1. Insofar as I have been able to determine, this was the first course of its type taught in the United States. I entitled it “Latin American Research Resources.”

2. Actually, the interdisciplinary approach, the educational phenomenon of mid-twentieth century in U.S. education, has been utilized not only by social science teachers at all levels of education, but also by teachers of humanities, including classical studies, in order to depict vividly the life of ancient Greece and Rome.

3. “Organizations in the field,” obviously, are signficiant if only because much information is not available in print or nonprint formats but only from government agencies, information centers, professional associations, and foundations.

4. Among these are history, geography, political science, economics, anthropology, sociology, education, Spanish and Portuguese languages and literatures, philosophy, and religion. In addition, some Latin American studies programs offer courses in art and architecture, folklore, Latin American trade, law, music, and urbanization.

5. Some recent reference tools on Spanish-speaking residents of the U.S. include: Lois B. Jordan, Mexican Americans, Resources to Build Cultural Understanding (Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1973); Frank Pino, Mexican Americans, A Research Bibliography, 2 vols. (East Lansing: Michigan State University, Latin American Studies Center, 1974); Paquita Vivo, The Puerto Ricans, an Annotated Bibliography (New York: Bowker, 1973). Additionally, the Los Angeles and New York Public Libraries, and the Latin American Library of the Oakland, California Public Library, among others, issue bibliographies, guides, and checklists of print and nonprint materials. One may also obtain free of charge the catalog of publications of the Organization of American States, Washington, D.C. 20006.

6. Some titles on which I have received reports include: Robert S. Byars and Joseph L. Love, eds., Quantitative Social Science Research in Latin America (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1974); Geographic Research on Latin America, Benchmark 1970 (Muncie, Ind.: Ball State University Bookstore, 1971); Roberto Esquenazi Mayo and Michael C. Meyer, eds., Latin American Scholarship since World War II: Trends in History, Political Science, Literature, Geography, and Economics (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971); Stanley R. Ross, ed., Latin America in Transition: Problems in Training and Research (Albany: State University of New York, 1970).

7. This is, of course, the primary aim of the course, but the ability to perceive Latin America as a geographic region through integrating learnings from individual disciplines in a program is indeed a vital, significant educational outcome, almost vying in significance with the primary aim.

8. While most inhabitants of the area maintain a common language in Spanish, Brazilians speak Portuguese, Haitians speak French, Jamaicans and Belizeans speak English, not to mention the millions who speak Quechua and hundreds of additional native Indian languages. In Guyana, over one-half of the population are Indians and speak Hindi or Urdu. Geographically, while most of the region lies in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures range from over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in tropical rain forests to well below zero in the Bolivian mountains of the altiplano. In terms of economic development, there is a disparity ranging from as yet undiscovered mineral wealth and rural economies in some nations to overworked, unproductive farm lands in nations boasting steel mills and petrochemical industries. In sum, it is not uncommon in cosmopolitan capital cities to see a barefoot, illiterate peasant on the street leading a mule past a skyscraper.