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Welcome to a wiki exploring the arts in two dozen societies around the world.

HUM 300 syllabus page (external link)

Country Profiles

North Africa Egypt Morocco? Sub-Saharan Africa Kenya South Africa Nigeria? Senegal West Asia Iran Israel Turkey Saudi Arabia? South Asia India Afghanistan? East Asia China Japan?	This wiki examines the artistic culture of these countries with emphasis on the current pop culture and its roots in the local traditions of that culture. This emphasis is too broad to treat that many cultures comprehensively. The material on this wiki is shaped by the interests of the two dozen researchers, all students in the HUM 300 Arts in Society course at Medaille College in Spring 2010. Prinsenhof and the Oude Kerk Delft, Netherlands So that the countries can be more easily compared, each country profile has a loose but common structure: general geo-political and demographic information, timelines of that country's history and art history, a glossary of art-related terms unique to that country, reports on literature, visual arts, and the performing arts in that country, an analysis of an art work from that country, analysis of a musical instrument indigenous to that country, and finally an essay about how that country's arts reflect the tension between Western modernism and local tradition.	North America Mexico Cuba? Jamaica Puerto Rico South America Brazil Peru Argentina Colombia Europe Spain Netherlands Greece Poland Italy

Country Comparisons

	Flag	Capital	Largest city	Languages	Groups	Religions	Gov't type	Head of state	Head of gov't	$ X rate	I'net TLD	Ind yr
Afghanistan		Kabul	Kabul	Dari (Persian), Pashto	Pashtun 42, Tajik 27, Hazara 9, Uzbek 9	Sunni 74–80, Shia 19–25	Islamic Republic	President Hamid Karzai	Karzai	67 AFN	.af	1747, 1919
Argentina		Buenos Aires	Buenos Aires	Spanish Mostly Dominant + 40 others	white (mostly Spanish and Italian) 97%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry), Amerindian, or other non-white groups 3%	Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons	Democratic Republic	Cristina Fernández de Kirchner	Cristina Fernández de Kirchner	1 ARS = 0.262812 USD	.AR	1825
Brazil		Brasilia	Sao Paulo	Portuguese	White 48.43% Multiracial 43.80% African 6.84%	RC 74% P 15.4%	Presidential Federal Republic	Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva	Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva	1.8 Reais	.br	1822
China		Beijing	Shanghai	Stanard Mandarin	Han Chinese 91.5%	Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism (Traditional Chinese Religion 85.7%)	Communism	Hu Jintao	Hu Jintao	6.8 Renminbi	.cn	1949
Colombia		Bogota	Bogota	Spanish	Mestizo58% White20% Mulatto14% Black4% Mixed Black Amerindian3% Amerindian1%	Roman Catholic	Constitutional Republic	Alvaro Uribe	Alvaro Uribe	1,959 Pesos	.co	1819
Cuba		Havana	Havana	Spanish	European (Spanish, others) 65, African (Igbo, other) 10, Mulatto and Mestizo 24	RC 60, Santeria, Yoruba 80	One-party socialist republic (Communist state)	Raúl Castro	Raúl Castro	26.5 CUP	.cu	1868, 1902, 1959
Egypt		Cairo	Cairo	Arabic	99% Egyptians, .9% Nubians, .1% Greeks	Muslim (Sunni Islam), Sufism, Shi'a (Shi'ites)	Semi-Presidential Republic	President: Hosni Mubarak	Prime Minister: Ahmed Nazif	5.46 EGP	.eg	1922
Greece		Athens	Athens	Greek	Greek 93% Other 7%	Orthodox Christian	Democratic Constitution	President Karolos Papoulias	Prime Minister George Papandreou	241.487 GRD	.gs	1829
