Montana State University's Queer Straight Alliance has recently submitted some "Demands for Institutional Change" to their Facebook page and directly to President Waded Cruzado's email inbox.
The LBGTQIA community has grown in population (with more people coming out) and in vocal acceptance. Does that make it a public or a counter public? According to Fraser, "a counterpublic sphere is a public sphere, even if it is not perceived to be the public sphere" (p. 244). So I guess that question isn't very relevant here. I think the key word in that quote is perceived. As someone who considers herself a strong LBGTQIA ally, I have trouble thinking of the movement as a whole as a counter public still. Regardless, they still have a long way to go and smaller sects within the community are banding together and "enacting identities through new idioms and styles" ( p 242).
I'd say that QSA at MSU is still a counter public. They can imagine for themselves a better future at this school and are seeking institutional change to enact it.
"The achievement of this cultural form is to allow participants in its discourse to understand themselves as directly and actively belonging to a social entity that exists historically in secular time and has consciousness of itself" (Warner, p 75). In talking to members of QSA, I can sense their nervousness and excitement. I can sense most of all that these demands have brought them all closer while they're gaining more publicity and more and more people are ducking into their unique public, if only for a moment, to see what they're doing.
What does the I stand for in LBGTQIA? Why no F for Fluid? I'm so curious how each of these letters sticks - when I was in high school, the movement had considerably fewer letters.
ReplyDeleteIt stands for intersex, which means someone who doesn't fit the role of either gender or is between genders. I just had to look that up too. I just took the abbreviation used on the QSA's letter because I figured they had a reason for using all of them. Maybe they're all letters that stick within the club? That would be cool if they had a meeting and figured out what to call themselves, especially learning about the importance of a name talked about in Chapter 9.
DeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI almost wrote about this, too! It's so exciting to me to see this change unfolding and (hopefully) see progress at MSU be made for their community.
A question that arose for me when thinking about QSA as a counterpublic is: because I am paying attention to their events, identify myself as an ally (although I identify as straight), and participate in discourse surrounding the group and their actions, do I qualify as a member of that public? Or, does membership necessarily entail attending meetings and being part of the crew that drafted the letter to Cruzado? I guess I'm still stuck on Warner's third point that a public is constituted by mere attention, and because I've been paying attention, I want to include myself, but I'm not sure if that's necessarily fair. Can, then, QSA be considered a sub-public to a greater public of LGBTQIA college students, or even to the entire LGBTQIA population of our country-- and, if so, can I qualify to be a member of one of those publics and maybe not one of their sub-publics? Let me know if I seem way off track-- I guess I just keep thinking of the idea of policing membership.
Thanks for writing!
Molly
I think participating in a public is different than being a part of a public. Because I'm right there with you! I consider myself an ally but I don't go to meetings and I didn't write the letter. I also think that getting too far into who is in a public and who isn't takes away from the purpose of a public. They want people to pay attention to them. Really, that's all a public wants. I mean I'm sure they want people to pay attention to them AND THEN act on that attention and be an active member. MAN but I consider myself an active ally without going to meetings. THIS IS TUFF! What do you think going down this train of thought and trying to find an answer will give us?
DeleteEmily,
ReplyDeleteI think what you have to say is fascinating, and it brought up a question for me: "The LBGTQIA community has grown in population (with more people coming out) and in vocal acceptance. Does that make it a public or a counter public? According to Fraser, 'a counterpublic sphere is a public sphere, even if it is not perceived to be the public sphere' (p. 244)" I find this interesting because this specific public is growing in population because of acceptance simply from living their lives. I guess my question is similar to what Molly said: If a public shares their common interests and goals etc, then why are they so concerned about being accepted by others outside of their public? Does that make them less apart of the LGBTQIA public, and more apart of other public spheres that influence, encourage, or might possibly disagree with that specific community?
Just some food for thought, thank you for sharing!