Date of Award
7-2025
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
Sociology
Department
Sociology
Major Professor
Dr. Jeffrey Parker
Second Advisor
Dr. D'Lane Compton
Third Advisor
Dr. Ryan Gray
Abstract
In this moment of societal change and institutional capture, public educational institutions have become sites of contention where national ideological and political debates are carried out in local school and library board meetings across the country. In Louisiana, the creation and expansion of a statewide conservative organization has led to the defunding of public libraries sparked by accusations of grooming and inappropriate programming. In response, local library defenders have created another statewide organization to share information and organizing strategies to combat disinformation campaigns propagated by conservative organizers at local and state levels. This qualitative study includes in-depth interviews with library defenders across the state as well as the founder of the local conservative organization in the lead up to a spring 2025 election in which four parishes decided whether to renew millages that accounted for most or all of their local library systems’ funding. The theoretical approach here applies Polanyi’s (1944) concept of double movement to the historic development of public libraries while incorporating analyses of education disruption to understand the context of the movement studied here. Findings are divided into four key themes that underpin the motivations of these organizers: Insider/Outsider, Institutional Faith & Distrust, Escalation & Mobilization, and Resilience. These findings, along with the spring 2025 election results, indicate both a potential strategy for library defenders as well as a broader problem facing public libraries as narratives of fear and disinformation around public educational institutions continue to become linchpins of national conservative political mobilization.
Recommended Citation
Quebedeaux, Ciel Lane, "Defending the Golden Fleece: A Study of Disruption and Resilience in the Movement to Defund Public Libraries in Louisiana" (2025). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 3305.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/3305
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Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.