A rhetoric of controversy

Efforts to explore the concept of controversy have presumed a relationship between the public sphere and the controversial. The normalizing spatial me taphor of the public sphere, however, provides a limited perspective on the fluidity, multiplicity, and mobility of controversies. This essay suggests an alternative perspective based on the intersection of moments of opportu nity and specific sites of discourse. The new perspective is applied to the controversy surrounding the African Burial Ground in New York City.