Geo-epistemology is the name we identified to be used as an indication of a constructivist approach which considers concepts and environment as naturaly related. The hypothesis behind this approach is that we cannot detach the conceptual perspectives we propose from the immediate environment, from the local domain we are working/leaving in.
The expression geo-epistemology is an expression which relevance relies little on the historiographical background of the term (‘epistemology’) and much more in the problem/question it tries to address. The conceptual vocabulary here is limited to indicate how we think a problem outside the language naming/nominating the problem. That is the substantial ambiguity of the peripheral thinking, as Ezequiel Martinez Estrada (1895-1964) and others discovered long time ago. More specifically, this ‘in between’ has been recently discussed, specifically in the case of Latin America, as a natural and original condition of the local environment. In fact, intellectual academic experiences, like the creation/publishing of the journal Nepantla: Views from South (2000-2003), is part of this new understanding of understanding, even their achievements can be considered only partially. Equally interesting and relevant, are other projects which do not have 'Latin American' as their specific concept of analysis but thath discuss issues which are closely connected to it or to its form of development. That is the case, for example, of the project called 'Precision Targets' de Caren Kaplan and Erik Loyer.
It is under this context that the word 'epistemology' is less an exact term than an indication of a domain and/or direction of thinking. 'Epistemology' remains a Western concept to indicate something which is at the borders and limits of that Western territory, therefore the traditional meaning of 'epistemology' is not useful for our purpose.
We did discuss all these preliminary and basic arguments in Geo-epistemology. Latin America and the Location of Knowledge (2009). However a brief definition of the concept of geo-epistemology is available as part of the 'Diccionario de Pensamiento Alternativo'.
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