Trespassing guarded borders: notes on the exercise of interdisciplinarity in socioenvironmental matters (in Portuguese)

The article reflects on the contradictions characterizing the processes of knowledge

production in the context presented by demands from social movements and other

actors resulting from socio-environmental crises and conflicts. Through a consideration

of the experiences of the scientific sector in Brazil since the 1980s, the work explores the

development of initiatives oriented at supporting the social struggles against diverse

forms of socio-environmental injustice and inequality, emphasising the obstacles

facing the attempts to produce knowledge that transcends disciplinary frontiers. These

obstacles include the intrinsic difficulties characterizing the production of scientific

knowledge and the impediments derived from the hegemonic forms of disciplinary

purism and the institutional organization of the scientific system. The paper discusses

encouraging examples of interdisciplinary practices committed to the defence of

human rights and environmental justice, and highlights the confrontations oriented at

transcending disciplinary barriers as an essential aspect of the development of scientific

knowledge.