Deconstructing the Binaries of the Public Sphere: Heuristics for Understanding the Public Sphere as Material

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Abstract

This essay expands conceptions of the public sphere in order to provide an understanding of the public sphere as a material, as opposed to just discursive, space. This expanded conception contributes to understandings of how critical publicity is formed and disseminated. Using the public spaces of protest as an example, this essay will explore discursive/material spaces and formation/dissemination of critical publicity binaries in order to provide heuristics for understanding the materiality of the public sphere.

Author

• Billie Murray, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill