“Creating a field implies inventing a tradition”

Abstract

In this interview, Professor Olga Restrepo Forero talks about the origins, development, particularities, and perspectives of Science and Technology Studies (STS) in Colombia. According to her, STS in this country has been characterized by a cosmopolitan orientation; and, in that sense, its history has been characterized by ambivalence towards tradition. Professor Restrepo explains that the origins and institutionalization of the field in the country did not necessarily imply breaks from or continuities with preceding schools of thought. She discusses key milestones in its development, highlighting the importance of editorial projects, which have served both to make the field known in other academic spaces and to attract scholars whose sensibilities are close to STS. Reflecting on the future of the field in this country, Professor Restrepo observes that, to a large extent, the new generation of students not only seeks to understand the phenomena associated with the development of science and technology but also has the vocation to change the state of affairs in the world.