Hanging Out: One of the High Arts of Dialogue

Abstract

The practice of hanging out represents an example of an informal and yet rigorous practice of dialogue which has educational merits in both formal and informal settings. It can embody the features and capacities of dialogue, and its benefits rest in creating a safe space for interaction, allowing real questions, fostering creativity, and offering an opportunity for learners to explore more deeply their fundamental values and epistemic outlooks. Several dialogical capacities contribute to the possibilities of hanging out as an effective pedagogical practice, and three of them—becoming aware, presence, and confirmation—are briefly detailed. I suggest that hanging out as a pedagogical practice is of value in a world which is ever more complex, connected, diverse, and uncertain.