Spanish language cultures in the Enem are the contemplation, in the Enem Spanish test, of the diverse cultural manifestations of the 21 countries that have Spanish as an official language. Cultures, in the plural, because the large number of Spanish-speaking countries makes it impossible to speak of a single culture.
In Enem, different cultural manifestations of Spanish-speaking peoples are approached in the basic texts: literature, themes of social relevance, politics, music, cooking and educational practices are some points that we can highlight. In each question, depending on what the command/statement says, you can ask for an association of some word or expression in the text with its title/theme, function text/genre, knowledge of linguistic structures and even the use of Spanish knowledge to access information, technologies and cultures.
In this article, you will find the main topics of Spanish-speaking cultures covered in the Enem and, in each of them, questions from previous tests, which you can access in this link. Continue reading!
Read too:What are the most demanded Spanish subjects in Enem?
Main themes of Spanish-speaking cultures that fall on the Enem
All human groups have cultural manifestations. They encompass different human activities, such as languages, literary production, education, politics, people's behavior and interests... We can say then that culture is a process of meaning the reality; thus, even if the objectives of cultural manifestations are similar or the same among different societies, the materialization of these cultures is different.
And that's exactly why we speak of Spanish-speaking cultures when we refer to the cultural manifestations of the 21 countries that have Spanish as an official language, as it is impossible to speak of a single culture. Next, you will see some of the main themes of Spanish-speaking cultures, that is, the different cultural manifestations of Spanish-speaking peoples, which fall on the Enem.
→ Literature in the Enem Spanish test
This is the cultural aspect most addressed in the Spanish questions on the Enem test. Hispanoamérica collects literature awards around the world. There are six Nobel Prize winners in Literature alone: Gabriela Mistral (Chile), Miguel Ángel Asturias (Guatemala), Pablo Neruda (Chile), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia), Octavio Paz (Mexico) and Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru). Of these, only Miguel Ángel has not yet had texts used in the exam.
There are even more writers who deserve mention for their great representation in the Hispanic universe, such as Laura Esquivel (Mexico), whose novel like water for chocolate it has already been the subject of a test question; Roberto Bolaño (Chile), who also represented the continental block with the work Amulet; Eduardo Galeano (Uruguay) and Mario Benedetti (Uruguay), who already had several short stories used in the issues; it is clear, Julio Cortazar (Argentina) and Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), short story writers who have also appeared there. The textual genres used are varied: there are short stories, poems, fragments of novels, literary criticism, etc..
→ Themes of social relevance in the Enem Spanish test
Another cultural aspect addressed are the themes that have great textual relevance. these themes are treated in different textual genres, such as news, reporting, publicity, propaganda, strips, cartoons and opinion articles. Remember that each genre has a structure and a function, and the question will not always tell you which genre the text is about.
Therefore, study a lot about the structure, characteristics and functions of each genre, because, many times, the statement/command is related to it. For example, if we are talking about an advertisement, advertisement or cartoon, it is normal for the question to ask you identify the intention of the text, either through a general analysis or by some expression/word that show up; if it is news, you may be asked to identify your role.
→ Policy on the Enem Spanish test
In the Enem Spanish test, politics is also a very recurring subject. But calm down, we are not talking about partisanship, but about politics as a science and the relations of agreement and struggle around the power of nations, their subdivisions (province, state, department, city…) and its people.
As a continental block, to Latin America have many political issues in common, such as indigenous peoples, Afro-Latin peoples, language policies, dictatorial governments and, more recently, immigration. The political aspectsOs among Latin American countries is one of the ways in which politics is addressed in the test.
→ Music in the Enem Spanish test
It is very common to use song lyrics in Enem to deal with socially relevant topics.. Two artists (or singer-songwriters) very common in the Spanish test are the Panamanian Rubén Blades — whose song Pablo Pueblo was analyzed in the 2020 Enem — and the Argentinean Mercedes Sosa (La Negra Sosa, as she is affectionately called in that country).
→ Cooking in the Enem Spanish test
The gastronomic variety of Hispanoamerica and Spain appears in different genres in the tasting. There may be texts that talk about the importance of healthy eating, poems extolling a specific food, literary texts in which culinary contexts appear, among other things...
→ Educational practices in the Enem Spanish test
This aspect of Spanish-speaking cultures concerns educational projects and the functioning of the education system in the Hispanic world. It passes, for example, through language teaching, linguistic varieties and education models. On language teaching, questions about language policies usually arise, since many Hispanic countries have more than one official language (in Paraguay, we have Guarani and Spanish; in Spain, Spanish, Basque, Catalan and Galician) and there are also the languages of the original peoples.
Importance of Spanish-speaking cultures for the Enem
The diverse Spanish-speaking cultures are fundamental to a good performance and exam result, because, since the candidates who opt for Spanish in the Enem have a good knowledge of these cultural aspects, it is easier to answer the questions due to the familiarity with these elements.
