Dialogism and dialogism: A dialogue between China and the West

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Xiaodi Zhou

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, USA

: Int J Ment Health Psychiatry

Abstract

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In this study, I explore Chinese Daoist theoretical connections with modern conceptions of dialogue and Western theories of psychology. I investigate and compare these lines of Western thinking with classical Chinese thought, noting the complexities in each. I discuss and disseminate how the Daoist principle of yin yang may be related to the dialogic understandings of Bakhtin. I also contend that the Western field of psychology, particularly the work of Carl Jung, has incorporated Daoist principles of yin yang in its conception and practice. I argue that present Western thought in general may have connections with Chinese Daoist thinking in conceiving of a reality that is in dynamic and in flux.

Biography

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Xiaodi Zhou teaches and researches in South Texas at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He has research interests in literacy and cultural identities and languages. His work centers on the mutually dialogic interactions of language and culture, and the analysis of literature and the written words as a medium of this dialogue. He subscribes to a Bakhtinian notion of dialogism, particularly the give-and-take pull of culture within our globalized community. Having lived and worked in many cultural, geographic, and linguistic regions throughout the US and the world, he takes a global outlook on academic ideas.