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Papers by Katerina Strani
Springer eBooks, Dec 31, 2022
Springer eBooks, Dec 31, 2022
Routledge eBooks, May 19, 2023
Taylor & Francis eBooks, 2019
The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an e... more The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This interdisciplinary research examines the public sphere as a communicativelyconstructed realm ... more This interdisciplinary research examines the public sphere as a communicativelyconstructed realm and challenges Habermas's model of public sphere communication based on the "public use of reason"/communicative rationality. It questions the model's counterfactual normativity and its emancipatory potential in revisiting core concepts such as reason, power and consensus, while also considering social complexity, the media and counterpublics. This research is theoretical but informed by the quest for empirical relevance. Using critical hermeneutic methods, the thesis critically reconstructs Habermas's theories of the public sphere and of communicative rationality, as these were developed and revised throughout his works, in order to lay the foundations for second-and thirdorder critique. The main critics considered in revisiting Habermas's public sphere model are: Niklas Luhmann (functionalism and social systems), Michel Foucault (historical materialism, theory of power and rejection of universal norms), Nancy Fraser and Seyla Benhabib (critical feminism, identity politics), Thomas McCarthy (critique of rationalism and normativity), James Bohman (social complexity) and Colin Grant (postsystemic communication studies). Drawing on these, the thesis proposes a renewed public sphere model consisting of systems and emergent publics, while rethinking communicative reason and power in conditions of overcomplexity (Bohman). Lastly, it redefines normativity in an empirically plausible light, connected to emergent communication practices. iii DEDICATION To my parents and to Rodney. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1-Introduction 1.0 Research Scope 1.1 Thesis Outline Chapter 2-Habermas's Model of the Public Sphere: A Hermeneutic Reconstruction of his Theoretical Premises 2.0 Introductory remarks 2.1 The Initial Model: A Bourgeois Public Sphere 2.1.1 Initial Scope 2.1.2 Initial Method 2.1.3 'Public' and 'publicity' 2.1.4 The Greek Model and the Initial Question 2.1.5 Representative publicity 2.1.6 The Bourgeois and the Genesis of the Public Sphere 2.2 The Basic Blueprint 2.2.1 The Initial Demarcation 2.2.2 People's Public Use of Reason 2.2.3 Institutions of the Early Bourgeois Public Sphere 2.2.4 Role of the Bourgeois Family in the Evolution of the Bourgeois Public Sphere 2.2.5 The Public Sphere in the World of Letters in Relation to the Public Sphere in the Political Realm 2.3 Socio-structural transformation of the Bourgeois Public Sphere 2.3.1 The Gradual Merging of Public and Private Spheres 2.3.2 Refeudalisation of Society 2.3.3 The Disengagement of the Social Sphere and the Intimate Sphere 2.3.4 From a Culture-Debating to a Culture Consuming Public 2.3.5 The Impact of the Mass Media 2.4 Political Functions of the Bourgeois Public Sphere 2.4.1 Contestation of Authority 2.4.2 Public Opinion: Defining 'public' and 'opinion' 2.4.3 Public Opinion as 'Fiction' 2.4.4 Public Opinion as a Political Function of the Public Sphere 2.4.5 Civil Society as the Sphere of Private Autonomy vii 2.4.6 Legitimation and Legitimacy 2.5 Functional Transformation of the (Bourgeois) Public Sphere 2.5.1 The Commercialisation of the Press and the Manufacturing of News 2.
This paper draws on research conducted as part of the EU-funded project RADAR (Regulating AntiDis... more This paper draws on research conducted as part of the EU-funded project RADAR (Regulating AntiDiscrimination and AntiRacism, JUST/2013/FRAC/AG/6271). It rejects the concept of ‘race’, hence the inverted commas, and sees it as a social construct aimed at dividing people into unequal, static, unchangeable categories (Witzig, 1996, and others). From this starting point, it presents selected examples of attitudes to ‘race’ in the media in Greece and the UK, based on a sample analysis of authentic material specifically collected for use in the RADAR training workshops. The material was analysed using Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA), a sub-section of Conversation Analysis originally developed by Sacks (1966; 1992). These examples highlight similarities of some mechanisms of hate communication, not only between genres, but also between countries (UK and Greece), despite clear historical, social and demographic differences. Overall, this reflection paper aims at highlighting certain ways in which ‘race’ is thematised and depicted in the media in these two countries, as well as raise awareness and initiate a discussion on hate communication, whether intentional (hate-motivated) or not.
