Geopolitics of knowledge

While other scholars have analysed the way that international organizations (IOs) in
higher education policy may contribute to neo-colonial domination, this paper illuminates not only on how IOs’ epistemic activities promulgate one-size fit  all solutions, but centers the  colonial structures of knowledge/power that inform
the  why (or logic) of these IOs’ epistemic activities and their effects. A decolonial analysis of discursive artefacts and tools such as policy reports, performance indicators, and technical assistance, of the OECD and World Bank, suggests that standardized IO policy processes and practices reproduce global inequities. In
collusion with other policy actors, these IOs constitute and perpetuate coloniality in global higher education, through enacting a god-eye point of view, colonialdifference, and the geopolitics of knowledge. This article proposes a set of questions that may open the possibility of ‘delinking’ from modern/colonial world systems and pushes us to decolonize our imaginaries of the landscape of global HE.

This article presents a critical analysis of Michael Burawoy's model of public sociology, discussing several of its epistemic and methodological limitations. First, the author focuses on the ambiguity of Burawoy's proposal, problematizing the absence of a clear delimitation of the concept of 'public sociology'. Second, the author links the academic success of the category of public sociology to the global division of sociological labour, emphasizing the 'geopolitics of knowledge' involved in Burawoy's work and calling for the decolonization of social science. Then, the author expounds his concerns regarding the hierarchy of the different types of sociology proposed by Burawoy, who privileges professional sociology over other types of sociological praxis. Reflecting upon these elements will provide a good opportunity to observe how our discipline works, advancing also suggestions for its transformation. Along these lines, in the last section of the article the author elaborates on the need to go beyond a dissemination model of public sociology-the unidirectional diffusion of 'expert knowledge' to extra-academic audiences-and towards a more collaborative understanding of knowledge production.

This essay starts by outlining a definition for international criminology. To do so, akin, alternative criminologies are examined to carve a distinct, working concept of international criminology. Following, the global geopolitics of knowledge is analyzed, with specific illustrations of how the dynamics of criminological knowledge concentration, influence and visibility operate. Acknowledging an established intellectual hegemony of the North/center in criminological knowledge production, some of its features are presented in the third part of the article, thus unveiling the challenges international criminologists are faced with. Based on this examination, some rough proposals are introduced in the final section, as a prospect to fashion a truly international criminology. The main argument of this article is that both the discipline and the journal of International Criminology emerge as an alternative to supersede the present geopolitics of knowledge.

O presente artigo tem por objetivo apresentar uma análise das respostas teóricas propostas a partir tanto do Norte quanto do Sul Global à questão da desigualdade internacional colocada em evidência a partir da emergência do 'Terceiro Mundo' na política internacional. A partir de uma metodologia essencialmente qualitativa, consistindo em revisão bibliográfica de autores do Norte e do Sul Global em Relações Internacionais e áreas correlatas, constatamos que as perspectivas desenvolvidas em cada um desses lugares epistêmicos apontam em direções opostas: as formuladas no Sul ressaltam a relação intrínseca entre a desigualdade e o funcionamento histórico/estrutural da economia internacional, enquanto que as formuladas no Norte propõem uma assimilação dos países terceiro-mundistas aos modelos de desenvolvimento próprio dos países industrializados ocidentais. Concluímos, assim, que o lugar geográfico-epistêmico do sujeito teorizador influencia diretamente no resultado de suas análises e prescrições teóricas e políticas.

Los ensayos reunidos en este volumen son resultado del proyecto de investigación Filosofía de la práctica editorial: acceso abierto y diversidad en perspectivas críticas (2019-2021), financiado por la Dirección de Investigación y Posgrado de la Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México.

Este artigo estuda as expressões da divisão global do trabalho intelectual em revistas internacionais de teoria social. Foram analisados os periódicos: Theory, Culture and Society; European Journal of Social Theory; Sociological Theory e Theory and Society. Apresenta-se o perfil nacional de autores que publicaram entre os anos de 2000 e 2016 e dos membros de comitês editoriais, além de comparação temática entre artigos de autores do Sul x Norte-Global. Observou-se a baixa presença de intelectuais do Sul em número de publicações; o domínio dos comitês editoriais por intelectuais do Norte; a ausência de crescimento da participação do Sul Global nos anos analisados; e diferenças entre o tipo de objeto pesquisado por intelectuais do Sul x Norte-Global. Argumenta-se que existe uma inserção qualitativa e quantitativamente periférica de intelectuais do Sul Global nos debates de teoria nas revistas analisadas.

RESUMEN

A partir de los referentes históricos y etnográficos en la Amazonía venezolana se abre la reflexión en torno a las esferas de naturalización de la división sujeto/objeto, como el sustrato epistemológico de la verticalidad colonial. Asimismo, se discute la conexión entre los actuales espacios de producción de conocimiento, cómo ámbitos de naturalización del sentido común hegemónico. Se concluye que la alternativa está en los saberes fronterizos, como discursos inter-subjetivos de configuración de perspectivas multivocales desde los bordes del orden global. 

