• About Arturo • Brief Introduction • Research Interests • Written texts • Of Interest • Resume
Brief introduction to Arturo Escobar’s webpage
Any personal webpage is largely about oneself, but it’s important to realize that one’s work is always collective and relational. The following principles orient my approach to intellectual life, and I’d like to state them in this regard and in case they make sense to others.
I believe, first, that we should resist bringing into the domain of intellectual life the modernist language of individual property. Second, I believe that originality lies largely with the creative interpretation and recombination of already existing frameworks, concepts, investigations, and the like. Often, this process is driven by one’s intuitions, emotions, dreams and, of course, sense of politics. In my experience, it is almost always the case that when one is thinking about something “new,” some others somewhere in the world are also beginning to think about something similar. This makes the process of in(ter)vention exciting an inevitably more social.
Finally, one should resist thinking about today’s theories as “truer” than those of the past (or those of others). One might think about the value of one’s theories in terms of the practices they enable (more clairvoyant and ethical practices), the understanding they afford (especially for action), the worlds and possibilities they allow us to disclose, or the different social configurations they could contribute to bringing into being with others (humans and not, as the saying goes these days).
The contents of this page are offered in this spirit for perusal, borrowings, and uses of any kind. There are no limitations on how they are used; on the contrary, I thank those using them for their interest. If I were to express a preference, I would ask that the contents of the page be used in the spirit of “Copyleft” recently developed by some progressive publishers and movements. Adapting the formulation we used in our volume The World Social Forum: Challenging Empires (thanks to Jai Sen for the original formulation), I would describe it for this webpage as follows:
"The contents of this webpage are offered on a Copyleft basis. They have been compiled and edited for personal or group study and reference and are aimed at promoting further reading and debate. All texts in this webpage may be freely copied and reproduced for education, debate, and non-commercial use without the written permission of the author. The author would however like to be informed of any digital or printed reproduction; these will ideally include a mention of the original source and be also done on a Copyleft basis. Be aware that the copyrights of most of the published pieces lie with the publishers, not the author.”
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• About Arturo • Brief Introduction • Research Interests • Written texts • Of Interest • Resume •
----------------------------------------------------------------------- contact: aescobar[at]email.unc.edu ------------------------------------ 2006