discuss the protection of free expression by the Constitution and the important role of universities in balancing  American values and ideals and providing broad access to knowledge. We discuss the recent and on-going controversy surrounding the university presidents' Congressional testimony, Indiana's de-funding of IU's Kinsey Institute, and the styles of censorship in fashion today. And finally, Michael shares some interesting data about swearing and intelligence, and we learn what delulu means. A wonderfully meaty and tasty episode!

Link to the episode when Michael first talked about the Kripke Collection:
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/books-shows-tunes-mad-acts/episodes/2022-04-01T14_00_00-07_00

Link to "Strong Language," the fun publication that Michael talks about:
https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2023/04/29/your-gal-aint-doodly-squat/

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