Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Octavio Ocampo, Mexican painter: a metamorphic look at the discourse between the local and the global

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Art and science is an area of research that has strengthened recently, mainly due to the impact of interdisciplinary work. At the same time, approaches between the humanities and the sciences have succeeded in re-signifying traditional views towards critical positions such as postcolonialism, especially in the colonially so-called “Global South”. In this paper, we want to review the case of the work of the Mexican artist Octavio Ocampo through works that present the case of biological and cultural evolution. From this, we want to reflect on the public perception of science in Mexico, the tensions between social and natural sciences, and the urgent need to strengthen the postcolonial discourse in scientific practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Cyril Burt manipulated his methodology and conclusions in his studies on IQ heritability, while Franz Kallman did so on genetic predispositions to schizophrenia.

  2. Gould (1989) called this linear representation of evolution “the march of progress”.

  3. Designed for an audience between 6 and 15 years of age, inferring that they can be used by approximately 24,500,000 Mexican children and young people.

  4. For example, many illustrations from the work of Zdeněk Burian (1905–1981) can be found in some free sixth-grade science textbooks and in numerous monographs in use today in Mexico. Most of them—produced in the 1950 and 1960 s—have what today we would consider numerous biases, such as Neanderthal man as the prehistoric male cliché, hominids with disproportionate hirsutism, the mallet as a Neanderthal hallmark, white supremacy, the invisibilisation of women and traditional gender roles, which, to the trained eye, lack scientific substantiation and, worse, are laden with prejudice and stereotypes.

  5. As pointed out by Born and Barry (2010): “PigeonBlog (2006) was a public art event, a ‘social experiment between human and non-human animals’, which centred on the provision for ordinary people of low-tech means of collecting data on air pollution in their locality”

  6. This type of coloniality establishes that, from the Eurocentrism that has monopolised forms and sources of knowledge, historical perspectives are affirmed in which colonised peoples are positioned as intellectually, morally, and culturally inferior and, therefore, are portrayed as primitive or more backward.

References

  • Baum, D. A., Smith, S. D., & Donovan, S. S. S. (2005). The tree-thinking challenge. Science, 310(5750), 979–980.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baum, D. A., & Offner, S. (2008). Phylogenies & tree-thinking. The American Biology Teacher, 70(4), 222–229.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauer, M. W. (2012). Public attention to science 1820–2010–A ‘Longue Durée Picture'. In S. Rödder, M. Franzen, & P. Weingart (Eds.), The sciences’ media connection–Public communication and its repercussions (28 vol.). Springer.

  • Born, G., & Barry, A. (2010). Art-science. Journal of Cultural Economy, 3(1), 103–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anonymous. (1972). Compilación de los programas de las materias del primero al cuarto semestres. Primeraparte. Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

  • Collin, L. (2003). Mito e historia en el muralismo Mexicano. Scripta Ethnologica, 25, 25–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • da Costa, B., Hazegh, C & Ponto, K. (2006). Pigeonblog. http://www.pigeonblog.mapyourcity.net/.

  • Dupré, J. (1994). Against scientific imperialism. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, 1994(2), 374–381.

  • Dupré, J. (2001). Human nature and the limits of science. Clarendon Press.

  • Dupré, J. (2005). Darwin’s legacy: What evolution means today. Oxford University Press.

  • Flores, F., & Barahona, A. (2003). El currículo de educación básica: Contenidos y prácticas pedagógicas. In G. Waldegg, A. Barahona, B. Macedo, & A. Sánchez (Eds.), Retos y perspectivas de las ciencias naturales en la escuela secundaria (pp. 13–35). SEP/OREALC/UNESCO.

  • Franco, J. (ed.) (2015). Ciencia y tecnología: Una mirada ciudadana. UNAM.

  • García, E. (2010). El muralismo Mexicano. In F. Durán (Ed.), Iberoamérica y extremadura: Memoria de un vínculo (pp. 91–120). CEXECI.

  • Gaviño Bañuelos, R. (2019). La representación visual de la evolución biológica en los institutos tecnológicos de México. Undergraduate thesis, UNAM, Mexico.

  • Gould, S. J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. WW Norton & Company.

  • Gould, S. J. (1989). Wonderful life: The Burgess Shale and the nature of history. WW Norton.

  • Gould, S. J. (1990). Wonderful life: The Burgess Shale and the nature of history. WW Norton & Company.

  • Hanson, N. R. (1958). Patterns of discovery: An inquiry into the conceptual foundations of science. Cambridge University Press Archive.

  • Hurd, P. D. (2002). Modernising science education. Journal of Research in Science, 39(1), 3–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyneman, S. P., Farrell, J. P., & Sepúlveda, M. A. (1994). Libros de texto y aprovechamiento: Lo que sabemos. En P. Latapi (Ed.), Educación y escuela: Vol. 1. La educación formal (pp. 1 1 1–137). SEP y Nueva Imagen.

  • Jaramillo, E., & Vega, L. G. (2011). Los murales de los institutos tecnológicos: Tecnología con sentido humano. Dirección General de Educación Superior Tecnológica.

  • Kampourakis, K. (2014). Understanding evolution. Cambridge University Press.

  • Gómez-Quintero, J. D. (2010). La colonialidad del ser y del saber: La mitologización del desarrollo en América Latina. El Ágora USB Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 10(1), 87–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago University Press.

