ERIC ED434809: Graduate Programs in Science, Technology, and Society in Cuba: Relevant Characteristics.

10 Pages·1999·0.28 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
SE 062 770
ED 434 809
Jover, Jorge Nunez; Medina, Manuel; Cerezo, Jose A. Lopez
AUTHOR
Graduate Programs in Science, Technology, and Society in
TITLE
Cuba: Relevant Characteristics.
Lehigh Univ., Bethlehem, PA. Technology Studies Resource
INSTITUTION
Center.
ISSN-0275-8075
ISSN
1999-00-00
PUB DATE
8p.; Translated by Liza Ann Acosta and Carl Mitcham.
NOTE
"Science, Technology & Society" is the "Curriculum
Newsletter of the Lehigh University STS Program & Technology
Studies Resource Center."
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Descriptive (141)
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Journal Articles (080)
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Cultural Influences; *Curriculum Development; Environmental
DESCRIPTORS
Education; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; *Science and
Society; *Science Education; Teaching Methods; *Technology
Education
Cuba; Spain
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
This article describes the process of institutionalization
of science, technology, and society studies taking place in Cuba during the
1990s. It discloses the characteristics of the Master's program currently
being developed in collaboration with the Universities of Havana, Cienfuegos
(both in Cuba), Oviedo, and Barcelona (both in Spain). The article comments
briefly on some of the characteristics of the process of
institutionalization, relating them to the theoretical traditions that have
been most influential and to the social processes that provide particular
orientation. (Author/WRM)
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Graduate Programs in Science,
Technology, and Society in Cuba:
Relevant Characteristics
by
Jorge Nunez Jover
Manuel Medina
Jose A. Lopez Cerezo
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& Society
h University STS Program
Dente
e§5ur:ce
No. 119, Spring 1999
Editor: Stephen H. Cutcliffe
ISSN: 0275-8075
Managing Editor: Cathy Barrett
GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
IN CUBA: RELEVANT CHARACTERISTICS*
Jorge Nftriez Jover, University of Havana
Manuel Medina, University of Barcelona
Jose A. Lopez Cerezo, University of Oviedo
Tranilated by Liza Ann Acosta and Carl Mitcham, Penn State University
This essay describes the process of institutionalization of STS studies taking place in Cuba
during the 1990s: In particular, we disclose the characteristics of the Master's program currently being
developed in collaboration' with the Universities of Havana, Cienfuegos (both in Cuba), Oviedo, and
Barcelona (both .in:Spain). We comment briefly on some of the characteristics of the process of
institutionalization, relating them to the theoretical traditions that have been most influential and to the
social processes that provide particular orientation.
Traditions
During the decade of the 1990s, the institutionalization of STS studies has taken place in Cuba
in a process that shares several characteristics with the field as it has developed in other countries. As
is well known, STS studies constitute an important field in academic research, public policy, and
education. This field attempts to understand the social aspects of scientific and technological phen-
omena, in respect to their social conditions as well as to social and environmental consequences. Its
general focus is of a critical character (in contrast to the classical visions of science and technology)
and interdisciplinary (where disciplines such as the philosophy, history, and sociology of science and
technology, among others, converge). STS today defines an institutionally well-consolidated field in
universities, agencies of public administration, and educational centers of numerous industrialized
countries, as well as in some countries in Latin America (see Medina and Sanmartin, 1990; and
Gonzalez et al., 1996).
*A future issue of the STS Newsletter will include a summary of a related STS program at La
-SHC, Editor
Universidad de Cienfuegos.
:sr
3
COPY AVAILABLE
Since the beginning of this decade in Cuba, STS studies have constituted an emerging program
with similar characteristics.
Immediate antecedents are situated in the 1980s with the parallel de-
velopment of several disciplines that today approximate a common project. Since the 1980s, courses
in the philosophy of science have been offered in different universities, most notedly at the University
of Havana, and at the Cuban Academy of Sciences, which promotes research in the fields of the history
of science and of scientific and technological policy.
