The Culture of Dialogue in a Time of Growing Nationalism: On the Engaged Nature of Zygmunt Bauman’s Thought

Abstract

This article contains an analysis of the engaged nature of Zygmunt Bauman’s writings, with particular emphasis on his last works. It focuses on his critical analysis of the rise of nationalism and his alternative vision of a “culture of dialogue.” The text is divided into three parts. The first contrasts Bauman’s fusion of the denotative and conative functions of language with different strategies of engaged anthropology. The next addresses Bauman’s evolving idea of dialogue as a way of deepening understanding between different ways of seeing the world and of working out solutions to social problems. The last part considers Bauman’s idea of developing responsibility for the contemporary condition based on a desire to increase mutual understanding and cooperation (the “culture of dialogue”). The text attempts to assess this strategy of resistance against the contemporary rise of nationalism.