Digging deeper into colonial palaeontological practices in modern day Mexico and Brazil
Cisneros J, Raja Schoob NB, Ghilardi AM, Dunne E, Pinheiro F, Regalado Fernández OR, Sales M, Rodríguez-de la Rosa R, Miranda-Martínez A, González-Mora S, Bantim R, de Lima F, Pardo J (2022)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2022
Journal
Book Volume: 9
Issue: 3
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210898
Abstract
Scientific practices stemming from colonialism, whereby middle- and low-income countries supply data for high-income countries and the contributions of local expertise are devalued, are still prevalent today in the field of palaeontology. In response to these unjust practices, countries such as Mexico and Brazil adopted protective laws and regulations during the twentieth century to preserve their palaeontological heritage. However, scientific colonialism is still reflected in many publications describing fossil specimens recovered from these countries. Here, we present examples of ‘palaeontological colonialism’ from publications on Jurassic–Cretaceous fossils from NE Mexico and NE Brazil spanning the last three decades. Common issues that we identified in these publications are the absence of both fieldwork and export permit declarations and the lack of local experts among authorships. In Mexico, access to many fossil specimens is restricted on account of these specimens being housed in private collections, whereas a high number of studies on Brazilian fossils are based on specimens illegally reposited in foreign collections, particularly in Germany and Japan. Finally, we outline and discuss the wider academic and social impacts of these research practices, and propose exhaustive recommendations to scientists, journals, museums, research institutions and government and funding agencies in order to overcome these practices.
Authors with CRIS profile
Involved external institutions
National Autonomous University of Mexico / Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Mexico (MX)
Unidad Académica de Ciencias Biológicas
Mexico (MX)
University of Birmingham
United Kingdom (GB)
Federal University of Piauí / Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI)
Brazil (BR)
Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte / Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)
Brazil (BR)
Federal University of Pernambuco / Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Brazil (BR)
University of Calgary
Canada (CA)
Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Ceará IFCE
Brazil (BR)
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Germany (DE)
Universidade Regional do Cariri
Brazil (BR)
Mexico (MX)
Unidad Académica de Ciencias Biológicas
Mexico (MX)
University of Birmingham
United Kingdom (GB)
Federal University of Piauí / Universidade Federal do Piauí (UFPI)
Brazil (BR)
Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte / Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN)
Brazil (BR)
Federal University of Pernambuco / Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Brazil (BR)
University of Calgary
Canada (CA)
Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Ceará IFCE
Brazil (BR)
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Germany (DE)
Universidade Regional do Cariri
Brazil (BR)
How to cite
APA:
Cisneros, J., Raja Schoob, N.B., Ghilardi, A.M., Dunne, E., Pinheiro, F., Regalado Fernández, O.R.,... Pardo, J. (2022). Digging deeper into colonial palaeontological practices in modern day Mexico and Brazil. Royal Society Open Science, 9. https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210898
MLA:
Cisneros, Juan, et al. "Digging deeper into colonial palaeontological practices in modern day Mexico and Brazil." Royal Society Open Science 9 (2022).
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