The theoretical background for these studies can be found in the Marxist tradition and more
directly in the way it was institutionalized in what were once the U.S.S.R., the German Democratic
Republic, and other European socialist countries. A careful look at the academic activity done in those
countries reveals a certain diversity of foci and projects. The one we emphasize most is the attempt
to develop a general and integrative theory of science in the U.S.S.R. and East Germany, whose
immediate inspirations were the ideas of J. D. Bernal regarding the need for a science of science. (See,
e.g., Domin and Reinhard, 1969; Velikov et al., 1980; and Bernal, 1939.)
Through exchanges that used to take place with greater ease and frequency, this approach had
a certain influence on Cuban academic life, introducing an agenda that contained three basic goals:
development of studies about the science-technology-society relationship;
a)
promotion of interdisciplinarity for this purpose; and
b)
the attempt to make such studies useful, at least in the fields of political science, technology,
c)
and educational policy.
Another notable influence came from Latin American thought. During the 1960s there devel-
oped an authentic Latin American thought about science-technology-development-dependency (see
Sabato, 1969; Varsaysky, 1969; Herrera, 1976; and Varsaysky, 1986; among others) oriented toward
the problems of science and technology in Latin America. This thought was especially influenced by
the great paradigms of Latin American sociological and economic thought:
"cepalismo" [so named
after the work of the Centro Economico para America Latina or CEPAL] and "dependentismo" (see
Sonntag, 1988).
Among the themes discussed by this thought are technological dependency; technology transfer;
and the relationship between science, technology, and industrialization. More recently, the problems
related to technological innovation, the environmental impact of technology, and, above all, the rela-
tionship of all of these to social development, have become important themes for Cuban academic and
social life.
While STS studies in other countries have been modeled after the American and European
tradition (as illustrated in Gonzalez et al., 1996), in Cubawithout excluding authors situated from the
American and European traditions (Thomas Kuhn, for example, was received and discussed in the
1980s; see Nuftez, 1985 and 1989)contributions coming from East European and Soviet scholars and
Latin American thinkers played a fundamental role until the beginning of the 1990s. During the 1990s
the works of many other North American and European authors, including various authors from Spain,
have been incorporated into the courses being offered. In addition, we have followed attentively the
attempt to re-articulate a Latin American thought that in matters of science and technology argues
against economic and technocratic developmental positions (for example, Herrera et al., 1994; and
Dagnino, 1996).
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2
Social Conditions
Together with these influences that permeate STS studies in Cuba, several social circumstances
that condition its significance and orientation should be noted.
1. During the last four decades Cuba has made a significant effort in education, science, and
technology. Given the population growth rate and amount of available resources, the indicators in
these fields are among the highest in Latin America (see Fernandez and Nunez, 1998). It might even
be said that the country has bet on education, science, and technology. Even in the middle of the most
recent economic crisis, this effort has been maintained in some areas and multiplied in others (the
biosciences, biotechnology, and the pharmaceutical industry). As with any developing country, Cuba
faces an extraordinary scientific and technological challenge.
2. Cuban scientific and technological development has been associated with evident political
priorities. The emphasis on science and technology was at a very early point incorporated into the
Cuban political and ideological discourse (Fidel Castro, Che Guevara), and in correspondence with it,
numerous practical actions have been unleashed. Accordingly, successive generations of scientists and
professionals have been asked not only for technical skills but also for an ethical behavior that
transforms the work they do for social benefit. The Cuban scientific community has expressions of
social commitment infrequently found in Third World countries. The existence of an "Ethical Code
for Cuban Scientists" in a certain way reflects all of this. In other words, the scientific, technological,
and educational development in Cuba shows through what usually interests STS studies: the close
relationships between science, technology, and society and between science, technology, politics, and
values.
3. The debate surrounding the development of science and technology in Cuba has frequently
had a public character, and many citizens participate in diverse ways. A clear expression of this is the
so-called "Science and Technical Forum," an experience of public participation that still requires
detailed study, but that without doubt demonstrates its singular character.
4. As part of the transformations the country is going through, some innovations have been
introduced in the conception of scientific and technological politics, which were summarized in the
This process demands
creation of a National System of Science and Technological Innovation.
preparation of competent persons. For the characteristics of the project being served, the fundamental
element in the conformation of the system is society and its developmental programs In this context,
the adequate understanding of the relationship between science, technology, and development becomes
a fundamental theme.
