The Promise of Dialogue

It has become commonplace to employ dialogue-based approaches in producing and communicating knowledge in diverse fields. Here, “dialogue” has become a buzzword that promises democratic, participatory processes of mutual learning and knowledge co-production. But what does “dialogue” actually entail in the fields in which it is practised and how can we analyse those practices in ways that take account of their complexities?
The Promise of Dialogue presents a novel theoretical framework for analysing the dialogic turn in the production and communication of knowledge that builds bridges across three research traditions - dialogic communication theory, action research, and science and technology studies.
It also provides an empirically rich account of the dialogic turn through case studies of how dialogue is enacted in the fields of planned communication, public engagement with science and collaborative research. A critical, reflexive approach is taken that interrogates the complexities, tensions and dilemmas inherent in the enactment of “dialogue” and is oriented towards further developing dialogic practices from a position normatively supportive of the dialogic turn.

Kenneth N. Cissna, University of South Florida:
With this insightful guide to the dialogic turn in communication studies and its application to cases in planned communication campaigns, public engagement with science, and collaborative research, Phillips fulfills the promise of dialogue. Her integration of action research and science and technology studies with dialogic communication theory and research provides a theoretical framework that she applies to collaborative research and organizational, community, and public practices. A must read for every researcher, student and practitioner of dialogue.