Diasporic public spheres

Abstract

This essay belongs to a more extended work focused on the idea of what is needed to begin globalizing justice. It is an essay that focuses on the normative conditions needed for a global public sphere. It is a historical reconstruction of how certain forms of communication in global times have changed our ideas of identities and of public spaces. In particular, this essay is focused on ways in which immigrants, exiles and people who inhabit different places than the ones where they were born can contribute to create a critical consciousness of what needs to be done. I call these people nomadic subjects and they are the ones who create the proper spaces which I have called diasporic public spheres. Being in and out of mainstream societies, these people are the most relevant examples of diasporic voices. I propose to consider, in particular, three main examples: Edward Said, Salman Rushdie and Rigoberta Menchú.