India		New Delhi	Mumbai	Hindi, English	Indo 72%, Dravidian 25%, Other 3%	H, B, Jainism, I, Si, J	Fed Rep, Parl'ry Demo'y	Pres. Pratibha Patil	Pres. Pratibha Patil	46 Rupees	.in	1947
Iran		Tehran	Tehran	Persian	51% Persian, 24% Azeri, 25% Other	Shi'a Islam	Islamic Republic	Ayatollah Ali Khamenei	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad	9.9T Rials	.ir	1976
Israel		Jerusalem	Tel Aviv	Hebrew, Arabic	Jews,non-Arab Christians,non-Arab Muslims	Judaism, Christianity	Parliamentary Democracy	Shimon Peres	Ehud Olmert	n/a	n/a	n/a
Italy		Rome	Rome	Italian	Italian 93.5% Other 6.48%	Catholic 87.8% C4.5% Other 7.7%	Parliamentary Republic	Pres. Giorgio Napolitano	Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi	.7 Euro	.it	1861
Jamaica		Kingston	Kingston	English Patois	91.2% black 6.2% mixed 2.6% other	Christians	Parliamentary Democracy Constitutional Monarchy	Patrick Allen	Patrick Allen	1.00 JMD = 0.0112259 USD	.jm	1962
Japan		Tokyo	Tokyo	Japanese	Japanese 99	Buddhists AND Shintoists 84–96	Parliamentary democracy with constitutional monarchy	Emperor Akihito	PM Hatoyama	90 JPY	.jp	660 BC, 1947
Kenya		Nairobi	Nairobi	Swahili, English	Kikuyu 22%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 12%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 6%, other African 15%, non-African(Asian, European, and Arab) 1%	Protestant, Roman Catholic, Islam, Indigenous	Semi-presidential Republic	President:Mwai Kibaki	Prime Minister:Raila Odinga	75.9 KES	.ke	December 12th 1963
Mexico		Mexico City	Mexico City	Spanish+62 Indigenous Amerindian Languages	Mexican Hispanic	95%Christian 89%Roman Catholic	Federal Presidential Republic	Felipe Calderon	Felipe Calderon	12.9 pesos	.mx	1810
Morocco		Rabat	Casablanca	Arabic	Arab Berber	Sunni Islam	Constitutional monarchy	King Mohammed VI	PM Fassi	8 MAD	.ma	1554, 1956
Netherlands		Den Haag	Amsterdam	Dutch	Dutch 80	N 55, C 38, B 2, I 5	Parl'ry demo'y and Const mon'y	Queen Beatrix	PM Balkenende	.7 Euro	.nl	1581
Nigeria		Abuja	Lagos	English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani	250 ethnic groups; Hausa and Fulani 29, Yoruba 21, Igbo (Ibo) 18, Ijaw 10	Muslim 50, Protestant 15, Catholic 14, other Christian 20, other 2	Presidential Federal republic	Pres Yar'Adua	same	150 NGN	.ng	1914, 1960
Peru		Lima	Lima	Spanish,Quechua	45% Amerindian,37% Mestizo,15% White, 3% Black, Asian	81% Catholic, 13% Evangelical, 3% Other, 3% Non-Religeous	Representative Democratic Republic	Alan Garcia	Alan Garcia	2.865 PNS	.Pe	1821
Poland		Warsaaw	Warsaw	Polish	Polish , German , Belarusian , Ukrainian	Roman Catholic	Democracy	President Lech Kaczyński	Prime Minister Donald Tusk	2.87392 PLN	.pl	1918
Puerto Rico		San Juan	San Juan	Spanish and English	white (mostly Spanish origin) 80.5%, black 8%, Amerindian 0.4%, Asian 0.2%, mixed and other 10.9%	Roman Catholic, Protestant, Other	Republic	Barack Obama	Luis Fortuno	Same as U.S	.pr	1493
Saudi Arabia		Riyadh	Riyadh	Arabic	?	Islam	Islamic absolute monarchy	King Abdul Aziz	same	3.7 SAR	.sa	1744
Senegal		Dakar	Dakar	French, Wolof, Soninke, Seereer-Siin, Fula, Maninka, Diola	Wolof 43.3%, Pular 23.8%, Serer 14.7%, Jola 3.7%, Mandinka 3%, Soninke 1.1%, European and Lebanese 1%, other 9.4%	Islam 95%, Christian 5%, animism 1%	Semi-presidential republic	Abdoulaye Wade	Souleymane Ndene Ndiaye	1 USD = 472.926 XOF	.so	(from France) 1960

