Knowledge and Power in Ecology and Conservation: analysis of the historical structures of knowledge and proposals for disciplinary integration towards a plural science
Epistemology; History of Ecology; Scientific Field; International Division of Scientific Labour; Global South.
Ecology and Conservation are disciplines that have changed in response to social transformations and environmental conflicts. This thesis is the result of reflections about the construction of science as a space of power that is influenced by its historical, political and social context. The general objective is to perform a critical analysis of the epistemological changes in these areas of knowledge based on the History andSociology of Science and to propose new paths to build a plural science. Specifically, we seek to: (i) understand the relationship between knowledge and power in the scientific field, from a Southern perspective, (ii) advance the integration between social and natural sciences, and (iii) propose new paths to overcome historical inequalities in
order to diversify science and pluralize knowledge. To this aim, in chapter 1 we perform a critical reflection on recent proposals involving (de)coloniality in Ecology and discuss the need to recognize and utilize decolonial theories produced in the Global South. In Chapter 2, we propose the Ecology of Absences as a theoretical-methodological tool to build a plural Ecology. Chapter 3 aims to understand the construction and evolution of knowledge in the scientific field of Ecology, through the study of conceptual and collaborative networks, comparing Tropical Ecology and Temperate Ecology. In chapter 4 we defend the understanding of biodiversity conservation in the context of historical-sociological and local-global relations through the World-System Theory, initially proposed in the field of social sciences, and, we apply this framework in the analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study, arguing that it should be understood as an emergent phenomenon of the society-nature dynamics of the world-system. Finally, in chapter 5, still under development, we analyze the power relations linked to conservation research through scientometric analysis, and propose a Critical Conservation Science using Latin American critical theory as a framework.