Fifth Conference on the Dialogical Self, University of Cambridge, August 26-29, 2008.

The concept of dialogical self is a new development in psychology which combines the work of theorists such as Bakhtin and James with the latest developments in cultural, cognitive and social psychology and in psychotherapy. This new approach is closely related to narrative psychology, constructivism, and cultural psychology, but the focus is upon the multivoiced self. According to the concept of the dialogical self, the individual self is social in origin and dialogical in function. The self reflects and appropriates the voices of society and significant others, and within the functioning of the self we find these voices in dialogue. Exploration of the dialogical self has broad scope, ranging from literary sciences to brain research and from empirical psychology to psychotherapy practice. It brings together different fields of psychology, such as personality, developmental, social, and clinical psychology. Across these diverse fields, the concept of the dialogical self provides an interdisciplinary platform for innovative research, theory and practice. Central topics of interest include: self and identity, culture and self, globalization, music and dialogue, power and rhetoric, dialogue and political psychology, reconstruction of self-narratives in psychotherapy, dialogue and development. The Fifth International Conference on the Dialogical Self will focus upon the self and dialogue and the ways in which meaning is constructed and reconstructed. The purpose of the conference is to organize interchange and discussion of problems related to the dialogical self across the boundaries of specific (sub)disciplines. As such, the Fifth International Conference on the Dialogical Self is open to psychologists and representatives of other social sciences and arts. More information is available on the conference homepage: http://www.dialogicalscience.com/. The programme is available here: http://www.dialogicalscience.com/DS%20timetable%20chge%20&%20TITLES__5.pdf.