Emilia Saldana

ENGL 210

1. When you think about your culture, what specific aspects come to mind? Remember, the narrower the scope, the better. Also, I encourage you to “seek the strangeness” with this assignment. List three possibilities. (Examples: rituals/routines, spaces/environments, values/beliefs, communities/groups).

-Language and slang in Cuenca: The way people in Cuenca speak Spanish feels very different compared with the other Ecuadorian regions, slang, accent. The words people use with friends, family or strangers can change depending on closeness and trust. The way people call “veci” (neighbor) to the store attendant or anyone who’s selling something even if they don’t live close to each other. Even when Cuencanos use some Kichwa in their day(indigenous language). 

-Food and everyday meals: Traditional Cuencan food like motepillo, cuy, llapingachos, and soups.

-Social interaction and community behavior: People in Cuenca often interact in a familiar, friendly way.People greet each other in the street, and help tourists.

2. How do these aspects of your culture persist over time? In other words, how are they maintained or preserved? (Think: repetition, adaptation, memory, resistance, inheritance)

These aspects are maintained through family teaching, repetition, and daily life habits. Language is passed down by how parents and friends speak every day. Food traditions continue through cooking at home and special occasions. Social interaction stays because people grow up seeing how others interact and naturally copy those patterns. Even when people leave Cuenca, they maintain these habits alive in new places like NYC.

3. When thinking about the future (or even the near present), what is changing, at risk, or actively being transformed? Is there a tension you can identify between the present and the future?

When many young people from Cuenca move from Cuenca to NYC, they tend to switch Cuencan Spanish with English slang, which leads them to forget Cuenca slang and, instead of using Cuenca slang when speaking Spanish, they tend to use English slang. It ends up being more English, less Spanish. Also, the interaction between individuals changes, because people from Cuenca act very friendly in Cuenca since it is very small compared with NYC, where there are many different types of people. The active behavior of greeting everyone or calling the deli cashier “veci” is not always an option. Also, some of the young generation from Cuenca tend to forget what their parents teach them, since only money is sent to them (their parents here in NYC, children in Cuenca = no “good afternoon” to neighbors or elders).

4. Complete the blanks below in your own words. Try to be as thorough as possible.

My culture persists through slang, language, food practices and the way people interact socially in everyday life and I participate in that persistence by continuing to speak Spanish with Cuencan slang, preparing and eating traditional foods when I can and maintaining the way I connect and communicate with other Ecuadorians even while living in New York.

5. If you were to explain your culture only using visuals, what would you show? List at least 5 specific examples.

6. What sounds belong to this culture? List at least 5 specific examples. (Think: voices, music, silence, background noise, language, etc.)

Gas car music, ice cream car music, people rolling their “r” when speaking double “rr”words or words that have only one “r.” The song “Zapateando Juyay” and the song “Por Eso Te Quiero Cuenca”. Festive melody like vibrant.

7. Now, what one image or moment best captures your idea? This might be the crux of your project, so spend some time thinking about it.

Sitting at a family table in Cuenca during a weekend lunch, everyone is talking over each other, laughing, passing food around, mixing jokes and slang, while the smell of traditional food fills the room. Outside, you hear the street and the gas car or ice cream car pass. 

8. Quickly, write out a few sketches related to what your project might look like. This is just brainstorming, so there is no need to feel committed to these ideas. Pretend it’s a freewrite and you;re just getting ideas down on paper.

I think I’ll probably use canva for my project. At the beginning show the geography and some touristic places, then show the population, like tourists and the different socioeconomic classes(not sure about this). Then the food, pictures of people selling in mercados (markets). Another slide showing how friends interact with each other and when buying in tiendas(grocery store) My main idea is to make a collage with captions from 2 to 8 letters max. The captions will be in Spanish. Also add the melody from the song “Por Eso Te Quiero Cuenca”. I may also add some voiceover pronouncing the words in Kiwcha and slang words when I do the section of language. (This part is only if I have time to add it.)