Conference Agenda

The advice not to talk about politics in an attempt to preserve social harmony appears increasingly contradictory given the overlapping and accelerating political, humanitarian, and ecological crises of our present moment. 'Once in a lifetime' catastrophic events, such as pandemics, wars, genocides and natural disasters have become everyday normalities, mirroring the quote attributed to Lenin in reference to the Russian Bolshevik revolution (1917): “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen” (Haass, 2022, p. 25; Simpson, 2025). Mikhail Bakhtin, who lived during the dangerous and uncertain times of the Bolsheviks, Soviet Union, and Stalin's black night, contradicts sentiments of "don't talk" to preserve niceties. In spite of, perhaps because of, challenging times, he contends everyday dialogues between self and other are filled with possibilities that create the nature of existence and the acquisition of knowledge.

Employing Bakhtinian dialogism, this presentation troubles the advice "don't talk about politics" by tracing what is forfeited when political dialogue is silenced. Bakhtin's early philosophical work on answerability and the non alibi in being is brought into conversation with his later ideas of polyphony, to explore the spaces in between the self and other within political dialogue encounters. Rather than seeking resolution, this presentation dwells in the tensions of political dialogues and its pedagogical implications. It contemplates what possibilities emerge when remaining answerable to voices different from our own, beyond attempting to assimilate their world view.

References

Haass, R. (2022, September 6). The Dangerous Decade. Foreign Affairs, 101(5). https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/dangerous-decade-foreign-policy-world-crisis-richard-haass

Simpson, J. (2025, December 29). John Simpson on wars: ‘Why I’ve never seen a year like 2025’. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4qp17e1lqo

The present study focuses on perspectives on activism and activist identity within queer/LGBTQI* individuals and examines the ways in which political engagement is approached within this population. Queer individuals are all directly or indirectly confronted with politicisation and discrimination, but may show highly varied experiences of identity, social positioning, access to resources, and political opinion.

As part of this study design and to represent this complex tension field, this project employs a custom sentence completion method derived from Katrin Kullasepps double direction theme completion (DDTC) method to explore individuals inner conflicts, role negotiations and overall meaning construction surrounding activism and queer community.

Through the analysis of a first set of qualitative data gathered using this method, we can explore how participants construct “activist” and “queer” identity categories, define role attributes and state expectations associated with these labels. This initial deep dive into the dialogicality of these central identity categories forms the base for any future analysis of the data and enables the creation of an initial map of the “queer activism” field as constructed by members of the community.

Eventually, this understanding may not only be built on to better understand activism and political engagement within complex social and identity networks, but also may provide a base for future initiatives to offer tailored practical support fostering agency and access to political work for members of politicised communities.

Young refugees are often described either as passive victims or as future agents of national reconstruction. Such framings tend to overlook the complex dialogical processes through which young people negotiate their legitimacy to speak, imagine, and position themselves in relation to reconstruction at all. Drawing on Dialogical Self Theory, this study examines how Ukrainian refugee students in Japan construct and navigate multiple I-positions when talking about reconstruction of their homeland.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 Ukrainian students who relocated to Japan after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Interviews focused on participants’ images of reconstruction and their perceived roles in relation to Ukraine’s future. The analysis focuses on how voices about reconstruction become supported, weakened, or remain underdeveloped through shifting I-positionings within the dialogical self.

The analysis suggests that forced migration distorts dialogical space in multiple ways, with participants’ accounts are organized across multiple, often conflicting I-positions. These include, for example, I-as-a-refugee-who-left, I-as-a-future-bridge-between-countries, and I-as-someone-struggling-to-rebuild-my-own-life. These positions are shaped by moral tensions such as guilt related to evacuation, relational dynamics with those who remained in Ukraine, and the negotiation of dominant public and political narratives surrounding responsibility, contribution, and legitimacy. Importantly, these positions do not converge into a coherent or unified standpoint.

These I-positions are further shaped and negotiated within external dialogical contexts, such as relationships where discussing Ukraine feels constrained, and digital spaces that are accessible for information on reconstruction yet remain emotionally demanding. Reconstruction emerges not as a clearly defined future goal, but as a contested dialogical space where multiple voices are continuously negotiated. This study highlights the importance of attending to dialogical positioning in understanding refugee students’ perspectives on reconstruction under conditions of forced migration.

All procedures were approved by the institutional ethics committee, and written informed consent was obtained from participants prior to data collection.

This study investigates how the refugee experience shapes the cultural identity of Syrian children residing in Jordan, drawing on Hubert Hermans' Dialogical Self-Theory (DST). Syrian children were forced to flee their country years ago, and grew up in protracted displacement, either in camps or within the host community, negotiating their cultural identity.

Although Jordan and Syria share many cultural similarities, it remains unclear how these children navigate and negotiate their identities in displacement. The study examines how they perceive themselves in both camp and host community settings and the role of schools in shaping cultural identity.

The study aims to (1) explore how Syrian refugee children construct their cultural identities through self-narratives, (2) compare the experiences and identities of those living in host communities and refugee camps, and (3) examine the role of the school environment in identity formation.

A qualitative narrative approach was employed, including semi-structured in-depth interviews (n=20 children, ages 12–17). Data were analyzed thematically and dialogically using Atlas.ti software. Ethical guidelines were followed, ensuring informed consent, confidentiality, and participant well-being.

Refugee children maintain multiple internal voices reflecting both Syrian heritage and adaptation to the host culture. Identity is not fragmented; rather, it is multilayered. Participants maintain a repertoire of I-positions that shift situationally across school, peer, and family contexts. While camp residents often cling to original cultural positions due to restricted movement, those in host communities navigate more complex cultural negotiations. Schools emerged as vital "dialogical spaces" for cultural identity development.

DST provides a framework for understanding the internal dialogues shaping identity in displacement. Given the school’s critical role, interventions and educational strategies should support refugee well-being, identity development, and integration.