The Global Banned Books Map

The Global Banned Books Map is an interactive resource created by a team of 18 research assistants under CGHR and The CRASSH Academic Freedoms Research Network’s The Political Economy of Banned Books Project. It seeks to map banned books, as well as the “networks of resistance” which sustained their existence, over time and in different contexts.

Coded in R Studio, this app allows for users to see the global nature of banned books. The map is designed to have two layers – one for the books themselves, and the other for the “networks of resistance.” While the red dots map the first location in which a book had been banned, the blue dots locate the “networks of resistance” which challenged their banning. Users can choose to display one or both layers. Clicking on a dot will show a short description of a book or network, reasons for (un)banning, and a link for further reading.

Under the filters section, users may narrow their search by the type of book ban, institution behind the ban, or institution involved with challenging the ban. The first two categories refer to the books themselves – the red dots – while the last category addresses the various “networks of resistance” – the blue dots. These filters were designed and selected by the research team to help synthesise typologies in relation to the project’s key questions: who decides what constitutes a “ban,” how do books become banned over time, why do we still know about these books’ existence after the ban? Moreover, the year range function may help users filter for the first year in which a book was banned in any context, with further details provided in each individual entry.

As of January 2026, the map features over 150 entries. Spanning over 40 countries, the cases were chosen by supplementing publicly available lists of global banned books with examples gleaned from archival material, videos, historical newspapers, web-blogs, legal briefs, academic publications, and open-source data. It should be mentioned that the goal of this map is not to comment on the morality of any of the bans, nor the books in question. Rather, in alignment with the project’s theme of “The Political Economy of Banned Book Circulation,” the intention is to highlight histories of those who challenged book bans and the diversity of bans in different contexts. To this end, the map itself forms the basis for the methodology behind articles in development and our upcoming presentation at the British International Studies Association’s 2026 Conference. 

The team behind this project includes: Siyi Du, Matilde Fulfaro, Abbie Gellatly, Latina Li, Deemah Lone, Zoe Louchet, Advait Mishra, Stefan Mitikj, Seren Morgan, Sanat Narayan, Anastasia Prussakova, Wichuta Teeratanabodee, Cindy Tsai, Efrain Uh, Shelley Yang, and Atticus Yus, with support from Rebecca Drewnicki, Ella McPherson and Sharath Srinivasan. The project lead is Selena Cai.