Audrey Alejandro
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audreyalejandro.bsky.social
Audrey Alejandro
@audreyalejandro.bsky.social
1.6K followers 1.2K following 56 posts
Associate Professor & Methodological Artist
London School of Economics
Discourse, Knowledge, Reflexivity, International Relations

Convener @DoingIPS | PhD Sciences Po Bx
https://www.audreyalejandro.com/publications.html
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audreyalejandro.bsky.social
The secret is that one deceptively simple question addresses all of these problems at once: “What is this a case of?”. This isn’t just a philosophical musing — it’s a powerful, generative tool that can supercharge your research approach. Asking this question yields four key benefits: 1. It forces you to situate your project within a broader universe of comparable cases, leading to more rigorous case selection. 2. It helps you identify conceptual anchors for your literature review beyond case-specific sources. 3. It pushes you to develop a conceptual toolbox that sharpens your analysis. 4. It allows you to make a double contribution — both to those interested in your empirical case and to those working on broader conceptual or theoretical questions. ​ In short, asking “What is this a case of?” is a strategic, epistemological, and practical move. It transforms a descriptive project into an analytical one — bridging your phenomenon and theory to produce richer, more meaningful results.
September 8, 2025 at 9:23 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
Based on the history of methods & methodological debates in IR, I argue that the current promotion of methods in IR challenges the ‘critical vs non-critical’ divide & argue that pro-methods critical scholarship is currently engaged in a process of de-technicisation of methods.
Methods are generally considered a key dimension of social science research and of the craft of producing knowledge in academic settings. Methods can be understood as sets of techniques and practices that offer overall guidance, structure and coherence regarding how we produce knowledge. They invite us to disclose the underpinnings behind the research choices we make and be explicit about the steps, tasks and procedures through which we conduct research. This entry first defines what falls under the scope of ‘methods’. It then traces the development of methods in International Relations (IR). The third section provides an overview of current debates around the question of methods in IR. The conclusion sketches out the potential implications of and directions for the future of methods in IR.
March 25, 2025 at 9:54 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
This is the first article for which the feedback I've received pre&post submission has always been constructive, professional and very high level. Thank you to @ejir.bsky.social reviewers & editors, @pbilgin.bsky.social @mattkranke.bsky.social @ksailormoon.bsky.social @andrealiese.bsky.social ...👏💫
Acknowledgments This article benefited from the constructive feedback of many. I would like to thank Pinar Bilgin, Chris Deacon, Alejandro Esguerra, Matthias Kranke, Katja Freistein, Andrea Liese, Laura Pantzerhielm, Alex Stoffel, the participants of the 2021 ECPR panel “Knowledge and International Organizations,” of the 2022 workshop “Objects of Expertise,” of the research colloquium of the Center for global cooperation (University of Duisburg-Essen) and Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Science Studies (University of Bielefeld), as well as the EJIR reviewers for their useful feedback on previous versions of the article. I would also like to thank the center for global cooperation (University of Duisburg-Essen) for hosting me as a Senior Visiting Fellow in the latest stages of writing this manuscript.
March 13, 2025 at 2:41 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
I illustrate the interest of theorising and disentangling these conceptualisation of #technicisation based on the case study of the history of the medicalisation of male circumcision.
Conclusion Throughout its history, male circumcision has remained a social practice embedded in and productive of social norms, for example relating to the management of sexuality. During the first stage of its medicalization, male circumcision was explicitly associated with such social/moral roles. It is during the remedicalization of male circumcision that it became technicized (in the Habermassian sense)—presented as a socially neutral procedure while continuing to perform some of its pre-medicalized social roles and acquiring new ones. On the one hand, the medicalization of male circumcision does not fit a case of technicization as depoliticization. Male circumcision has traditionally been the remit of initiatory and religious authorities before becoming the remit of medical experts, without being the object of public debate. On the other hand, the medicalization of male circumcision does not fit a case of technicization as disciplinarization either. Medicalized male circumcision has been used as a tool of social organization long before the emergence of modern states and their techniques of power—i.e. its non-technicized roles produce social order while pre-existing the emergence of modern forms of governmentality. Moreover, the relation between technicization and knowledge in this case does not follow the Foucauldian model. Rather than regulating behaviors by making an object of governance visible through knowledge, the practice is promoted while knowledge about it is either missing or non-consensual.
March 13, 2025 at 2:41 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
I develop three conceptualisation of technicization:
1. Technicization as depoliticization (Weberian)
2. Technicization as disciplinarization (Foucauldian)
3. Technicization as desociologization (Habermassian)

