Theories on the relationship between religion and social change over the past decade have received significant new empirical inputs from developments in Latin America where religious symbols and institutions have undergone some dramatic alterations under the influence of various modernization processes. Sociologists and anthropologists in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe stressed the basically conservative effect of religion on society, and concluded that religious institutions are normally obstacles to change as a result of their traditionalistic orientation and association with established social structures. However, there is a growing uneasiness with the conclusions of these major theorists (Spencer, Malinowski, Durkheim, Marx, Weber) in the light of developments in major religions in some areas of the Third World, particularly Roman Catholicism in Latin America. Popular reporting as well as recent scholarly research have noted significant shifts to the left in parts of the Latin American Church, exemplified by strong episcopal condemnations of social injustice, growing political activism of militant clergy groups, and the emergence of new pastoral and social programs aimed at religious and societal reform. The conclusion in much of this literature is that the Church is undergoing a major transformation and this new phenomenon will provide a powerful stimulus for social change throughout the continent.

On 11 September 1973, heavily armed troops attacked the Chilean Presidential Palace in Santiago and toppled the government of Dr. Salvador Allende. The military coup brought an end to Latin America's first democratically-elected Marxist government. Since the September military takeover, the Chilean armed forces have moved with unparalleled harshness to suppress the base of the Allende regime's popular support. The Allende government's efforts toward raising the consumption level of Chile's lower classes had earned his Popular Unity (Unidad Popular—UP) coalition a high degree of political support among the nation's working class and urban migrant population. Because his Socialist-Communist coalition had been actively competing since the 1960s with both the reformist Christian Democratic party (Partido Demócrata Cristiano—PDC) and the ultraradical Leftist Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria—MIR) for the support of the urban poor, Santiago's migrant shantytowns had an unusually high level of political mobilization. The squatter settlements outside of the capital provided some of the strongest support for Chile's various Marxist parties. Not surprisingly, since the military takeover many of Santiago's squatter communities have been subjected to mass arrests and even executions by the rightist government (Slaughterhouse, 1973; Terror, 1974).

What causes a country that has experienced exceptionally high growth rates and living standards to stagnate with only poor and uneven economic advance, especially after it has achieved one of the lowest rates of population growth among the American republics? What forces lead to the intensification of civil violence and conflict among social and occupational groups, encouraging a pattern of military intervention in politics? What impact do patriotism, popular perceptions of leaders' decisions, and a sense of political legitimacy have upon these processes of economic growth and group conflict, and what kinds of leadership can best utilize appeals to constructive nationalism and self-sacrifice in order to promote growth and reduce conflict? Do long periods of frustrated expectations and economic stagnation tend to give citizens patterns of attitudes and behavior that make conflict more likely and growth more difficult?

El Seminario de Historia Urbana del Departamento de Investigaciones Históricas del INAH reune a un número variable de investigadores, de especialidades diversas, y a un grupo de estudiantes que reciben formación de investigación en historia urbana. La dirección del Seminario está a cargo de Alejandra Moreno Toscano, investigadora de El Colegio de México. El Seminario sobre Problemas Metodológicos en Historia Urbana de Agosto de 1974 tuvo como propósito principal, confrontar diversas investigaciones en curso, subrayando sus dificultades metodológicas.

This study probes two major questions of urban growth: What are the significant forces that give physical form to the city, and what are the characteristics of human relationships within the city. In answering the first, the study seeks to move beyond the long accepted “plaza orientation” of Hispanic cities to explore hypotheses such as the “pampean urban structure,” the “commercial” city, or the “commercial-bureaucratic” city. The response to the second question attempts to cast further light on the powerful influences of cultural continuity and class structure in determining human associations through family and neighborhood or in occupational and ethnic groupings. In the long run, comparison of the results of this investigation with research on Latin American cities, such as the Caracas or Mexico City projects, or with urban histories of distinct cultural areas such as Australia and the southern United States, may yield more meaningful discussion of urban patterns in the developing world.

