Research roles and goals: a commentary on the study of Aboriginal and peasant cultures by Latin Americanist geographers.

Identifies 1) research roles in interdisciplinary projects and 2) the research goals of building general theory as two principal areas of involvement to which Latin American geographers in this field have not directed much attention. Syntheses of cultural and ecological materials are increasingly needed because the individual researcher can no longer handle all the various specialities applied in man-land problems. Using two examples of recent research which examine issues of agricultural intensification in Central America the author demonstrates how new data can provide interpretative challenges to general theories of agricultural growth.-P.Buksmann