Apprenticeship in Diplomacy, or How I Became Another Replaceable Intern at the OECD

Bibliographic Data

ID2236699
AuthorsFrederik Carl Windfeld (0000-0002-0805-8114, European University Institute, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume18
Issue3
Publication date2024-06-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Political Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1749-5679 • E-ISSN: 1749-5687
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ips/olae018
OpenAlexW4399922644
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited50

What can we learn about diplomacy by studying its practice through the body of an apprentice? Drawing on the works of Loïc Wacquant, this article argues that to understand the making of background dispositions, tacit rules, and situated know-how in international politics' diverse fields of practice, researchers ought to consider apprenticeship as a concept and a methodological device. This argument is based on ethnographic observations from the author's internship at the Delegation of Denmark to the OECD. As a concept, apprenticeship cultivates a sensitivity to the embodied dynamics at play in acquiring habitus. An apprenticeship is structured as a participatory and corporeal process of socialization through which an aspirant acquires or fails to acquire a prospective identity within a given field of practice. Methodologically, studying practices of initiation through the body of an apprentice enables scholars to access tacit knowledge transmissions while recognizing that such knowledge operates beneath discursive representation and logical reasoning. In advancing this argument, the article foregrounds the figure of the apprentice and the experience of apprenticeship as conduits for gaining insights into social learning in diplomacy, other fields of practice, and the broader domain of socialization in International Relations

Apprenticeship · Archaeology · Diplomacy · Economics · Management · Political science · Sociology · European Union Policy and Governance · History · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies