Banned Book Undergraduate Research Fellow David Win reflects on his study of censorship and the life-changing power of reading.
When sophomore David Win was growing up in Colorado, reading was his lifeline. As a Kayin refugee from Myanmar who arrived in the United States at the age of 2, he had little knowledge of his homeland and the culture he’d left behind.
“I don’t have a great grasp of my language, and my parents don’t have a great grasp of English,” he said. “In school every year we had to share about ourselves, so I would go online and start reading. It was a way for me to seek out and explore my world and others.”
Win quickly realized the powerful influence books can have on a person’s life. So, when he learned about the Banned Books Undergraduate Research Fellowship through the Center for the Humanities last year, he jumped at the opportunity to apply.
Last spring, Win and four other undergraduate students studied the rise of book bans as part of the inaugural fellowship. While not for academic credit, the program paid a research stipend to enable students to pursue independent research projects. Throughout the semester, they dug deep into the politics and impacts of book bans. Several fellows studied censorship in Missouri, the state with the third most recorded book bans in 2023, according to a report by PEN America.
Meredith Kelling, assistant director of student research and engagement for the Center for the Humanities, was impressed by how students used humanistic inquiry to address the problem of book bans. “These students really took to heart the idea that their developing expertise — in areas such as literary studies, psychology, political science, and sociology — could be applied to better understand a problem very close to home,” she said.
Win, an English and sociology major, created a Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) story map of school districts in Missouri. He used PEN America’s banned books data and ArcGIS's census demographics to locate where the bans took place and the demographics most likely to be affected.
In planning his project, Win drew on skills from both majors. The blending of social science data and humanities research presented an interesting challenge. “Before the fellowship, I didn’t quite understand humanities research,” he said. “But I’ve really grown to appreciate putting the two together.”
While a one-semester project can’t fully capture the state of censorship in the U.S., Win gained valuable insight into the problem. His research found that bans are most common in privileged, predominantly white suburbs. “Though predominantly white, these are school districts that have a number of minority students. The banned books usually feature BIPOC, queer, and feminist voices.”
The issue is personal for Win, who found great solace reading “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson in middle school. The title is now frequently on lists of banned books. The story chronicles the life of a high schooler who becomes a victim of sexual assault. “As a sexual assault survivor, it helped me navigate life to know others had similar experiences. I learned a vocabulary about what was happening to me,” he said. “It led to me being able to care for myself.”
The Center for the Humanities plans to offer the fellowship again in spring 2025, with applications opening on October 15. In the next fellowship cycle, Kelling plans to incorporate more opportunities for collaboration with community advocates for intellectual freedom. “Our undergraduates aren’t going to inherit a troubled world after graduating,” she said, “they are already living in it. They deserve to be part of the conversation about the freedoms of information and expression essential to a healthy society.”
