The concepts and definitions of alternative press, communication and journalism are part of a network of meanings built throughout the history of research in the field of Communication Sciences in Brazil. If observed as a whole then proposes a narrativity for the research that can be retraced in a discursive analysis. We seek to understand how concepts and narratives are formed in the academic research on alternative communication, based on a survey done at the Ibict’s Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. The analysis shows that the civil-military dictatorship (1964/1985) is a milestone for the establishment of this narrative. The centrality of the alternative press is assumed by the authors, and they relate the crisis of this model to the end of the dictatorship. The continuity of this imagery or even later practices in the alternative press are little explored. This gives rise to an interest in alternative broader communication related to popular and community communication.