This work will sketch some methodogical and theoretical guidelines for studying the historical process by which national states were formed in Latin America. It is a suggested method for studying this process, not a rigorous interpretation of it. Such an interpretation would be difficult without first having studied in depth the experiences of several nations from which to infer and generalize a pattern of historical development. Studies of this sort have been undertaken recently, so I will confine myself here to a discussion of certain conceptual elements and a research strategy that may prove useful in the work that lies ahead. Several hypotheses on the process of state formation will be advanced to illustrate the perspective from which I propose to undertake its study.

The political expression of the Argentine working class has been a subject of concern to social scientists and other interested observers for some time. The country was one of the first in Latin America to have autonomous trade unions and political parties or ideological groups dedicated to the defense of labor interests. During the 1940s a major reorientation took place associated with the advent of Peronism. How did this change come about? Was it a totally new departure, or was it rather an adjustment of tactics on the part of the existing structures? How different is the Argentine labor movement—both in its trade unions and its political expressions—from others in comparable countries? This article seeks to explore this problem, based on a theoretical reassessment of the issues involved in working-class organizations as they emerged in the Argentine historical experience.

This article is concerned with the problem of reading and interpreting the Argentine literary magazine Sur, which was published regularly between 1931 and 1970 (and irregularly thereafter) as an elegant fusion of fiction, poetry, philosophy, plastic arts, and social commentary. That a magazine should be chosen as a research topic reflects the reality of Argentine literary life in the twentieth century. Such publications offered many writers their main opportunity to put forward ideas in the forms of works of literature and critical or general essays. Most magazines lasted for very few years, but Sur, thanks to the quality of its contributors and the sound financial base of its founder, Victoria Ocampo, was to have an important influence on several generations.

La dictadura ha predominado como forma fundamental de organización política en la mayoría de las repúblicas hispanoamericanas, desde el logro de la Independencia hasta nuestros días. Las fuerzas democráticas, siempre presentes y muchas veces heroicamente activas, por lo general han llevado la peor parte en el conflicto con la tiranía. Por eso resulta comprensible que la novela hispanoamericana refleje, desde sus comienzos, esa característica básica de la vida social del Continente. El número de novelas que, directa o indirectamente, se refieren al tema dictatorial es enorme. Curiosa y (en apariencia) contradictoriamente, por larguísimos años el dictador no ha sido protagonista de estas obras. Aparece en ellas como un personaje más, importante, pero secundario, en el desarrollo de la trama. No es sino en la década del 70 de este siglo, con las novelas dedicadas a este tema por Alejo Carpentier, Augusto Roa Bastos, Gabriel García Márquez y Arturo Uslar Pietri, cuando el dictador ocupa el centro de la atención del autor y su personalidad es examinada en todas sus aristas. O sea que hasta 1970 no existió mas que el género (la novela de dictadura), de orientación sociológica y política, más que psicológica. Sólo en la década del 70 aparece la especie (la novela de dictadores), que además de retratar un régimen se concentra en el estudio de la compleja personalidad tiránica de un individuo. Al examen del proceso histórico y literario que explica ese fundamental cambio de orientación estética está dedicado este artículo.

There has been much controversy over the nature of the institution of slavery, the relative humanity or lack of it in those slave holding nations which practiced it, and its benign or baleful effects upon the blacks on whom it was inflicted. Much has been said about the harshness of Anglo-American slavery and the relatively mild nature of Spanish American slavery, which respected a slave's basic humanity and rights of person, property, and family. Yet little has been done to quantify and document how those attitudes applied in practice. We have had little precise information about the slave family as it existed in the Spanish American colonies and the extent or use of slave property, or about the slaves' access to the legal system that might protect and defend his person, his property, or his family. New sources and methodology have begun to challenge long-held assumptions about both Anglo-American as well as Spanish American slavery. If any conclusion is warranted, it may be that slavery varied widely from place to place and was influenced perhaps as much by differing economic circumstances as by differences in cultural attitudes.

The cargo system is composed of a series of ranked offices, both civil and religious, that male members of indigenous communities assume. Usually the term for each office lasts one year. Adult men who are active in village affairs pass through the various “cargos,” as these offices are called, taking on civic duties one year, sponsoring important religious fiestas celebrated in the community the next, and so on. Finally, as old men, they attain the status of elders, or “principales,” and have considerable authority in local decision-making (see Cancian [1967] for a concise, traditional interpretation and Smith [1977] for a more critical appraisal of the literature).

