Coming to a Close, or How Not to Put an End to the Conversation

Abstract

This chapter revisits the key questions asked throughout the book, analysing how Esperanto’s continuous existence and regular use emerge from the fact that the language creates ephemeral settings where Esperantists feel comfortable to express themselves expecting their voices not to go unnoticed. Setting their use of Esperanto apart from their daily lives, Esperantists experiment with cosmopolitan sociabilities that expand their communicative alternatives and complement their use of other languages. Refraining from grand narratives that posit Esperanto as either universal or a failure, Esperantists produce knowledge, make friends, travel and make information circulate through alternative communication. Ultimately, in learning and continuously using the language, they show that they have something to say and that they do not want this conversation to come to an end.