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While current research on the social psychology of representations emphasises the symbolic and communicative aspects of representation, there remains a tendency to conceive of representational processes in purely cognitive terms, as if all that is involved in representation is an attempt to re-present the reality of the world outside. This accent on the representational function qua mental replica of the world outside has fuelled an anti-representational stance whose most radical consequence had been the dismissal of the notion of representation. This paper argues that this view fails in two accounts : it cannot provide an ontogenetic account of representation and is unable to engage with its symbolic function. The genesis of representation shows that its foundations are dialogical triads between self-other-object, which shape it as a symbolic construction of persons, self-other relations and world. Understanding this dialogical genesis consolidates the expressive and dialogical functions of representation which, in conjunction with the epistemic function, are integral to the process of knowledge construction.