Democracy and the political unconscious / Noëlle McAfee.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [219]-225) and index.

Introduction. The Sociosymbolic Public Sphere -- 1. The Political Unconscious -- 2. Modernity's Traumas -- 3. Targeting the Public Sphere -- 4. The Repetition Compulsion or the Endless War on Terror -- 5. Recovering Community -- 6. Deliberative Democracy -- 7. Feminist Theory, Politics, and Freedom -- 8. Public Knowledge -- 9. Three Models of Democratic Deliberation -- 10. The Limits of Deliberation, Democratic Myths, New Frontiers -- 11. Media and the Public Sphere.

"McAfee deftly weaves together her experience as an observer of democratic life with an array of intellectual schemas, from poststructural psychoanalysis to Rawlsian and Habermasian democratic theories, as well as semiotics, civic republicanism, and American pragmatism. She begins with an analysis of the traumatic effects of silencing members of a political community. Then she explores the potential of deliberative dialogue and other "talking cures" and public testimonies, such as the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to help societies work through, rather than continually act out, their conflicts." "Democracy and the Political Unconscious is rich in theoretical insights, but it is also grounded in the practical problems of those who are trying to process the traumas of oppression, terror, and brutality and create more decent and democratic societies."--BOOK JACKET.