Introduction to Bolivian Culture

Bolivian culture is seen to be very diverse. This is mainly because of the origins of the Bolivian people. The Bolivian society mainly includes people of the Spanish origin along with the descendents of the colonisers, indigenous groups from the region of the Andes as well as the mestizos (Jones et al., 2014). It is the fifth largest country in South America and it has the multitude of different areas and cultures. However, many of the aspects of the culture are still undiscovered. Great diversity exists in the Bolivian customs as well as traditions and this depends on which part of the country, the individuals are in and the social classes they belong. This assignment would mainly discuss the four important elements of culture of the nation, which are health beliefs and practices, family patterns, communication style as well as death and dying procedures.

Studies are of the opinion that the basic as well as the rural domestic unit in the family culture of the Bolivians is the household. This household may be in the form of single family, nuclear family comprising of the husband, wife and children or the extended families. These households are often seen to provide more importance to the bilateral kinship and the tracing of the kin can successfully link through both the mother as well as the father (Moraes et al., 2014). Households are often seen to include different categories as well as generations of kin. Males are usually seen to be the representative of the household in the different public affairs and the women are seen to control the kitchen, hearth as well as the household budget.

Another study had described families of the Bolivians as the axis of the social life and the structure. Family members are seen to be very tight knit and in the rural areas, many of the families are often seen to live together in one house only. The extended family also called as the “familia” acts as the strong support and the network system. Roles within the family are very traditional and machismo is a concept which prevails in the family culture. Wives are usually provided the responsibility of managing the domestic duties and the husband acts as the breadwinner (Villaroel et al., 2014) . Machismo mentality is often seen to translate into the feeling of make superiority and a strong sense of humour that means maintaining dignity at all cost. As machismo is very strong in the nation, women are seen to be considered as the subordinate. Studies say that this aspect puts restrictions on the social work of the women as well as on their work behaviours.

Health Beliefs and Practices

Work opportunities for women are limited and the salaries received by women are much lower than that of the men even in the same position. Women are expected to do the cooking, cleaning and child rearing. Roles of women in the soecity depend on the social standing as women in the bid cities are expected to work. This is mainly to help in the improvement of the economic situation of the family (Smith & Kessler, 2018). Women on the countryside are expected to be in charge of house and educate and care for children and do all cooking and cleaning.

Studies suggest that once married, family lives in Bolivia vary from couple to couple and they are expected to have children, divorce is quite rare among them. Most of the families are seen to have two to four children, the man is expected to support the financial stability for the family, and the women would raise children (Therborn, 2014).

Spanish is the main and official language of the nation. 39 other languages are spoken by the people living in different regions and some of the examples are seen to include the Aymara, Chiquitano, Chiriguano and Guyara. About 50% of the population is seen to be comfortable in speaking of their own indigenous language as their mother tongue. The Bolivian Spanish is seen to be the result of admixture with the indigenous rivals from region to region (Rizek et al., 20140. Therefore, the vocabulary as well as the pronunciation is seen to vary depending on where the individual is from the nation of Bolivia that is whether they are from highlands of they are from lowlands.

Handshake is found to be the most common form of greeting and direct contact is also quite usual. When an individual meets another individual, they are mainly seen to greet each other with “buenos dias” (good morning), “buenas tardes” (good day), or “buenas noches”(good evening). People with an informal relationship treat others much warmly and they are also seen to embrace or pat each other like that on the shoulders. Women are seen to kiss on the cheek as matter of greeting with close individuals. Unlike that of the
Europeans, the Bolivians are seen to use both the surnames of their mother and father with the surname of the father being used during communication. Bolivians are seen to stand very close while they are conversing (Paniagua et al., 2017). Correct posture while sitting as well as standing is noticed. A slumping posture is seen to be considered as rude.

Family Patterns

Punctuality is not much important in this culture and guests can arrive 20 to 30 minutes late. However, corporate cultures prefer punctuality during business meetings. However, meetings are seen to rarely start on time. Deadlines are not considered to be of much significance. An interesting aspect is noticed during communication at the time of dining and entertainment. The guest should decline the first offer for food and should wait until the host is seen to insist (Hoffmeester et al., 2017). The food should neither be touched nor eaten with fingers. Even fruits need to be eaten with knife and fork.

Indirect style of communication is mainly preferred over the direct style. The people of the nation are seen to be very polite and they tend to be more on the formal side during communications. Researchers are of the opinion that it is better to avoid any confrontations and thereby maintain composures at all the times (Porter, 2016). Loud voices in the public communication spaces are looked down upon with the exception of being in bars and discos.

Studies are of the opinion that relationship building is significant in the nation of  Bolivia and therefore, initial meetings mainly focus on the establishment of trust and learning little amount of information about each other during communication. It is important to have one side of the business cards to be translated into Spanish and no force should be done to reach conclusions and decisions makings in the meetings as Bolivians consider meetings to be a relaxed sessions of discussions and exchanging ideas. Therefore, impatience during communication can affect relationship development (Timmer et al., 2015) .

