Counterpublics

The term refers to a critical attitude toward the standard, established definition of what a public constitutes. Robert Asen argues that they are not simply alternative to standard publics, but are “explicitly articulated alternatives to wider publics that exclude the interests of potential participants.”¹ Michael Warner argues that since counterpublics are created in the context of explicit conflict with cultural norms which, themselves, distort reality, “mass publics and counter-publics…are both damaged forms of publicness, just as gender and sexuality are, in this culture, damaged forms of privacy.”² This both allows counterpublics to escape oppression from normative ideals and makes counterpublics susceptible to the same short-sightedness as the dominant public sphere. Yet, as Nancy Fraser demonstrates in drawing on the concept of the subaltern—subordinated social groups—to articulate what she calls “subaltern counter publics,” the strength of counterpublics is their ability to create alternative discursive spaces that extend the public sphere. These subaltern counterpublics, whether progressive (women, workers, peoples of color, LGBTQ communities) or retrogressive (anti-abortion activists, the pro-gun lobby, white supremacists), create space for the articulation of concerns unique to these subaltern groups and the development of a terminology and discourse that can counter dominant public discourse.³

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