Conflict has become a central concept to understanding the recent expansion of mining across the Andes. Yet, while contestation can emerge and has done so, the continued extraction of minerals requires scholars to attend to how mining projects maintain viability. This article moves beyond analyses of conflict to elucidate the role of compromise in achieving temporary states of homeostasis. Using ethnographic data collected at the Las Bambas copper mine in the highlands of southern Peru, I explore the agential navigation of communities affected by mining and the projects they develop in pursuit of ‘a better life’. The article elucidates the challenges that industrial production presents for professional employment, the limitations of boomtown hustling (informal economic activity) for aspiring individuals, and the rise of artisanal mining as a project of social mobility. Ultimately, the acceptance of such ‘illegal’ mining by corporate proprietors demonstrates the complementary nature that informal and formal extraction play in allaying the momentum of conflict.

This is a response to the recent critique of my book The Mexican Revolution: Federal Expenditure and Social Change Since 1910, 2nd ed. (Berkeley, 1970) by Felix G. Boni and Mitchell A. Seligson. Their factor analysis of my data on poverty suggests, first, that their methodology is more “sensitive” than mine; second, that they have confirmed the thrust of an earlier analysis by Thomas E. Skidmore and Peter H. Smith; and third, that the task of quantitative history is to reduce data of “unwieldy proportions” so that it is subject to greater understanding.

Over the past two years, the editor of LARR has received several inquiries from scholars as to the procedures for acquiring permission to travel to Cuba. To his certain knowledge several scholars have made successful trips. For the benefit of those who may not know about the regulations, we are inserting a letter from the State Department to Dr. Howard Cline which he has kindly turned over to LARR and which clearly outlines the procedures to be followed.

Currently, Western Europe is experiencing a novel type of Marxism. The Communist movement is no longer viewed by most observers as a cohesive monolith waiting for directions from the East, and communism in Italy, France, and Spain has shown an increasing level of autonomy and national resourcefulness. Indeed, the “Eurocommunism” of Santiago Carrillo (head of the Spanish Communist party) is frequently attacked by his Soviet comrades in Party Congress and press alike. In that this new European communism pays a great deal of attention to specific national conditions, the importance of autonomy, and flexible strategies to win support, it is not always understood by orthodox Communists or ardent anti-Marxists. The latter group is convinced that all Communists are the same and will show their true color once in power, while the former is greatly concerned that their once revolutionary parties will evolve into revisionist Social Democratic groupings far afield from Lenin's prototypical Bolshevik party. Neither, then, is happy with this innovative approach to Western European Marxist-Leninist praxis.

The striking racial heterogeneity of contemporary latin america has obviously evolved in the course of a historical process that started in 1492. There would perhaps be a temptation to interpret the whole of Latin American history in terms of race relations. Though we believe that such an approach would be absurd, race relations have admittedly colored many aspects of Latin American history. Their role is by no means easily defined.

German scholarly concern with Latin America has a long and interesting tradition that began before Alexander von Humboldt's famous journey to Latin America at the beginning of the 19th century.

Well-known research in entomology, for example, was carried out by Maria Sybilla Merian, who was active in 1699 in Surinam. Similarly, a long and protracted cooperation exists between German and Latin American mining research on the major mining centers of the colonial Latin American world: the Bolivian highlands and Mexico. Alexander von Humboldt was able to build directly on these established and generally accepted contacts, especially in Mexico, where he found old college friends from Freiberg (Saxony) in decisive positions in Mexican mining affairs.

De la revisión crítica de los componentes que integran el fenómeno folklórico, tal como ha sido formulado por autores hispanoamericanos, surgen similitudes y discordancias en los planteos teóricos. Procuraré sintetizar estos distintos enfoques, contrastándolos con la posición prevaleciente en la Argentina.

El denominado folk, o sector del pueblo portador del hecho folklórico, ha sido uno de los puntos cruciales de discrepancias entre los estudiosos. Dejo de lado quienes sustentan que el folklore es producto del “pueblo” sin especificar el significado que le atribuyen a este vocablo. Queda, en ese caso, como un término indefinido pues como se sabe esta voz no es unívoca. Mientras no se precise la acepción con que se la emplea, no contribuye a esclarecer conceptos en esta ciencia.