Atravesando disciplinas: la institucionalización de los estudios culturales en Colombia

Abstract

This essay puts forward a critical reflection on the practice of cultural studies and its relation to the academic traditional disciplines. The essay starts with an outline of the motivations that gave rise to the writing of it and with a brief reconsideration of the concept of transdisciplinarity, the debates generated in recent years around such a concept, and its relation to cultural studies. It then offers a study of the way in which transdisciplinarity has been discussed and applied in Colombia in connection with cultural studies, taking the Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá as an example. The objective here is to show not only how cultural studies contribute to breaking the rigid disciplinary frontiers which characterize Colombian universities, but also the difficulties involved in the institutionalization of cultural studies and transdisciplinarity. Finally, the essay makes some proposals that should be taken into account when reflecting on the transdisciplinary practice of cultural studies in Colombia.

This essay puts forward a critical reflection on the practice of cultural studies and its relation to the academic traditional disciplines. The essay starts with an outline of the motivations that gave rise to the writing of it and with a brief reconsideration of the concept of transdisciplinarity, the debates generated in recent years around such a concept, and its relation to cultural studies. It then offers a study of the way in which transdisciplinarity has been discussed and applied in Colombia in connection with cultural studies, taking the Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá as an example. The objective here is to show not only how cultural studies contribute to breaking the rigid disciplinary frontiers which characterize Colombian universities, but also the difficulties involved in the institutionalization of cultural studies and transdisciplinarity. Finally, the essay makes some proposals that should be taken into account when reflecting on the transdisciplinary practice of cultural studies in Colombia.

Este trabajo propone una reflexión crítica sobre la práctica de los estudios culturales y su relación con las demás disciplinas. El artículo se inicia con una exposición de las motivaciones que le dan origen y con una breve reconsideración del concepto de transdisciplinariedad y su relación tanto con los debates generados en los últimos años en torno al mismo como con los estudios culturales. A continuación se ofrece un estudio del modo en que la transdisciplinariedad ha sido discutida y aplicada en Colombia con relación a los estudios culturales, tomando como ejemplo la Universidad Javeriana en Bogotá. El propósito aquí es mostrar no sólo cómo los estudios culturales contribuyen a romper las rígidas fronteras disciplinarias que caracterizan a la universidad colombiana, sino las dificultades que conlleva la institucionalización de los estudios culturales y de la transdisciplinariedad. Por último el artículo plantea algunas propuestas a ser tenidas en cuenta para pensar la práctica transdisciplinar de los estudios culturales en Colombia.