The Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología and its foundational role… Diego Pereyra (Published in Sociology: History, Theory and practices, Russian Society of Sociologists, Moscow- Glasgow, 8, 2007: 155-173) _______________________________________________________________________________________ 1 The Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología and its foundational role. A history of institutional organization of sociology in Latin America from the 1950s to the 1960s. * Dr. Diego Pereyra. ** Published in Sociology: History, Theory and practices, Russian Society of Sociologists, Moscow- Glasgow, 8, 2007: 155-173. The Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología was the first sociological body in the world that was conceived on a regional basis. Established in 1950, it played a key role in the promotion of sociological activities in Latin America and the Caribbean Area. From its creation to 1964, it organised seven regional congresses and encouraged the foundation of national professional bodies throughout the region. However, its institutional experience has been disregarded and its history is unexplored and scarcely known. The contribution of ALAS to the development of the sociological field in the region need to be studied. Was it the result of a triumphal Latin- Americanism? Which were their activities and the level of participation of local sociologists? Was it membership a representative sample of Latin American sociologists at that time? Which were their links with other international networks in the field? Which were the topics and themes discussed at the different meetings? Hence, this paper reconstructs an institutional history of ALAS from 1950 to 1964, reviewing his activities and its role in the institutionalisation of the field in the region and trying to show, therefore, a regional history of sociology through the experience of one of its most representative bodies. Keywords: Sociology in Latin America, ALAS, Germani, Poviña. Introduction The Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología (ALAS) was the first sociological body in the world conceived on a regional basis. It played a key role in the promotion of sociological activities in Latin America, being a useful network to exchange information and to study local social reality. It organised seven regional congresses and encouraged the foundation of national professional bodies from 1950 to 1964. It also elaborated many other institutional plans, but most of them failed, at a time when the scenario of sociological activities in Latin America was characterised by isolation and lack of funds. Later, during the 1970’s and 1980’s, it gathered a group of sociologists who defended the sociological * This paper was submitted with a different title to the XVI World Congress of Sociology, International Sociological Association (ISA), Durban, 2006. A previous version was included in my doctoral dissertation (Pereyra, 2005). I would like to thank Jennifer Platt for her suggestions I also acknowledge the financial assistance of Fundación YPF that financed one-week of fieldwork at the International Institute of Social History, in Amsterdam, where I collected most of the material cited here. ** Research Assistant at the CONICET, and Director of the Working Group in History of Sociology at the Professional Council of Sociology, Buenos Aires [email: diegoepereyra@yahoo.com.ar].