Geography, an expanding science and a career at risk

This November 11, the 2nd National Congress of Geography of Ecuador was inaugurated, presented by the University of Azuay, the University of Cuenca and the Geographical Association of Ecuador, whose central theme was "Interdisciplinary Geographies."

The intention of this meeting was to integrate researchers, professionals and students from different areas during 3 days of exhibitions given by invited speakers.

María Fernanda López, president of the Geographical Association of Ecuador, stressed the importance of this science and the risk it has of disappearing today:

"Putting geography at the center of discussion in the higher education scene, now in Ecuador, presents a challenge."

During the three days of the Congress, it was analyzed how geography is one of the oldest fields of study of human knowledge, which throughout its history has alternately gone through periods of expansion and deepening.

In recent decades, geographic sciences have been impacted by countless changes: the development of new technologies for obtaining geographic data, new analysis methods, high computational and visualization capabilities, but above all, by a growing interest in researchers and professionals from the most diverse disciplines in the geographical and spatial aspects of their knowledge domains.

Furthermore, the emergence and strengthening of new perspectives, such as critical geography, neogeography and geomatics, raise the need to speak not of "geography" but of "geographies", as a recognition of the plurality of approaches and knowledge of an integrating, diverse and constantly evolving area of ​​knowledge.

However, the president of the Geographical Association of Ecuador, Geography as a career is about to disappear, which would affect our social reality from various disciplines, even more so in one like the current one that is governed by virtuality.

"What would our reality be if geography did not exist," López concluded.

The Congress was developed around 6 axes and had three keynotes given by the Ecuadorian Andrea Carrión, the Chilean Manuel Fuenzalida and the French Céline Jacquin.

UDA Correspondent