Abstract

AGUADO-LOPEZ, Eduardo  and  VARGAS ARBELAEZ, Esther Juliana. Reappropriation of knowledge and decolonization: Open Access as a process of political action of the South. Rev. colomb. soc. [online]. 2016, vol.39, n.2, pp.69-88. ISSN 0120-159X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v39n2.58966.

This article analyses the idea that the dominant scientific communication model entails a form of coloniality of knowledge as described by a group of Latin American social scientists from the late twentieth century, including A. Escobar, E. Dussel, and S. Castro Gomez. This form of coloniality of knowledge can be subverted by strengthening the practice of knowledge circulation known as Open Access. The paper undertakes an analysis of scientific publication in Latin America and the Caribbean. We conclude from this analysis that scientific production in this area is underrepresented in databases such as Journal Citation Report (JCR) and Scientific Journal Ranking (JCR). Following this analysis we reassess the presence of Latin American social science in other databases such as SciELO and Redalyc. We do so using Agamben's category of dipositifalongside that of coloniality of knowledge. These two theoretical elements contribute to the political meaning of Open Access in Latin America and the Caribbean. Open Access thus constitutes a political move towards decolonization and the reappropriation of knowledge, allowing the "return" of publicly-funded research.

Keywords : Open Access; coloniality of knowledge; reappropriation SciELO; Redalyc.

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