Paper short abstract:

In this reflection I intend to show an ethnography about The Gaucho Traditionalist as a cultural movement that worships the historical and mythical figure of the gaucho in the present - a diacritic that potentialize identifications related to the affirmation of the regional.

Paper long abstract:

The Traditionalists represent the invention of the gaucho in various ways, producing a complex cultural universe that includes, among other elements: clothing, language, dance, food, animals, songs, work. These representations are characterized as gaucho traditions and related to the typical gaucho. My objective is, on one side, to perform a reflection about the set of circumstances that led the Traditionalists to produce the prenda dress as a typical feminine outfit, to be used by women (called prendas) in the Gaucho Tradition Centers (CTGs). The Center of Gaucho Traditions (or just CTG) is a space where the gaucho is venerated, a kind of social club where fandangos (balls) and other Traditionalist activities are organized. The CTG, in its structure, appropriates and re-signifies the names of ancient farms.

On the other side, I want to show that the prenda dress and the other pieces of the Traditionalist clothing can be understood as artifacts that possess multiple meanings and agency. They constitute elements responsible by the production of the gaucho and traditions, becoming a passport to penetrate the past and live it in the present. This way, reflecting about the gaucho clothing, its uses and multiple significations implies revisiting a series of questions that refer to individual and collective identities, the living of the typical and its consumption in current days. Questions intersected by the ideas of nation and region, folklore and history, education, pedagogy and imaginary, closely related to the outfits and their history.

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