Biometrical Letters, 2020
Summary This paper focuses on pragmatic competence development in second or foreign language lear... more Summary This paper focuses on pragmatic competence development in second or foreign language learners. In particular, it attempts to fill the significant research gap in measuring change in pragmatic competence and capturing pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic development over time. The paper proposes an innovative approach by applying a logistic model with multinomial distribution for measuring change in InterLanguage Pragmatics Research (ILP). Applied in the field of pragmatics, this statistical tool offers a comprehensive and flexible approach to modelling relations between independent and dependent variables in ILP research. The model is tested in a longitudinal study of Polish undergraduate students learning English, and specifically in the way they formulate requests by means of requestive directness strategies. The paper concludes that, regardless of time elapsing, the factors P (power distance) and D (social distance) have a highly significant influence on the use of request...
Cyberhate in the Context of Migrations, 2022
Cette belle aventure qu'est la thèse touche désormais à sa fin, et si le doctorat déclenche beauc... more Cette belle aventure qu'est la thèse touche désormais à sa fin, et si le doctorat déclenche beaucoup de réflexion tout en laissant un bon nombre de questions ouvertes, une chose est certaine, je n'aurai pas pu y arriver seule! Il y a donc ici dans ces quelques pages un nombre important de personnes envers qui je suis infiniment reconnaissante, et qu'il me touche de remercier. Je souhaite tout d'abord remercier toutes les personnes ayant suivi ma soutenance de thèse en ligne. Les circonstances étaient si particulières cette année, loin de ce que j'avais imaginé. Vous êtes néanmoins nombreux à avoir été là, à distance, et cela m'a porté tout le long de la soutenance. Je tiens également à remercier les membres du jury pour avoir accepté d'évaluer mon manuscrit et pour l'intérêt qu'ils ont porté à mes travaux de recherches. Merci Ronan Boulic, Guillaume Moreau et Catherine Pélachaud. Thank you Victoria Interrante and Mel Slater. Merci Région Bretagne et Inria pour avoir co-financé cette thèse, mais aussi merci aux laboratoires Inria et Irisa de m'avoir accueilli dans leur structure, et offert un cadre de travail plus qu'optimal, confortable, dynamique et empli de nombreuses ressources. Ce cadre de travail, que j'associe vraiment à un petit nid douillet permettant de faire mûrir de beaux projets, n'aurait pas été le même sans la population qu'il accueille. J'ai eu la chance de rejoindre deux équipes de recherches différentes, Hybrid et Mimetic, et de découvrir dès le départ deux groupes de chercheurs, deux univers et intrinsèquement, deux fois plus de fun! Merci François, mon premier co-bureau, pour m'avoir aidée à trouver mes marques dans l'équipe et en tant que doctorante, pour tous les petits tips, et pour avoir réussi à me faire jouer aux jeux vidéo. Du coup merci notamment à tous ceux de la team "midis SSB chez François" : Yoren, Benoît, Andéol, Guillaume Cl., Gwendal L.M.. Merci également aux autres anciens Hybrid et membres actuels:
Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 2018
This article discusses findings of a qualitative study on strategies of othering observed in anti... more This article discusses findings of a qualitative study on strategies of othering observed in anti-immigrant discourse, by analysing selected examples from the UK and Polish media, together with data collected from interviews with migrants. The purpose is to identify discursive strategies of othering, which aim to categorise, denigrate, oppress and ultimately reject the stigmatised or racialised ‘other’. We do not offer a systematic comparison of the data from the UK and Poland; instead, we are interested in what is common in the discursive practices of these two countries/contexts. In using newspaper together with interview data, we are combining representation and experience in identifying not only strategies of othering, but also how these are perceived by and affect the othered individuals. The paper uses the following data: 40 newspaper articles – 20 from the UK and 20 from Poland, and 19 interviews – 12 from Poland and 7 from the UK. The analysis that follows identifies five sh...
This paper focuses on the impact of socio-political change on the normative model of communicativ... more This paper focuses on the impact of socio-political change on the normative model of communicative rationality as the method of public sphere debate. It aims to explore the theoretical implications of the impact of new, diversified publics, institutional complexity and multilingualism, among others, on Habermas's model of communicative rationality. It proposes a reconceptualisation of this model in conditions of overcomplexity and along the lines of a de-transcendentalised, dynamic normativity.
