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Public scholarship aims to introduce academic research to a wide audience, one that doesn鈥檛 subscribe to journals or possess the time to wade through lengthy articles or books.
九色堂 political science professor Dinorah Azpuru is doing her part to help people鈥檚 understanding of political science with her work in the Washington Post 鈥淭he Monkey Cage,鈥� a blog dedicated to 鈥渕aking sense of the circus that is politics,鈥� as the blog describes itself.
She has submitted three articles to the blog, most recently
鈥淚t comes from the discipline鈥檚 self-criticism that political science is about politics, which is very important, but no one was reading other than ourselves,鈥� Azpuru said. 鈥淲hat are you contributing to the understanding of politics if people can鈥檛 read it?鈥�
is an independent site published at the Washington Post.
At Wichita State, Azpuru teaches courses focused on democracy, foreign policy and comparative politics (the politics of other countries). She also teaches specific courses on Latin America. She considers the region critically important to the United States for several reasons, including security and economic issues.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to pay attention to that region,鈥� she said.
Her appreciation for democracy comes from her childhood in Guatemala, living under military rule. She attended lectures on democracy organized by the U.S. Embassy as a youngster. In high school, she spent a year in Iowa as a foreign exchange student.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 grow up in a democracy,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 always admired democracy in the U.S. I loved seeing how people could get involved in it.鈥�
As part of her public scholarship, Azpuru also contributes with a blog in Spain鈥檚 main newspaper 鈥淓l Pais鈥� and makes public presentations of her research findings to non-academic audiences in Latin America.
鈥淭he idea is to share research 鈥� it鈥檚 research-based, not opinion,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou try to make it accessible to people who are not political scientists. I like to share what I do.鈥�
Azpuru鈥檚 most recent article in The Monkey Cage is headlined: 鈥淟atin American democracy may be in trouble. The protests are a symptom of increasing mistrust.鈥�
