An Overview

Abstract This introductory chapter begins by showing that claims about silencing in the popular culture are quite different from one another, thereby indicating that silencing can take distinct forms. A variety of cases are presented and they are used to motivate the exploration and analysis of the book. These cases also illuminate the complex and multi-faceted nature of silencing. Three broad categories of silencing are identified: cases where a person attempts to communicate but is misunderstood in some way, cases where a person is prevented from even attempting to communicate, and cases where a communication is prevented from having the impact in the world that it should. This introductory chapter also explains why we should care about silencing.