From dialogue to nondialogue-and back: Transforming Public Engagement with Science through Grating Theater Dialogues and Antagonistic Community Science

摘要: Dialogue is pervasive in science, technology, and innovation (STI) governance, especially but not exclusively in Europe. It is based on the idea that involving various stakeholders will jointly generate meaningful perspectives on how to govern potentially controversial STI issues. Yet, important critiques have been levelled against dialogue. For instance, it can be endless; it masks power dynamics; and it resolves problems symbolically rather than structurally, etc. So, what is to be done? Can we ‘save’dialogue from itself? Should we? Do we reinvent it? Or do we kill it off for good? In this paper, we explore these questions based on our involvement in two distinct types of public engagement with science: the Dutch Grating theater dialogues (‘Schurende theaterdialogen’) and antagonistic community science initiatives that emerged in Japan in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Whereas the former seeks to transform dialogue within the confines of the dialogic space, the latter illustrates the generative possibilities of venturing beyond dialogue into the realm of nondialogue. We conclude that dialogue does not–and need not–stand in stark opposition to nondialogue, and argue that it is more rewarding to weave them together, at least in a Western STI context.