En busca del orden: ciencia y poder en Colombia

Abstract

This paper refers to actors and circumstances which contribute to construct different versions of Colombia's scientific past, which, in turn, generate multiple tensions among intellectuals. Another concern is with the processes by which the external origin of science is established; it is decided which actors teach or practice science in a legitimate manner, and how scientists and historians represent scientific activity as in continuity or discontinuity with the past. Why some kinds of scientific activities and controversies become invisible, is a problem also considered. And lastly there is a discussion on different asymmetries which arise when so called diffusion processes are reviewed, and also in the very definition of what are to be considered science and investigation in the periphery.