While many studies of U.S. immigration highlight the diversity within other racial and ethnic groups, scholarly attention to the significance of ethnicity among black people in this country is still sorely underdeveloped. This dissertation project explores how black identities are constructed not only through the prism of race in the U.S. context, but also through other social dynamics that operate "in the shadow of race," such as differences in class, color, country of origin, and circumstances of migration. Instead of a singular black identity fueled by our political discourses and popular culture, my project treats "blackness" as a floating signifier that is constructed both within the racial organization of the U.S. nation-state and among the peoples of the black diaspora within its borders. In short, blackness is a matter that has become national, international, and transnational in scope. Ethnicity and its implications for how we think about black identity and group representation in U.S. society is the other "layer of blackness" this dissertation addresses. The formation and reshaping of American identity among various immigrant groups have historically involved complicated relationships between race and ethnicity, two concepts scholars have used to articulate group identities in the U.S. The history of U.S. racial and ethnic relations reveals the complicated processes through which some social groups have been able to establish their place in the American mainstream by adapting to the cultural and institutional norms established by mainstream white society. Non-white immigrant groups have been forced to find their American identities on the margins of U.S. society because of their purported inability or unwillingness to assimilate to established cultural and institutional norms. Sometimes this alienation from the American mainstream takes on a purely racial dimension. At other times, the prejudices of U.S. society are directed at particular ethnic groups. But in spite of the status ascribed to them, these immigrants have also proven to be empowered agents in their implicit and explicit critiques of the U.S.'s social order. Historically, non-white immigrants in the U.S. have demonstrated the power to question, disrupt, and resist cultural and institutional forms of discrimination even as they are incorporated into them. My interrogation of black ethnic identity and what it brings to bear on how we define blackness in the U.S. begins by asking what cultural capital black immigrants bring with them in their sojourn to America rather than assuming what is lost in the process of their incorporation into U.S. race relations. Patterns of immigration, return migration and circular migration that have come to characterize the experience of many foreign-born blacks in the U.S., as well as the circulation of ideas, culture, and history between sending and receiving countries are all issues germane to the process of black immigrant incorporation and black ethnic identity in the U.S. As such, the argument I proffer in my dissertation project is this: because of the myriad processes at play in formulating black racial and ethnic identities in America (i.e., historically established structures of race as well as an unprecedented surge in foreign-born black migration this country)-how we define blackness in the U.S. context is more fruitfully theorized as a matter that is at once national, international, and transnational in scope. It is at the nexus of these fronts that the historical and cultural constructions of blackness are currently defined among the diversity of black people in the U.S.

Can private bodily pain be transformed into a communication medium fit for the public sphere? Can the body in pain be utilized as a means for political participation? If so, how? Under what circumstances? By whom? And to what effect? To begin answering these questions, this dissertation concentrates on extralinguistic confrontational practices such as self-immolation suicide protests that are exercised by those who have been marginalized and excluded from political participation. By focusing on hitherto neglected forms of communication that are visual, spectacular, violent, unruly, and physical, the study expands and complicates the current discussions about the public sphere that are usually yoked to speculation on the boundaries of reason and words. Arguing that the body in pain is a theoretically considerable and practically available mode of public participation, the dissertation examines the rhetorical potency as well as fragility of body rhetoric. Each chapter analyzes different cases of self-immolation, addressing such issues as embodiment in publicity, the gap between private sensation and public discourse, the role of emotion in constituting the public sphere, and the judgments of the audience. The cases offer an opportunity not only to theorize how subaltern people appear out of the darkness of sheltered existence and enter the space of appearance by utilizing their body, but also to rethink the civic art of looking upon suffering. Through the exploration of the place of embodied performance, visual spectacle, and moral stuntsmanship within the larger discussion of democracy, the dissertation endeavors to rehabilitate publicity as a nondialogical political value.