The nation is seen to have one of the highest mortality rates of infants in South America. This is seen to be 68 to 75 per one thousand live births. The main causes that lead to child as well as infant mortality are seen to include respiratory infections, malnutrition and even diarrhoea. Studies have found out that about almost 30% of the infants in the nation under the age of three suffer from chronic malnutrition. One of the reasons that contribute to the issue had been discussed and debated in the nation (Bujan, 2015). Most of the people particularly in the rural areas as well as in the people living in the low-income countries surrounding the large cities lack access to basic medical biomedical care. Therefore, the family members as well as the other kin mainly care the sick people.

Communication Style

Many people of the nation are partially seen to understand and accept Western biomedical ideologies as well as healthcare. Studies have shown that healthcare practices and healthcare beliefs often include the western medicine along with typical Andean elements. The traditional medicinal practices are often seen to revolve around the ritual along with ritual practitioners. These are seen to include the the different diagnostic specialists as well as curers, herbalists as well as diviners. The most common among them who are widespread are the Callawaya of La Paz. They are found to be an itinerant group of the traditional healers. They are mainly seen to live in the mountainous area of the north of La Paz called the Bautista Saavedra region. They are mainly the members of the Mollo culture and are the direct descendents of the Tiwanaku culture (Heckert, 2017). These doctors are mainly naturopathic healers and are considered to be good keepers of knowledge of science. They remain well aware of the pharmaceuticals properties of vegetables, minerals as well as animals. They can use about 300 herbs and are quite familiar with 600 herbs. They are also seen to conduct a ceremonial dance before leaving their home to heal the sick.

Divination, rituals as well as different form of ritual sacrifices are considered to the important in the treatment of illness. They are seen to use coca leaves along with alcoholic beverages and even guinea pigs. Studies have suggested that traditional medications attach significance to the social as well as supernatural aetiology of the illness as well as death. These had contributed to different types of strained social relations as well as witchcraft along with the influence of the malevolent spirits. Researchers have identified dozens of illness categories along with many psychosomatics. Many of the curing rituals were also seen to emphasize reciprocal as well as balanced rituals with the deities. The deities are fed and offered drinks for the dissipation of illness (Doughty, 2017).

Studies show household shrines as well as rituals taking place during the All Souls and All Saints Day on 1^st and 2^nd November. This refers to the fact that dead forms an important part of the socio-cultural universe of those individuals who are living. During the time of celebrating this solemn festival, people in Bolivia are seen to prepare ritual tables that are called as mesas and have food and drink. These are offered to the souls of the recently deceased people as they are expected to visit their kin (Sives, 20180. This visit can be explained as the returns that remain intricately associated with the powers of reproduction especially during the times of the planting seasons. Researchers stated that the funeral rituals mainly includes the washing the body as well as the clothes of the deceased. It also includes purchasing as well as preparation of the casket along with the marshalling of large quantities of coca, drink and food for the all night wake and subsequent burial. It also involves sponsoring four masses within the next year.

Death and Dying Procedures

The first day after the death of an individual, the body is usually placed at a home and then numbers of chairs are placed against the wall resulting in the formation of a large circle. Families are seen to stay entire time along with the body. Visitors are seen to come and return during the entire day. They are seen to come and pay their respect and then take a seat on one of the chairs. Hosts of the families serve drinks as well as meal. The breakfasts and meals are served in the same room where the body remains (Yates, 2017). The following day starts with the humeral talk that might be conducted at the home or at the cemetery and visitors are seen to attend the symmetry to watch the casket get buried. Because of limited spaces in the symmetry, there is a practice of the body being cremated and exhumed after ten years. This helps in making room for future burials. Therefore, the culture of buying plots ahead of death is not practiced so that not to waste any time of the 10 years time each of the family gets.

The catholic tradition dictates that the family members have to wear black for the entire next year. They also need to hang flowers as well as ribbons over their front doors. However, other researches also state many important facts that had evolved over time. Every Bolivian families are different and that not every families prefer same type of funerals. The funeral practices are in turn governed by different factors like religious traditions as well as cultural factors along with cost and personal preferences (Eeckhout & Owens, 2015). These are the important factors that help on determining whether the funeral programs will be elaborate or simple, religious or secular, public or private, and where it would be held in the nation.

The type of funeral described above is called the Traditional’, Full-Service Bolivia Burial Arrangements and are quite costly. The other form is the direct Bolivian Burial arrangements. The dead bodies are buried shortly after death using a simple container and no viewing or visitation is involved. No embalming becomes necessary. Only a memorial service is held at the graveside or later. These are less costly than the traditional funeral described above.

Conclusion:

From the above discussion, it becomes clear that Bolivia is indeed a nation with diverse culture. It practices several customs and traditions that are important for people to know in order to understand their cultural preferences, traditions as well as inhibitions. The culture analysis would help individuals at workplace to correctly identify the cultural aspects of Bolivian people and develop cultural awareness to work with people effectively from Bolivia.

References:

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Doughty, C. (2017). From Here to Eternity: Travelling the World to Find the Good Death. Hachette UK.

Eeckhout, P., & Owens, L. S. (2015). The Impossibility of Death: Introduction to Funerary Practices and Models in the Ancient Andes. Funerary Practices and Models in the Ancient Andes: The Return of the Living Dead, 1-11.

Heckert, C. (2017). Blaming machismo: How the social imaginary is failing men with HIV in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Medical anthropology, 36(2), 157-169.

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Jones, R. C. (2014). Migration and Family Happiness in Bolivia: Does Social Disintegration Negate Economic Well?being?. International Migration, 52(3), 177-193.

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