Conde, Daniela - Week 4

The first time I heard this term was within Chicanx communities, literature and contexts, yet within the migrant communities I am part of the term is not necessarily used, it is lived. This doesn’t make it less or more legitimate, it's just different but just as palpable. According to Gonzalez et al. in Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology, rasquache “is to be down but not out (fregado pero no jodido). Responding to a direct relationship with the material level of existence or subsistence is what engenders a rasquache at- titude of survival and inventiveness” (p. 86). I grew up with a type of “rasquachismo,” possibly something more complex than this concept can encapsulate, without necessarily knowing there was a term for it. I suppose growing up in a small pueblo meant that you did what you could with what you had, without feeling shame or embarrassment but rather there was a joy in being able to live simply. 

While in the United States and within working class and middle class families it may have a negative even classist/racist connotation, I think this lifestyle, creative process, consciousness, praxis is or was the norm when I was growing up. As a migrant family, this was something that was and is very present in my life, especially in the ways that my mother teaches this. It is not necessarily mentioned in the text, yet I think that it is a way of being a good relative in this world. Even though examples of “rasquachismo” may be seen in more low income and working class communities of color such as Chicanx, Latinx, and migrant communities, it is actually a worldview that can and has contributed to environmentally conscious efforts, such as not being wasteful and being resourceful with the material and mediums at hand. I think “rasquachismo” is actually a beautiful way to enact agency, creativity and sustainability. 

I have so many beautiful photos of my grandma's plants back in México, however I could not find them so above is an image of a small plant/succulent garden that reflects a bit of this term.