Academic Bio Data

Javiera Barraza is a chilean graduated sociologist of University of Chile. Her specialization is focus on student's mental health and recently won Ibero American award and is preparing her master’s degree in mental health and childhood at Complutense University of Madrid.

Some of her projects was related with university students and how stress, personal stuff and the place where they from, affect them and their performance at university. Besides tried to study childhood and pressure that childrens are exposed at the moment their parents decides what they should study and how in adolescence grow insecurities associated to university studies. Actually is part of academic body of University of Chile and is an active member of the Sociology Magazine and Polis.

When Javiera began her graduated studies, there was controversial opinions about mental health at universities, biological theories predominated and that inspired her to write and approach in mental health focus on social side.

Her personal interests are associated with migration and racism, specially, perceptions of people who is part of middle class and lower class. Additionally she likes play bass which is her most important hobby in her free time.

Inmigration situation in Chile

Hello today the topic it's a opinion about the immigration situation in Chile. For a long time immigration was and continue being a controversy issue. Some expressions to talk

about negative side of immigration are related to failure and opportunities to find a job,  increase of crimes and racist expressions even some says affect our economy and social benefits. 

In my opinion, people are wrong when says bad adjectives to refer immigrants. Inmigration exists in our country since arrival of spanish amd is ironic this situation because we are immigrants or -I think- more of the middle of the population is immigrant but that don't known. 

At the same time, the think about "inmigrant" only is imaginary because is a concept to differentiate between "national" people and strangers.

"Chilean" people only discriminate against immigrants with  some characteristics like color of skin, the most part of time white people is not discriminate even if is a immigrant. Nobody reclaim about european countries but that is not the case if they are front to peruvian or haitian. 

To finish, in some cases racism are accompanied with violence to immigrants and the answer to justify that is "they deserved" or "nobody invites them here".

From my point of view, faced of eyes of persons who live in Chile immigrants only are poor people, "dark" skinned and that reflect spanish legacy which influence culture and perceptions. 

Student's lives and stress

Hello, today I'm going to talk about student's lives and stress. When a person entry at university, in some cases must be reorganice their life around university because bibliography, homework and times to move affects the life of student's. 

Today in University of Chile students was mobilized and continues their demands to reduce academic responsibilities because contribute to make worse mental health. 

In fact, with my group we are making an investigation about facso student's mental health and their perceptions and opinions about efficiency of services and mechanics with university affront this problem. At the same time we are intervene in the commission of mental health. 

In problems of mental health is possible name stress, many students lives stressed and this affects their lives because they can't unfold in their lives, university and others parts of their lives. 

Sometimes we must be heard other persons even our family says that just our  duty is study and if you don't continues your studies you will be nobody. This and normalize don't sleep and abuse of caffeine, consume drugs to perform contributes to actual situation where a lot of students are worried to perform in university and don't fail a course, have social life, be with family and do exercise. 

But nobody think about personal problems of students, they are persons living transition to adult life and this period implicate existencial and vocational crisis, the overthink -in some cases- to work and generate income and new demands of adult life and expectations of family. 

Postgraduate studies

I know importance about postgraduating, but I don't have theme or subject clear yet but my project is study in other country but one biggest barrier is language. So I was considering about some countries where people speak spanish like Spain besides there we can find good renown university about sociology. Also I considered take some course of english because is very important in most countries. So, if a take that course probably decided by other options like United States.

I have in mind studies about gender, related with anthropology and others that I don't know yet, for example, social inequality. The first and second point are inspired in classes of last year I really liked and I feel necessity to study and have more knowledge about them and before that I never was thinking about that form or adopted position more critique.  

About type of study I have the idea to study "full time" (sounds difficult but not impossible) but problem is how can get resources, only I have savings in my account but in my opinion is not enough. Other option is work after finish career and saving until have a good amount of money. And if all options fail, I can study in Chile but my idea is study abroad. But still is too soon to overthink and overwhelmed even I don't know if a I will finish the career.

Future job

In some posts ago I wrote about my vision about my professional live after graduating. Three or four years ago I never has thinked or heard about career of sociology or anthropology and less study them because I was thinking in some career related to earn money with combination of my interests because always I haved the idea about costs in my future life. But the interest is always in my childhood I wanted to study humanist careers and of little interest or value. I'm still remember when said I wanted study psychology and some people told me that career its was to job with crazy people but since child I have other idea which it's better known now: everyone needs go and talk with psychology or other specialist because we can't make invisible mental health.

Slowly when I has 17 years I started to be more close to sociology and it was when I have my first of a lot vocational crisis (sad but true until now) and I searched about careers related with relationship between people and discovered sociology and it's funny because I knew it will be difficult in all aspects specially obtain job but I decided study it anyway, the first hopelessness was not believe that I could entry to University of Chile, after entering I had not hope in pass first semester with terrible  (to me) marks in relation with other classmates.

Now I'm trying to be optimistic but it's difficult every time I'm lose more hope about everything but I really want to job with people, realize field work (similar to ethnomethodology) and not only stay in an office always with objective to contribute to change something in our society.

Some considerations about gender

Sometimes we are situated in situations which is affected the integration of women like harassment or violence in subway, university even job. Since a lot of years ago woman has suffer that and others types of belittling and oppression.

Sociology studies that situation and the construction about the gender and how in the process of socialization teaches to kids the role in future life and the activities that them can do.

But in my opinion we are in presence of contradiction because much of the material and papers in sociology and others disciplines are wrote and still writing by men and they don´t know about real situation in woman quotidian life but through him is possible give more importance and raise awareness this conflict which affect all society.

Unknown liquid gender

To give more support to the previous paragraph I will illustrate with examples in specific with Gayle Rubin (who is not sociology but we has a class about her and gender) about her text "the traffic of women: notes on the 'political economy ‘of sex" where she realized a critic to three authors: Freud, Marx and Lévi-Strauss.

In simple words, she says that theories are based only in men. For example, in the case of exploitation mens suffers consequences, en relation with relationship (family) woman is object in marriage and condition to trade and allows peace of family and at the moment to adopt some position in sexual role is woman who have change her interest to "falo" because she can't never have the position of men and brother only can wait to receive that benefit.

Free topic

To be honest I don't know about what write. It's difficult think about career and some themes or what I think about after gratuating because I don't know what is gonna happen. Sometimes I think in uncertainty about the fields of career because the I have a pessimistic vision about the future. From my point of view only the people with "pituto" or conexions with other persons with power or signifcance have options to access a better fields of sociology. Besides sometimes we need to be realist because the world not work like we thinked, is full of interests and people with power and they keep a control about important themes. 

When I applying to university and choose sociology I has a idealist vision about the career and I really like "change the world" (I was very naive). In addition a little bit of people value "humanist careers" so that makes more difficult get a job in a system where economics interests and market regulates society and way like people thinks and if you get a job the odds are that don't do something related with personal interests but at the same time I think those interests in a certain sense are part of happiness of something that, but happiness is mayfly and ...what is going on when I don't like that topic anymore? Maybe it's a  pessimist vision about career.

Well in another theme, if a think in topics that are interesting to me in sociology I "really" liked the lessons of María Emilia Tijoux about Goffman and the stigma and ethnographic method.