Dr. Mary Racelis, resource person for the Annual Corazon B. Lamug Lecture, called on sociologists to speak on urgent social issues. She advocated for an engaged social science and a rethinking of social research outputs, upon providing a situationer on the current spate of extra-judicial killings (EJKs) in the country and the views of human rights groups.

This school year’s lecture, held on November 14, 2017 at the CAS Annex Gallery, was titled “Human Rights and Justice in the Philippines: What’s a Sociologist to do?”The annual event, part of the effort of the Department of Social Sciences (DSS) to highlight the societal role of its discipline, aims to foster sound discussions of timely and relevant social issues.

DSS invited Dr. Racelis of Ateneo de Manila University, currently a Senior Professorial Lecurer at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and former director of the university’s Institute of Philippine Culture. She has conducted extensive research on poverty, community organizing, people empowerment, and civil society.

Her lecture also focused on children as victims and its long-term consequences for the country. She addressed the future sociologists, exhorting them to engage  and speak out on today’s societal issues for the benefit of the community.

Students and faculty members from different colleges and departments attended the lecture of Dr. Racelis.   ∎

— Charles Van T. Miraflores and Mark Oliver S. Llangco