Meeting of the Ecuadorian Studies Section; Latin American Studies Association Meetings; June 10-14, 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In attendance:  Will Waters, Scott McKinney, Paul Beckerman, Ketty Wong, Marc Becker, Jennifer Horan, Carmen Martinez, Fernando Garcia, Alicia Torres, Fernando Martin, Manuela Picq, Juliannne Hazlewood, Jennifer Collins, John L. Walker, Jane Marcus Delgado, Liisa L. North, Lucian Martinez Valle, Victor Breton, Cecilia Mafla, Pablo Palenzuela.

President Will Waters called the meeting to order; all the members in attendance introduced themselves.

1)Report on the status of the section: it is 9 years old, has 99 members in Latin America, Europe, Japan, and North America. As of June 1, 2009 the section account held $2,814.81, with the cost of the shared reception ($306.14) already deducted.   Travel expenses of $500 per person will soon be deducted to pay for travel for the organizers of the two section panels.
2)The section needs to begin organizing the next Encuentro in Quito.
3)Called for session proposals for the Toronto Meeting.
4)Announced that the collection of articles from the last Encuentro was available.

Paul Beckerman asked how he could join the section at this date; McKinney will check with Sandy Klinz and report back.  Sandy Klinz says: No problem, Scott.  If they are already 2009 members they may call the Secretariat (412-648-7929) with a credit card number/expiration date and indicate the name of the section they wish to join.  We will take care of the rest.  Alternatively they may send us a fax (412-624-7145) with the same information or mail a letter with payment enclosed.  (We usually do not recommend sending credit card info via email because of security concerns.)  

Carmen Martinez reported the publication of the Ecuador Reader from Duke U. Press, and it was suggested that we should announce this on the list.

There was discussion of the pattern of rise and fall in the membership, the revista on the webpage, and the isolation of researchers doing work in Guayaquil (Jane Marcus-Delgado).  In response to the last item, Will Waters responded that one could use the list or get in touch with the president of the section.

Will Waters called for nominations, indicating that the president and secretary-treasurer were retiring.  By acclamation Carmen Martinez was elected president, Manuela Picq vice president, Julianne Hazlewood secretary-treasurer, and Victor Breton, Ketty Wong, and John L. Walker to the directorio.

Discussion of the next Encuentro:
1)John Walker suggested a focus on the arts: music, painting, dance;
2)Will Waters suggested that the next one will be held in 2011 so as not to conflict with the LASA meetings;
3)It is always held in conjunction with FLACSO because of the substantial support that that organization provides;
4)Marc Becker raised the issue of coordinating with the 'Ecuatorianistas,' a group dealing with Ecuadorian literature and commented on the lamentable absence of many gringos at the last encuentro;
5)It would be interesting to hold the encuentro in another city,  but the advantages of using FLACSO's facilities would be lost; we have offered to pay for transportation to Quito but this has not been heavily used; Marc Becker suggests that we think of solutions;
6)Jane Marcus-Delgado raises the issue of making contact with scholars in Guayaquil; Julianne Hazlewood indicates that she knows young scholars there;
7)Manuela Picq suggests that we need to find ways of including those who don't have a tradition of doing research;  Will Waters reports that they did invite other groups to the last encuentro, most memorably a group of incarcerated women; sessions on culture were suggested;
8)Luciano Martinez suggests that we need a database on the research being done;
9)Marc Becker suggests that we need a membership chair; Luciano Martinez suggests that the directorio take on this task; Ketty Wong emphasizes that outreach is important.

The meeting is adjourned.