Springer eBooks, Dec 31, 2022
Springer eBooks, Dec 31, 2022
Routledge eBooks, May 19, 2023
Taylor & Francis eBooks, 2019
The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an e... more The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This interdisciplinary research examines the public sphere as a communicativelyconstructed realm ... more This interdisciplinary research examines the public sphere as a communicativelyconstructed realm and challenges Habermas's model of public sphere communication based on the "public use of reason"/communicative rationality. It questions the model's counterfactual normativity and its emancipatory potential in revisiting core concepts such as reason, power and consensus, while also considering social complexity, the media and counterpublics. This research is theoretical but informed by the quest for empirical relevance. Using critical hermeneutic methods, the thesis critically reconstructs Habermas's theories of the public sphere and of communicative rationality, as these were developed and revised throughout his works, in order to lay the foundations for second-and thirdorder critique. The main critics considered in revisiting Habermas's public sphere model are: Niklas Luhmann (functionalism and social systems), Michel Foucault (historical materialism, theory of power and rejection of universal norms), Nancy Fraser and Seyla Benhabib (critical feminism, identity politics), Thomas McCarthy (critique of rationalism and normativity), James Bohman (social complexity) and Colin Grant (postsystemic communication studies). Drawing on these, the thesis proposes a renewed public sphere model consisting of systems and emergent publics, while rethinking communicative reason and power in conditions of overcomplexity (Bohman). Lastly, it redefines normativity in an empirically plausible light, connected to emergent communication practices. iii DEDICATION To my parents and to Rodney. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1-Introduction 1.0 Research Scope 1.1 Thesis Outline Chapter 2-Habermas's Model of the Public Sphere: A Hermeneutic Reconstruction of his Theoretical Premises 2.0 Introductory remarks 2.1 The Initial Model: A Bourgeois Public Sphere 2.1.1 Initial Scope 2.1.2 Initial Method 2.1.3 'Public' and 'publicity' 2.1.4 The Greek Model and the Initial Question 2.1.5 Representative publicity 2.1.6 The Bourgeois and the Genesis of the Public Sphere 2.2 The Basic Blueprint 2.2.1 The Initial Demarcation 2.2.2 People's Public Use of Reason 2.2.3 Institutions of the Early Bourgeois Public Sphere 2.2.4 Role of the Bourgeois Family in the Evolution of the Bourgeois Public Sphere 2.2.5 The Public Sphere in the World of Letters in Relation to the Public Sphere in the Political Realm 2.3 Socio-structural transformation of the Bourgeois Public Sphere 2.3.1 The Gradual Merging of Public and Private Spheres 2.3.2 Refeudalisation of Society 2.3.3 The Disengagement of the Social Sphere and the Intimate Sphere 2.3.4 From a Culture-Debating to a Culture Consuming Public 2.3.5 The Impact of the Mass Media 2.4 Political Functions of the Bourgeois Public Sphere 2.4.1 Contestation of Authority 2.4.2 Public Opinion: Defining 'public' and 'opinion' 2.4.3 Public Opinion as 'Fiction' 2.4.4 Public Opinion as a Political Function of the Public Sphere 2.4.5 Civil Society as the Sphere of Private Autonomy vii 2.4.6 Legitimation and Legitimacy 2.5 Functional Transformation of the (Bourgeois) Public Sphere 2.5.1 The Commercialisation of the Press and the Manufacturing of News 2.
This paper draws on research conducted as part of the EU-funded project RADAR (Regulating AntiDis... more This paper draws on research conducted as part of the EU-funded project RADAR (Regulating AntiDiscrimination and AntiRacism, JUST/2013/FRAC/AG/6271). It rejects the concept of ‘race’, hence the inverted commas, and sees it as a social construct aimed at dividing people into unequal, static, unchangeable categories (Witzig, 1996, and others). From this starting point, it presents selected examples of attitudes to ‘race’ in the media in Greece and the UK, based on a sample analysis of authentic material specifically collected for use in the RADAR training workshops. The material was analysed using Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA), a sub-section of Conversation Analysis originally developed by Sacks (1966; 1992). These examples highlight similarities of some mechanisms of hate communication, not only between genres, but also between countries (UK and Greece), despite clear historical, social and demographic differences. Overall, this reflection paper aims at highlighting certain ways in which ‘race’ is thematised and depicted in the media in these two countries, as well as raise awareness and initiate a discussion on hate communication, whether intentional (hate-motivated) or not.
