Context and Diffusion of Knowledge

Abstract

On January 4, 2001, in Bogota, Colombia, the authors issued a self-described `manifesto'1 to Colombian scholars inviting them to rescue local values of self-esteem and creativity and to resist intellectual colonialism by European and North American colleagues. After months of discussion, they decided to revise the document and publish an expanded text. Eyebrows were raised not only because this is an interdisciplinary document (signed by a biologist and by a sociologist without any visible signs of disagreement on such sensible matters) but also because both are known to have been trained and given doctorates during the 1950s at the University of Florida and Mainz Johannes-Gutenberg University respectively.