Difference, Dialogue, and Development A Bakhtinian World

Difference, Dialogue, and Development is an in-depth exploration of the collected works of Mikhail Bakhtin to find relevance of key concepts of dialogism for understanding various aspects of human development. Taking the reality of differences in the world as a given, Bandlamudi argues that such a reality necessitates dialogue, and actively responding to that necessity leads to development. The varied works of Bakhtin that span several decades passing through the most tumultuous period in Russian history, are brought under one banner of three D?s ? Difference, Dialogue and Development ? and the composite features of the three D?s emerge as leitmotifs in every chapter.

1. Introduction: Dialogue = Development 2. The Novel and The Hero: Developmental Narrative and The Developing Subject 3. Creative Living and Aesthetic Vision: Cultivating Finer Sensibilities 4. Carnivalization of Consciousness: A Catalyst for Development 5. Authoring the Self – Answering the Other: Epistemological Necessities and Ethical Obligations 6. Dialogic Method for Human Sciences: Between the Message Giver – Message – Messenger – and Message Receiver 7. Differences as the Will to Power and Freedom to Choose

Dr. Lakshmi Bandlamudi is a Professor of Psychology at LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York. She is the author of Dialogics of Self, The Mahabharata and Culture: The History of Understanding and Understanding of History, and several other papers focusing on dialogic consciousness.