The words “machismo” and “macho” originated in colonial times in Central and South America and characterize the key Latin American attributes of manliness. A modern understanding of “machismo” includes the assertion of male dominance in everyday life. This cultural stereotype … Continue reading
Author Archives: Victor Karandashev
How “Romantic Love” Conquered Literary Fiction
The article reviews the findings of recent studies on how the idea of romantic love appears in literary fiction in many cultures across the world. What the Early Scholars of Love Believed Researchers of literary history once believed romantic love … Continue reading
What Is “Romantic” in Romantic Love Across Cultures?
Once, Western historians and literary scholars believed that “romantic love” was invented by West-European civilizations during the Medieval and Early Modern periods. Beginning with the “courtly love” (amour courtois) of the 12th and 13th centuries in France, Spain, and Germany, … Continue reading
How Did “Romantic Love” Emerge in the Literary Evolution?
We evidently recognize that “romantic love” can exist on both the plane of cultural ideas and the plane of individual realities. Folklore, poems, novels, and other pieces of literature and art represent the “ideas of love” as made-up fiction with … Continue reading
Who Invented “Romantic Love”?
A great variety of feelings, emotions, motivations, dispositions, traits, and values represent people’s experiences of love. Romantic love includes certain cultural ideas, beliefs, storylines, narrative schemes, and emotions. There are two realms in which romantic love exists: the realm of … Continue reading
The Amazing Latin Love and Latin Lovers
The genre of romantic novels has been prolific for recent centuries, not only in Europe but also in the Latin-speaking worlds of Europe and Latin America. The terms “Latin love” and “Latin lover” are commonly associated in the minds of … Continue reading
The Recent Evolution of Mexican Marriage
For years, Mexican society has been a collectivistic society, with strong family bonds and cultural values of “familism.” People’s selves were deeply imbedded in family relationships. And both men and women valued their strong connections with family. Traditional Mexican Marriage … Continue reading
Remarkable History of Mexican Love and Marriage
Traditional collectivistic societies of the past had greatly interdependent social structures of relationships between people, in which extended families and clans were the major units of society. The strong position of a group was beneficial both for the group and … Continue reading
When Romantic Love Was Real
Romantic love ideas and folk and literary stories filled with love, romance, drama, happiness, suffering, and tragedy have inspired educated people across centuries and cultures. They were fascinating, captivating, and often intriguing. The love stories were engaging and emotionally sweet, … Continue reading
Bitter-Sweet Nicaraguan Love in a Rural Town
In the traditional patriarchal rural communities of Nicaraguan society, the conservative values of gender inequality and Latin American cultural norms heavily influence feelings about love, relationships, and marriage. Romantic love, in accordance with the Latin American stereotypes of “machismo” and … Continue reading