5. Cuban universities acknowledge that technical-scientific formation has to be accompanied
by humanistic formation, which determines the presence of courses in the social sciences and
humanities in all university degrees. It has been found in the 1990s that STS studies are a privileged
vehicle for this purpose.
Institutional Forms
In accordance with all of the above, STS studies have been consolidated in an institutional
position in the following fundamental ways:
creation in 1991 at the University of Havana of the Group of Social Studies of Science and
Technology and, later on, the Group for the Study of Technology at the Higher Polytechnic
3
5
Institute "Jose Antonio Echeverria" of Havana (both groups have organized courses, promoted
publications, symposia, and other activities);
creation in 1997 of STS graduate programs (master's and doctorate levels) in the history of
science and the management of technology fields, belonging to the Ministry of Science, Tech-
nology, and the Environment, with the participation of several Cuban universities and research
institutes;
inclusion of dissertations about STS as requirements for promotion in the categories of in-
struction, research, and doctorates;
incorporation in STS courses of diverse graduate programsmanagement, education, and
others; and
introduction of STS courses (about 32 hours) in all majors of scientific and technological
profiles including, to some extent, even medical studies.
As an example of the characteristics of the STS programs that are being developed, we will
present relevant aspects of the Master's Program in STS. Cuban master's programs take an average
of two years and require at least 70 credits (15 hours each), with a final thesis that measures the
research skills of the student. University graduates as a rule have completed five years of study at the
bachelor's level before undertaking these programs. The Master's in STS began to be offered in 1997
at the Universities of Havana and Cienfuegos, with the collaboration of professors Jose Antonio Lopez
Cerezo and Manuel Medina of the Universities of Oviedo and Barcelona, respectively, in Spain.
The realization of this program has been possible by virtue of the collaboration of several
Cuban institutes: the University of Havana, the University of Cienfuegos, and the Higher Polytechnic
Institute "Jose Antonio Echeverria, " as well as the Center for Technological Management and the
Institute for the History of Science and Technology, both part of the Ministry of Science, Technology,
and the Environment. All of these institutions have been working on themes of interest to STS and
since 1997, under the coordination of the Faculty of Philosophy and History at the University of
Havana, to develop a Master's program that integrates their efforts. Master's students come from all
of the country's provinces and are predominently university instructors in the social sciences,
researchers, and persons dedicated to the study of technological innovation.
The objectives of the program are varied, but through the discussion of the readings studied in
STS, the completion of theoretical/empirical research associated with the Master's program, and pro-
fessional practice related to this profile, at the end of the program the student must be able to:
assimilate, evaluate, critique, and apply the main contemporary theoretical developments in the
STS studies field;
perfect the STS teaching programs in effect in Cuba and impart them;
formulate and complete STS research projects within the guidelines defined by the program;
evaluate and project educational processes in centers for higher education that involve STS
knowledge and foci; and
promote team-scientific diffusion.
The program is composed of 74 credits, half of which are required courses and half of which
are distributed in the following manner:
Thesis: 20
Publications and/or participation in Congresses: 5
Thesis seminars: 12
6
4
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Research activity constitutes the driving force behind the program. The disciplines share
similar theoretical frameworks and analogous pragmatic concerns. They are guided by defined general
objectives, all of which promote coherence at the program level as a whole. The research orientation
of the program emphasizes the theoretical-empirical study of scientific and technological problems
through the following topics:
History of Science and Technology;
The Management of Science and Technology;
Scientific and Technological Education;
The Impact of Science and Technology; and
Theoretical and Methodological Problems in STS Studies.
The Master's thesis is defended in any of the fields mentioned and constitutes the result of an
investigation by which students demonstrate that they know the "state of the art" in their chosen field,
allowing them to select the theoretical and methodological frameworks best suited to their objectives.
Students are able to develop, through a theoretical-empirical search, the proposed investigation under
the guidance of a mentor. Preferably, the thesis must conform to practical suggestions that correlate
to the objectives of the program.