It is my first paper that is really a #socialtheory / #politicaltheory paper 😍🤓
Table synthesising the three conceptualisation of technicization introduced in the article
March 13, 2025 at 2:41 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
How does social actors’ engagement with the technical dimensions of world politics—from material infrastructures to modeling, engineering, bureaucracy, and discourses of expertise—bring about specific social configurations & political effects? ➡️ Problem: technicisation has not been theorised.
March 13, 2025 at 2:41 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
🔥 New article "Conceptualizing technicization: the history of the medicalization of male circumcision" published with @ejir.bsky.social in #openaccess: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

@lsemethodology.bsky.social

#Technique #malecircumcision #expertise #Weber #Foucault #Habermas #VMMC
Abstract to the article "Conceptualizing technicization: the history of the medicalization of male circumcision" : How does social actors’ engagement with the technical dimensions of world politics—from material infrastructures to modeling, engineering, bureaucracy, and discourses of expertise—bring about specific social configurations and political effects? To answer this research problem, International Relations scholars have growingly mobilized the idea of technicization to investigate the relationship between knowledge, governance, socio-political reproduction, and social change. However, despite this interest, technicization has been neither conceptualized nor theorized. I argue that this absence limits our understanding of how technicality affects world politics and leads to the literature taking depoliticization as the default interpretation. To address this issue, this article develops three conceptualizations of technicization by distinguishing between the theoretical traditions underpinning this idea across social sciences. I introduce to International Relations the concept of technicization as desociologization based on the Habermassian concepts of technique and practice, which I distinguish from technicization as depoliticization (Weberian) and technicization as disciplinarization (Foucauldian) most commonly encountered in the literature. I illustrate the utility of disentangling these approaches through the case study of the history of the medicalization of male circumcision and its use as a global health anti-HIV policy since 2007. Overall, this article lays solid theoretical foundations for a more structured conversation about knowledge- and discourse-related processes dealing with the technical dimensions of world politics and beyond.
March 13, 2025 at 2:41 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
📢 New publication "Reflexivity for Qualitative Research Quality and the Quality of Reflexivity" with Alexander Stoffel for The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research Quality (ed. Uwe Flick) 1/6
https://buff.ly/3PlKaz3

@lsemethodology.bsky.social
#reflexivity #qualitativeresearch #researchquality
February 17, 2025 at 8:49 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
🧧This week at the occasion of Chinese New Year, I had the privilege of attending a Nüshu calligraphy workshop organised by my brilliant PhD student Mac Wang and hosted by @lsemethodology.bsky.social

✍️ Nüshu is a script that was used only by women during several centuries in Southern Hunan 🙋🏻‍♀️
February 14, 2025 at 9:29 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
📢 Call for papers 📢 Workshop "Computational Social Science meets Qualitative Research" that I organise with colleague @dandekadt.bsky.social at LSE in November 2025.

Anyone interested please send us a 250-word abstract by 26 March 2025 !

Learn more➡️ buff.ly/3CCijaY

@lsemethodology.bsky.social
focus group overlayered with algorythmic code
February 12, 2025 at 8:11 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
🏮 Chinese New Year celebrations, former Visiting Research Student, friend and co-author Longxuan ZHAO gifted me a magnet of our article "Multi-Method Qualitative Text and Discourse Analysis: A Methodological Framework" to celebrate its 50th citation 😍 🫠 🤓

