ABSTRACT
This is an autoethnography (Ellis & Bochner, 2000) presented as a personal essay in the first person. It is based on my recollection and reflection on issues of social conscience 1 and the public good. My reflections begin at childhood and span my entire career as an academic in the United States. Through this exercise, I sought to understand how I positioned myself within multiple definitions of the public good, and how I learned to play the academic game in my new country (my country of origin is Costa Rica) without losing my vision of social justice or my commitment to the community I represent, Latinos. Over more than 30 years of service in American higher education, I learned that the public good has multiple definitions, and that context and culture contribute to each definition. I believe that individuals should be able to integrate their personal vision of the public good with that of their universities as public institutions. This is not always the case. To succeed in academia, we need to “play the game.” Playing the game should not mean, however, that we shove aside our own vision of social justice or our own social consciousness as members of ethnic communities. Some of us have been able to make it in unconventional ways, and I believe it is worthwhile to take such risks. After all, without risk and sacrifice, how can we expect any vision of social justice to be realized?