Biometrical Letters, 2020
Summary This paper focuses on pragmatic competence development in second or foreign language lear... more Summary This paper focuses on pragmatic competence development in second or foreign language learners. In particular, it attempts to fill the significant research gap in measuring change in pragmatic competence and capturing pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic development over time. The paper proposes an innovative approach by applying a logistic model with multinomial distribution for measuring change in InterLanguage Pragmatics Research (ILP). Applied in the field of pragmatics, this statistical tool offers a comprehensive and flexible approach to modelling relations between independent and dependent variables in ILP research. The model is tested in a longitudinal study of Polish undergraduate students learning English, and specifically in the way they formulate requests by means of requestive directness strategies. The paper concludes that, regardless of time elapsing, the factors P (power distance) and D (social distance) have a highly significant influence on the use of request...
Cyberhate in the Context of Migrations, 2022
Cette belle aventure qu'est la thèse touche désormais à sa fin, et si le doctorat déclenche beauc... more Cette belle aventure qu'est la thèse touche désormais à sa fin, et si le doctorat déclenche beaucoup de réflexion tout en laissant un bon nombre de questions ouvertes, une chose est certaine, je n'aurai pas pu y arriver seule! Il y a donc ici dans ces quelques pages un nombre important de personnes envers qui je suis infiniment reconnaissante, et qu'il me touche de remercier. Je souhaite tout d'abord remercier toutes les personnes ayant suivi ma soutenance de thèse en ligne. Les circonstances étaient si particulières cette année, loin de ce que j'avais imaginé. Vous êtes néanmoins nombreux à avoir été là, à distance, et cela m'a porté tout le long de la soutenance. Je tiens également à remercier les membres du jury pour avoir accepté d'évaluer mon manuscrit et pour l'intérêt qu'ils ont porté à mes travaux de recherches. Merci Ronan Boulic, Guillaume Moreau et Catherine Pélachaud. Thank you Victoria Interrante and Mel Slater. Merci Région Bretagne et Inria pour avoir co-financé cette thèse, mais aussi merci aux laboratoires Inria et Irisa de m'avoir accueilli dans leur structure, et offert un cadre de travail plus qu'optimal, confortable, dynamique et empli de nombreuses ressources. Ce cadre de travail, que j'associe vraiment à un petit nid douillet permettant de faire mûrir de beaux projets, n'aurait pas été le même sans la population qu'il accueille. J'ai eu la chance de rejoindre deux équipes de recherches différentes, Hybrid et Mimetic, et de découvrir dès le départ deux groupes de chercheurs, deux univers et intrinsèquement, deux fois plus de fun! Merci François, mon premier co-bureau, pour m'avoir aidée à trouver mes marques dans l'équipe et en tant que doctorante, pour tous les petits tips, et pour avoir réussi à me faire jouer aux jeux vidéo. Du coup merci notamment à tous ceux de la team "midis SSB chez François" : Yoren, Benoît, Andéol, Guillaume Cl., Gwendal L.M.. Merci également aux autres anciens Hybrid et membres actuels:
Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 2018
This article discusses findings of a qualitative study on strategies of othering observed in anti... more This article discusses findings of a qualitative study on strategies of othering observed in anti-immigrant discourse, by analysing selected examples from the UK and Polish media, together with data collected from interviews with migrants. The purpose is to identify discursive strategies of othering, which aim to categorise, denigrate, oppress and ultimately reject the stigmatised or racialised ‘other’. We do not offer a systematic comparison of the data from the UK and Poland; instead, we are interested in what is common in the discursive practices of these two countries/contexts. In using newspaper together with interview data, we are combining representation and experience in identifying not only strategies of othering, but also how these are perceived by and affect the othered individuals. The paper uses the following data: 40 newspaper articles – 20 from the UK and 20 from Poland, and 19 interviews – 12 from Poland and 7 from the UK. The analysis that follows identifies five sh...
This paper focuses on the impact of socio-political change on the normative model of communicativ... more This paper focuses on the impact of socio-political change on the normative model of communicative rationality as the method of public sphere debate. It aims to explore the theoretical implications of the impact of new, diversified publics, institutional complexity and multilingualism, among others, on Habermas's model of communicative rationality. It proposes a reconceptualisation of this model in conditions of overcomplexity and along the lines of a de-transcendentalised, dynamic normativity.
