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In order to facilitate my research in Peru,
where his work was not known, Yapita provided me with
a two-minute tape-recorded message in Aymara conveying
his greetings on behalf of ILCA and the Bolivian Aymara
community. This message, supplemented by my explanation
of the purposes of my research and by my assurances that
its results would be made available to ILCA to advance
the study of Aymara language and culture, served to
create a very favorable climate for cooperation among
the Peruvian Aymara I met.

Although my command of spoken Aymara was rudi-
mentary, making it necessary for me to rely heavily on
Spanish as a contact language, my familiarity with
Aymara grammar and culture and my association with
community leadership enabled me to accomplish most of
my research goals.

Questions of ethics and the sources' rights to
privacy were considered during the research. In most
cases recordings were made with the participants’ knowl-
edge; in the few cases when participants were not aware
that they were being recorded, the recordings were later
played for them with the offer to erase anything unac-
ceptable; this was never requested. Typed transcripts
of some of the recorded stories were later provided to
the tellers, and some have been published through ILCA

or the Aymara Newsletter (2-3.12) with due credit given