The major objectives of this lecture to the Seminar on the Methodological Problems of Urban History were to share some recent advances in the application of computation to the social sciences and to express confidence that the diverse talents, viewpoints, and professional preparation of specialists from several disciplines would permit the formulation of new methods for the synthesis and analysis of available information to solve the problems which confront modern man. To establish a general methodology valid for future investigations in the field demands the creation of a system of information storage and retrieval which would allow investigators to manipulate vast quantities of data. Computers can offer several advantages to social scientists, among them:

This address to the Seminar discussed the social and cultural aspects of dwellings in urban life in Mexico City during the early nineteenth century. The studies were based on information obtained from the national census of 1811. After a brief review of the census papers, the following were offered as the major obstacles to interpreting the information contained:

After more than a decade of experience, Venezuela's policy planning establishment has come to demand increasingly high levels of performance from its staffs in response to the increasing complexity of the planning tasks proposed. The need to plan for the effects of changing demographic characteristics and to cope with the widespread consequences for the dynamics of family patterns and social interaction that these changes imply, for example, has forced the development planner to search for new tools of analysis which will allow him to gauge accurately the impact of various policy alternatives.

Our purpose is to evaluate the impact of the economic and social policies of Chile's military junta on the well-being of the majority of chilenos, especially those of the lowest income level. The exercise consists of a simple comparison of income and expenditure levels between those of the last months of the Unidad Popular (UP) government and those of October 1974. We have chosen the 1968–69 average as a basis of comparison for two reasons. First, in practical terms, the Dirección de Estadística y Censos (DEC) conducted a survey on consumption expenditures for different income groups for that period, and it is the most recent one available. Second, in the days prior to the coup there was general agreement among economists, both in the government and in the opposition, that the average standards of living were equivalent to those of 1968–69. In effect, according to the Taller de Coyuntura, real wages during the first eight months of 1973 were 98.8 percent of their levels in January 1970. Since this index of real wages is based on January 1970, and our basis of comparison is 1968–69, we can assert that in the last months of the Unidad Popular government (January-August 1973) real wages were at least equal to, if not higher than, those of 1968–69. We should emphasize that the Taller de Coyuntura was a vocal stronghold of forces opposed to the government of Salvador Allende. In addition, a comparison of the Consumers' Price Index, published by the Banco Central de Chile, indicates that real wages increased between 1970 and July 1973. A somewhat more favorable picture would have come out of studies conducted at the now defunct Instituto de Economía Política y Planificación (Facultad de Economía Política, Universidad de Chile), which indicated that between July and August 1973, real wages were back to their September 1970 level. The gains of the first two years of the Unidad Popular—especially for the lowest income groups—had been lost due to government mistakes and as a result of the sabotage and destabilization campaigns that started 5 September 1970 and culminated with the bloody coup of 11 September 1973. Hence even though we are using 1968–69 as a proxy, we are actually comparing real income in October 1974 with that of the final months of the government of the Unidad Popular.

The information for this lecture was obtained from the Mexican censuses of 1895, 1900, and 1910. This period in Mexican history was marked by the dictatorship of General Porfírio Díaz and by accelerated economic growth.

This selected bibliography attempts to supply future students of the life and work of Helder Câmara with an indication of the main sources of information about the man and his ideas. While the amount of published material is large, it is not yet overwhelming. As Schilling remarks: “Bibliographical material about Helder Camara is plentiful, but it is very scattered, since it is mainly found in newspapers and magazines of the whole world. As a true social militant, Helder Camara never loses a chance to speak or to write, to pass on his message. Consequently hardly a day passes without the newspapers of Brazil, Latin America or the world giving some news of him, a declaration, an interview, an account of one of his conferences. Our bishop is News” (Helder Camara [Montevideo, Uruguay: Ediciones La Marcha, 1970]).

This research proposed to define how property was distributed in the national capital throughout the 1800s, to evaluate the importance of the concentration of property in the hands of a landed elite, and to describe the social groups which benefited from landownership. Also proposed was an analysis of the impact and changes produced by the decline of one landowning group and its replacement by another in the physical, economic, and social structure of the city.

The information for this study was obtained from volumes 773 and 774 of Obras Públicas en General, in the Archivo del Antiguo Ayuntamiento de México. These documents contain a complete register of the architectural activities undertaken as public works or private homes from 1780 to 1805. It was hoped that a thorough study of the Obras Públicas en General would provide interesting data for the urban history of Mexico City and, more specifically, for the history of art and architecture in the federal capital.

