LATE SOCIAL INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF BRAZILIAN INFORMATION SCIENCE IN THE NORTH

Authors

  • Felipe Arthur Cordeiro Alves Instituto Federal de Educação Ciência e Tecnologia da Paraíba image/svg+xml
  • Wendia Oliveira de Andrade Federal University of Para image/svg+xml
  • Esdras Renan Farias Dantas State University of Paraíba image/svg+xml
  • Edivanio Duarte de Souza Federal University of Alagoas image/svg+xml

Keywords:

Information Science, geopolitics of knowledge, social institutionalization, graduate education - Information Science

Abstract

The geopolitics of knowledge serves as an important framework for understanding the asymmetries that permeate scientific production and the distribution of research structures. Within the field of Brazilian Information Science, such inequalities manifest themselves in the historical concentration of degree programs, events, and institutions in certain regions of the country, to the detriment of others. In this context, the objective of this study is to analyze the process of social institutionalization of Information Science in northern Brazil, based on scientific literature and institutional documents. The study aims to identify evidence pointing to the main historical and geopolitical causes that contributed to this delayed development compared to other regions of the country. The results show that the social institutionalization of the field internally reproduced the center-periphery logic characteristic of the global geopolitics of knowledge. The influence of foreign models on the structuring of Brazilian graduate programs was observed, associated with the concentration of investments and scientific infrastructure in the South-Southeast axis, contributing to a gap of nearly 50 years before the implementation of the first graduate program in the field in the Northern Region. The geographic distribution of the main scientific event in the field also revealed the persistence of regional inequalities. It can be concluded that the delayed institutionalization of Information Science in northern Brazil reflects historical and geopolitical dynamics that continue to shape knowledge production, underscoring the need for science policies committed to territorial equity and the decentralization of the field.

Author Biographies

  • Felipe Arthur Cordeiro Alves, Instituto Federal de Educação Ciência e Tecnologia da Paraíba

    Ph.D. in Information Science from the Graduate Program in Information Science at the Federal University of Paraíba (PPGCI-UFPB). Master’s degree in Information Science from the Graduate Program in Information Science at the Federal University of Paraíba (PPGCI-UFPB). Specialist in Document and Information Management from UNYLEYA College. Bachelor’s degree in Archival Science from the State University of Paraíba (UEPB). He is currently a doctoral fellow in the Civil Servant Qualification Incentive Program (PIQIFPB) at the Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Paraíba (Call for Applications No. 16/22). He works as an Archives Technician at the Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Paraíba (IFPB). 

  • Wendia Oliveira de Andrade, Federal University of Para

    Adjunct Professor at the School of Library Science at the Federal University of Pará (FABIB/UFPA) (2021–present). She is a Level I Instructor for distance learning (EAD) within the Open University of Brazil (UAB) system, in partnership with the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). Ph.D. (2019) in Information Science from the Graduate Program in Information Science at the Federal University of Paraíba (PPGCI/UFPB).  Researcher affiliated with the following research areas: Organization and Representation of Knowledge and Information in the Amazon (ORCI AMAZÔNIA - UFPA/Belém/PA) (2022–present). She is developing an extension and research project in partnership with the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Pará (PGE/PA) (2022–present), with the research component focused on creating the first controlled vocabulary for that institution. 

  • Esdras Renan Farias Dantas, State University of Paraíba

    Ph.D. and Master’s in Information Science (PPGCI-UFPB). Specialist in Public Management (UEPB). Bachelor’s in Library Science (UFPB). Editor at Editora CI. Librarian at the State University of Paraíba, assigned to the Afonso Pereira Sectoral Library at the Center for Applied Biological and Social Sciences. Conservator-restorer of movable cultural heritage assets, specializing in the binding of books and documents. He is the deputy director of the Center for Studies and Research on Information, Representation, Memory, and Subjectivities (INFORMES), certified by the Federal University of Cariri (UFCA). 

  • Edivanio Duarte de Souza, Federal University of Alagoas

    Ph.D. in Information Science from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (2011). Associate Professor at the Institute of Humanities, Communication, and Arts at the Federal University of Alagoas (ICHCA/UFAL), where he teaches in the Library Science program and the Graduate Program in Information Science (PPGCI/UFAL). Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Program in Information Science at the Federal University of Paraíba (PPGCI/UFPB). Visiting Professor in the Master’s Program in Information Management at the National University of San Marcos (PMGI/UNMSM, Peru). Leader of the Observinter Research Group—Observatory of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, registered with the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal *Ciência da Informação em Revista* (ISSN 2358-0763). 

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Published

2026-11-13

Conference Proceedings Volume

2026: XXVI ENCONTRO NACIONAL DE PESQUISA E PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM CIÊNCIA DA INFORMAÇÃO

Section

GT 1 – Estudos Históricos e Epistemológicos da Ciência da Informação

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