▶️ #OA: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Longxuan and Audrey pose for the picture holding the magnet that shows the abstract of their article "Multi-Method Qualitative Text and Discourse Analysis: A Methodological Framework"
February 11, 2025 at 7:53 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
I define key concepts to writing for reflexivity & introduce practical strategies based on the case of decentering agency in world politics to address the Eurocentric denial of "non-Western" agency existing in #IR. Below: an excerpt of an activity I develop for decentering agency in our writings 2/
February 3, 2025 at 12:08 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
📣 Do you write in a way that enables your readers to become reflexive about the things you are talking about? My new article "Writing as Social Practice: From Researchers’ to Readers’ Reflexivity" aims to develop a research program to address this question ⬇️ In #OA 1/
brill.com/view/journal...
@lsemethodology.bsky.socia
February 3, 2025 at 12:08 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
5. A conclusion by Paul Beaumont "Writing for Reflexivity and Breaking Writing Rules". He critically assesses wether the writing strategies developed in the forum are successful and emphasises the forum argument's for diversification of writing techniques and strategies. brill.com/view/journal...
January 21, 2025 at 12:43 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
4. A conceptual and pedagogical piece (by me): "Writing as Social Practice: From Researchers’ to Readers’ Reflexivity" in which I conceptualise the key concepts of our initiative and unpack how to write for reflexivity and decenter agency in world politics. In #OpenAccess ➡️ brill.com/view/journal...
January 21, 2025 at 12:43 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
3. A case study by Carmina Untalan "Beyond Empire: Okinawa and the politics of American Military bases in Japan". She uncovers the multiple agencies denied when it comes to US hegemony and US-Japan relations. In #OpenAccess brill.com/view/journal...
January 21, 2025 at 12:43 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
2. A case study by Felix Anderl "Decentering Agency in North-South Solidarity: Arguing with My Past Self". He critically reflects on how his attempts at transnational North-South solidarity may have undermined “non-Western” agency in the course of trying to facilitate it brill.com/view/journal...
January 21, 2025 at 12:43 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
1. A short intro to introduce the forum "Decentring Agency in World Politics: Writing for Reflexivity as a Collective Experiment" (written by me) in #OpenAccess brill.com/view/journal...
January 21, 2025 at 12:43 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
🔥 New forum: "Decentring Agency in World Politics: Writing for Reflexivity as a Collective Experiment" @journalpariss.bsky.social

We explore writing practices that foster reflexivity within readers. We focus on one reflexive process: decentring & one problem: the denial of non-Western agency 🤓
How can we help each other, through our writing, in challenging the potentially harmful perceptions we have unconsciously acquired? How can we assist readers in becoming more reflexive about the things we write about? Here, we build bridges between the methodology of reflexivity and the methodology of writing, focusing on writing practices that aim at fostering reflexivity within our readers.
January 21, 2025 at 12:43 PM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
The article proposes a four-step process to tackle concept misalignment in research, illustrated by cases from Moldova 🇲🇩 and Dominica 🇩🇲. Through reconceptualizing the example of ‘local’, we introduce two new concepts: “local-international” and “internationalized local”.
November 18, 2024 at 9:06 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
📣NEW ARTICLE! @ellie_knott & I develop a step-by-step approach to identify misaligned #concepts and reconceptualize them. @gsqjournal.bsky.social

Super useful for students & junior researchers ➡️ in OA for all your reading lists!
academic.oup.com/isagsq/artic...
November 18, 2024 at 9:06 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
This article introduces resemantisation as an analytical and methodological framework. Beyond the relevance of the concept for the study of (political) terms, we argue that resemantisation also pinpoints a discursive process at the core of socio-political phenomena commonly studied as distinct. 4/4
November 14, 2024 at 10:24 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
While #malecircumcision first acquired medical meanings to curtail #masturbation, it is now being advertised by medical literature as a way to enhance #sexualpleasure and prowess. In both cases, the stamp of medical authority serves to legitimise the practice – from abstinence to virility. 3/4
November 14, 2024 at 10:24 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
We conduct a computational #discourseanalysis of 396 documents curated by #globalhealth #IOs to promote the Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision between 2007 & 2016, & use primary and secondary data to develop the first transnational history of medicalised MC up to the start of the #VMMC program 2/4
November 14, 2024 at 10:24 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
📢 NEW ARTICLE: How did male circumcision – an ancient religious ritual – become a global health policy and what role did International Organizations discourses play in this process?
Published in Open Access in International Relations with Joshua Feldman :
buff.ly/3C44cdO 1/4
November 14, 2024 at 10:24 AM