A dimensão política e o processo de institucionalização da ciência e tecnologia em Moçambique

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe and understand the evolution, development and institutionalization of science and technology (S & T), in order to collect the elements that may contribute for the formulation of public policies in various sectors of the area of S & T in Mozambique. The main institutions of higher education and scientific research in the country were the universe of this research. Data collection was performed in two stages: in first stage, a documentary survey was conducted based on institutional reports and other primary sources that were available. While the documentary surveys was taking place, a search in the international bibliographic databases ISI Web of Science (ISI WoS) was being done with the aim of outlining a bibliometric profile of the Mozambican scientific output covering the period of creation of the first scientific institutions - the 1960s to 2009. And in the second stage, semi-structural interviews were conducted to teachers, researchers and managers of institutions pre-selected for sample and other persons indicated by them. This study was a descriptive-analytic with use of qualitative and quantitative methodological approach, which sought to identify related facts between the events that marked the institutionalization of S & T and the political, economic and social forces, as determined by country historical moments according the adopted periodization to facilitate the analysis in context (Colonial Period - 1845 to 1974, First Republic - 1975 to 1990 and the Second Republic - 1991 to the current stage). The theoretical framework included the conceptual foundations of the new mode of knowledge production suggested by Gibbons et al (1994), the theory of the triple helix proposed by Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (1995), the concept of field in Bourdieu (1983) and the actor network theory by Latour (2000). The bibliometric data were processed with the aid of specific applications such as Excel, and Unicet NetDraw, and the interviews were handled using the technique of content analysis through categorization. The analytical categories were defined from a preliminary examination of the interviews. The organization of data into analytical categories was based on the criteria of similarity and differentiation of the interviews. Therefore, starting from the basis that the political lines and programs of development adopted by the leaders of the country over time can be considered as non-human actors, who have strongly shaped the whole process analyzed in this study, but on the other hand should not be overlooked that they are the result of human action. So the main conclusion is that the institutionalization of S & T is closely related to the flow, circulation, interconnections and negotiations between human actors and non-human, which may be internal or external to the context and environment of production of science and technology in Mozambique.