Week 6: Rasquachismo

 In the reading “Rasquachismo: A Chicano Sensibility”, Tomas Ybarra-Fausto tells us that rasquachismo is an underdog perspective and seems more like an attitude or a taste. I interpret rasquachismo as the belief that although many poor people are expected to give up, we use what is available to us in order to survive. Additionally, poor people are not expected to be immersed in “high culture” activities such as art, yet that does not deter us from using what is available to create art. Most of the time the items used are everyday objects that would have normally not been used in the artistic context. This allows anyone to create a political message through art without having to rely on “normal” mediums such as paints or brushes. I think overall the main message that rasquachismo gives is “We are not going anywhere, we are here to stay by any means necessary.” This strong and bold attitude is what has allowed many poor Latinos to survive in the United States because we are not wanted and have been forced to leave many times through different methods but we always find a way to overcome any obstacle. 

The reason I chose to place an image of a tape wallet was that growing up tape was seen as an essential item to have in the household since it could repair many broken things. Since many of the times my family could not afford to pay to have items fixed, the tape could be seen around the house as normal. Fortunately, I grew up with other people in my neighborhood who were in similar conditions which made me feel there was nothing to be ashamed of. At times, we even talked proudly about what we would be able to fix with tape. The use of tape to make wallets was popular when I was in elementary school and it was eye-opening to see that tape could not only be used for fixing but also for creating. Tape was also used to fix the bottom of backpacks that had been worn out and ripped or to fix the straps that had come loose yet it was not something that was made fun of. Instead, it felt that it was encouraged to use tape in some form or shape in order to feel more comfortable. To me, this example of rasquachismo is important because we took an item that was made to symbolize something is broken and we turned it into a statement of survivability.