Palabras clave: colonialismo, identidad, espacio, conocimiento, intersubjetividad. 

ABSTRACT

Based on the historical and ethnographical referents in the Venezuelan Amazon, the academic spaces are addressed as spheres of the subject/object division and as the discursive substrate of colonial verticality. Furthermore, the connections between colonial discourses and the contemporary knowledge framework are discussed as fields where the hegemonic common sense is structured. This paper concludes that the alternative is in the border knowledge as inter-subjective discourses which have the potential to create multifocal perspectives from the global order’s fringes. 

Keywords: colonialism, identity, space, knowledge, intersubjectivity.

Reading from a postcolonial perspective the historical experience of a French educational establishment for Chinese youth in the nineteen twenties (the so-called Institut franco-chinois de Lyon), this paper highlights the coincidence between the inscription of China in global modernity and the spread of Chinese national imaginary. It tries to question the discursive connection between the Western colonial project of “civilizing mission” applied here to the scientific education of new Chinese elite and, in this context, the shaping of a peculiar Chinese national subject. This article understands this institution as an utopian synecdoche of China being simultaneously dressed in the clothes of Chineseness and (Western) modernity. In this training school where students endeavored to become intellectuals and scientists fashioned by the methods, the values and the epistemologies of the French academic realm, in this place where students become familiar with ‘modern’ leisure and sports like football, tennis, cinema, snooker and so on, between those walls where students have to learn how to behave as ‘civilized/westernized’ modern (wo)men, China as a cultural, ethnic and national identity referent is paradoxically constantly mentioned in the discourse of both the students and the initiators of this educational institution. The experience of this institute appears to be a relevant case study to shed light on the intimate relationship between the feeling of nationality and the desire to become modern.

Resumen: En este ensayo crítico se presenta una serie de reflexiones basadas en la visibilización de los ejes que
sostienen los supuestos básicos subyacentes de los sistemas coloniales y neocoloniales. Se parte del principio
de que las ideologías dominantes del sistema global se mantienen gracias a la elaboración de discursos ubicuos
impuestos como los sustratos epistemológicos de la así llamada “modernidad”. La reflexión concluye con la
necesidad de otorgar estatus epistemológico a las historias fronterizas como nuevos referentes para la teorización
y para la desnaturalización de los discursos opacos y dominantes en el sistema mundo moderno contemporáneo.
Palabras clave: modernidad, eurocentrismo, fronteras culturales, sistema mundo.
Abstract: This critical essay endeavors to make visible the basic assumptions underlying colonial and neo-colonial
systems. The main principle posits that the global system’s dominant ideologies are maintained by ubiquitous
discourses imposed as epistemological underpinnings of so-called modernity. This reflection concludes that it
is necessary to recognize the epistemological status of indigenous resistance histories as new referents for the
theorization and transformation of dominant and opaque discourses of the Modern World System.
Keywords: modernity, Eurocentrism, cultural frontiers, world system.

The Geopolitics of Open addresses issues of difference, ideology and infrastructure across the stratified geographies of open access publishing. It examines the construction of power and inequality in our scholarly practices and discourses around the open. How can we contextualise open access, as a contingent and politically-laden concept, within particular historical and regional contexts and socio-political struggles? This will involve asking questions about how notions of openness have been implicit in processes of global knowledge appropriation and exploitation in a postcolonial neoliberal context.

The three exploratory papers that make up this pamphlet all pursue this attempt to regionalise and, in the process, politicise how open access infrastructures form and for whom they become beneficial, both financially and socially. They share a commitment to articulating a scaled down geo-politics that asks of publishing infrastructures: where and by what means? And also consider how varied institutional contexts, from multistate formations like the European Union, to urban and regional universities in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, start to shape the varied epistemological and political geographies of situated open access practices.

Resumen:
Este trabajo presenta una discusión en torno a los remanentes del así llamado pensamiento dogmático en el actual discurso histórico latinoamericano. Se parte del principio de que la mirada histórica requiere de una producción teórica dirigida hacia la crítica cultural. El referente empírico de esta reflexión deriva de la preocupación por el resurgimiento de los proyectos nacionalistas y xenófobos en el continente americano así como de las continuidades de los modelos coloniales, racistas y patriarcales en el pensamiento histórico contemporáneo. Esta indagación teórica se sustenta sobre cinco ejes de argumentación. Primero, se retoma la discusión alrededor de la producción teórica en el ámbito histórico y como ésta aborda el problema de la desnaturalización del presente y la idea del pasado como representación culturalmente construida. Segundo, se argumenta la relación entre representación histórica, mitología y sentido común intra-cultural. Tercero, se problematizan las limitaciones metodológicas de la ausencia de producción de una crítica cultural en el conocimiento histórico. Cuarto, se aborda el debate en torno a las relaciones entre historia y colonialismo. Quinto, se abre la discusión sobre los problemas y riesgos de la crítica al universalismo. Finalmente, se concluye que urge retomar las discusiones en torno a la relación entre producción teórica, crítica cultural y conocimiento histórico de cara a las nuevas formas de nacionalismo y xenofobia característicos del mundo contemporáneo.
Palabras clave: dogmatismo, tiempo, patriarcado, teoría histórica.

