Enclaves and Counter-Publics

Abstract

Chapter 2 examines how different affordances of the network allow, and sometimes force, users to shift between creating digitally enabled enclaves and directly debating dominant discourses forwarded by those outside the network. Contextualizing the network in the history of Black alternative media production as well as within the tradition of Black social enclaves, it goes on to explore moments when the more visible elements of the network serve a counter-public function to challenge mainstream legacy media and the political establishment. The chapter also analyzes debates over the racial dynamics of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Game of Thrones fandom under the hashtag #DemThrones, and the #BernieSoBlack hashtag, which emerged during the 2015 presidential primary as a criticism of some of Senator Bernie Sanders’s supporters’ desire to minimize the importance of racial issues in the candidate’s platform.