This paper focuses on grassroots performance as political statement. An increasing body of work i... more This paper focuses on grassroots performance as political statement. An increasing body of work is focused on grassroots activism and activist public spaces (e.g. Norris, 2004, 2007; Doerr and Mattoni, 2007; Jacobsson, 2015; Isin & Saward, 2015), as well as ‘emergent publics’ (Angus, 2001; Koller & Wodak, 2008; Barnett, 2014). Although it shares its concerns about communities and democratic participation with much recent work in Applied Theatre Studies (Dolan 2005; Harpin and Nicholson 2017; Neelands 2007), artistic performance by grassroots organisations as political statement is usually discussed under the ‘activism’ umbrella. Our paper draws on both fields to look at the case of the play The Sideshow. Inspired by the current (June 2019) grassroots public campaign ‘Save Leith Walk’ in Edinburgh, The Sideshow is part of the Displaced project “exploring gentrification and regeneration in Leith and beyond” (http://leithfestival.com/event/the-sideshow-2/) with the ultimate aim to raise awareness and sensitise people against the demolition of buildings that would destroy the heritage of communities. Using counterpublic theory (Warner, 2002; Asen, 2000; Squires, 2002; Brouwer & Paulesc, 2017) and scholarship on politically engaged community-based theatre (Taylor 2003; Jeffers 2017; Snyder-Young 2013) against the backdrop of the carnivalization of politics (Bakhtin, 1984, 1985), our paper examines the role of performance and theatre as political communication in The Sideshow. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, we explore civic engagement and the political implications of The Sideshow’s community narrative, thus providing a case study of how the political can be redefined in and through performance.
Per scribendum, sumus: Ethnopoesis, or Writing Heritage. A Cèilidh in Honour of Mairéad Nic Craith, 2020
Heritage as a duty; Language as heritage; The lightness of heritage A tribute to the scholarship... more Heritage as a duty; Language as heritage; The lightness of heritage
A tribute to the scholarship of Máiréad Nic Craith.
Multilingualism and Politics: Revisiting Multilingual Citizenship, 2020
In the introductory chapter of the book, the rationale of the collection is explained, highlighti... more In the introductory chapter of the book, the rationale of the collection is explained, highlighting the research gap and setting the (inter)disciplinary scope. The volume aims to make a contribution to the relatively underexplored area of the interplay between multilingualism and politics. The 14 chapters of this edited collection study multilingualism both as a concept and as a contemporary phenomenon. Multilingualism affects both the social construction of cosmopolitan civic identities and the actual conduct of democratic politics, with new concepts of citizenship and new forms of deliberation. With this in mind, the volume is divided into two parts: (1) Multilingualism in Politics and (2) The Politics of Multilingualism. The scope is necessarily interdisciplinary, and the collection brings together analyses from the perspectives of sociolinguistics, (political) discourse analysis, language policy, sociology, migration studies, and political science. These multifaceted approaches attest to the need to continue to explore the ways in which multilingualism and politics/policy/polity interrelate in different contexts and countries.
Multilingualism and Politics: Revisiting Multilingual Citizenship, 2020
Multilingualism constitutes an integral part of post-national citizenship, in which political arg... more Multilingualism constitutes an integral part of post-national citizenship, in which political argumentation may defy linguistic barriers. And yet at a political level, the interplay between language, citizenship practices and translation needs to be emphatically thematised and investigated. This chapter revisits the nexus between multilingualism and politics, with a focus on multilingual publics, translation and citizenship practices, political translation and activism. It calls for a reconsideration of publics in the current historical moment of the multilingual condition, with new modalities of multilingual communication and new forms of deliberation, which may heighten inequalities. It also highlights the need to broaden our research beyond the European/Western focus and beyond spoken languages.
Multilingualism and Politics: Revisiting multilingual citizenship, 2020
Scottish political elites’ commitment to a multiply-voiced, languaged and plural citizenship in S... more Scottish political elites’ commitment to a multiply-voiced, languaged and plural citizenship in Scotland has not always translated into the experiences of ‘new’, multilingual populations in Scotland. This has especially been the case for some recent, ‘post-migration’ communities that have formed after being brought to Scotland as asylum seekers in the Dispersal Scheme, such as the Somali-Scots population. Formed over the last fifteen years, Glasgow’s Somali population is one of the largest and most established post-migration, post-Dispersal groups in Scotland (Hill, 2017). Many people within the population are multilingual (with proficiency in (at least) English, Somali and Arabic) and have local, national and transnational connections. In this sense, the Somali population embodies many of the qualities of a plural and multilingual citizenship espoused by political elites in Scotland. However, Somali people in Glasgow rarely experience life in these terms. Instead, they find that their linguistic abilities remain embedded in discourses of integration, so that their language-practices are implicated in the extent to which they are seen as ‘citizen’.