South Africa		Pretoria	Johannesburg	Afrikaans, English, Southern Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu	Back, White, Coloured, Asian	Christians 79.7%, Zion Christian 11.1%, Pentecostal (Charismatic) 8.2%, Roman Catholic 7.1%, Methodist 6.8%, Dutch Reformed 6.7%, Anglican 3.8%, and other Christian 36%	Constitutional democracy	Jacob Zuma	Jacob Zuma	7.65 South African Rand	.za	1910
Spain		Madrid	Madrid	Spanish	Mediterranean/ Nordic	Roman Catholicism	Parliamentary Monarchy	King Juan Carlos	Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero	.70 = US Dollar	es	1492
Turkey		Ankara	Istanbul	Turkish	Turkish	98% Muslim	Parliamentary Republic	President Abdullah Gul	Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan	1.52985 Turkey Lira	.tr	1923
United States		Washington D.C.	New York	English	W 80, B 13, A 5, H 15	C 80, N 16, J 2, B 1, I .5	Federal constitutional republic	Pres Obama	Pres Obama	n/a	.us	1776
Name	Flag	Capital	Largest city	Languages	Groups	Religions	Gov't type	Head of state	Head of gov't	$ X rate	I'net TLD	Ind yr

Notes: You will find all of this information (except exchange rates) in the Wikipedia (external link)

entry for that country.

Languages - see also Nationmaster's list of Languages by country (external link)

Groups - This is not the place to debate the wisdom or propriety of ethnic and racial groupings. But every country deals with it in some manner. Here, give rounded-off percentages of the largest groups, however defined. W white, B black, A Asian, H Hispanic, Me mestizo (mixed European and Amerindian ancestry), MU mulatto (mixed European and black African ancestry). Yours may need new abbreviations, and we'll add them as we go along. In addition to the Wikipedia, you might want to look at Nationmaster's Ethnic groups (external link)

Religions - This way of classifying people is as messy and potentially lethal as ethnicity and race. Again, give rounded-off percentages of the largest groups. The classifications, however, are far fewer: B Buddhism, C Christianity, H Hinduism, I Islam, J Judaism, N none (atheist, agnostic, non-believer), Sh Shintoism, Si Sikhism, T traditional and folk religions, some of which have names: Confucianism and Taoism in China, Rastafari in the Caribbean and Africa, Wicca in the US and UK, etc.

$ X rate - US dollars exchange rate. Use XE.com's Universal Currency Converter (external link)

. To save space, enter only the units of foreign currency you would get in exchange for 1 US dollar, that is, 1 USD = ? of the unit of foreign currency. For example, for 1 US dollar, you would get .7 Euro. Be careful not to go in the other direction, where for 1 Euro, you would get 1.4 US dollars.

I'net TLD - Internet top-level domain, also known as the country code.

Ind yr - The year the country declared its independence.

