Education and Dialogue in Polarized Societies: Dialogic Perspectives in Times of Change

A number of scholars within the social sciences and the humanities have elaborated on the cultural and psychological dimensions of living through social, economic and political crises. Still, developments during the last decade have created an awareness that something fundamental of the human condition is at stake, especially for the young generation growing up today, with a devastating environmental crisis, globalization, large scale migration, the impact of digitalization and so forth. The consequence has been increased polarization between nations, communities, and people, where the dialogue for human understanding seems to vanish. The basic rationale underlying this book is that education is a key social system where learning to take different perspectives, to stimulate dialogue and intersubjectivity are fundamental for social and cultural development. We bring together scholars from North-America and Europe, but with relevance on a global scale. The four sections in the book cover theoretical explorations referring to the power and generativity of the writings of the Norwegian scholar Ragnar Rommetveit (section 1), diverse chapters and examples on the societal conditions for dialogue and the role of education (section 2), empirical illustration on the role of digital technologies (section 3), and micro-analytical studies of learning dialogues at home, in kindergarten and school (section 4).

Professor Erstad is an internationally leading researcher with a focus on digital literacy, but firmly rooted in the wider social and cultural context of learning beyond the technological aspects. His areas of expertise are learning, technology and education, children and youth in modern society. Erstad has been leading several large-scale research projects and research networks funded by the Norwegian Research Council, Nordforsk and the EU, and is part of several international networks and committees. He has been elected as Chair for the Scientific Advisory Committee for Science Europe (2016-2018), and Vice-Chair for the COST Action of ’The digital literacy and multimodal practices of young children’ (2015-2018). He has been visiting scholar/professor at the University of Southern-Denmark, University of Hong Kong, UC San Diego.

Bente E. Hagtvet is a researcher of the learning and teaching of language and thinking with particular interests in in developmental and didactic perspectives on the transition from preschool to school and children’s meeting with the written language, when in typical and untypical deveopment. She graduated from the University of Oslo, has taught at Universities in Sweden, Denmark and Finland and been a guest professor at the University of Oxford (1996-1996), Berkely University (the fall of 2007), University of Tromsø (2008-2010), At the University of Oslo she was Dean of Faculty (2002-2007) and has been leading a fair number of research projects over the years.

James V. Wertsch is a scholar of language, thought, and culture, with a special focus on national memory and and narratives. After finishing his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, Wertsch was a postdoctoral fellow at the USSR Academy of Sciences and Moscow State University, where he studied with the neuropsychologist A.R. Luria. Wertsch has held faculty positions at Northwestern University, the University of California, San Diego, Clark University, and Washington University in St. Louis, where he has also been Vice Chancellor for International Affairs. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Russian Academy of Education, and he holds honorary degrees from Linköping University and the University of Oslo. Wertsch has also served as a guest professor at the University of Oslo, the University of Bristol, the University of Seville, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Fudan University in Shanghai.