This dissertation poses that the digital transition is best understood as simultaneously a technological and cultural phenomena. As a physical change in the means of distribution, transmission, and reception of media content, the digital transition is an important factor in changing technological, aesthetic, and legal norms. As a cultural form, the digital is positioned as a moderator between continuity and discontinuity. Through a reading strategy inspired by Walter Benjamin this dissertation reads the physical and cultural implications of the digital transition in television in the United States through political categories. The chapters are case studies in the adoption of digital televisions for home use, digital television production technologies, digital transmission technologies, and digital distribution systems. Each case study examines the tenuous production of publics in the context of the dialectical pressures of the digital. By taking this approach I intend to contribute to the rhetorical dimension of television studies, the digital turn in rhetorical and public sphere studies, and the legal and aesthetic dimensions of production studies. The dialectical approach to the digital allows the study of television to theorize the trajectory of emerging media and the political implications of that movement.

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After 1978, China caught up the trend of globalization, the internet was also raised in China. China started to develop the internet in end of 1980. Until 1994, the internet was developed rapidly. With the development of the internet, the relationship between state and society in China had the different situation, which made the influence with Chinese political development. There had been some situations which couldn¡¦t be reported, it can be happened in the public sphere. Since then, the Chinese government noticed the power of the internet, and started to develop and interact, that can help the Chinese government to realize the comment from people. And the internet also helps people to convey their voice to everywhere. Therefore the development of internet helps improvements of civil society and democracy in China as well. This caused a threat to the Chinese government; the Chinese government used various skills to control the internet. When Google entered in China, it also has to follow the rules in China. It had had to delete and filter the searching results; this made Google to decide to leave Chinese market, and also made the international world to concern the internet control in China. This research used Google as a case study to discuss the internet control and the influence of public opinions on internet in China. This research also used the state-society as the theory to observe the transformer of society-society relationship in China.

This dissertation examines the Hunt circle's public activities and its historical significance in terms of public-sphere theory proposed by Jurgen Harbermas. Recent studies on Romantic literature have attended to how Romantic writers' literary practices were conditioned upon their contemporary history, as opposed to the traditional notion of Romanticism based on an affirmation of individual creativity. Although these studies meaningfully highlight the historicity inherent in seemingly individualistic Romantic texts, they have frequently failed to assess the way in which this historicity of Romantic texts is connected to Romantic writers' own will to engage with public issues by placing too much emphasis on how history determines individuals' activities. In this sense, the notion of public sphere offers a productive theoretical framework by which to read the historicity of Romantic literature without disavowing an individual writer's role in historical proceedings, since it underscores a historical process in which a communal interaction between individuals constitutes a progress of history. By focusing on this significance of public-sphere theory, this dissertation suggests that the Hunt circle, whose members' communal literary practices were aimed at achieving the public good in the tumultuous post-Napoleonic era, serves as a model of this process-based historical theorization. Chapter I examines the significance of public-sphere theory in assessing how the Hunt circle engaged in its contemporary history. Chapter II elucidates the nature of the public sphere that Leigh Hunt's and his circle's activities created and discusses the problems that this public sphere faced in the historical context of the early nineteenth century. Chapter III shows how the Hunt circle exposed a sense of anxiety and instability in the face of the commercialized literary public sphere by examining John Keats's literary practices. Chapter IV highlights Percy Bysshe Shelley's public ideal which aimed for a unified and inclusive public sphere beyond class boundaries and traces how this ideal was frustrated in the ensuing historical proceedings. Chapter V deals with the final phase of the Hunt circle and its disintegration by observing the ways in which Mary Shelley memorialized the Hunt circle for the feminized reading public of the Victorian period. By illuminating the nature of the Hunt circle's activities for the public, this dissertation ultimately aims to reassess how literary intellectuals in the Romantic period struggled to sustain the traditional calling of men of letters in their contemporary public sphere.

