Abstract
The aim of this theoretical essay is to explore the links between the oppositional identities of marginalized groups and the cities where these groups are rooted. It performs the task by examining the spatial underpinnings of counter publics. Building alternative political imaginaries and oppositional publics necessarily involves the production of space. We therefore situate counter publics in their specific urban spaces, i.e., counter spaces. Our hope is to untangle some of the mechanisms linking the cities where combative groups emerge to the oppositional identities that fuel broader struggles for recognition and equality. The paper is theoretical in focus and content. Its central premises are illustrated by examples drawn from research on movements struggling for immigrant rights and LGQBT rights.
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Notes
- 1.
The first part of this chapter includes fragments from Nicholls and Uitermark (2016a).
- 2.
It can be asked to what extent these insights—derived from the classics of urban sociology—are still relevant today in increasingly “hyperdiverse” cities (see also Nicholls & Uitermark, 2016b). Arguably, Park’s “mosaic of little worlds” does not apply well to metropolises with neighborhoods that are extremely diverse in terms of ethnicity as well as other characteristics. To the degree that this is indeed the case, we would expect that these neighborhoods perform less significant roles as sites for counter publics. In other words, the mechanisms are the same even if conditions and outcomes have changed.
- 3.
James C. Scott argues something similar when he discusses the back talking and small acts of sabotage that subaltern groups engage in. Counter publics are then places where such subaltern discourses are made public.
- 4.
A classical statement capturing this sense of political urgency was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s essay, “Why We Can’t Wait.”
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Nicholls, W., Uitermark, J. (2018). Counter Publics and Counter Spaces. In: Enright, T., Rossi, U. (eds) The Urban Political. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64534-6_13
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