A good tip is that you find out about the cultures of these countries in newspapers, magazines, social networks, listen to music, read literature in Spanish, in short, that you develop your understanding and interpretation of texts in Spanish in order to take a good test and get the five questions. Next, we will analyze six Enem Spanish questions related to the previous six topics.
Questions about Spanish-speaking cultures in Enem
→ Question about literature in the Enem Spanish test
Next, let’s analyze a question from the 2016 regular test, which features a short story by Julio Cortázar:
Preamble to the instructions to wake up the watch
Think about it: when you give yourself a watch, you give yourself a little flowery hell, a chain of roses, a dungeon of air. The watch is not just given to you, they are very happy and we hope it lasts because it is a good brand, Swiss with a ruby anchor; They don't just treat you to that menudo woodpecker that will tie you to the muñeca and walk with you. I give you — I don't know it, the terrible thing is that I don't know —, I give you a new fragile and precarious piece of yourself, something that you are but not your body, that you have to tie your body with your strap like a desperate arm hanging from you muñeca. They give you the need to give it a wake up every day, the obligation to give it a wake up so that it continues to be like a watch; They give you the obsession of answering at the exact time in the windows of the jewelry stores, in the advertisement on the radio, in the telephone service. They give you the fear of losing him, of having him rob you, of falling to the ground and breaking. They give you their brand, and the certainty that it is a better brand than others, they give you the tendency to compare your watch with other watches. I don't give you a watch, you are the gift, you are offered for the fulfillment of the watch.
CORTAZAR, J. Stories of cronopios and fame. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 1963 (fragment).
In this text, Júlio Cortázar transforms small everyday actions into literary creation,
A) denouncing the poor quality of modern watches compared to the old ones.
B) presenting possibilities of being presented with a watch.
C) inviting the reader to reflect on the objectification of human beings.
D) challenging the reader to think about the ephemerality of time.
E) criticizing the reader for ignoring the evils of the clock.
Resolution and comment:
E alternative.
Cortázar was a writer who liked to analyze the Argentine society of the last century, as well as to create texts full of irony with a language considered, at times, anti-literary. In the text of the question, the author gives instructions for a task that, at first glance, seems very commonplace and without the need for a manual: winding up the watch.
However, the author's intention is not to teach you how to wind the watch. It is to alert you to the fact that this type of gift (muff) comes with a lot of problems that you should pay attention to, such as the time to wind it up, the fear of losing it, the status that the brand carries… As it is a gift that, in the writer's opinion, comes with certain harms, the correct answer to the question is the alternative AND.
Other Cortázar texts that are worth reading to prepare for the test are Instructions for climbing a dinghy, Instructions for crying It is Instructions-examples on how to have fear, as well as the romance Rayuela (hopscotch game), a masterpiece of Spanish-American literature. Other authors and texts worth reading are the following:
Gabriella Mistral: desolation (poems), Las renegadas (poetic anthology)
Eduardo Galeano: The book of hugs (Tales), The open venas of Latin America (rehearsal)
Mario Benedetti: Thanks for the fire, spring with a broken corner (Affairs)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Cien años de soledad,Chronicle of an announced death, The colonel does not have who he wrote (Affairs)
Mario Vargas Llosa: La fiesta del chivo, The dogs (Affairs)
Octavio Paz: The Labyrinth of Solitude
Also access: 5 Spanish text interpretation tips for the Enem
→ Question on topics of social relevance in the Enem Spanish test
Here, let's analyze a question from the 2020 Enem/PPL:
Considering the verbal and non-verbal elements of this advertising campaign, the expression “dos des frontales” refers to (à)
A) responsible consumption of beer.
B) ideal amount of foam in beer.
C) recorded increase in beer consumption.
D) diversity of words to refer to beer.
E) quality of vision of beer consumers.
Resolution and comment:
Alternative A.
The publicity campaign for this issue seeks to make alcohol consumers aware of the dangers of drinking alcohol and driving, which is prohibited by law. For this, she uses a play on words with the phrase “One foam finger, front fingers”. O foam finger refers to the famous beer collar; already the front fingers (forehead finger) refer to an expression in Spanish — (on) tener of front fingers — and what it means to have sense or not.
This expression came from a pseudoscience called phrenology, whose creator — Franz Joseph Gall — believed that whoever had more than two forehead fingers was more intelligent, i.e., more rational and capable of not making risky decisions (i.e., not irresponsible or ill-judged). With advances in science, we already know that things don't work that way, but the belief is gone and the expression remains: whoever has sense, has front fingers.
Therefore, we can infer, according to the campaign, that whoever has front fingers — judgment — consume beer responsibly (alternative A).
→ Question about politics in the Enem Spanish test
Here, we are going to analyze a question from the 2016 Enem, which mentions the movement Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, from Argentina.
