Unbounded Publics Transgressive Public Spheres, Zapatismo, and Political Theory

by Gilman-Opalsky, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780739124789
• ISBN10: 0739124781
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-02-08
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

This book is about the public sphere and the various ways it has been theorized as a driving mechanism for social and political change. Public spheres are the places where people come together to actively engage in new ideas and arguments, where collective interests and a collective political will are formed, and where social movements and rebellions get their start. Conventionally, the public sphere has been understood nationally_as a body made up of citizens who gather in particular places and times and who speak to the governments that claim to represent them. But increasingly, in light of debates about globalization, theorists are considering the political possibilities for transnational public spheres. The public sphere is generally discussed in either a national or transnational context. Unbounded Publics argues that there has been and can be a different kind of sphere, atransgressive public sphere, one that exists in both contexts at once. Power, politics, and people do not always abide by imagined or legally enforced boundaries. Throughout history, various publics have struggled to hold sway_to wield political influence_and often, these public spheres have been simultaneously national and transnational in important ways. The most self-consciously transgressive public spheres have been formed by structurally disadvantaged people_by those excluded from participation, by those with unstable or partial citizenship, and by those who are neglected or marginalized. Gilman-Opalsky's guiding illustration of the transgressive public sphere in the book is found in the case of the Mexican Zapatistas. This book is a valuable resource for those interested in political theories of the public sphere, globalization, cosmopolitanism, social movements, and political identity. Moreover, the author argues for a vital new way to think about, discuss, and participate in public spheres today. Without transgressive public spheres, Gilman-Opalsky contends, institutions that function both within and beyond national boudaries grow increasingly unaccountable and elude the democratic steering of the people.

Author Biography

Richard Gilman-Opalsky is assistant professor of political philosophy at the University of Illinois.

Table of Contents

Public Spheres and the National Framework	p. 1
Basic Concepts and Terms: Political Public Spheres and Communicative Power	p. 13
A Prefigured National Framework: Legitimation and the Public Sphere	p. 45
Habermas' Classical Theory in Light of Nonbourgeois Public Spheres	p. 67
Public Spheres and the Transnational Framework	p. 115
"Globalization": A New Topography for the Public Sphere?	p. 127
Transnational Cosmopolitan Public Spheres and a Turn Against the National Framework	p. 145
Beyond the National/Transnational Dichotomy: Moving Toward a Theory of Transgressive Public Spheres	p. 203
Transgressive Public Spheres	p. 225
A Different Kind of Public Sphere: The Zapatistas' Transgressive Public Sphere	p. 239
Indigenous Identity and the Recasting of Subject Positions	p. 273
The Case for Transgressive Public Spheres	p. 303
Conclusion	p. 333
Bibliography	p. 343
Index	p. 351
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.