Characteristics and Rankings

	pop#	popd	area	HD	LX	EI	G=	MI	PF	G$	Gpc	$=	I'net	HC	NR	EF	FM	FW	HLY	PDI	IDV	MAS	UAI	LTO
Afghan'n	28M	112	251T	181	43.8	n/a	n/a	III-?	149	12M	416	n/a	1.8	47	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	19.0	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Argentina	4M	38	1M	49	75.3	35	72	II-2	47	324T	8,171T	35.0	20.0	4.9M	87	135	8	27	54.9	45	40	50	80	?
Brazil	192M	58	3M	75	76.1	65	69	?	71	1.6T	8.2T	57	34	16M	?	113	2	3	?	65	32	45	71	60
China	1.3B	363	3M	92	73	92	69	12	168	4M	3T	21.6	360M	14M	13	140	87	13	60	78	11	50	35	96
Colombia	45M	102	439T	77	72.9	86	75	II 23	126	240M	4.9T	53.8	45.3	2.2M	64	58	39	40	55.8	67	13	64	80	N/A
Cuba	11M	264	43T	51	78.3	13	70	II-?	170	55M	4.8T	n/a	12.7	4T	n/a	177	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Egypt	77.42T	214.4	387T	123	71.3	127	40	II-n/a	143	162M	2.16T	34.4	15.9	17.7T	76	94	24	n/a	?	80	38	52	68	n/a
Greece	11M	85	131T	25	79.5	10	66	I-23	35	357B	32T	33	45.9	2.3M	55	73	13	54	62	55	35	57	112	N/A
India	1.2B	943.9	1M	134	64.7	142	40	II-61	105	1.2M	1T	36.8	7.0	3.6M	54	124	134	n/a	35.1	77	42	56	40	61
Iran	74M	116.6	636T	88	71.14	112	54	II-42	172	335T	4.6T	16.9	48.5	45T	n/a	168	64	51	?	51	47	39	51	n/a
Israel	7.4M	n/a	n/a	27	80.73	0.947	73	n/a	150	199T	27,299	13.4	73	1.5M	25	44	27	57	54.5	13	54	47	81	n/a
Italy	60M	517.4	116T	18	80.5	22	65	I-19	49	1.8Tr	30.6T	33	51.7	22.15M	45	74	4	11	63	50	76	70	75	N/A
Jamaica	2.8M	656	4T	100	72.6	106	61	13	423	14T	5,199	17.3	N/A	3961	53	57	81	103	76	50	45	72	9	N/A
Japan	128M	874	145T	10	82.6	33	61	I-29	17	4Tr	38.4T	38.1	75.5	4.7M	17	19	43	6	50.8	54	46	95	92	80
Kenya	39M	174.1	224T	147	54.1	0.690	59	II-52	96	30T	838	44.5	2.4	32913	?	101	98	n/a	3.67	64	27	41	52	20
Mexico	1.1M	142	761T	53	76.2	81	60	II-26	n/a	1M	10.2T	46.1	24.8	12M	67	68.3	17	22	59.5	81	30	69	80	n/a
Morocco	32M	186	172T	130	71.2	149	43	II-54	127	88M	2.8T	40	10	277T	86	91	n/a	n/a	37.8	70	46	53	68	n/a
N'lands	17M	1025	16T	6	79.8	8	78	I-11	7	877B	52.5T	30.9	85.6	12M	9	12	3	17	60.6	38	80	14	53	44
Nigeria	154M	434	356T	158	46.9	141	43	II-65	135	207M	1.4T	43.7	7.4	1T	90	106	22	28	26.3	77	20	46	54	16
Peru	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Poland	38M	319T	120T	41	75.6	32	71	I-32	37	527.8T	13.8T	36	52.0	8.9M	69	71	58	31	48.1	50	55	60	73	32
P Rico	3.9M	1T	3.5T	13	78.7	19	75	26	20	147	47.4T	45	74.1	700	42	8	165	125	58	40	91	62	46	29
S Arabia	29M	31	1M	59	72.8	108	47	II-58	163	469M	18.8T	n/a	26.8	471T	40	65	n/a	n/a	47.0	80	38	72	68	n/a
Senegal	13.7M	180	76T	166	63.1	169	52	n/a	89	13B	1.7T	39.2	7.4	227	3.67	119	361	inact.	45	74	17	42	50	12
S Africa	49M	106.2	471T	129	49.3	98	70	II- 27	33	276T	5t6h	5.78	9.4	1M7T	52	72	81	55	29.6	54	70	69	52	N/A
Spain	45M	229	499T	15	80.5	17	77	I-9	46	1.6M	32T	32	29.1	3.5M	34	36	1	20	58.8	57	51	42	86	75
Turkey	72.5 M	239.8	302.5 T	79	71.8	105	46	II-46	123	794.2 T	8,427	43.6	34.5%	2.96 M	61	67	41	60	?	60	31	40	79	n/a
U S	308M	83	3.8M	13	78.2	19	75	I-26	20	14Tr	47.4T	45	74.1	2M	3	6	14	1	58	40	91	62	46	29
	pop#	popd	area	HD	LX	EI	G=	MI	PF	G$	Gpc	$=	I'net	HC	NR	EF	FM	FW	HLY	PDI	IDV	MAS	UAI	LTO

Where is your country on these lists?

pop# - population - see your country's Wikipedia entry. To save space, use T for thousands and M for millions. For example, 456,000 would be 456T and 123,000,000 would be 123M.

popd - population density in people per square mile, not square kilometer (km) - see your country's Wikipedia entry

area - land area in square miles, not square kilometers (km) - see your country's Wikipedia entry. To save space, use T for thousands and M for millions.

