• About Arturo • Brief Introduction • Research Interests • Written texts • Of Interest • Resume
Critical Studies of Globalization and Development
My academic writings have been largely associated with critical development studies. This was particularly the case with the publication of Encountering Development in 1995. I have since continued, on and off, working in this area, particularly by contributing to give shape to a series of notions, including: postdevelopment, critical development studies (CDS) and, more recently, “reconstructivist agendas” in CDS. Currently, I am trying to conceptualize anew the relation between globalization, development and modernity, particularly from the perspective of the politics of difference. My work with activists of the Process of Black Communities (PCN) of the Colombian Pacific, and with the “Modernity/Coloniality/Decoloniality” and “Women and the Politics of Place” collective projects are particularly important in this regard.
Social Movements
The relation between social movements and social transformation -- the field of social movements theory and research—is another central area of my work. I started working on social movements with a group of Latin American/ist friends in the late 1980s, and have continued working in this area ever since. Right now, my main involvement is with the Social Movements Working Group at UNC-CH; for the past three years, this interdisciplinary group has been developing new approaches and methodologies concerning social movements which combine theoretical and political concerns, academic and activist interests. My own particular interest in the group at present lies with the development of approaches to social movements based on theories of self-organization, complexity, autopoiesis, and the like. This area of work is nourished constantly by my work with social movements of the Colombian Pacific and, to a lesser extent, anti-globalization movements.
Cultural Studies of Science and Technology
The role of science and technology in the production of contemporary social and natural worlds -- the field of cultural studies of techno-science-- has since the early 1990s at least been a preoccupation of mine, even if not a central dimension of my work. Although I have written on cyberculture generally, my main interest in this area lies with what could be seen as the cultural logics, visions of the world, ontologies, and theoretical approaches that are linked to certain trends related to contemporary technoscience, particularly the internet and theories of complexity, emergence, autopoiesis, and self-organization. These are featured somewhat prominently in the book on the Colombian Pacific I am just completing (Summer 2006).
Political Ecology
The interconnections between nature, culture, and politics as they are established by various actors and practices -- the field of political ecology—is a central area of work for me. At present, I define political ecology as the study of economic, ecological, and cultural distribution conflicts. These conflicts arise out of economic, ecological, and cultural difference.
In this way, I attempt to investigate ethnographically the political, ontological, and epistemological potential of practices of economic, ecological, and cultural difference. This reinterpretation constitutes the framework of the book on the Colombian Pacific (2006).
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• About Arturo • Brief Introduction • Research Interests • Written texts • Of Interest • Resume •
----------------------------------------------------------------------- contact: aescobar[at]email.unc.edu ------------------------------------ 2006