Social Research and Rural Life in Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean Region

These fifteen papers comprise the report of a 1962 UNESCO seminar in Mexico conducted in cooperation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America. Egbert de Vries, Rector of the Institute of Social Studies at the Hague and scientific adviser to UNESCO, contributes about a quarter of the volume, with a general report on the seminar and a long and valuable examination of existing social and economic patterns and trends. Replete with comparative data, his painstaking analysis alone makes the volume well worth owning for the student of this area. S. Maturana presents an enlightening and well-documented study of land tenure in Central America. H. Parsons treats tenure and labor aspects of Central American agricultural development. J. de la Fuente analyzes the Mexican tequío (cooperative servitude) as well as the role of Coordinating Centers in the development of Indian communities. O. Chaves Esquivel discusses the role of agricultural cooperatives and university extension in Costa Rica. J. Pascoe S. looks at community development trends based on a study of thirty-six different community development programs in the region. He finds that “community development is becoming accepted as an effective means for accomplishing the required unification of efforts and the attainment of common objectives” (p. 165). A valuable analysis of social science research and teaching as a means of promoting rural development in the region is presented by the UNESCO Secretariat. The remaining papers, mainly theoretical, neither shed much new light on theory nor seem to be focused particularly on Middle America.