Practicing Democracy in the Margins of School: The Teenage Parents Program as Feminist Counterpublic

Abstract

Many barriers to realizing a vision of inclusive and deliberative democracy exist. But even in stratified societies, one can find relatively safe discursive arenas within schools where members of subordinated groups can explore who they are and want to become and can prepare to voice their needs, concerns, and issues in wider public realms. Nancy Fraser (1997) conceptualizes such arenas as “subaltern counterpublics” capable of expanding our “actually existing democracy.” Drawing on ethnographic data, this article analyzes the Teenage Parents Program as a feminist counterpublic within a Canadian public high school. It argues that youths need to learn to recognize the power of dominant as well as alternative or oppositional discourses and to articulate and strategically pursue their needs and interests.