  • Leach, S. H. (2016). Scientific imagining: Studio based research into genre images of science and how art might interpret modern science [Doctoral dissertation not published]) College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, January.

  • Lesen, A. E., Rogan, A., & Blum, M. J. (2016). Science communication through art: Objectives, challenges, and outcomes. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 31(9), 657–660.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, A. (2008). A comparative study of six decades of general science textbooks: Evaluating the evolution of science content [Doctoral dissertation not published] University of Florida.

  • Lewontin, R., Rose, S., & Kamin, L. (1984). Not in our genes. Pantheon Books.

  • Lewontin, R. (1996). Biology as ideology: The doctrine of DNA. House of Anansi.

  • Lynch, M., & Woolgar, S. (1990). Representation in scientific practice. The MIT Press.

  • Lynch, M. (2006). The production of scientific images. Vision and re-vision in the history, philosophy, and sociology of science. Visual cultures of science: Rethinking representational practices in knowledge building and science communication (pp. 26–40). Dartmouth College Press.

  • Mäki, U., Walsh, A., & Pinto, M. F. (Eds.). (2017). Scientific imperialism: Exploring the boundaries of interdisciplinarity. Routledge.

  • Mandel, C. (2007). Muralismo mexicano: Arte público / identidad / memoria colectiva. Revista ESCENA, 30(61), 37–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez, M. E. (2008). Genealogical fictions: Limpieza de sangre, religion, and gender in colonial Mexico. Stanford University Press.

  • Medina, A. (1996). Recuentos y figuraciones: Ensayos de antropología mexicana. UNAM.

  • Mignolo, W. D. (2008). La opción de-colonial: Desprendimiento y apertura. Un manifiesto y un caso. Tabula rasa, 8, 243–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mignolo, W. D. (2012). Local histories/global designs: Coloniality, subaltern knowledges, and border thinking. Princeton University Press.

  • Moser, S. (1992). The visual language of archaeology: A case study of the Neanderthals. Antiquity, 66(253), 831–844.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novick, L. R., & Catley, K. M. (2007). Understanding phylogenies in biology: The influence of a Gestalt perceptual principle. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 13(4), 197–223.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ocampo, O. (2011). Yo, metamórfico. Fundación Miguel Alemán, A.C.

  • Ocampo, O. (2012). Murales metamórficos. In López Orozco, L. (Ed.) Memorias del 3er. Encuentro internacional de pintura mural (pp. 364–373), Instituto Estatal de la Cultura del Estado de Guanajuato.

  • Omland, K. E., Cook, L. G., & Crisp, M. D. (2008). Tree thinking for all biology: The problem with reading phylogenies as ladders of progress. Bioessays, 30(9), 854–867.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ortega, J. (1914). Meditaciones del Quijote. Residencia de Estudiantes.

  • Paz, O. (1987). México en la obra de Octavio Paz, III: Los privilegios de la vista: Arte de México. Fondo de Cultura Económica.

  • Perini, L. (2005). The truth in pictures. Philosophy of Science, 72, 262–285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, M. (1974). Personal knowledge. Towards a post-critical philosophy. The University of Chicago Press.

  • Rudwick, M. J. S. (1976). The emergence of a visual language for geological science 1760—1840. History of Science, 14(3), 149–195.

  • Ramirez Caro, J. (2018). El racismo entra y sale de la escuela: Análisis de textos escolares de estudios sociales. EUNA, Editorial Universidad Nacional.

  • Ruse, M. (1996). Are pictures really necessary? The case of Sewall Wright’s ‘adaptive landscapes'. In B. S. Baigrie (Ed.), Picturing knowledge. Historical and philosophical problems concerning the use of art in science (pp. 303–338). University of Toronto Press.

  • Shardakova, M., & Pavlenko, A. (2004). Identity options in Russian textbooks. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 3(1), 25–46.

  • Sismondo, S. (2011). An introduction to science and technology studies. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  • Snow, C. P. (1998) [1959]. The two cultures. Cambridge University Press.

  • Torrens, E. (2020). From darkness to gloom: The feminine presence in the teaching of human evolution in Mexico. Perspectives on Science, 28(2), 341–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torrens, E., & Barahona, A. (2017). La evolución biológica en los libros de textos mexicanos. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Ciencias y el Centro de Estudios Filosóficos, Políticos y Sociales Vicente Lombardo Toledano.

  • Torrens, E., Villela, A., & Barahona, A. (2021). Dibujando y reafirmando la desigualdad: La presencia de racismo en materiales educativos mexicanos. In Educación primaria, racismo y xenofobia en México: Historia, narrativas, representaciones y prácticas (pp.195–230). Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades, Secretaría de Desarrollo Institucional, UNAM.

  • Villagómez, A. (1997). La biología en el muralismo de Diego Rivera. Ciencias, 45, 24–30.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Erica Torrens Rojas & Juan Manuel Rodríguez Caso

Authors
  1. Erica Torrens Rojas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Juan Manuel Rodríguez Caso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juan Manuel Rodríguez Caso.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Torrens Rojas, E., Rodríguez Caso, J.M. Octavio Ocampo, Mexican painter: a metamorphic look at the discourse between the local and the global. HPLS 44, 64 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-022-00547-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-022-00547-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation