Geopolitics of Knowledge, Economy of Scientific Publications and Open Access: Perspectives from Latin America

"Scientific knowledge is made in a lot of different places. Does it matter where? Can the location of scientific endeavor make any difference to the conduct of science? And even more important, can it affect the content of science?". These are the starting lines of David Livingstone’s book, Putting Science in its Place. Geographies of Scientific Knowledge (2003) and are well suited to discussing the economy of scientific publishing. The “territory” of science broadly corresponds to a structure that first emerged in 17th Century Europe. Although it may work well for institutions in rich countries, for the rest of the world it creates problems:

neglected and lost science. How far can the promise of Open Access enhance communication and redress the neglect of relevant research questions in the world? The anthropologist Prof. Dr. Hebe Vessuri (Universidad Autónoma de México) will discuss these questions.