How Does Consciousness Transform Through Dialogue in Hanashi-ai? Focusing on Interactional Changes Among Participants Who Enhanced Their Sense of Autonomy in a Community Development Workshop

Abstract

This paper examines how dialogue in Hanashi-ai workshops for community development contributes to transformations in participants’ consciousness of autonomy. Since a mixed methods research approach was adopted, based on the results of a prior quantitative study, two participants who demonstrated enhanced autonomy were selected for qualitative analysis. Their utterance sequences during Hanashi-ai were analyzed. The findings suggest that they sustained multiple affiliative interactional sequences and fostered mutual trust beyond criticism or confrontational exchanges. Furthermore, this study discusses transformations of consciousness that emerged through dialogue with persons positioned as “others,” whose perspectives are heterogeneous to the self.