Investigating reality in order to transform it: The Colombian experience

Abstract

There exist relatively few occasions, in the course of a lifetime, which provide the opportunity to confront processes of radical, social transformation. As a generation, it is our privilege to live this process today, and to do so with the advantages and disadvantages offered by contemporary development. It is also our responsibility, as members of a scientific community, to know how to interpret this process of change and derive from it the adequate information necessary for under-standing and catalysing this transformation so that we may help to construct the future.