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This paper analyzes changes in community governance in the context of negotiations with a mining company. We focus on three issues: the role played by the community government on the regulation of community resources and territory, the diverse and complex interests that emerge in the presence of mining activity; and, the community as a political institution confronting external pressures over its land. We develop a study case focusing on the negotiation process between the Michiquillay peasant community and Anglo American Mining Company in Cajamarca, Peru. This information was obtained doing fieldwork in the community in 2009. In our analysis we observe that changes on community resources regulation, its uses and valorization, as well as changes on the balance of power between economic and political actors, have created a greater level of complexity in the community, creating new levels of community decision and spaces for disputing resources' control. At the same time, new inter communal conflicts emerge and fragmentation of community lands increases. In this context the community as an institution plays a central role in the negotiation process over access productive resource and the distribution of financial capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is part of a qualitative research study that took place in five public schools of Lima between 2005 and 2007. The goal was to identify teachers' conceptions about teaching and learning in order to understand their pedagogic practice. The sample included 9 sixth grade teachers of primary schools. Results show that traditional pedagogic conceptions are strongly rooted and this is reflected in the pedagogic practice of all teachers. Mathematics teaching is characterized by the following of rules and procedures, the routine practice of exercises, the use of key words and the lack of a significant context for learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the physical and perceived landscape changes in a mining area located in northern Peru. The divergent points of view about the impacts of the mining activities have been more dynamic in recent years. This condition leads to the need of a better comprehension of the environmental and social consequences of the mining activities. Landscape studies may be relevant to understand such problems. So, in this study, we intend to determine the landscape change in a mining area by mapping the change of the physical landscape and analyzing the local population's perception of this change. The physical dimension is studied by spatial-holistic interpretation of diachronic air photographs to produce maps of the pre-mining period (1993) and after (2000), which allows comparisons between them. The perception is examined from the analysis of semi-structured interviews to the local population. The physical landscape analysis shows a change index of 73% in all the studied area. This change is characterized mainly by the conversion of the semi-natural grass to the mining area where the grass is scarce. These results correlate positive with the local population's appreciation who perceive great environmental changes and stress the dramatic reduction of the natural resources, which are the basis for their living as grasses and water. Most of the informants had concerns of the lost of practices, customs and identity. Methodologically, this study is based on an empirical and theoric research, that combines quantitative and qualitative methods to study the landscape changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]