Room II of the Penal Casación Chamber ordered Marcela and Felipe Noble Herrera, the adopted children of Clarín's dueña, to submit "to the direct extraction, with the sin consent, of minimal samples of blood, saliva, skin, hair or other biological samples” that they belong to “indubitable way” to be able to determine if they are children of missing. The court, therefore, made room for a claim by Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and moved a case to a judicial cause that already led to ten years of indefinición. However, simultaneously, it set a limit and only enabled the comparison of the genetic profiles of young people with the DNA of the families of persons “detained or disappeared with certainty” until the 13th of May 1976, in the case of Marcela, and until the 7th of July of the same year in the Philip. The obtaining of the genetic material will not be immediate, since some of the parts will appeal and the theme will inevitably lead to the Supreme Court, which will have the final word on the discussion of background.
“Es una de cal y otra de arena, es estar quedar bien con Dios y con el diablo”, summed up the president of Abuelas, Estela Carlotto, her first impression of the resolution signed by Guillermo Yacobucci, Luis García and Raúl Madueño. Aun así it was evaluated as “an important step” because it determines that “since the extraction of blood or of elements that contain DNA must proceed”. “What makes us feel bad”, she said, is the temporal “limitation” that will allow the comparison to be carried out only with a group of families. “We continue with the story that here there are first and second classes. Why are all the other cases always compared to the complete (Genetic Data) Bank and not this one?”, she asked.
HAUSER, I. Available at: www.pagina12.com.ar. Accessed on: May 30, 2016.
This article, published in the Argentine newspaper Página 12, quotes comments by Estela Carlotto, president of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo association, regarding a decision by the Argentine court. In the context of speech, the expression “una de cal y otra de arena” is used to
A) refer to the fact that the judicial decision does not imply its immediate application.
B) highlight the inevitable execution of the sentence.
C) ironize the partiality of Justice in this action.
D) criticize the compulsory collection of genetic material.
E) emphasize the judicial determination as something consolidated.
Resolution and comment:
Alternative C.
Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo is an association chaired by Estela Carloto, an Argentine human rights activist whose daughter was kidnapped and disappeared while pregnant in 1977, during the last dictatorship of Argentina. That year, there were many bans in the country; among them, that there should be a popular demonstration. However, many mothers whose children had disappeared due to their political orientation were looking for answers. To identify themselves and act, they began to walk silently in front of the Casa Rosada — the presidential house located in Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires — with a white diaper on their heads. Thus, they did not break the law and made themselves visible.
Hence the movement was born Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. Many sons and daughters, unfortunately, were not found, and these women mothers adopted a new strategy. Pregnant daughters or those with children had also been kidnapped. These women began to question the whereabouts of these granddaughters and grandsons, giving rise to the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, which, currently, has returned more than 500 grandchildren to their families.
In the news, we read that two adopted children of the owner of the newspaper clarion will undergo a DNA test to verify whether or not they are the children of women who disappeared during the dictatorship. However, Carloto says that the court's decision — setting a time limit for comparing the DNA of young people with that of families of disappeared — is “one of lime and another of sand”, that is, it is partial. Therefore, this irony materialized in the expression leads us to the correct answer, which is in alternative C.
→ Question about music in the Enem Spanish test
We will analyze a question from the 2016 Enem:
song with everyone
salgo walking
By the cosmic waist of the south
Floor in the region
More vegetable of time and light
I feel on the way
All the skin of America on my skin
Anda en mi sangre un río
that releases in my voice
Su flow.
sun of high peru
Bolivia face, tin and loneliness
A green Brazil kisses my Chile
copper and mineral
I go up from the south
Towards the entrance to America and total
Pure root of a cry
destined to grow
And popping.
all of you, all
All hands, all
All the blood can
To be a song in the wind.
Sing with me, sing
american brother
release your hope
With a scream in the voice!
GOMEZ, A.T. Mercedes Sosa: 30 years old. Buenos Aires: Polygran, 1994.
song with everyone is a Latin American song very widespread and consecrated by the voice of the Argentine singer Mercedes Sosa. With regard to Latin America, verses from it express
A) desire for integration among peoples.
B) enthusiasm for walking around the region.
C) valuation of natural resources.
D) effort to liberate the oppressed.
E) desire to sing the human types.
Resolution and comment:
Alternative A.
The music song with everyone is one of the best known by Mercedes Sosa, who has a wide musical production with social themes. Other beautiful examples are thanks to life —by Chilean Violeta Parra —, maría maría —Hispanic version of the song by Milton Nascimento and Fernando Brant—, the maze —composed by Cuban Silvio Rodríguez—It is I only ask God — written by León Gieco and chosen in 2002 as the sixth best song in the history of Argentine rock by the magazine Rolling Stone.
