ABSTRACT:
This article seeks to present and critically discuss the concept of affiliation proposed by French sociologist and ethnomethodologist Alain Coulon. It is argued that this concept partially captures the dynamics of student retention at the Brazilian university, being a tool with explanatory potential. However, as presented in Coulon's work, it does not capture important elements of student retention, such as the institutional mechanisms which produce failure, especially considering the intersections of class, race, gender and nationality. The work is organized as follows: 1) introduction; 2) a brief presentation about the author and the reception of his studies in Brazil; 3) a discussion about the concept of affiliation; 4) difficulties pointed out by Coulon for the affiliation process; 5) discussion about the limits of the concept; 6) some considerations. We argue that thinking about subaltern students’ temporality is an important key to understanding student retention, adding to the debate the dynamics of class, race, gender and nationality.
Keywords:
University access; student retention; affiliation; temporalities