Based on three years’ ethnographic fieldwork with Somali people in Glasgow, this chapter will discuss and analyse Somali people’s experiences of multilingualism in public life in Scotland. It will consider (1) how existing Scottish language policies impact the development and practice of Somali languages in Scotland, and their socio-political implications for Somali-Scots communities (2) how existing Scottish language policies impact Somali people’s access to services and public spaces and (3) the extent to which racialised discourses intersect with issues of language and multilingualism. Finally, it offers an analysis and critique of the gap between elite narratives of plural, multilingual citizenship and the reality of Somali people’s everyday experiences in Scotland.
This edited book makes a significant contribution to the relatively under-explored field of multi... more This edited book makes a significant contribution to the relatively under-explored field of multilingualism and politics, approaching the topic from two key perspectives: multilingualism in politics, and the politics of multilingualism. Through the lens of case studies from around the world, the authors in this volume combine theoretical and empirical insights to examine the inter-relation between multilingualism and politics in different spheres and contexts, including minority language policy, national identity, the translation of political debates and discourse, and the use of multiple, often competing languages in educational settings. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of politics, sociology, sociolinguistics, language policy, and translation and interpreting studies.
Scottish Institute for Policing Research Annual Report for 2016, 2017
In June/July 2016, the Centre for Translation and Interpreting Studies in Scotland (CTISS) brough... more In June/July 2016, the Centre for Translation and Interpreting Studies in Scotland (CTISS) brought together over 400 researchers and practitioners from across the world to discuss Future-proofing Interpreting and Translating during the eighth Critical Link Conference (CL 8). Critical Link Conferences are the most important global forum for discussion and knowledge exchange amongst researchers in the field of interpreting and translation, and practitioners who work in multilingual public service settings.
In their Report, Professor Böser and her colleagues discuss the impact of this major Conference, and other research which is aimed at minors and some of the most vulnerable people in society.
This research would not have been possible without the cooperation and support of Penang Stop Hum... more This research would not have been possible without the cooperation and support of Penang Stop Human Trafficking Campaign (PSHTC) and the refugees who work with them in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. PSHTC played an important role in informing the research design and analysis of findings, organising the workshops for Rohingya refugees and helping us to collect materials from the participants within a tight timescale. We are grateful to the refugee participants for their active engagement in the workshop activities.
LifeinLINCS blog, 2014
Understanding is a hugely complex cognitive process that involves great uncertainty, yet it is fu... more Understanding is a hugely complex cognitive process that involves great uncertainty, yet it is fundamental in communication. It is also taken for granted or tends to be assumed too quickly.
A café. Once a dedicated space where people gathered to discuss culture and politics. A space of ... more A café. Once a dedicated space where people gathered to discuss culture and politics. A space of arguing, debating, learning. A space where public opinion was formed and authority was challenged, contested, or at least influenced. A public sphere: a communicative space where people gathered to talk about public matters-politics. Their aim-to form public opinion and to influence government. Today, public spheres have evolved into more complex, more sophisticated spaces but also equally more diffuse and more informal. Think of online platforms such as blogs, twitter, facebook. A public sphere does not have to be a physical space waiting to be used, as these online platforms have proved. Instead, public spheres are spaces of communication that emerge with communication and die out when communication stops, when there is nothing left to debate.
Publics en question, 2015
Il a longtemps été prouvé que notre langage a un impact sur la façon dont nous pensons et, nale-m... more Il a longtemps été prouvé que notre langage a un impact sur la façon dont nous pensons et, nale-ment, la façon dont nous soutenons nos arguments (Whorf, 1956). Notre langage façonne notre pen-sée et notre vision du monde. C'est par la langue que nous devenons des êtres politiques. Le philo-sophe Ludwig Wittgenstein a dit que les « limites de ma langue sont les limites de mon monde ». Dai Vaughan a adapté cette citation célèbre en déclarant que« les limites de ma langue sont les limites de ton monde ». Qu'est-ce que cela signie quand nous parlons des langues différentes dans les sphères publiques? L'argumentation constitue la pierre angulaire de la sphère publique, mais, malgré l'importance du multilinguisme sur la construction sociale des sphères publiques contemporaines, ceci reste relative-ment sous-exploré.