Jimenez-Briseño, Diana Wk 4: Rasquachismo

Rasquachismo is defined by the attitude one holds. It is however, not an attitude an individual assigns to themselves. Rather, it is one ascribed to them by the larger social scheme. A person that follows the rasquache narrative does not conform to the usual social conventions of behavior or aesthetics. As Tomas Ybarra-Frausto delineates, rasquachismo is a deviation from the “el que diran” that normally confines individuals to certain ideas and actions. Essentially, individuals that fall under the term rasquachismo are not as concerned with following certain “acceptable” standards as they live their experiences through an uninterrupted lens. 

Rasquachismo also extends itself to conveying a sense of resourcefulness. Individuals work with functionality and creativity to make do with what they have. My mom calls this “el mickey mouse”. We fix things or use things in an unconventional manner, but at the end of the day, it ends up working out. The expression “fregados pero no jodidos” can help to bring more context onto the origins of rasquachismo and why this attitude persists in, but is not limited to Chicanx communities.

Rasquachismo is typically associated with the underdogs, which often translates to working class individuals. Given the historical and socioeconomic context of Chicanx communities, rasquachismo is often embedded into the everyday life of Chicanx individuals. As such, rasquachismo is understood as normal -- it defines a standard lifestyle that one wouldn’t assume to have a particular term assigned to it. While I was reading Ybarra-Frausto’s piece, I came to realize that rasquachismo is extremely common and regular in various aspects of my life. Rasquachismo is having that one plastic bag that is filled with other plastic bags strung across the cabinet or stored carefully under the sink. It is filling the oven with cazuelas and ollas and having to scatter them across the kitchen when we use the oven once per year. To me, that aspect was just part of the Mexican/Chicanx identity. Even then, it felt that the experiences of rasquachismo were shared across various minority/ethnic communities.