Mikhail Bakhtin: a two-faced encounter with child becoming(s) through dialogue

Abstract

ABSTRACT Mikhail Bakhtin is a latecomer to the field of child development. His contributions emphasize the dialogic nature of language as a lived event of becoming for all and de-thrones any monologic truths that might be told otherwise. Dismantling any master theory that might determine the ways children are known (or know-able), Bakhtin offers a philosophical alternative that invites a series of two-faced representation with the child based on the series of approaches to representation. On one hand, emphasis is placed on the complex language forms that are used to convey meaning in everyday dialogues as a source of strategic insight; while on the other, meanings are granted only in authorship and answerability to those involved. There are serious implications for adults who seek to look both ways through this creative route – not only must they lay bare their own certain truths as part of their representation, but they must simultaneously attempt to exceed these bounds through earnest engagement with the child as a conscious subject. Seen as a personality in their own right, the child is at last granted agency in complex dialogues that have traditionally escaped the adult gaze. Taking this Janus-like approach, Bakhtin heralds a new era for child development which orients towards alterity as much as intersubjectivity – providing a source of creative insight and potential in understanding becoming(s) for all.