About.

Starting point

The “Great Acceleration” observed since the middle of the 20th century – that is, the generalization of exponential growth trends of socially and ecologically unsustainable activities and processes – shows that the dynamic balances of biogeochemical systems depend on the regulation of the social world, as clearly expressed by the idea of ​​the “Anthropocene”. From the years 1960-to 70, in this context of the Anthropocene, the problem of socio-ecological sustainability arose, and new programs were opened from the academy with a double purpose:

• Know better the social system, the Earth system, and its interactions and
• Search and propose answers from all disciplines for the problem of socio-ecological unsustainability derived from the thermo-industrial, capitalist, and consumer civilization model.

In this context, at the end of the 1990s, a series of calls were raised for another type of science to understand “socio-ecological systems better” to participate in the “search for socio-ecological sustainability adequately”; which will open the way to the “academic landscape of the sciences of/for socio-ecological sustainability”.

Objectives of this project

This research project proposes to analyze the generation of the scientific knowledge of/for socio-ecological sustainability (SKSES) in Latin America in the last 30 years, considering the structuring of the research network (among scientific actors, but also with non-scientific actors). These mechanisms make possible the formation of (in)visible colleges of the SKSES in Latin America and the knowledge production processes of the SKSES in Latin America. The research project will be articulated on three levels:

• First, the map of the SKSES research network in Latin America (macro-level) will be reconstructed;
• Secondly, it will seek to understand the contexts of knowledge generation (Meso level); and,
• Third, the patterns of collaboration and knowledge production in this landscape of SKSES in Latin America (micro-level) will be identified and analyzed.

Funding

This research project is part of SustENABLE Transformation research program (http://fundacionecoceno.org/es/sustenable-transformation/) that seeks to study the forms of governance for (in) sustainability in different territories and different fields: politics, practices, social organizations, private and academic. FONDECYT N°1220560 " is a research project funded by the National Research and Development Agency (ANID, Chile: https://www.anid.cl/) through FONDECYT program. The FONDECYT program (https://www.anid.cl/proyectos-de-investigacion/fondecyt-regular/) seek to promote scientific-technological based research in the various areas of knowledge, by financing research projects of excellence aimed at the production of knowledge.