Publics, Polls, Protest: Public Representation as Sociopolitical Practice

Abstract

This article seeks to illuminate connections across studies of publics, media, formal political processes, and protests. An examination of representation as sociopolitical practice allows us to consider the practices that occur around the edges of what has been considered the public sphere and to interrogate the work of its boundaries, which reify national publics, separate civil society from formal political work, and separate representational work from collective action. Thinking about environments for expression and practices of representation invites a consideration of the multiple interrelated geographies of expressive spaces—ranging from publics that legitimize a state to those corresponding to or creating communities, political movements, immigrant groups, or diasporic networks. A focus on representational practices trains attention on the body, place, and social relations and encourages attention to the multiplicity of ways in which violence shapes environments for expression, as well as how social and political actors respond to violence.