A Kaleidoscopic Approach to Academia in the Global South

• In Event: Innovative Academic Infrastructures: Digitalization, Collaboration, and Experimentation - I

Abstract

This paper opens up a conversation around the making of alternative academic spaces. Though located under the umbrella of two top-ranked Ecuadorian universities, Kaleidos – Center for Interdisciplinary Ethnography is an uncommon research infrastructure in the global south. Built with the intention of creating more flexible research capacities in Ecuador, Kaleidos has been trying to find a language that speaks to an interdisciplinary audience, and that opens up the imagination of researchers in multiple fields of study by looking into STS as a way of combining and collaborating through their different areas of expertise. In the growing context of global academic labor precarity—which is indeed not exclusive to the US—we want to suggest that more horizontal and collaborative decision-making spaces have the potential to bring together scientists and ethnographers to build bridges across disciplines through research-driven discussions around urgent worldly issues. This means producing empirical research that informs local problems like air pollution, and yet also speaks to related global challenges such as climate change. We also want to argue for the central role of ethnography in imagining new ways of engaging with the world by allowing knowledge exchanges and resource sharing not only across disciplines but also across borders.

Authors

• Maria Elissa Torres Carrasco, Kaleidos Center for Interdisciplinary Ethnography

• Maka Suarez, Kaleidos - Center for Interdisciplinary Ethnography