In Medias Res

Using Sociology to Uncover the Harm of Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality in Colombia. Reflections on Public Sociology as a Graduate Student 1

Bibliographic Data

ID12136178
AuthorsAndrés Besserer Rayas (0000-0003-4453-5990, Department of Political Science The Graduate Center at CUNY New York New York United States, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume38
IssueS1
Pages954-977
Publication date2023-05-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Forum (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0884-8971 • E-ISSN: 1573-7861
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/socf.12902
OpenAlexW4376140514
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited55

Some literature on public sociology conceives of students as a public rather than potential or real practitioners of this type of sociology. There is a dearth of texts reflecting on graduate student training in public sociology and the trade‐offs they face. In this paper, I engage in a reflexive account of my experience doing public sociology, as I partnered with nonprofits to conceptualize, research, and write a report on the effects of stripped citizenship in Colombia after a mistaken administrative decision deprived 40,000 mostly binnational Venezuelan‐Colombians of their nationality in that country. This report has served as part of strategic litigation and to raise public awareness of the harmful policy. I argue that three things are key for graduate students to engage in public sociology and have been overlooked. First, training in public sociology, especially training with elements of apprenticeship, can develop the publicly engaged sociological imagination and toolkit, which is key to identifying opportunities for interventions in the midst of fieldwork, and models for interventions. Second, support from established professors. And third, local, contextual knowledge is indispensable. I also discuss ways to offset some of the trade‐offs that graduate students are likely to face when doing public sociology

Citizenship · Harm · Immigration · Nationality · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Public sociology · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of Education · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Sociology and Norbert Elias