Like a tree, science ingrains, fortifies, grow, divides and fructify, if carefully handled, with knowledge and moderated joy. Otherwise, it remains unprotected, brushed off and forgotten, withering before circumstantial detachments orchestrated by various schedules. Fortunately, most known cases witness a will to learn, regardless of underlying ideals, implementing innovative weighty and consequential scientific programs.

One of the paradigms of this reality, strengthened between the end of eight hundred and mid-twentieth century, is science in the tropics, or in other words, science conducted by Europeans in their former colonies. Aware that only a thorough knowledge of these territories allowed its occupancy and profitability of their human and material repositories, state bodies designed for this purpose have been set up. Defined and redefined boundaries, it was necessary to deepen knowledge, searching and enlisting soils, flora, fauna and human communities. It was an ambitious and demanding project, requiring experts, media and complex logistics. Gathering valances necessary to its success, the different missions played a key role in the knowledge of every tropical nook, assembling priceless collections for the History of Science and preservation of biodiversity, with specimens and specificities that have disappeared or endangered.

Given the relevance of any historical, scientific and technological rose by these institutions, it urges to evaluate their contribution to different scientific fields involved, analyzing its role in the growth of metropolitan and local economies. It is an indispensable reflection in order to understand what was done, where, when, how, by whom and for what. It will then be possible to reconstruct an inextricable part of the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, introducing it in an intricate web of political agendas, personal interests, scientific dialogue and confrontation, and local volunteers. It will also allow resetting individual and collective networks, devising associations between scientific practices and colonial policies.

Presenting relevant aspects of historical collections and scientific institutions devoted to tropical learn, from their role in the development of regions where collections were gathered; of collaboration and cooperation between countries in recovering memories; of new historiography ways, the panel will reaffirm science as a bridge to new connections and dynamics of integration and dialogue, on behalf of meeting goals set for their development.

Submissão de propostas (máx. 400 palavras) : http://www.ciea8.org/ocs/index.php?conference=CIEA2012&sched[...]