The Gauchos, horsemen and ranch workers on the pampas of South America, constitute a specific masculine, equestrian culture glorifying the values honor, freedom, righteousness, bravery and manliness. This ethnography documents the self-reflexive construction of identity among gauchos of the border region between Spanish speaking Uruguay and Portuguese speaking Brazil. I analyze gaucho identity as they themselves construct and celebrate it; as it encompasses interlocking leveis of gender, class, occupation, geographical setting and ethnic origin; and as it is presented and used by the media, the urban public and the nation states. Most gauchos live and work, segregated from women, on cattie ranches (estâncias). To this quintessentially male group, gender and culture are inseparable; folklore, ethos and practices are linked to a social construction of manhood. Gauchos shape and present their identity with cockfights; tales, jokes and songs in the storytelling event; the practices of bestiality and suicide. In the gaucho universe of symbols, these are central discourses. In these discourses, gauchos use the categories humanity and animality, nature and culture to generate a group notion of power and self, envisioning themselves as supra-natural centaurs, half man, half horse. The segregation of male and female space is a principal aspect of the gaucho's universe: male avoidance of women parallels female seduction of men. A women's sphere counters male gaucho culture: women live in small settlements bordering estancias; healing and magic, especially love magic, pertain to women. Framing analyses of these symbolic discourses is an overview of gaucho pastoral society, an analysis of labor relations on the estâncias, and an appraisal of the relationship between the gaucho and national society. Gaucho culture in this rural border region transcends both linguistic and national frontiers. Representations of gaucho culture, generated by and for gauchos themselves, are appropriated by the media and consumed by urbanites and nation states. While the gaucho is a national symbol in both nations (and in neighboring Argentina), these nations neglect the social needs of gauchos. To national societies, representations of the gaucho have become more important than the living man himself.

The Gauchos, horsemen and ranch workers on the pampas of South America, constitute a specific masculine, equestrian culture glorifying the values honor, freedom, righteousness, bravery and manliness. This ethnography documents the self-reflexive construction of identity among gauchos of the border region between Spanish speaking Uruguay and Portuguese speaking Brazil. I analyze gaucho identity as they themselves construct and celebrate it; as it encompasses interlocking leveis of gender, class, occupation, geographical setting and ethnic origin; and as it is presented and used by the media, the urban public and the nation states. Most gauchos live and work, segregated from women, on cattie ranches (estâncias). To this quintessentially male group, gender and culture are inseparable; folklore, ethos and practices are linked to a social construction of manhood. Gauchos shape and present their identity with cockfights; tales, jokes and songs in the storytelling event; the practices of bestiality and suicide. In the gaucho universe of symbols, these are central discourses. In these discourses, gauchos use the categories humanity and animality, nature and culture to generate a group notion of power and self, envisioning themselves as supra-natural centaurs, half man, half horse. The segregation of male and female space is a principal aspect of the gaucho's universe: male avoidance of women parallels female seduction of men. A women's sphere counters male gaucho culture: women live in small settlements bordering estancias; healing and magic, especially love magic, pertain to women. Framing analyses of these symbolic discourses is an overview of gaucho pastoral society, an analysis of labor relations on the estâncias, and an appraisal of the relationship between the gaucho and national society. Gaucho culture in this rural border region transcends both linguistic and national frontiers. Representations of gaucho culture, generated by and for gauchos themselves, are appropriated by the media and consumed by urbanites and nation states. While the gaucho is a national symbol in both nations (and in neighboring Argentina), these nations neglect the social needs of gauchos. To national societies, representations of the gaucho have become more important than the living man himself.

The Gauchos, horsemen and ranch workers on the pampas of South America, constitute a specific masculine, equestrian culture glorifying the values honor, freedom, righteousness, bravery and manliness. This ethnography documents the self-reflexive construction of identity among gauchos of the border region between Spanish speaking Uruguay and Portuguese speaking Brazil. I analyze gaucho identity as they themselves construct and celebrate it; as it encompasses interlocking leveis of gender, class, occupation, geographical setting and ethnic origin; and as it is presented and used by the media, the urban public and the nation states. Most gauchos live and work, segregated from women, on cattie ranches (estâncias). To this quintessentially male group, gender and culture are inseparable; folklore, ethos and practices are linked to a social construction of manhood. Gauchos shape and present their identity with cockfights; tales, jokes and songs in the storytelling event; the practices of bestiality and suicide. In the gaucho universe of symbols, these are central discourses. In these discourses, gauchos use the categories humanity and animality, nature and culture to generate a group notion of power and self, envisioning themselves as supra-natural centaurs, half man, half horse. The segregation of male and female space is a principal aspect of the gaucho's universe: male avoidance of women parallels female seduction of men. A women's sphere counters male gaucho culture: women live in small settlements bordering estancias; healing and magic, especially love magic, pertain to women. Framing analyses of these symbolic discourses is an overview of gaucho pastoral society, an analysis of labor relations on the estâncias, and an appraisal of the relationship between the gaucho and national society. Gaucho culture in this rural border region transcends both linguistic and national frontiers. Representations of gaucho culture, generated by and for gauchos themselves, are appropriated by the media and consumed by urbanites and nation states. While the gaucho is a national symbol in both nations (and in neighboring Argentina), these nations neglect the social needs of gauchos. To national societies, representations of the gaucho have become more important than the living man himself.

