Week 4 Response

Rasquachismo - As Tomas Ybarra-Frausto says, "Rasquachismo is a visceral response to lived reality, not an intellectual cognition.  To encapsulate a sensibility into words is already a short circuit of its dynamism."  In a previous class I took, we defined it as being resourceful.  When creating art, in the case of that class theater, you sometimes have to use whatever you have lying around to create a physical world to match the fictional one of the story.  Teatro Campesino used this technique throughout their early performances.  Most of the Actos they performed did not have the luxury of professionally made props, sets, or even an actual theater.  Luis Valdez and his troop of amateur actors had to rely on their own ingenuity to create much of their performance.  As Ybarra-Frausto writes,"Articulating and validating the rasquache sensibility in dramatic form, El Teatro Campesino bared the Chicano soul and touched the hearts of international artists."



Domisticana - At first glance, it would be easy to suggest that Domisticana is sort of a more feminine form of rasquachismo.  However, that would be an incorrect interpretation. "The day-to-day experience of working class Chicanas is replete with practices of domestic space."  The experience that Amalia Mesa-Bains is referring to includes home embellishments, home altar maintenance, healing traditions, and personal feminine style.  Many Mexican and Mexican American homes include an altar of some kind.  The home altar is often a counterpoint to the male-dominance of the Catholic church.  These home altars focus on family history and include many different types of items.  From family photos to mementos and even offerings to those who have left this world before us.