Geografia, política e meio ambiente interações e integrações possíveis: uma análise da produção científica do Programa de Pós-Graduação do Instituto de Geografia da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia/MG (2000 2007)

Abstract

The present dissertation has the interactions between the university and the society as its background for the research which focus on the environment. To do so, 27 (twenty-seven) dissertations and a thesis (all of them accomplished by the post-graduation program of Universidade Federal de Uberlândia Geography Institute) were taken into consideration. Such works date back to the year 2000, when the results of the program were first presented for appraisal, and July 2007. The studies cover several topics of the environmental issue in Uberlândia-MG which was chosen in order to restrict the searched field. A methodology of analysis was developed for the purpose of presenting a picture of the trends which have or not influenced the selected works. We tried to achieve this task by basing on a series of epistemological and theoretical references taken from authors who have been talking over new challenges for social sciences and humanities in general and geography in particular. The main references are Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Edgar Morin, Milton Santos, Arlete Moysés Rodrigues, Henri Lefebvre, Yves Lacoste and Alain Lipietz, among others. From this reference, we set up a number of structural aspects, embodied as platforms, levels, dimensions of analysis, starting from broader to the more specific ones. From each dimension, we drew up a critical vector composed by two coordinates. The critical vectors are: Complexity Vector Interdisciplinary and Interactivity; Organization Vector of Space Space and Nature; Geopolitics Vector Ecology and Politics. The vectors were structured as matrices, with questions for each coordinate. These questions had answers Yes, No or Not applicable, obtained by the reading of the works. With this "architecture", we aimed to determine what the position of the analyzed works is. The incidence of answers Yes made it possible to know whether and what extent the ways of thinking derived from this set of ideas is affecting the scientific production on environmental subjects in the IG/UFU. The results show that the highest incidence of critical vector is the Organization of Space, in its coordinated Nature. The lower incidence is the Complexity vector, in Interdisciplinary coordinate. The Space coordinate also showed low incidence as well as Ecology coordinate. The application of matrices allows a critical objective design of the scientific reviewed literature and the preparation of some proposals as contribution to the Program of Post-Graduate Studies in the IG/ UFU.