Latin American rural communities within research carried on in the Department of Latin America

The paper is a summary of research on local communities in rural areas in Latin Amcrica, carried out in the Department of Latin America, transformed later into the Departmcnt of Regional Studies of Latin America and finally the Department of Geography of Latin America at the Faculty of Geography and Rcgional Studies, University of Warsaw. Rural studies have been the dominant trajectory of research conductcd in the Department, however the text relates primarily major collaborative projects based on extensive field studies. The first and most important part of them concerned selected Mexican regions, particularly Las Huastecas and the north-western part of the State of Mexico (Mazahua region). They have been carried out in collaboration with Mexican researchers between the 80s and 2013. Their results are presented in reference to the general background of changing political and economic situation of the country. Follow-up studies including several field trips to the same places over time showed the dynamics of social, economic and spatial transformation of rural areas. Another collaborative project referred to consisted in studies in agricultural production cooperatives in Cuba, during the period 1987-1990. The third group of project aimed at understanding the role of rural tourism in local development in Latin American countries. They were carried out in the framework of collaborative research project which dealt with a number of regions of Ecuador and the smaller, individual research initiatives relating to diversification of forms of rural tourism in Mexico, Peru, Chile and Argentina. In the latter the importance of cultural heritage of Latin American countryside for development of rural tourism, including the specifics of ethnic tourism were included as a new research topic