Este estudo aborda o “Nativismo” gaúcho, fenômeno regional originado no Movimento Tradicionalista Gaúcho (MTG), cujas manifestações artísticas mais importantes são os “festivais de música nativista”. O mais antigo desses festivais, a “Califórnia da Canção Nativa do Rio Grande do Sul”, realizado anualmente em Uruguaiana desde 1971, tornou-se modelo para eventos semelhantes, em outras cidades do Estado. O estudo divide-se em duas grandes partes. A primeira reconstitui, em síntese inédita de depoimentos, artigos em jornais e outros textos, a história da “Califórnia...”, de 1971 a 1989; apontando ainda para suas origens em movimentos regionalistas do século XIX. Na segunda, comenta-se os resultados da análise dos textos das sessenta e sete canções premiadas pelo Festival, no mesmo período. Não dispondo de fonte fidedigna dos textos, foi necessário fixá-los mediante consulta a fontes orais e escritas. A análise mostrou uma complexa, por vezes contraditória relação entre canções e textos programáticos dos movimentos citados. O mesmo acontece em relação à poesia folclórica brasileira e à Gauchesca Platina, tradições que são atualizadas pelas canções, com a consciência possível aos poetas que têm de se submeter aos regulamentos dos festivais. No campo da comunicação de massa, tais canções reforçam e renovam uma identidade cultural gaúcha também contraditória que, contendo ainda fortes índices de idealização, revela dados de modernidade capazes de seduzir a população urbana e superar o estigma de “grossura” que há três décadas pairava sobre a arte regional. / The subject of this study is the “Nativismo”, a regional phenomenon, originated from the “Movimento Tradicionalista Gaúcho” (MTG), whose the most important artistic manifestations is the “nativista” music festivals. The first or these festivals, the “Califórnia da Canção Nativa do Rio Grande do Sul”, which takes place in Uruguaiana since 1971, has turned into a model for similar events in other cities of that State. The study is divided in two parts. The first part resumes the story of the “Califórnia...” between 1971 and 1989, and indicates its remote origins from some XIX century’s regionalist movements. The second part comments the results of the analysis on the lyrics of sixty-seven songs distinguished with the “Califórnia...” awards, in the same period. There was no credible source for these texts, then it was necessary to establish it before, by consulting all disponible ones, oral and written. The analysis showed an intricate, sometimes contradictory relation between lyrics and programatic texts of those movements. The same happens in relation to brasilian folkloric poetry, and the “Poesía Gauchesca” from the neighbor countries Argentine and Uruguay. These traditions are actualized by the songs, with the posible consciousness to the poets who have to submit themselves to the festivals’ regulations. Through the mass media, these songs reinforce and renew an also contradictory “gaúcha” cultural identity, containing highly idealized components, but at the same time showing modern aspects able to conquer an urban public, and exceed the roughness stigma related to regional art, predominant thirty years ago.