This thesis concerns about the hidden problems of public sphere in contemporary society. Through social thinker, Zygmunt Bauman¡¦s liquid modernity theory, we can make sense for this topics,and uses Zygmunt Bauman¡¦s liquid modernity theory as the basis for analyzing.My basic proposition is that the public sphere is now in the predicament as the transition of modernity, and faces new challenges. Briefly speaking, the act of translating private troubles into public issues is in danger of falling into disuse and being forgotten. I primarily sum up three major causes to this situation: the forces of individualization, globalization, and consumption behavior of capitalism. I hope this research can help we think about public sphere issues and strengthen the awareness of the obligations of citizens and importance of their participating.

Issues concerning communication, information technology and democracy are focused points of studies in politics, sociology and communication. In the past few decades, the Internet has changed the image and ecology of mass media. The Internet provides more opportunities than other media for individuals to participate in the public discourse. Many scholars have suggested that Internet¡¦s characteristics such as real-time, interactivity, openness, and equality may help balance the power and bias exerted by traditional mass media. In this research three Internet forums (board) in Taiwan were analyzed by adopting the content analysis to evaluate the quality of discourse based on the communicative act theory proposed by Habermas. Specifically, we investigate several issues: Is the online forum an open, equal public place? Do participants interact with one another? Do they reach rational-critical discussion within an environment lack of social context cues? Do those virtual debates lead to cohesion and influence the real-life political process? There are several findings. First, although online forums are more open than traditional media¡¦s, individuals without internet facilities and skills are excluded from participation. Even within the forums, participants are not totally free to join or speak due to the registration, written netiquette norms, and hierarchical control systems. Secondly, instead of equally joining the discussion, a small percentage of people contribute to a majority of discourse in two websites¡¦ forums. That is, although online forums provide an opportunity for democratic discourse, it does not mean that everyone subscribed to the online discussion will participate equally. Thirdly, it is possible for individuals to reach rational-critical discussion within a CMC environment, the virtual debates rarely lead to consensus, let alone influencing real-life policy-making. In sum, this study concludes that the Internet has not become an alternative to the traditional media as a public sphere.

This essay details the profound economic and social impact of the Vietnam War on Hong Kong. The British colony provided essential strategic facilities to the U.S. war effort and ranked among the largest destinations for American servicemen on R&R. Between 1965 and 1970, Hong Kong annually hosted about 200,000 U.S. ground and naval personnel on holiday. This influx annually earned Hong Kong about US$300-400 million (in 2009 dollars) and employed thousands of residents working in the colony’s service and entertainment industries. In addition, American servicemen and the local businesses catering to them became a contentious issue in local society. Servicemen excited widespread interest, but their misdeeds and their bar and brothel stomping grounds provoked intense anxiety. Hong Kong residents’ ensuing debates exercised the available civil channels and stimulated the colony’s emerging public sphere, from English- and Chinese-language newspaper battles to outspoken unions and neighborhood associations. In tandem with famed events such as the Star Ferry Riots of 1966 and the communist agitations of 1967, American R&R was an essential ingredient to the emergence of a distinctive Hong Kong identity and citizenry during this period. While residents’ objections failed to curb the GIs’ holidays, Vietnam tourism and its reverberating effects pressed new sectors of Hong Kong residents to grasp and articulate their investment as citizens in the city’s future. Thus, the Vietnam War and its U.S. presence in Hong Kong were major factors in developing Hong Kong’s modern economy, civil society, and contemporary self-conception as a political, legal, and cultural ‘haven.’ / text

This thesis examines the quality and effectiveness of online political deliberation, within the framework of Jurgen Habermas’ public sphere and discourse theories. The thesis analyzes a deliberative process that took place online, in June 2011, as part of the Liberal Party of Canada’s Extraordinary Convention, specifically through content and discourse analysis of data from online discussion platforms. The analysis sought to ascertain whether the objectives of the convention were met, measured the quality of discourse and identified insights to support the creation of more effective spaces for political deliberation online. Analysis of the results revealed a difference in the discourse quality for each platform, attributed to the synchronicity or asynchronicity of the platform. The thesis concludes with suggestions for a design that makes use of both the synchronous and asynchronous features of the online discussion platforms in order to more specifically target the objectives of the political process.