Bringing Geographies of Knowledge out of the Shadows? An Analysis of Geography Research Groups in Brazil
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23917/forgeo.17291Keywords:
Geographies of Knowledge, Research Groups, Global SouthAbstract
This article presents a critical analysis of Geography research groups in Brazil, drawing on data from the CNPq Directory of Research Groups and situating these collectives within international debates on geographies of knowledge, in dialogue with postcolonial and decolonial approaches. It examines the spatial distribution, temporal evolution, thematic organization and internal structure of 616 research groups active in 2023, seeking to show how these collectives function as sites of production, contestation and legitimation of scientific knowledge. The results reveal a substantial growth of these groups over the last two decades, with particular emphasis on the centrality of Human Geography and Geography Education, as well as their concentration in institutions located in the South and Southeast regions of the country. The article concludes that these groups operate simultaneously as local, regional and national networks, while also seeking territorially embedded articulations with global logics of scientific recognition. Taken together, the analysis offers an unprecedented empirical and theoretical systematization of geographies of knowledge from the Brazilian case and opens space for dialogues on geographies of knowledge originating in the Global South.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Igor Martins Medeiros Robaina, Karina Eugenia Fioravante, Ítala Luzia de Andrade
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