Universidad Veracruzana

Welcome to the website of the PhD in Social Sciences at the Universidad Veracruzana, where you will find information about our program. The PhD in Social Sciences aims to train researchers capable of addressing the study of contemporary problems in the Mexico´s Gulf-Southeast region, both within the country and globally, with an interdisciplinary approach that emphasizes empirical research, founded on the principle of epistemological reflection and the construction of relevant knowledge. This research contributes to identifying the causal factors of economic inequality, diversity and cultural exclusion, gender inequality and domination, the construction of identities and processes of cultural production and consumption, processes of domination and the persistence of anti-democratic structures and practices, as well as the lack of access to justice, the proliferation of violence, and insecurity.

Considering the above, this program is primarily suitable for those considering developing an academic career focused on research of excellence at the national and international levels.

The pedagogical principles that guide the content and teaching practices are based on cognitive constructivism and active learning through research, rather than on the scholastic teaching of methodologies or the abstract schematization of procedures removed from the concrete exercise of inquiry. Meaningful, student-centered learning is promoted, where environments of symmetrical interaction and horizontal collaboration are created. Research is conceived as a trade, a craft, and practical knowledge that requires the judicious use of theoretical and methodological tools, as well as the tricks of the trade, based on the experience developed by the students themselves.

The overall objective is to train researchers of the highest academic level in the field of social sciences, with an emphasis on the study of sociopolitical and cultural processes, who produce knowledge for use by communities and the design of public policies.

The program’s teaching staff is made up of highly academic researchers. We also have three external professors, all of whom have excelled in their performance and broad academic recognition in both research and teaching, thesis supervision, and tutoring. All hold doctoral degrees from prestigious national and international universities, including the New School for Social Research in New York, the University of Hamburg, the University of Iowa, the Ibero-American University, UNAM, the National Polytechnic Institute, the University of Leeds (United Kingdom), the Metropolitan Autonomous University, CIESAS Mexico, and the University of Veracruz. Similarly, most of them belong to the SNII (National System of Researchers) and are recognized in Teacher Professional Performance Program (PRODEP its acronym in spanish)).

 

The lines of generation and application of knowledge (LGAC) are the following:

LGAC 1: Policies, Public Problems, and Democratization

This line of study focuses on how social problems become public problems and how they are debated in a variety of arenas, contributing to the design and implementation of public policies, especially on issues related to public safety, educational policies, access to justice, care for victims of crime, and others. It also studies the development of democratization processes, especially in Mexico and Latin America, as well as social movements and contentious actions that occur at different scales, from the perspective of theoretical and epistemological pluralism.

LGAC 2: Identity, Culture, Communication, and Power

The LGAC, “Identity, Culture, Communication, and Power,” seeks to study the formation, transformation, conflict, and negotiation of individual and collective identities through cultural production (music, film, video, arts, literature, press, among others) in their connection with diverse physical and conceptual environments. Social movements and cultural policies are viewed as dynamic processes inseparable from changing power relations. The study also examines the ways in which cultural practices reinforce, challenge, and reproduce existing power structures, and the processes of social production of meaning are problematized. The production, dissemination, consumption, and appropriation of media in a globalized world are processes that occur in national, regional, state, and local contexts. In this context, these processes do not constitute a separate approach but rather one that is situated within historical and contemporary cultural studies.