Christopher Nicklin 5/12/12 Counseling 50 Cross Cultural Perspectives Argentinean Culture

Argentinean culture has always been a culture of vast depth. It started about as

small tribes and people indigenous to the land. Then a couple hundred years ago the Spanish came to South America and Argentina. Through out those years the two different cultures mixed and created something so different and vibrant. It is not quite like any other culture in the world. The music in particular is one of the big reasons why I chose to do my research on Argentina. Being a classical guitarist I am constantly playing pieces by people from the area and getting this opportunity to learn about this culture will help me interpret their music and sound at a different level. Argentinas geography is vast and changing. It is located at the bottom of South America. However, it is rather long and large, it is the eighth largest country in the world, that could be considered part of the middle of the continent as well. It takes up over eight hundred thousand miles of land. Because of this, it has many different environments. Most of Argentina is grassland plains. They are called the pampas. This is where they raise their cattle, which is their main food source. Another area of geography most famously known is Patagonia. It is a vast mixing pot of different environments. Because of Argentina being so long it is in the sub tropics as well as severely cold areas. It also hosts a lot of the Andes Mountains, which are so tall that it makes that region very cold and arid. Roles of women in Argentina are similar to the role of women in the U.S. The families are getting smaller in the region. It use to be three children per family. However, now it is down to 2.24. This is due to the fact that the countries economy is reaching the next stage that the U.S. is in at the moment. The role of women in is still more traditional than it is in the United State. Even if they have a job they are still expected to taking care of all the family needs when she gets back home. Women consider families their main job in their culture. Men hold more job positions with in the country and it is easier for them to

get certain jobs. The society like other societies in Latin America has a certain amount of machismo. Basically men make the rules, however, women are really stating to make an impact in the country. They have already had two women presidents in the recent past. Parents roles of taking care of children are extremely similar to the United States. Children are often taken care of by nannies or at day care facilities. The childs main responsibility is to go to school. Once they are eighteen they can marry without parent consent like in the U.S. Most children live with they parents into their twenties. Eventually they move out when they are married. How children are taken care of is very similar to the U.S. Health is not a big issue in Argentina. They employ a lot of different things to combat illnesses. Even though the country has western medicine it still employees many home remedies. People will use sulfur or hot and cold therapies. It is a country that uses a lot of home remedies to combat illnesses and does not over medicate in contrast to the U.S. Argentina most recognizable symbol is the tango. That dance and style of music is completely intertwined into their culture. It was developed from the European cultures mixture with some of the Africanized styles from the slaves. At first it was a Milonga. This much is usually faster, but as it developed it got slower and the music become known as the tango. The rhythmic patterns are very similar to one another. Its biggest years were in the 1920 and on. In the 1950s Astor Piazzolla revolutionized tango music. He was first hated for what he had done to the music. He received many death threats. However, when he died the country mourned for the loss and spent seven days honoring him. Besides tango, classical music has played a large role into their music. Chopin played a huge role influencing many of the composers of the Argentinean classical

music style. Their style is highly romanticized and incorporates some of the indigenous styles of music to create a diverse synthesis. Alberto Ginastera is a prime example of this heritage. Sports are another big part of Argentinean culture. Pato is the official sport within Argentina. It involves the players being on horseback. However, they throw the ball around instead of hitting it. They throw it into a net that is sideways. Even though pato is the official sport football, soccer, is the most popular sport. Argentina has experienced great success in this sport. The country has won many titles, which include two gold medals from the Olympics and two world cups. Argentina has been able to export their players all over the globe to play on other teams. Besides soccer basketball is also a popular sport that is increasingly gaining popularity within Argentina. Polo is one of the most recognizable sports in Argentina. Argentina hosts the most recognizable person in the sport, Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras. He is making the sport recognizable all over the world and promoting Argentinean culture while doing it. One of the ways he is doing it is by being the face of Ralph Lauren. Another interesting thing that is unexpected to come from Argentina is that there is a very present film industry their. The industry mostly produced stars of the tango through their movies. That is why the 1950s are considered the biggest time for this industry. However, Argentina has been producing films that have been getting a lot of notoriety in the U.S. One of the biggest commercially successful movies from Argentina is The Motorcycle Diaries. It was based on the life of Chi and the movie did very well in the U.S. for being a foreign film. Another film, Secret in Their Eyes, won best foreign movie in 2009. Also movie composer from Argentina have been frequently nominated for best score.

The state religion is Roman Catholic of Argentina. This is due to the fact of the country first being colonized by the Spanish. Even though Argentina gives religious freedom monetarily wise they give money to the catholic religion. Over ninety percent of the people are Roman Catholic. Often the officials of the Roman Catholic Church hold posts within the countries government. This gives Roman Catholics a huge leverage over the government and how it functions. This Argentina also exhibits the biggest Jewish population of all the Latin American countries. Also, in recent years there has been an influx of the religion of Islam. Argentina has quietly grown the largest population of Islam in South America. The official language of Argentina is Spanish. The more precise part of Spain their official language comes from is the Castilian region. When the Spanish moving into Argentina they brought their language with them and pushed out the other native language. Some of those native languages included Guarani and Quecha. Guarani is spoken in the northeast and Quecha is spoken in the northwest. Italian surprisingly is the second most spoken language in the country. This is also due to European immigration. As of today English is the primary language taught in schools behind Spanish. The food of the country is very much cattle based. Steak houses are the most popular restaurants. I got personal first hand experience with this when I went to an Argentinean steak house in Los Angeles. The served many different types of meat for dinner on a barbeque called asado. Things like sweetbreads (the cows neck), steak, skirt steak, sausage, and blood sausage, also known as morcilla. Another thing that was on the menu that is very popular in Argentina is pasta. When Argentinean people have pasta it is usually with the entire family and it is a family experience. There is a strong Italian

presence in their food. This is due to the European influence. The have a lot of gelato and pizza due to this. Other dishes that are eaten in Argentina include Dulce de Leche and crepes. Many of their deserts have milk products in them this is mostly because of the fact that there is so much cattle. On the coast they frequently eat fish. Lunch use to be the biggest meal of the day but due to work schedules it has now become dinner. The over all history of the country is one that has heavily adopted the European culture. It is the one country in Latin American that has taken the most from European value. It has lost some of its own in the process. But by doing so it has developed something completely new and different. It takes the fire of Latin culture with the eloquence of European to create one powerful society. It has many similarities to the U.S. This is due to it adopting much of the European culture. Even thought the food may be different. The way the people raise their families is very similar. It is a country that has the values of the U.S. when it comes to many things but still manages to keep its heritage. Increasingly grows and is becoming an ever present part of the world economy.

Bibliography

"Culture of Argentina - history, people, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social." Countries and Their Cultures. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2012. <http://www.everyculture.com/A-Bo/Argentina.html>.

Keeling, David J.. Contemporary Argentina: a geographical perspective. Boulder, Colo.: WestviewPress, 1997. Print.

Miraflor, Carmen. "To Dance in Argentina." Filipinas 2007: 48-9. Ethnic NewsWatch. Web. 11 May 2012 .

Silvia Ins Monserrat, et al. "Values and Attitudes Towards Women in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico." Employee Relations 31.3 (2009): 227-44. ABI/INFORM Global. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.