Decentering Civil Sphere Theory through Intervention: An Encounter with Latin America

Recent extensions of civil sphere theory have shed light over the competitive dynamics between civil and non-civil discourses of solidarity throughout Latin America. In institutional settings where fear, intimidation or (self-)censorship apply, though, it may be more difficult to witness the fine mechanics of such competition at work. To make it more observable, civil sphere theorists can resort to one specific practice of intervention. Here, I will start by briefly characterizing it in contrast with other interventive practices within Touraine’s sociology of the actor, Fals Borda’s participatory action research, Burowoy’s public sociology, and Garfinkel’s ethnomethodology. Based on that, I will then unpack why adding civil intervention to the methodological toolkit of civil sphere theory may tie the latter to some important threads of that complex intellectual fabric that defines the very idea of Latin America.