scholarly journals Complexity Sciences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Li Vigni
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Santa Fe ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Complexity Sciences ◽  
Disciplinary Field ◽  
Scientific Platform ◽  
Scientific Life

Social scientists have proposed several concepts to give account of the way scientific life organizes. By studying “complexity sciences” – established in the mid-1980s by the “Santa Fe Institute” in New Mexico (USA) –, the present article addresses to interdisciplinary studies and emergent domains literature by proposing a new concept to describe this domain. Drawing from Bourdieusian sociology of science and STS, a “scientific platform” is defined as a meeting point between different specialties, which, on the basis of a flexible common ground, pursue together shared or parallel socio-epistemic objectives. Most of the specialties inscribed in complexity suffer from a relative marginality in their disciplinary field. The term “platform” refers to what the heterogeneous members of the collective mutualize, both in cognitive and social terms, in order to exist and expand.

The Quaker, the Primitivist, and the Progressive: Three Cultural Brokers in New Mexico's Quest for Multicultural Harmony

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne M. Getz
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
Cultural Brokers ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
Good Will

New Mexicans pride themselves on their ability to bridge multicultural divides. Part of what we are urged to understand as “enchanting” about the Land of Enchantment is its diverse cultural background. Native American, Hispano, and Anglo have existed side by side, at times with remarkable harmony and good will, for nearly two centuries. The Land of Enchantment is not altogether a fantasy. Many New Mexicans have shown an uncanny ability to bridge ethnic divides and find common ground in the interstices between cultures. The soil of New Mexico seems to be fertile ground indeed for producing cultural brokers. Margaret Connell Szasz admits that living in New Mexico makes her particularly attuned to the role of the cultural broker.

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