To Understand the development of research on latin america we must not overlook the present status of the social sciences throughout the world. One of the characteristics of the contemporary world is that distances hardly exist; scientists thus continually stage “invasions” from more developed into the so-called underdeveloped societies. Such phenomena, of course, existed in the past, too; the origin of anthropology is linked to the study of primitive societies in colonial times. The amount of resources available today, modern transportation facilities, and the constantly growing number of researchers make it increasingly impossible that one area or country could be without social scientists studying something.

We like to believe that ideals and conscious motivation govern history. In an area so controversial as United States-Latin American relations, a preoccupation with ideological determinants of policy and action has been part of a standard approach to problems and issues of Latin American economic, social, and political development, especially in the past decade. The influence of beliefs in the efficacy of the motive in history is illustrated by periodic harassment and quasi-purges of the Department of State, which is perceived by congressional critics as an organizational haven for the disloyal, weak, or misguided, and by diatribes from the left against official Washington which are typically based on some variation of the view that the state department harbors men with evil ideas.

On may 7, 1966, a representative group of scholars who were invited to Washington, D.C. for a meeting sponsored by the Joint Committee on Latin American Studies (of the American Council of Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council) and the Hispanic Foundation of the Library of Congress, formed the Latin American Studies Association. The members of the Latin American Research Review Board, representing the institutions contributing to the support of the Review, were among the scholars invited to this meeting. When, on May 12 it was incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia with a “perpetual” term, the new Association became a legal entity, a tax-exempt, non-profit professional body created by scholarly area specialists to meet their particular and growing needs.

In Different Parts of the World, Landowners Have Sometimes Found fit to compensate labor, wholly or partially, by letting laborers have the usufruct of a small plot of land. The border between this category of labor and that of tenants is blurred, as is suggested by the English term, tenant labor (or labor tenants).

One of the most characteristic and picturesque features of Latin American commercial activity is the market, “an organized public gathering of buyers and sellers of commodities meeting at an appointed place at regular intervals” (Hodder 1965: 57). These markets are held in open market squares or plazas, in streets and open spaces, at roads junctions, and in public, municipal market buildings. Locally, markets are referred to by such names as ferias, plazas, or mercados in Spanish-speaking Latin America, feiras in Brazil, tianguis in Indian areas of central Mexico, catus in some Quechua-speaking Andean areas, and marchés in French-speaking countries. Generally found in medium to large nucleated settlements, markets are also encountered in very small hamlets, particularly those located at nodal points in communication networks. A settlement may have one or more different market locations within the built-up area, or on the outskirts of the settlement. Most larger towns and cities have several separate markets which specialize in different commodities, or serve different neighborhoods or social groups. Places with one or more markets are generally referred to as market centers.

The visitor to Cuba cannot help but be struck by the overpowering presence of José Martí. Indeed, from the moment one arrives at Havana's Aeropuerto ‘José Martí,’ references to Martí are constantly encountered: the drive from the airport to the city center passes by the Biblioteca Nacional ‘José Martí,’ situated in the Plaza de la Revolución, which itself is dominated by an enormous statue of Martí; commemorative monuments and plaques are widely scattered throughout all Cuban cities, while even the smallest rural communities possess at least a bust of Martí; finally, as an illustration of the importance of Martí for the revolutionary leadership, pertinent quotations are continually exhibited at official congresses, and in all major museums of the island. In short, as any tourist soon discovers, Martí's image is projected everywhere: “en alguna medida Cuba es un país en torno a un hombre,” as one critic has correctly noted.

Since 1929 Argentina has undergone a remarkable series of political and economic changes. During the twenties it was a showcase of economic growth based on export expansion, as well as a model of bourgeois democracy in its parliamentary form. Yet that Argentina now lies in the distant past, and nowadays the name Argentina is likely to conjure up military coups and economic stagnation. This transformation deserves more attention than it has yet received. The question, “What went wrong in Argentina?” is as important for students of underdevelopment as is the question, “What went wrong in Germany?” for students of advanced industrialization.