Latin American Studies

In 1960, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences offered no permanent courses in the field of Latin American Studies. The Robert C. Bliss Professorship of Latin American History and Economics, the University's only endowed chair in the area, had been vacant for eight years. While undergraduates and graduate students interested in Latin America looked elsewhere for instruction, the attitude of the various departments seemed to be one of indifference. During the past five years, significant changes have been made. In the coming academic year over twenty courses will be offered in the area. However, the results have been spotty, and the prospects for the future are uncertain. The next few years will be the watersbed in the development of Latin American Studies.

Realizing the steed for a program in this long neglected field, Dean of the Faculty MacGeorge Bundy established a student-faculty and interdisciplinary Committee on Latin American Studies in 1960. Bundy directed the Committee to concern itself with the formation of a "community of Latin American Scholars." The accomplishments of the Committee have been impressive on the junior faculty, senior faculty and student levels.

One of the first actions of the Committee was the nomination of the Bliss Fellows. Four young scholars in the social sciences were promised future faculty appointments and offered extensive travel and research grants if they would convert themselves into Latin American experts. Meanwhile, the Committee, through its executive secretary William Barnes, began the inevitable search for funds from sources outside the University. The initial results were quite good. For the past two years Harvard has shared with five other universities a Ford Foundation grant of $1 million for a faculty exchange program. Young Latin American professors, such as Helio Jaquaribe, Visiting Lecturer in Government for three terms, and Alvaro Jara, who will teach colonial economic history next year, have been brought to Harvard. Under the Ford program and an additional grant from the Holland Research Fund, young faculty members have received money for study in Latin America.

On the senior faculty level, two new chairs have been endowed. Enrique Anderson-Imbert has been named Victor S. Thomas Professor of Hispanic American Literature. The Monroe Gutman Professorship in Latin American Studies has been given to the Argentine sociologist, Gino Germani. Three permanent posts have been filled by noted scholars with an interest in Latin America. Professors Hirschman, Pary, and Maybury-Lewis have been appointed in Economics, History and Anthropology respectively.

With the financial support of the Committee, students formed the Latin American Association. Weekly dinners and seminars have featured speakers from within and outside the University. A Latin American Summer Fellowship program for students writing senor theses has been instituted. In the field of History and Literature, Professor Juan Marichal has established a new program in "Spanish American Civilization."

While substantial progress has been made, many key areas remain neglected. The Government Department has no senior or junior faculty members in the field. According to reliable sources, the Department was offered the Gutman Chair. However, after two years passed without a nomination by the Department, Social Relations was given the opportunity to nominate Gino Germani. In the field of modern Latin American History there is only one junior, and no senior, faculty member. The Bliss professorship remain vacant.

Though it is generally regarded as a highly sophisticated discipline within this country, the History of Latin American Art has no permanent chair at Harvard. Although Professor Hirschman will teach a course is the Economics of Latin America in the coming year, his basic interests seem to have changed; and he is now writing a book on the World Bank. Of the four Bliss fellows three are no longer associated with the University.

Moreover, the prospects for the future are hazy. Chairman of the Committee, Professor Ernest May, admits the program will probably "idle" for the next few years. The Ford and Holland Grants expire within the next year and prospects for renewal are negligible. Two key men in the area for the last two years, Helio Jaguaribe and assistant professor of History Thomas Skidmore, are leaving. The Latin American Summer Fellowship program is funded on a yearly basis. The plans for the proposed Latin American Research Center are at best uncertain.

The building program has reached the stage at which it is incumbent upon the University and the Committee to decide if they, intend to push forward to a mature program in the field of Latin American Studies. If so, a shifting of gears rather than a period of "idling" is necessary. The progress in the past five years has been confied to a strengthening of the various departments in the field. Harvard has passed the point where any appointment is bound to bring nods of approval simply because something is better than nothing. The next phase of the building program requires a period of coordination. Shining lights exist, but a coordinated and expanded base must be developed.

If the University does intend to complete the program, the first prerequisite would be the creation of the off-proposed Latin American Research Center. Such a center could probably be housed within the planned International Studies Building. The Institute, with a specialized, reference library, a common cafeteria, and several seminar rooms, could serve as a focal point for the various scholars in the field now scattered throughout the University. An intensive effort, perhaps with a publication series similar to that of the Russian Research Center, would serve to attract visiting professors from Latin America, experts on sabbatical, and graduate students and junior faculty members interested in Latin America.

Secondly, the faculty in the field should be expanded. On the senior faculty three to five new chairs should be created. The gapeing holes in Government, modern Latin American history, and the History of Art should be filled. With regard to the junior faculty, funds must be secured to replace the Ford and Holland grants. Harvard is finding it increasingly difficult to hold junior faculty members. One solution is to provide faculty research grants and to allow one-half teaching loads. The expanded faculty in the area would make such a reduction in teaching loads possible.

Finally, on the student level, the Latin American Summer Fellowship program should be put on a permanent basis. The Latin American Chronicle should be published more regularly. The creation of the center and the expansion of the faculty will eventually improve the number and the nature of the courses offered. A center which attracts visiting scholars has a definite feedback effect on the courses given. The junior faculty members and graduate students studying at the center will improve the tutorial programs in the various disciplines in the field.