During the academic year 1974–75, the Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies (PCCLAS) is commemorating its twentieth anniversary. A summary of its origins and some of the highlights of its development may give current participants in its affairs that breadth of vision which historians assert is helpful in evaluating such human institutions.

The origin of the Midwest Association for Latin American Studies is found in the decade of the 1950s, at which time the Pan American Union fostered the establishment of five regional councils for Latin American studies. In April 1958, the American Council of Learned Societies suggested the creation of a national organization to coordinate the activities of the numerous separate groups in the United States concerned with Latin America. During November 1958, a symposium on Latin American studies was held in Chicago, sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies and the Newberry Library, with the assistance of the Hispanic Foundation of the Library of Congress. A second conference on Latin American Studies in the United States, financed by grants from the Creole Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies, followed at Sagamore, New York in August 1959. This conference decided to establish the Association for Latin American Studies (ALAS), and an organizing committee was named at Sagamore. It was agreed that ALAS would also aid and encourage regional conferences for Latin American studies. The organizing committee met in Denver, Colorado, 1 October 1959, at the time of the Seventh UNESCO Conference and set up an interim executive committee for ALAS consisting of Preston E. James (Syracuse University, Geography), chairman; A. Curtis Wilgus (University of Florida, History); Robert Wauchope (Tulane University, Anthropology); and Harvey L. Johnson (Indiana University, Spanish-Portuguese), secretary-treasurer. Council members of ALAS included A. W. Bork (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale).

During the course of this research, a number of nineteenth-century buildings which are still standing in Mexico City were photographed and the following information noted: The number of stories, the number of additions to the original structure, and the use assigned to each addition at the time of the visit. At each building an individual was sought who might provide the following information: (1) The use which the interior parts of the building received; (2) the number of housing units in the building; and (3) the changes introduced in the building to accommodate new business, small stores, or private offices. Those elements of the building which might reveal the use and overall condition of the structure were photographed, and the following criteria were established for describing the general use which might be assigned to a given building:

This study is based on household budget surveys conducted in eighteen major cities of ten South American countries. The project has two major objectives: One is to present a uniform statistical analysis of the principal features of family income and expenditure; the other is to create a body of data suitable for a variety of subsequent analyses. These analyses, described below, concentrate on the relations between income and expenditure, and on the allocation of the household budget as a function of income and a variety of socioeconomic variables. Because information with wide coverage and extensive detail is rare in Latin America, much of the project effort lies in obtaining and cleaning the data.

The renewed religious activity which has been gathering national momentum over the past decade has deeply affected Mexican Americans and other Spanish speakers in the United States. For Catholics one may perhaps date the resurgence as commencing shortly after the Second Vatican Council of 1963; Protestant growth seems to have begun at approximately the same time, somewhat in parallel with the La Raza Movement. It is rewarding to analyze developments among the various denominations because of what is revealed about the diversity of Mexican American outlooks, because of the interesting leadership activities of church groups, and because of the musical trends which are appearing in worship.

Shortly after the coup of 11 September 1973 in Chile, nine people came together in the Los Angeles area to express their outrage on film: Seven were students and teachers who had been in Chile, two were politically committed filmmakers. The product of this union was the fifty-five-minute documentary “Chile with Poems and Guns” which reached several thousand international viewers during the first year after its release. Twice aired on Los Angeles television, the film was selected for distribution by Tricontinental Film Center. It also received scholarly notice, being included on the October 1974 program of the Pacific Coast Council of Latin American Studies at UCLA and the November meeting of the Latin American Studies Association in San Francisco.

A rarely-mentioned resource for historical research is the microfilm collection of the Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints located in Salt Lake City. This collection contains nearly one million rolls of microfilm of mostly parish and civil registers from throughout the world. Together with 134,041 volumes of books and manuscripts in the Library of the Genealogical Society, the collection constitutes the largest of its kind in the world—almost aweinspiring in its magnitude. Furthermore, over seventy microfilm camera teams are continually filming all over the world, with thousands of rolls of film processed each month. The purpose of this note is to acquaint Latin American scholars with the collection and its usage.