SCIENTIFIC MOBILITY AND REFLEXIVITY. HOW RESEARCHERS' DISPLACEMENT MOBILITY SHAPED MODES OF PRODUCING KNOWLEDGE

This article goes deep into the phenomenon of scientific mobility discussing some results of an ongoing work about Argentinean researchers' career. The proposal is to map the geographic and institutional careers of two physicists and analyze the ways of thinking, valuing and doing research that are the result, at least in part, of their experiences. The point of departure of the article is that scientific mobility affects researchers and their modes of producing knowledge. Such modes are made of practices, values, collective identifications and institutional conditions and processes. We will show how researchers explain and justify the science they produce, their goals and their perceptions of each work environment based on their experiences of mobility. Finally, we will present an alternative interpretation that may help to understand the geography of scientific mobility and will discuss the traditional explanation based on the distinction between center(s) and periphery(s).