This term, in my Geography of Latin America class, we have been urged to leave behind traditional images of Latin America and what it means to us to investigate into how colonial power relations continue to play out and inform us about what goes on in this part of the world. In our first assignment, we were encouraged to think critically about the ways in which Western epistemologies and ways of being are not necessarily transferrable to all other places in the world, as we so may think. In the essay below, I discuss how Western science has contributed to the continuation of imperial power relations between largely North America/Western Europe and Latin America, to tease out these colonial relations that continue to be reproduced.
I hope you enjoy.