Speech out of doors
Subtitle: preserving First Amendment liberties in public places
By: Timothy Zick.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 344
ISBN-13: 9780521517300; 9780521731966
Subjects: Freedom of speech -- United States; Assembly, Right of -- United States; Law and geography -- United States
Description: "Even in an age characterized by increasing virtual presence and communication, speakers still need physical places in which to exercise First Amendment liberties. This book examines the critical intersection of public speech and spatiality. Through a tour of various places on what the author calls the "expressive topography," the book considers a variety of public speech activities, including sidewalk counseling at abortion clinics, residential picketing, protesting near funerals, assembling and speaking on college campuses, and participating in public rallies and demonstrations at political conventions and other critical democratic events. This examination of public expressive liberties, or speech out of doors, shows that place can be as important to one's expressive experience as voice, sight, and auditory function. Speakers derive a host of benefits, such as proximity, immediacy, symbolic function, and solidarity, from message placement. Unfortunately, for several decades tile ground beneath speakers' feet has been steadily eroding. The causes of this erosion are varied and complex; they include privatization and other loss of public space, legal restrictions on public assembly and expression, methods of policing public speech activity, and general public apathy. To counter these forces and reverse at least some of their effects will require a focused and sustained effort - by public officials, courts, and of course, the people themselves."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: the geography of expression; title: The expressive topography and public liberties; title: Embodied places; title: Contested places; title: Non-places; title: Inscribed places; title: Militarized places; title: Places of higher learning; title: Networked public places.