SCIENCE AND SOCIAL NETWORK IN MEXICO IN LAST XIX CENTURY: THE MICHOACANA SOCIETY OF GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS

Abstract

The importance of regional cooperation in the construction and achievement of major national scientific projects was more than evident. Such a big country could not be studied only from the center. The Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics (Institute, April 18, 1833) then created auxiliary boards to assist in the tasks under its charge. For many states, including Michoacan, the establishment of these meetings resulted in their first scientific society. The local meeting in Morelia (1852) summoned the main men of science in Michoacan, extending an important network of correspondents in the geography of the state. This work analyzes how the creation of the Michoacana Society of Geography and Statistics (1905) brought the michoacana scientific community together, constituted in the first space of and for science sociability as a result of the works and management of the community of men of science itself. Finally, it is shown how the presence of its members in common spaces, as academic environments –mainly the Colegio de San Nicolas de Hidalgo-, politic and economic, propitiated that its activities were fluently. The importance of old links and ties played an important role in consolidation of specific projects, in this case, the establishment of the Society. Further, it is pointed out that, as social actors, the members of this scientific corporation not only were part of this social sphere but they were incorporated in wide social framework that pointed out their different facets.