Democracy Lives in Darkness: How and Why People Keep Their Politics a Secret

Emily Van Duyn

Feb 2022 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Sarah Welborn

About this audiobook

In Democracy Lives in Darkness, Emily Van Duyn discovers and follows a secret political organization of progressive women in a conservative community in rural Texas. Its members met in secret to protect themselves from retaliation by their conservative neighbors, friends, and family. They discussed immigrant rights, women's reproductive rights, racism, and intolerance of those of different racial/ethnic and cultural backgrounds in their community. Democracy Lives in Darkness is about this group: their daily lives, their choices, and ultimately, their incubation. But it is also about what led them to meet in secret-the political prejudice and hostility that marginalizes and makes people afraid, and the growing political, social, and geographic cleavages that now make even mainstream dissent dangerous. Van Duyn asks why mainstream partisans feel the need to hide their political beliefs from others, why they feel afraid of those from the opposite party, how they stay politically engaged in secret, and how this can transform them and their communities. Van Duyn challenges the assumption that the United States is a liberal democracy where ideas can be expressed freely and publicly. Rather, she suggests that democracy in the United States may exist in darkness, but, more optimistically, that it uses this darkness to move forward.

About the author

Emily Van Duyn is an assistant professor in the department of communication at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her research explores why people talk (or do not talk) about politics and the role of digital media in facilitating a space for community and political discourse.

Sarah Welborn has been acting for the past twenty-five years, and her credits include theatrical and film productions in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Las Vegas. She is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA.