During a research trip to Ecuador in the summer of 1978, the editor had occasion to visit several centers for training and investigation in the social sciences. The evidence of marked progress over earlier years is unmistakeable, and has been stimulated by both national and international bases of support as well as the influx of intellectuals exiled from other Latin American countries. In a previous issue (volume 13, number 2 [1978]), LARR presented a report from former director Rafael Quintero on the activities and pedagogical orientation of the Escuela de Sociología at the Universidad Central del Ecuador. He also noted the important appearance of the Revista de Ciencias Sociales, four numbers of which had been published by mid-1978, as well as the initiation of national conferences on sociology: the first of these was convened in Quito in November 1976 and the second met at Cuenca in April 1978. While research activities are being undertaken in both Guayaquil and Cuenca, much of the effort nationally is centered in Quito. In keeping with LARR'S effort to improve and extend communication in this area, the following reports on four centers are presented. In conjunction with the earlier contribution by Dr. Quintero, they provide a useful, if less than fully exhaustive, perspective on social science activities in Quito.

Charles II named the Duque de la Palata as viceroy of Perú in 1680 with the hope that he would be able to revitalize the production of royal revenue in the realm. The key to accomplishing that goal, the king believed, was to assign more Indians to the mines and silver mills of Potosí because the crown ostensibly received 20 percent of the silver marked in the Villa Imperial. One-seventh of the adult population of male originarios (Indians living in their assigned pueblos) in the obligated provinces could be assigned to Potosí in any one year under Francisco de Toledo's ordinances, and the Duque was authorized to extend this mita obligation to any or all of the fourteen previously exempted altiplano (highland) corregimientos, that is, to increase the base from which the one-seventh ratio was taken. The number of new corregimientos to be added would depend upon the results of a prerequisite census in the thirty corregimientos of Alto Perú (sixteen mita and fourteen exempted).

Half of all urban dwellers and eight out of every ten rural inhabitants in developing countries live in inadequate and badly equipped housing, crowded together and subjected to unacceptable environmental conditions. This means that in the countries of the Third World alone more than 2,300 million people live in housing that is without (or has only insufficient) services and that is marked as well by varying degrees of deterioration. The need to construct new units to absorb the natural increase in the population, to overcome gradually the qualitative deficit indicated above, and to renew existing stock makes housing and complementary services the major investment that must be made if one of the basic needs of the population is to be met. “A house is something more than a simple or complex construction, detached or grouped, forming an agglomeration that might have diverse forms and functions. Defined as a dwelling, this construction is converted into an essential aspect of man's existence as a social being and his way of life on earth.”

Scholars of developing nations recognize the importance of education in the socialization process that takes place in every culture. While some students have examined the impact of education on the masses, fewer, especially for Latin America, have examined the impact of education on the political leadership. Mexico, one of the most frequently studied countries in Latin America, has never been the subject of a study that examines its university system as an institution for both socialization and recruitment of political leaders. Nevertheless, it is an ideal country for investigation because the majority of its high-level office-holders have university degrees from a single institution, the National University of Mexico.

Within the last two decades, theories about world systems have played a decisive role in shifting the boundaries of discourse on long-term social change. The triumph of world-system analysis was nearly a “bloodless coup”: few scholars were terribly anxious to defend the theoretical bastion of modernization theory that it supplanted; at best they reinterpreted the old theory within the new framework (for example, Rostow, 1975, 1978; Parsons 1977, 213; Moore 1979).

This essay is divided into three parts: a discussion of the pervasive role of Marxism-Leninism in Soviet Latin American studies; an examination of the contents of a collection of translated readings of USSR scholars tentatively entitled The Soviet Image of Latin America, 1945–1965: A Documentary History, and a general survey of certain basic works devoted to the principal Latin American themes prescribed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

La Fundación para el Estudio de los Problemas Argentinos (FEPA) fue creada el 28 de diciembre de 1977 por un grupo de profesores universitarios de la Escuela de Ciencias Políticas de la Universidad Católica Argentina de la ciudad de Buenos Aires, pero su funcionamiento pleno comenzó el 8 de mayo de 1978. El edificio que actualmente ocupa cuenta con tres plantas, con una superficie total de 750 metros cuadrados. En la planta baja funciona la subdirección, los servicios de recepción y administración y algunas jefaturas; en la planta siguiente la dirección y un auditorio con capacidad para sesenta personas. El último piso es el dedicado a tareas de investigación. FEPA cuenta con personal administrativo adecuado y profesionales en ciencias sociales, provenientes de Ciencias Políticas, Economía, Sociología, Historia y Derecho. Desde su iniciación, está dirigida por el Dr. Francisco Arias Pelerano, especialista en Ciencias Políticas; actuando como Subdirector el Dr. Joaquín Rafael Ledesma, especializado en Economía.

El PEHESA es un programa asociado al Centro de Investigaciones Sociales sobre el Estado y la Administración y que tiene por finalidad impulsar los estudios de historia social y económica. Está integrado por nueve historiadores, tres de los cuales son investigadores de planta del CISEA. Son objetivos del PEHESA estimular investigaciones originales tanto de la Argentina como los estudios comparativos de los países de América Latina. En este sentido no sólo contribuye con sus propios proyectos en marcha, sino también, propicia el intercambio y colaboración con otros investigadores u otros centros académicos que desean realizar estudios en este campo. El PEHESA pretende asegurar la continuidad de las actividades mediante seminarios, reuniones y conferencias sobre temas de esta especialidad, a los que también son invitados investigadores de otras instituciones u organismos. Asimismo ha proyectado la realización de cursos y seminarios para graduados que no han tenido la oportunidad de llevar a cabo este tipo de actividad en otros ámbitos universitarios y científicos. Asimismo es de fundamental interés para el programa mantener vinculaciones con instituciones y personas dedicadas a los estudios sociales en general y a los problemas históricos en especial, tanto del país como del exterior, a fin de mantener un intercambio rico y vivaz, indispensable para desarrollar todas las inquietudes intelectuales y crear vínculos sólidos y permanentes.

This Study was conducted under the auspices of the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs, the organization of institutional members of LASA. Needless to say, the conclusions expressed here are those of the authors alone, and not those of the project's sponsors. The study focuses primarily on teaching programs, and specifically on the courses announced in the college catalogues. Clearly, there are other ways of proceeding and there are other types of information about Latin American studies programs that would be of value. It should also be borne in mind that the information given in such catalogues is only an approximate description of reality. However, the subject matter covered was believed to be that of greatest interest in view of the limitations of resources and personnel available.

In the present issue, LARR initiates a change in its Current Research Inventory section. The Research Inventory now will be published only once a year, in the final number of each volume, rather than in three installments broken down along geographical lines.