Subject area courses offered during the program are the following:
Overview of STS Studies: 2 credits
Research Methodology: 3 credits
Introduction to the History of Science and Technology: 4 credits
Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: 4 credits
Sociology of Knowledge, Science, and Technology: 2 credits
Philosophy of Technology: 4 credits
Science, Technology, and Social Development in Latin American Thought and Action:
3 credits
Ethics of Science and Technology: 2 credits
Administration of Science and Technology: 3 credits
Environment and Development: 2 credits
Education and Development: 2 credits
Economy and Technological Change: 2 credits
Legal Regulations of Science, Technology, and the Environment: 2 credits
Scientific Research and Graduate Degrees in Institutions of Higher Education: 2 credits
Thesis Seminar: 12 credits
This program has a faculty of twenty-five professors, twenty-two with PhDs. All are active
professors and researchers.
Final Considerations
The process of institutionalization of STS studies in Cuba converges with the objectives and
interests assumed in other countries. It has, however, its peculiarities in relation to the paradigms that
have influenced it and also to the social circumstances that surround and give it meaning. We pursue
the development of an academic program that actively participates in the political projections for
science and technology, in the social debate about the orientation of scientific and technological
development and its social consequences, and in education at all levels. Our academic strategy takes
into consideration three fundamental variables for its consolidation: the local academic structure with
its traditional strengths and weaknesses, the social mechanisms and the cultural strategies that influence
our project and that at the same time we want to influence, and finally the consolidation of a solid
network of international communication that will permit fruitful exchange. A case in point for this last
comment is the collaboration with Spanish professors and universities.
5
1
REFERENCES
Bernal, J. D. 1939. The Social Function of Science. New York: Macmillan.
Dagnino, R. 1996. "Innovacion y desarrollo social: un desafio latinoamericano," in Ibergecyt 96, eds. Faloh
y Garcia. Havana: CITMA.
Domin, Georg, and Reinhard Mocek, eds.
1969. Ideologie und Naturwissenschaft, Politik und Vernuft im
Zeitalter des Sozialismus und der wissenschaftlich-technischen Revolution. Berlin: Deutscher Verlag
der Wissenschaft.
Fernandez, A., and Jorge Nithez Jover. 1998. "El sistema de posgrado en Cuba: Su estructura y prioridades,"
Dialog° Iberoamericano (Granada), no. 13 (Jan.-Feb.).
Gonzalez, Marta, Jose Antonio Lopez Cerezo, and Jose Luis Lujan, eds. 1996. Ciencia, tecnologia y sociedad.
Madrid: Tecnos.
Herrera, Amilcar Oscar.
Catastrophe or New Society? A Latin American World Model. Ottawa:
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International Development Research Centre.
Herrera, Amilcar Oscar. 1994. Las nuevas tecnologias y el futuro de America Latina: Riesgo y oportunidad.
Mexico City: Siglo XXI.
Leite Lopez, Jose.
Ciencia e desenvolvimento (ensaios), 2nd rev. ed.
Rio de Janeiro:
1986.
Tempo
Brasileiro.
Medina, Manuel, and Jose Sanmartin, eds. 1990. Ciencia, tecnologia y sociedad. Barcelona: Anthropos.
Nufiez Jover, Jorge. 1985. "Indagaciones metodologicas acerca de las revoluciones cientfficas," in Filosofia
y Ciencia. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.
Nunez Jover, Jorge. 1989. Intelpretacion teOrica de la ciencia. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.
Oteiza, Enrique, and Hebe M.C. Vessuri. 1993. Estudios sociales de la ciencia y la tecnologia en America
Latina. Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de America Latina.
Sabato, Ernesto R. 1969. La convulsion politica y social de nuestro tiempo. Buenos Aires: Edicon.
Sonntag, Heinz Rudolf. 1988. Duda, certeza, crisis: La evoluciOn de las ciencias sociales de America Latina.
Caracas: UNESCO and Editorial Nueva Sociedad.
Varsaysky, Oscar. 1969. Ciencia, politica y cientificismo. Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de America Latina.
Velikhov, E. P., J. M. Gvishiani, and S. R. Mikulinsky, eds. 1980. Science, Technology, and the Future:
Soviet Scientists' Analysis of the Problems and Prospects for the Development of Science and
Technology and Their Role in Society. New York: Pergamon.
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