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
Thank you for the invitation. It was great!
July 18, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Audrey Alejandro
ejir.bsky.social
🧵4/10

“Conceptualizing technicization: the history of the medicalization of male circumcision” by @audreyalejandro.bsky.social

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July 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM
audreyalejandro.bsky.social
❤️❤️❤️Amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!! 🤓
June 17, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Audrey Alejandro
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
Reposted by Audrey Alejandro
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
Yes, have you published on discourse?
April 4, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Reposted by Audrey Alejandro
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
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
Thanks for letting me know: here is a valid link! www.lse.ac.uk/Methodology/...
Call for papers
Call for papers, Computational Social Science meets Qualitative Research. Two-day workshop for 10 November 2025 at LSE.
www.lse.ac.uk
March 14, 2025 at 10:54 AM