Orlando Fals Borda, a Committed Sociologist

One writes without enthusiasm when one has just learned of the death of a man to whom much is owed, wrote the historian and literary critic Cieorg Brandes on receiving news of the passing of Hipolito Taine (Brandes: 33). The same happened to the authors with the recent disappearance of professor Orlando Fals Borda. His death is too fresh in the minds of his students and friends to speak peacefully about his personality and intellectual achievements. Sentiment, affection and fondness still fog the mind of the analyst and impede a serene appreciation of his works. Fals was a prolific author and, although the theme of his life was rural people, within this, many aspects were dealt with in very diverse ways. His twenty-some books and his hundreds of essays and articles constitute a body of work whose extent is infrequent in our medium and whose balance requires a calmer look. While waiting for a more tempered spirit, the reader will find in these pages a general presentation of the evolution of his thought and strategies fir politics and social change. A more objective evaluation of his contributions and his poverty demands consulting archives, institutions and persons that treasure documents, dissertations and memories.