International Forum: Democracies and Social Sciences Under Attack
INTERNATIONAL FORUM
Democracies and social sciences under attack
From the current situation to the construction of collective alternatives
September 30, 2025 | Buenos Aires, Argentina
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Buenos Aires
The rise of authoritarian, violent, and hateful rhetoric and policies, coupled with the expansion of ultraneoliberal policies, is challenging not only democracies in our region but also the institutions and practices that underpin the production of critical knowledge. Public higher education, science in general, and the social sciences, humanities, and arts in particular, are under intense threat: from defunding and the resurgence of privatization to attempts at ideological control, denialist and anti-science discourses, and the delegitimization of their contributions to addressing major social problems and democratic life.
At the same time, on a continent in dispute, political options are emerging in various countries, offering alternative paths to continue expanding rights, recognizing diversity, and striving to build sovereignty and more just societies with stronger democracies. These forces, which have won popular votes in some countries and are alternative governments in others, sow hopes that must be nurtured through the production of rigorous, critical, and transformative knowledge and the active participation of social organizations.
This situation challenges CLACSO from different perspectives and justifies the organization of the International Forum “Democracies and Social Sciences Under Attack: From the Current Situation to the Construction of Collective Alternatives,” which will be held in Buenos Aires on September 30, 2025, in conjunction with the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires (FSOC-UBA) and the community of CLACSO Member Centers in Argentina, with the support of the Gino Germani Research Institute (IIGG) and the Institute of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (IEALC). This Forum will constitute a space for reflection and collective debate, which will be expressed in various activities:
General program of activities
Inquiries to: [email protected]
SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES
| General schedules Workshops: 13 p.m. to 15 p.m. Classrooms: SG107 and SG108 Opening: 15 to 15: 15 hs Classroom: SJ101 Dialogue 1: 15.15 to 16.45 hs Classroom: SJ101 Dialogue 2: 16.45 p.m. to 18.15 p.m. Classroom: SJ101 Book presentation: 18.30 p.m. to 19.30 p.mClassroom: SJ101 |
Immersive [critical] workshop on Artificial Intelligence. [Nobody knows what language models can do]. Coordination: LAIA (Open Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence) + Flavia Costa (Observatory of Technologies, Society and Digital Ecosystems, FSOC-UBA)
Workshop 2: The Right Wing, Elites, and Corporations as Objects of Study. Tools and Strategies for Urgent Theses. Coordination: Inés Nercesian (UBA–CONICET), Florencia Luci (UBA-CONICET), and Nicolás Welschinger (UNLP–CONICET)
