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90 CHAPTER SIX Eating, Drinking, and Dancing The Gendered and Generational Nature of Social Lives Dances were a place to socialize, but they also highlighted the gender and generational divisions that were typical of the era.1 Women were very involved in the organization of social events, and many aspired to appear in the social pages of periodicals, where they could be recognized by their peers as social leaders.2 By being photographed for the social pages of Jewish newspapers or magazines, matrons showed their social importance to the middleclass readers of magazines like Vida Hebrea as they presided over dances (and the younger generation) in their best afternoon finery. Middle-aged women were typically the organizers of dances and events where their children could meet suitable marriage partners, assuring, they believed, the continuance of the ethnic group. These dances, often fundraisers for worthy Jewish causes, were a staple of middle-class social life in the post–World War I era. In the social pages of the middle-class Jewish press, correspondents photographed and detailed gatherings like these that made up the social calendar for many of their readers. Events ran the gamut from teas in private homes to elaborate weddings at fashionable salons downtown. The middle-class attendees at these events experienced them in different ways because of gender and generational divisions: men and women had different roles to play, and parents often had expectations about how their children should lead their lives that the children themselves did not share. The lives of men and women in Argentina were often poles apart because of gender-based expectations, as were the experiences of first- and Gendered and Generational Nature of Social Lives 91 second-generation immigrants. Parents tried (often unsuccessfully) to make sense of the lives of their children, who had grown up in Argentina. Many Jews who immigrated to Argentina quickly picked up markers of Argentine identity , including language, clothing, and food habits. Yet for some, like women and the elderly (who spent much of their time at home), it was difficult to go out and immerse themselves in their new culture, including speaking Spanish. Men, on the other hand, were more engaged in the public space, going to work and socializing with friends outside the home. The second generation was also more integrated into Argentine society, partly because most of them attended public school, spoke Spanish fluently, and made friends with people outside of their group. Gender and generation meant that there were often vast differences in the ways that people situated themselves in Argentina, even within a family. Social events included all immigrants, regardless of their class, gender, or origin. By analyzing social life, we can see the ways that people chose to celebrate important life events, and with whom. Social interactions can also reveal how people perceived their own socioeconomic status and the ways in which they chose to demonstrate those identities to the people around them, from their choice of clothing to food to venue. For some, social life included members of their immediate family who had made the trip from Europe with them, while for others, the family unit was replaced by a loose group of people in a similar situation, like a group of young men who all practiced the same profession. These networks of people, connected by family or professional ties, proximity, or origin, allow us to see a broad spectrum of immigrant life that is seldom illuminated. Social life was particularly important for middle-class Jews, who used events to have fun, show their status, make business contacts, and look for possible marriage partners for their children. Poor and workingclass Jews did not have the same breadth of social life because they did not have the money to attend the many fundraisers, dances, and banquets that made up the middle-class social season. Middle-class Jews were a minority among Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in Buenos Aires, yet they were typically leaders of the institutions, publications, and events that were specifically created by and for Jews. Jewish immigrants, like other groups living in Buenos Aires in the early twentieth century, socialized with family, friends, and coworkers in a variety of ways. They spent time at home on the weekends relaxing, went to fundraisers to support Jewish and non-Jewish institutions, and came together to eat at banquets and picnics. These social events, traced through the social pages in Spanish- and Yiddish-language newspapers, stories, poems, and plays, offer a [3.145.69...

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