Abstrac:
This paper presents a discussion about the remaining of the so called dogmatic though, in the current Latin American historical discourse. The necessity of a theoretical production towards the cultural critics, in the historical discourse, is a point of departure of this discussion. The empirical referent of this reflection derives from the concern for the resurgence of the nationalist and xenophobic projects in the American continent as well as the continuities of the colonial, racist and patriarchal models in the contemporary historical though. This theoretical inquiry is sustained over five axis of argumentation. First, the discussion around the theoretical production in the historical field of knowledge is reassumed as well as how this discussion approach the problem about the des-naturalization of the present and the sense of the past as a representation culturally constructed. Second, the relations between historical representation, mythology and intra-cultural common sense are argued. Third, the methodological limitations derived from the lack of cultural criticism in the historical knowledge are discussed. Fourth, the discussion around the relations between History and colonialism are approached. Fifth, the discussion around the problems and risks of critics against universalism is opened. Finally, this paper concludes that, in the face of the new ways of nationalism and xenophobia characteristic of the contemporary world, it is an urgency to retake the discussions around the relations between theoretical production, cultural criticism and historical knowledge. 
Key words: dogmatism, time, patriarchy, historical theory.

As ciências sociais têm acompanhado, desde a segunda metade do século XX, a emergência de um corpo de reflexões interessadas em denunciar as desigualdades globais inscritas na produção do conhecimento. As últimas duas décadas serviram de cenário para o crescimento de investidas críticas às estruturas de dominação intelectual no campo, as quais acompanharam o fortalecimento dos discursos que buscam narrativas alternativas ao eurocentrismo do mainstream sociológico. Na esteira dessas contribuições, reflexões que têm trabalhado com o conceito de divisão internacional do trabalho intelectual, ao trazerem a teoria para o centro do debate, produziram importantes subsídios para o estudo da geopolítica do conhecimento sociológico. Em meio ao número diverso de formas de expressões da divisão internacional do trabalho intelectual, foca-se, nesta dissertação, em um estudo a partir de revistas internacionais de teoria social. Para tal, foi realizada uma investigação com foco em quatro revistas de teoria com grande impacto no campo: Theory, Culture and Society; European Journal of Social Theory; Sociological Theory; Theory and Society. Primeiramente a análise contou com o uso de técnicas quantitativas baseadas em estatística descritiva para analisar o perfil nacional e regional dos pesquisadores que publicaram nos periódicos entre os anos de 2000 e 2016, além do perfil nacional e regional dos membros de comitês editoriais. Em um segundo momento foi utilizada uma análise qualitativa do tipo de objeto estudado por pesquisadores do Sul Global em comparação com pesquisadores do Reino Unido. Estas técnicas permitiram ao pesquisador observar que as quatro revistas expressam, sob várias formas, elementos que caracterizam a divisão internacional do trabalho intelectual. Chegou-se a esta conclusão ao se notar: a baixa presença de intelectuais do Sul em número de publicações; o domínio dos comitês editoriais por intelectuais do Norte; a ausência de crescimento da participação do Sul Global durante os últimos 17 anos; e as diferenças entre o tipo de objeto pesquisado por intelectuais do Sul em comparação com pesquisadores do Norte. Argumenta-se, a partir dessas contribuições, que existe uma inserção periférica do Sul Global nos debates de teoria nas revistas analisadas, o que contribui para reprodução da hegemonia do Norte sobre a definição de agendas, conceitos, objetos e metodologias no campo das ciências sociais.

Bien que beaucoup d'études aient été menées concernant les étudiants chinois partis étudier la philosophie à l'étranger au début du XXe siècle (tel Hu Shi aux Etats-Unis), encore trop peu de travaux se sont penchées sur les étudiants qui se sont formés en philosophie en France et notamment à l’Institut Franco-chinois de Lyon. Cet article, aidé des théories de l'orientalisme et du postcolonialisme, se demande si la géopolitique du savoir philosophique, en tant que domination intellectuelle de l'Occident sur le reste du monde, s'est manifestée dans le contexte de l'Institut Franco-chinois de Lyon, et si oui comment. À travers l'analyse des paratextes et des thèses de deux étudiants en philosophie de l'Institut Franco-chinois de Lyon, cette étude soutient que cette institution est un produit des effets de la géopolitique du savoir intellectuel où le traitement des philosophies occidentales et chinoises suit le découpage moderne/colonial du savoir. On y trouve l'illustration du déplacement de la Chine en tant qu'objet de savoir (anthropos) étudiée par les producteurs du savoir (humanitas), découplage instituant la Chine en dehors de la philosophie.