Official URL: https://doi.org/10.55207/YIZO5457

The rise of political populism has posed significant challenges for democratic societies and for the academy. Populist movements often emphasise a division between ‘the people’ and ‘the elite’, pushing narratives that thrive on polarisation. In such contexts dialogue between social and community groups and populist movements is crucial for the health of democracy. However, within the academy, and specifically within adult and community education in formal, informal, and non-formal spaces, populism tends to undermine the practice of dialogue by promoting exclusionary practices, rejecting, and indeed silencing the legitimacy of opposing views. This article explores the theoretical foundations of dialogue and silence as critical components of communicative discourse. It posits the theories of Freire (1970, 1996, 1998, 2010), Greene (1973, 1978, 1995), Brookfield (1995, 2009), Lederach (2003), Bar-on (1989, 2007), and Giroux (2005) as a means of scaffolding a collaborative theoretical framework for conducting meaningful dialogue amongst and between communities in contention. In doing so it aims to offer practitioners of adult and community education a conceptual framework to support participatory dialogue that engages with contentious and complex narratives. This article offers the concept of silence as a societal response to conflict, the construct of dialogue as one means to deconstruct the silence, the acknowledgement of truth being multifaceted, and the complexity that arises in dealing with identity in communities in conflict, where the practice of dialogue is challenging, elusive, and subdued. In concluding, it suggests where arts-based methodologies form the backdrop, there is hope for shared understanding to emerge organically.