In the seminar "Global Censorship" (winter semester 2023/24, led by Nikola Roßbach), students worked on projects of their own choosing on various countries in order to track down censorship - especially of books. This was more difficult than expected because censorship is taboo: no state openly admits to repression.

Two experts (Dr. Sigrun Abels, TU Berlin; Prof. Dr. Manfred Loimeier, specialist in African literatures from the University of Heidelberg) enriched the seminar with insights into their areas of expertise - and also with some tips for research.

After an intensive examination of censorship research, the topics (five current, one historical) were developed using various tools. The result is numerous new entries for the "Kassel List" (the largest database of banned books worldwide). In addition, there are informative banner texts on the countries under consideration and their censorship situation.

The first three projects - on Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union - are online: www.kasselerliste.com.