Human social life is messy, and as a result the practice of sociology is filled with tension, contradiction, conflict, and ambiguity. As a discipline, sociology has generated excellent theories and methodologies for dealing with this complexity. This presidential address suggests that the impact and resonance of sociological knowledge is enhanced further when we open ourselves to the tensions and contradictions we experience personally in our work as sociologists. Critical engagement with these personal conflicts deepens our understanding of the social subject and enriches the sociological imagination. Using the method of “auto-historia,” the author describes some of her own experiences of “going deeper into the contradictions” and the significance of this process for her professional evolution.
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