HD - The Human Development Index (external link)

combines three other indices: life expectancy, education, and wealth. Give the rank order number of your country.

LX - life expectancy (external link)

. Give the number of years for your country's life expectancy at birth overall (the leftmost of the three columns of numbers).

EI - Education Index (external link)

- Give the rank order number of your country.

G= - Gender Equality Index (external link)

- The three dimensions included in the GEI are: economic activity, empowerment and education. Give the number in the far right column. A higher number indicates more equality between men and women in these three dimensions.

MI - Save the Children's 2007 Mothers' Index (external link)

- The Best and Worst Places to be a Mother. The eighth annual Mothers' Index (external link)

helps document conditions for mothers and children in 140 countries - 41 developed nations and 99 in the developing world - and shows where mothers fare best and where they face the greatest hardships. Rank your country by Tier and then number within that tier. For example, the Netherlands is Tier I number 11, so I put I-11. The lower the number the better for mothers and children.

PF - Reporters Without Borders' 2009 Press Freedom Index (external link)

. What rank is your country? Low-scoring countries have relatively more freedom of the press.

G$ - Gross Domestic Product (external link)

- the value of all goods and services produced in that country - 2008 List by the International Monetary Fund - in dollars, not the local currency. To save space, use B for billions and Tr for trillions.

Gpc - GDP per capita (external link)

- 2008 List by the International Monetary Fund - in dollars per capita. To save space, use H for hundreds and T for thousands.

$= - income equality (external link)

- How equally is income distributed in your country? Give the CIA Gini number, the third column in from the right. A high number indicates a country with great disparity between rich and poor. For a picture of world poverty, see the map at the bottom of this wiki page.

I'net - World Internet Usage (external link)

- What percentage of the people have Internet access? Click on your country's continent; scroll down to find your country. Use the third column from the right, labeled Penetration (% Population).

HC - Distribution of Top-Level Domain Names by Host Count (external link)

- To simplify, how many websites use your country's top-level domain name, aka country code? - Give the number for Hosts in the left-most column of numbers. To save space, use T for thousands and M for millions.

NR - World Economic Forum's Networked Readiness Index (external link)

(NRI) "measures the propensity for countries to exploit the opportunities offered by information and communications technology." What's your country's rank?

EF - The Heritage Foundation (external link)

's Index of Economic Freedom (external link)

- "Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property." What's your country's rank?

FM | FW - give two FIFA World Rankings, the first for the men's team (external link)

and the second for the women's team (external link)

. If the country does not field a ranked team, put n/a.

HLY - Happy Life Years (external link)

- How long and how happy do people live? Survey data on average self-reported happiness combined with life expectancy - Give the number of years for your country.

Geert Hofstede is the prominent researcher in the field of cross-cultural characteristics. He has measured and compared most of the world's countries on five dimensions of culture (external link)

: Power Distance Index (PDI) - "The extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally." - A higher number indicates more distance.

Individualism (IDV) - "On the individualist side we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her immediate family. On the collectivist side, we find societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) which continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty." A high score indicates a country that rewards individual behavior more than group behavior.

Masculinity (MAS) - High scores indicate tough cultures; low scores indicate tender, nurturing cultures.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) - "Indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations." High scores indicate societies that go to greater lengths to reduce uncertainly in people's lives. Low scores indicate a society that is more tolerant of uncertainty and ambiguity.

Long-Term Orientation (LTO) - Higher scores indicate more long-term orientation. </blockquote>For each of them, give the score for your country. Do not give the rank order number for your country.

Bonus: World Mapper (external link)

- the world as you've never seen it before

Human Poverty - The map below does not show how rich a country is; it shows what percentage of the country is relatively poor. The green countries have hardly any poor people. The red countries have the most. I say "relatively" because what's poor in a rich country would be lower middle-class in a poor country.