Latin american sociology and embodied pedagogies: body, emotion, and critical formation for educational equity

• In Event: Sociology of the Body and Embodiment Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 1: Theory, Methods, and the Body

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a pedagogical and epistemic intervention developed in the Department of Sociology at Universidad Santo Tomás (Bogotá, Colombia), specifically within the Body and Emotion Seminar. Here, embodied and affective methodologies are mobilized for the critical formation of sociology students. Grounded in a situated understanding of the body as a constitutive dimension of social life (Turner 1984; Shilling 2012) and emotion as a form of knowledge and social agency (Hochschild 1979; Illouz 2007), the course advances what I conceptualize as situated embodied epistemologies for sociological education.

From a Latin American perspective, this experience challenges the hegemony of Eurocentric pedagogical models by drawing on decolonial sociology (Quijano 2000; Mignolo 2007) and methods that reclaim corporeality as an epistemic and political locus (Varela 1999; Le Breton 2010). Practices such as bodily sensitization exercises, Biodanza, emotional mapping, and embodied reflective analysis allow students to recognize how their affective and corporeal biographies shape sociological interpretation. This aligns with the embodied and affective turn in the social sciences (Wetherell 2012; Ahmed 2014) and demonstrates the potential of higher education as a space for democratic knowledge production and epistemic justice.

The relevance of this work to the ASA 2026 theme, A Sociology of Service in a More Equitable Society, lies in its proposal of a replicable, classroom-based model for building a more equitable discipline. By centering care, relationality, and embodied learning (hooks 1994), this pedagogical framework equips historically marginalized students with critical tools, expands their agency in the production of legitimate knowledge, and positions Latin American pedagogical innovations as essential contributions to global sociology. I argue that this approach not only transforms the relationship between body, emotion, and sociological knowledge, but also offers a concrete pathway for practicing a more human, inclusive, and socially responsible sociology from within academic institutions.

Author

• Diana Carolina Varón Castiblanco