Este estudo aborda o “Nativismo” gaúcho, fenômeno regional originado no Movimento Tradicionalista Gaúcho (MTG), cujas manifestações artísticas mais importantes são os “festivais de música nativista”. O mais antigo desses festivais, a “Califórnia da Canção Nativa do Rio Grande do Sul”, realizado anualmente em Uruguaiana desde 1971, tornou-se modelo para eventos semelhantes, em outras cidades do Estado. O estudo divide-se em duas grandes partes. A primeira reconstitui, em síntese inédita de depoimentos, artigos em jornais e outros textos, a história da “Califórnia...”, de 1971 a 1989; apontando ainda para suas origens em movimentos regionalistas do século XIX. Na segunda, comenta-se os resultados da análise dos textos das sessenta e sete canções premiadas pelo Festival, no mesmo período. Não dispondo de fonte fidedigna dos textos, foi necessário fixá-los mediante consulta a fontes orais e escritas. A análise mostrou uma complexa, por vezes contraditória relação entre canções e textos programáticos dos movimentos citados. O mesmo acontece em relação à poesia folclórica brasileira e à Gauchesca Platina, tradições que são atualizadas pelas canções, com a consciência possível aos poetas que têm de se submeter aos regulamentos dos festivais. No campo da comunicação de massa, tais canções reforçam e renovam uma identidade cultural gaúcha também contraditória que, contendo ainda fortes índices de idealização, revela dados de modernidade capazes de seduzir a população urbana e superar o estigma de “grossura” que há três décadas pairava sobre a arte regional. / The subject of this study is the “Nativismo”, a regional phenomenon, originated from the “Movimento Tradicionalista Gaúcho” (MTG), whose the most important artistic manifestations is the “nativista” music festivals. The first or these festivals, the “Califórnia da Canção Nativa do Rio Grande do Sul”, which takes place in Uruguaiana since 1971, has turned into a model for similar events in other cities of that State. The study is divided in two parts. The first part resumes the story of the “Califórnia...” between 1971 and 1989, and indicates its remote origins from some XIX century’s regionalist movements. The second part comments the results of the analysis on the lyrics of sixty-seven songs distinguished with the “Califórnia...” awards, in the same period. There was no credible source for these texts, then it was necessary to establish it before, by consulting all disponible ones, oral and written. The analysis showed an intricate, sometimes contradictory relation between lyrics and programatic texts of those movements. The same happens in relation to brasilian folkloric poetry, and the “Poesía Gauchesca” from the neighbor countries Argentine and Uruguay. These traditions are actualized by the songs, with the posible consciousness to the poets who have to submit themselves to the festivals’ regulations. Through the mass media, these songs reinforce and renew an also contradictory “gaúcha” cultural identity, containing highly idealized components, but at the same time showing modern aspects able to conquer an urban public, and exceed the roughness stigma related to regional art, predominant thirty years ago.

Este estudo aborda o “Nativismo” gaúcho, fenômeno regional originado no Movimento Tradicionalista Gaúcho (MTG), cujas manifestações artísticas mais importantes são os “festivais de música nativista”. O mais antigo desses festivais, a “Califórnia da Canção Nativa do Rio Grande do Sul”, realizado anualmente em Uruguaiana desde 1971, tornou-se modelo para eventos semelhantes, em outras cidades do Estado. O estudo divide-se em duas grandes partes. A primeira reconstitui, em síntese inédita de depoimentos, artigos em jornais e outros textos, a história da “Califórnia...”, de 1971 a 1989; apontando ainda para suas origens em movimentos regionalistas do século XIX. Na segunda, comenta-se os resultados da análise dos textos das sessenta e sete canções premiadas pelo Festival, no mesmo período. Não dispondo de fonte fidedigna dos textos, foi necessário fixá-los mediante consulta a fontes orais e escritas. A análise mostrou uma complexa, por vezes contraditória relação entre canções e textos programáticos dos movimentos citados. O mesmo acontece em relação à poesia folclórica brasileira e à Gauchesca Platina, tradições que são atualizadas pelas canções, com a consciência possível aos poetas que têm de se submeter aos regulamentos dos festivais. No campo da comunicação de massa, tais canções reforçam e renovam uma identidade cultural gaúcha também contraditória que, contendo ainda fortes índices de idealização, revela dados de modernidade capazes de seduzir a população urbana e superar o estigma de “grossura” que há três décadas pairava sobre a arte regional. / The subject of this study is the “Nativismo”, a regional phenomenon, originated from the “Movimento Tradicionalista Gaúcho” (MTG), whose the most important artistic manifestations is the “nativista” music festivals. The first or these festivals, the “Califórnia da Canção Nativa do Rio Grande do Sul”, which takes place in Uruguaiana since 1971, has turned into a model for similar events in other cities of that State. The study is divided in two parts. The first part resumes the story of the “Califórnia...” between 1971 and 1989, and indicates its remote origins from some XIX century’s regionalist movements. The second part comments the results of the analysis on the lyrics of sixty-seven songs distinguished with the “Califórnia...” awards, in the same period. There was no credible source for these texts, then it was necessary to establish it before, by consulting all disponible ones, oral and written. The analysis showed an intricate, sometimes contradictory relation between lyrics and programatic texts of those movements. The same happens in relation to brasilian folkloric poetry, and the “Poesía Gauchesca” from the neighbor countries Argentine and Uruguay. These traditions are actualized by the songs, with the posible consciousness to the poets who have to submit themselves to the festivals’ regulations. Through the mass media, these songs reinforce and renew an also contradictory “gaúcha” cultural identity, containing highly idealized components, but at the same time showing modern aspects able to conquer an urban public, and exceed the roughness stigma related to regional art, predominant thirty years ago.