In the basic text, the singer takes a poetic tour by South America, highlighting its charms and the qualities of its people. At the end, she asks all American brothers to sing together, as all voices, hands and blood can be music in the wind.
The command for the question asks that one identify information expressed in the text: what do the verses mean? This brief analysis leads us to conclude that the correct answer is option A.
Other singers worth listening to to prepare for the test are the following:
Jorge Drexler (Uruguay);
Julieta Venegas (Mexico);
Lila Downs (Mexico);
Calle 13 (Puerto Rico);
Concha Buika (Spain);
Chavela Vargas (Costa Rica / Mexico);
Soda Stereo (Argentina);
Los Tigres del Norte (Mexico);
Pablo Milanes (Cuba).
By Pablo Milanés you probably already know a song, but in the Brazilian version: Iolanda (Yolanda), version made by Chico Buarque and best known in the voice of the country duo Christian & Ralph.
→ Cooking question in the Enem Spanish test
Here, we are going to analyze a poem present in the 2019 Enem that talks about a delicious typical Chilean dish: the empanada.
Empanada
Overa en bayo clear,
vaquilla echada,
eres del vino red la camarada.
[...]
Vienes full of pine,
onion and meat,
with pasas, new hard,
y aliño de hambre.
With the first nibble
for an ear,
open your burning mouth
as a surprise.
Te la lleno de pebre
spicy falls
if I kiss you very strongly,
don't claim me.
I seek, loco, en tu vientre,
dark delight,
the exquisite betrayal
of you accept.
[...]
And repeat the attack by walking:
Nadie falls with hambre
if there are empanadas.
ANTRIX, J. Available in: http://versado-en-la-cocina.blogspot.com. Accessed on: 8 Dec. 2018 (fragment).
Gastronomy is one of the forms of cultural expression of a people. In this poem, by personifying the empanadas, the Chilean writer Antrix
A) praises this dish of Hispanic cuisine.
B) describes some stages of preparation of this recipe.
C) highlights the importance of wine in the Hispanic diet.
D) rescues the historical role of this food in times of famine.
E) highlights the relevance of some condiments in Hispanic cuisine.
Resolution and comment:
Alternative A.
In this poem, Antrix praises the Chilean empanada, highlighting its ingredients, its condiments and the process of eating it. It is such a tasty dish in the author's opinion that people repeat by wanderings, that is, several times. Therefore, its intention is clearly to praise this dish, that is, alternative A.
→ Question about educational practices in the Enem Spanish test
Let's analyze here a question from the 2022 Enem:
This poster has the social function of
A) to spread Mexican indigenous iconographic art.
B) rescue the popular literature produced in the Zapotec language.
C) question the knowledge of the Mexican people about Amerindian languages.
D) highlight the role of government agencies in the conservation of languages in Mexico.
E) to defend the preservation of the original languages guaranteeing the Mexican linguistic diversity.
Resolution and comment:
E alternative.
Original languages are those spoken by the peoples who lived in the Americas before colonization. In Mexico, the Zapotec language stands out, which is spoken by more than 500 people. The saying on the poster — intentionally not translated — is written in Zapotec and is well known by its speakers. Translated, it means “Standing water breeds all kinds of worms”; that is, it is necessary for life to be in motion. As this is a campaign in favor of valuing and preserving indigenous languages, we conclude that its function is described in alternative E.
So, more confident to venture into the Enem Spanish test? We hope so! Enjoy the end of your reading and look for other information about Spanish-speaking cultures for fun! Come on!
Sources:
MIRANDA, m. from S.; RODRIGUES, I. of the S.; ORTIZ-PREUSS, I. The process of reading ENEM Spanish questions: eye tracking evidence. electronics, Porto Alegre, v. 13, no. 4, p. 1-18, Oct.-Dec. 2020. Available in: https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/letronica/article/view/37530/26432.
FERNANDEZ, Tomás; TAMARO, Elena. Summary of Historias de cronopios y de chamas, by Julio Cortázar. Biographies and Lives. The online biographical encyclopedia. Barcelona, Spain, 2004. Available in: https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/obra/historias_cronopios_famas.htm.
M. SANCHEZ. What does the expression "from the front fingers" and from where it comes mean. Available in: https://www.elmundo.es/como/2023/03/22/641b1573e4d4d8ee448b4590.html.
MILLER, Fernando. The story of “Yolanda”, a success sung by Pablo Milanés and Chico Buarque. Available in: https://www.diariodocentrodomundo.com.br/a-historia-de-yolanda-sucesso-na-voz-de-pablo-milanes-e-chico-buarque/.
MEXICO.Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social. Guie'sti' diidxazá = The flower of the word. Mexico-DF: UNAM, Coordination of Humanities, 2013. Available in: http://www.libros.unam.mx/digital/v5/28.pdf.
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/espanhol/culturas-da-lingua-espanhola-no-enem.htm
