Five Juniors Win Fellowships For Summer Studies in South America

The Committee on Latin American Studies has chosen five juniors, including two from Radcliffe, to receive fellowships for independent projects in South America this summer.

The five are Elizabeth B. Hegeman, Doris L. Meyer, James B. Kahn, Renato C. Rosaldo, and David E. Spencer. William S. Barnes, director of the Office of Latin American Studies, said they will spend the summer doing field work in countries of their own choice in areas related to the field of study of their senior theses.

Juniors who plan to write related theses were given preference, Barnes said, to encourage interest in serious study of Latin American affairs at Harvard. The participants have no formal commitments, but each student is expected to keep a journal of his experiences, possibly to be circulated among interested people around Harvard this fall. Speaking knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese was also a prerequisite for applicants.

Miss Hegeman will study South American social agencies, in particular a Columbian school for underprivileged children near Bogota. Rosaldo plans to investigate social problems of migratory Indians in Ecuador and Peru. The remaining projects are in the humanities in Bolivia and Argentina: Spencer will work on the background of the 1952 Bolivian revolution, Kahn and Miss Meyer on topics in contemporary Argentine literature.

Barnes added that the students are expected to make contacts with South American universities that may be useful to others doing the same work in the future; the fellowships will probably be offered again next year. This summer's recipients were chosen from around two dozen applicants.

The fellowships are just one part of a larger, long-range program toward an expanded Latin American curriculum in the University. Funds from the Bliss Chair in History have been appropriated for four other research fellowships.