The State of Science in Latin America
During my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia (which you can read about in my previous blog posts,) I had some time to read and think about what I had learned the past school year. One book that I had brought along with me was Advice for a Young Investigator, or Reglas y consejos sobre investigacion cientifica, by Santiago Ramon y Cajal, a Spanish biologist. As I was reading, I took note of how Ramon y Cajal saw Spain in a negative light pertaining to its research and development, illustrated by the quotes below.
Pero cuando, por dificultades insuperables, sea ello irrealizable (según ocurre desgraciadamente en España, donde las Universidades carecen de libros modernos extranjeros y las Academias no tienen recursos para suscribirse a las revistas científicas más importantes), no debemos, por monografía de más o de menos, dejar de acudir al laboratorio...
But when this is not feasible due to insuperable difficulties (which unfortunately occur in Spain, where the universities lack recent foreign books, and the academies do not have the resources to subscribe to the most important scientific journals), we should not desert the laboratory because one or another monograph is unavailable.
Dejar prole espiritual, además de dar alto valor a la vida del sabio, constituye utilidad social y labor civilizadora indiscutible, de las cuales están señaladamente necesitados los países como España, de producción científica miserable y discontinua.
Besides lending great worth to the scholar’s life, leaving spiritual progeny has undeniable social value, and is ennobling work. Countries like Spain, where the production of scientific achievements is so wretched and sporadic, desperately need this type of effort.
It is certainly true that Latin American scientific research has grown rapidly in recent years. It's gone from having 1.8% of the world's share of published papers to 3.4%, not a small feat at all. Generally, efforts to promote science and engineering have gone up in Latin America, and more people are getting degrees through higher education, yet the citation of articles written by Latin American scientists is usually lower than scientists from other developed countries. Science is also still not something that first comes to mind when you think of Latin America and the problems it is confronted with. What led Latin America to this point?
To discuss this question, we must examine Latin American history. From the inception of many Latin American countries, science was stunted. Colonial governments had control over schooling and it was not until independence was achieved that scientific education could really start. Establishing a scientific culture was also exceedingly difficult considering the other social turmoil happening in Latin America during the late 1800s to early 1900s. During the era following World War 2, Latin America saw a period of industrial growth, and largely used imported products to finish domestic manufacturing, which caused technological dependence on other countries. Technology investments were also few and far between at that time, which meant there wasn't much of an impetus for R+D to grow at that time. What's worse was that there were few students in school at that time, as in the 1950s, countries such as Uruguay, Argentina, and Cuba had only 5% of the appropriate age group in university. Latin America was in more dire straits than you would expect, and the discussion surrounding R+D during the 1950s had to do with establishing training for postgraduates, enrolling students, and creating a minimum base for R+D. Things would look better during 1960-1970, as Latin America would enjoy some growth in the field of research. Most of the growth in people receiving diplomas throughout the late 20th through early 21st century was a direct result of significantly more women being educated than before, as well as older people looking to further their education. There have been select cases of countries developing technological bases, such as Argentina and Mexico (which created the National System of Researchers, or SNI (Sistema Nacional de Investigadores).) However, these cases are rare and do not represent the state of all countries at that time. Countries also would continue to suffer "brain drain," as well as students not being able to pursue research due to persecution, economic instability, and lack of support. However, the conditions in Latin America would really collapse in the 1980s. This is often referred to the "Lost Decade" in Latin America, where all countries would face significant economic troubles, destabilization, and lowered quality of life.
Since then, Latin America has made improvements in the area of R+D, yet there still remain the problems of brain drain and government instability. To understand why science is so hard to promote in Latin American countries, it must be made clear that the scientific climate is linked to the overall state of nations. Without a stable government, research and movement forward cannot happen. Most of the independence movements that have occured in Latin America have been quite recent in the scope of history, where these countries have overthrown military governments and replaced them with ones governed by the people. It's hard to fathom that such a culture could be fostered in places like Nicaragua, for example, which are already dealing with huge amounts of inflation and low quality of life. It's worth noting that Latin America as a whole is not developing evenly, either. Despite it being one general area, there still is a lot of heterogeneity in the countries that compose Latin America from the perspective of natural resources and history. At this point, I believe the way forward pertaining to research in Latin America has to do with increasing governmental spending on R+D to the point where it matches up with percentages of more developed nations. This is a better step than waiting for problems to subside in respective nations because 1. it won't happen that way, and 2., scientific education will likely contribute to the well-being of the nation if there is no significant brain drain. But for the future, we'll have to wait and see how this progress, and if the state of Latin America as a whole will improve.
References:
The US and Latin America: A Lost Decade?
Latin American Science: Sustainable Careers
The Rise of Latin American Science
Latin American science, technology, and society: a historical and reflexive approach
Science in Latin America
Latin America - Higher education in a lost decade
Coming full circle: A reappraisal of university research in Latin America
O inventamos o erramos: The power of science in Latin America
Advice for a Young Investigator by Santiago Ramon y Cajal
Whither Latin America? Trends and challenges of science in Latin America
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