Robles, Harlow

In the article “Rasquachismo” by Tomas Ybarra-Frausto he defines rasquache as someone whose social class is at the bottom, who would be considered an underdog ( not most likely to win at something), or someone resourceful that will make something old and useless into something new and attractive. A person, place, or thing can be considered rasquache.  So rasquache can not be defined or categorized as one thing. It could have a different meaning to each individual person, depending on their perception of the world around them and of themselves. 

For me, when I read that article I thought it was funny because I kept thinking to myself that the article was written about me! I kept thinking to myself, how does this guy know how my family thought as I was growing up? I could totally relate to how he said that “rasquache is the underdog perspective, a view of “los de abajo”. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, I knew we did not have much so whatever we could make new and reuse we would. That made my family very resourceful and gave us a skill that not many have. This means that perception is very important when we look at material objects or how we judge people. Rasquache is something that only the lower class would understand or know about. For Tomas to write that people in other social classes would think of the word “Chicano” as synonymous to rasquache is just another way of putting the male Chicano down. So if being titled Chicano is a put down, I can only imagine what a Chicana who is considered a “Domesticana” must be going through. Not only are they from the low bottoms, but they are also anchored at home by their family and domestic duties. This article for me was insightful and enlightening. 

The side view of my Family home
Rasquache all the way!!