ABSTRACT
At the centre of life in Western democracies are the public spheres in which private citizens engage with issues that concern them. This activity takes place in varied settings – classrooms, associations, unions, community meetings, and in provincial and national arenas, including the media. While most citizens take access to these spaces for granted, a great many ‘others’ are systematically excluded. The advent of mass democracy and mass media has seen the concept of the “imagined community” (Anderson, 1984) – the nation – meld into one which conceives of societies made up of multiple-connected public spheres. These spheres have evolved in unique social, political, economic and cultural contexts. In this discussion, I want to consider the idea of Indigenous public spheres and their potential to both empower and inform.