The employment growth rate during the last decade is one of the economic topics that has stimulated great attention in recent years. The absence of data that may be used for national level comparisons, however, has led to a number of inexact statements and positions on the problem. The purpose of this study is to fill in this informational vacuum in order to ascertain the data relevant to changes in employment in Chile for the period 1974–78.

The 1970s were particularly fruitful for the field of Puerto Rican historiography. A number of works were published, not only on the Island but abroad, which showed the trend of current and future research. New topics were being dealt with from a variety of updated viewpoints and methodologies, and previously studied problems were revised in the light of newly available sources, as was the case, for example, with slavery. Various factors have contributed notably to this situation: the assiduous exchange of ideas among Puerto Rican, Latin American, North American, and European researchers, a process which, although slow, has served to involve Puerto Rico in recent historiographical trends; the involvement of the Island in international affairs; the opening of new collections of valuable historical materials; the institutionalization at the university level of graduate study in the field of history; and, in general, a greater emphasis on Puerto Rican cultural identity.

O Congresso Nacional, em Brasília, dispõe de um dos maiores acervos documentais para o estudo da história brasileira. Entretanto, poucos têm uma idéia precisa do volume e da natureza daquela documentação, bem como de sua possível contribuição para o conhecimento histórico. É meu intento, pois, descrevê-la aos interessados por esse campo de estudo e fornecer indicações, a título de exemplo, sobre uma das modalidades de exploração, modalidade essa que corresponde a meu projeto pessoal de pesquisa: o papel do Parlamento diante das relações exteriores.

The Instituto de Estudios Peruanos is an independent, nonprofit organization devoted to social science research. It was founded in 1964 by a group of Peruvian scholars interested in the interdisciplinary study of Peru and its developmental problems. The Institute was officially recognized by the government, through the Ministry of Education, in Ministerial Resolution 2041 of May 1964. The staff consists of five senior researchers and nine associate researchers who share similar institutional goals and a common ideological perspective aimed at reformulating traditional ideas and interpretations of Peruvian reality in order to depict and analyze more accurately the country's economic, political, social, and cultural processes.

Some men become symbols of an intellectual epoch, partly because they helped to create it and partly because they integrated and expressed so powerfully the themes that others of their time were emphasizing. Gino Germani was the outstanding symbol of the emergence of empirical sociology in Latin America in the two decades following World War II.

Cada escritor se maneja dentro de peculiares ciclos productivos, cuyo ritmo, duración, intensidad, época de la vida, propician valederas leeciones sobre su intima problematica, tanto personal como social, tanto histórica como estética, tanto ideológica como artistica, por cuanto no responden meramente a su voluntad productiva sino que surgen en la confluencia de sus interiores procesos psiquicos con las situaciones históricas de la cultura en que viven. Por eso nos hablan del tiempo del escritor y del tiempo de la sociedad y solo podemos alcanzar su comprensión si abrazamos conjuntamente a los dos a través de la fusión ideológica que nos entregan los textos.

The overthrow of Nicaraguan strongman Anastacio Somoza Debayle by the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional in mid-1979 promises to stimulate academic research on contemporary Central America just as the rise of Fidel Castro and Salvador Allende did for Cuba and Chile. As scholars and policymakers contemplate the future of post-Somoza Central America, they will inevitably consider the role of the armed forces in each country. In recent years the military institutions have occupied key positions in national politics as the Central American nations have attempted to reconcile the often conflicting demands of economic development, political order, and social reform. This note is intended to serve as a guide to the existing social-science literature on the Central American militaries. Costa Rica, having replaced its army with a civil guard or police force in 1948, is mentioned only in passing. Although historically considered a part of South America, Panama is included here because it shares many characteristics with the Central American countries. Not surprisingly, the available literature is sparse in comparison with the sophisticated studies of the armed forces of Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. Only Guatemala has inspired a significant output of scholarly analysis. Millett's work (1977) on the Nicaraguan national guard is the only published monograph concerning one of the Central American military institutions, although several unpublished dissertations have appeared and at least one valuable article exists for each country.