Responsibility in Academic Writing: A Dialogue of the Dead

Abstract

Drawing on the notion of answerability introduced by Mikhail Bakhtin, this article inquires into our moral responsibility as academic writers to others for what and how we write. According to Bakhtin, it is a difficult task to be answerable from one’s unique place in being and it is tempting to seek some sort of alibi, be it a theoretical principle, an aesthetic ideal, or a larger whole, and to play the roles therein. To break away from these domains, in search of some sort of ethical authorship, we engage in a Menippean dialogue. Exploring responsibility in such a satirical dialogue creates an awareness of the roles we easily hide behind, draws attention to what these roles might do to our writing, and enables us to try out other roles as we allow ourselves to not be so deadly serious in our writing.

Critical qualitative inquiry and methodological awareness: The effectiveness of face-to-face interviews in changing/enhancing participants' beliefs and practices

“…The world is changing and it is unfortunate that some societies still hold traditional beliefs concerning, for example, teaching and administration activities and/or practices. Scholarly writings are significant and create awareness and responsibility among writers and readers (Smissaert & Jalonen, 2018). Readers (administrators, teachers and students) also need to read as a response to the 'calls to order' or 'useless reading' (Cleave, 2018).…”

Every Second Is a Life: Ulla-Carin Lindquist’sRowing Without Oars

“…They further assert that the “subject” can take form through this process of answering and reflecting back what is seen and witnessed. They argue that “rightness” is not considered in relation to an individual’s subjectivity, but is established through, “an ongoing process of understanding how, by answering each other, we concern ourselves with each other, and all” (Smissaert and Jalonen, 2017, p. 2). The meaning retained holds personal value.…”

Bakhtin’s chronotope, connotations, and discursive psychology: towards a richer interpretation of experience

“…This could be without the boundaries of an extract per person or per interaction. In other words, they lose their embodied boundaries in 'created dialogues' (Sullivan, 2012, Moate and Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2017, Smissaert and Jalonen, 2017 or 'tables of soundbites' (Sullivan, 2012). This allows for a carnivalesque mesalliance of ideas, people and situations, done with the aim of demonstrating the embodied connotations of an idea as it resonates through different voices.…”

“…This allows for a carnivalesque mesalliance of ideas, people and situations, done with the aim of demonstrating the embodied connotations of an idea as it resonates through different voices. For example, Smissaert and Jalonen (2017) have passed the idea of academic writing through the tones of a menippean 'dialogue of the dead' while Sullivan (2012) examines how the idea of an organisation "sounds differently" in different organizational contexts which can be brought together in a created dialogue.…”