STUDY OF TROPICAL SOILS AND LANDSCAPE: BIRTH OF SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITIES AND OF RELATIONS WITH THE RURAL WORLD

Abstract

Starting from the assumption that the most general discussions related to the sociology of research, and especially, related to scientific "content", have neglected important problems, this article deals with two of these problems: 1) the particular situation of sciences which are concerned with the environment and with landscapes; and 2) the emergence of "tropicalist" scientific communities within the context of world science. Calling attention to certain specific details of the environmental and agronomic sciences and dwelling, particularly, on examples related to the study of the soil, this study raises the question of the "scientific dominations" which are also present in the sciences of tropical soils and in other sciences related to natural tropical environments. Referring also to the fact of the originality of tropical reality, the article suggests that tropical research should be anti-conformist, although recognizing the difficulty of this task and stresses the importance of the "sociology of research" as an imperative necessity for emerging scientific communities in the tropical countries.