Conde, Daniela - Week 10

Some concepts that I learned about in this course were rasquachismo and nepantla. Rasquachismo refers to a concept that describes a Chicano aesthetic and practice that was coined by the Chicano scholar Tomás Ibarra-Frausto. Rasquachismo essentially is being creative and resourceful, innovative and re-creating/transforming the materials available to you into something else, usually something that is practical but not necessarily. People (“outsiders”) often see rasquachismo and see it in a negative light, often associated with poverty and kitchy-ness, however rasquachismo is a beautiful and environmentally conscious tradition, practice, and aesthetic that is rooted in nuestras comunidades. Additionally, another concept we read about in our class is nepantla, we didn’t necessarily talk about it too much in class but it’s one I recall from the readings. Nepantla is described as an in between state, or in between worlds. It is also associated with the Chicanx identity and even living on the borderlands, such as the San Diego/Tijuana border and what that does to the mind, body and psyche of individuals and communities and in this case artists. In the “Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology,” Nepantla is defined as: “the Nahuatl word for an in-between state, that uncertain terrain one crosses when moving from one place to another, when changing from one class, race, or sexual position to another, when traveling from the present identity into a new identity” (Gonzalez et al., 2019, p. 344). Both of these concepts are important because they link back to the work of some of the artists we have studied such as Yolanda M. Lopez and Carmen Lomas Garza. Yolanda M. Lopez work arguably touches on some of the nepantla concept with some of her work because of the ways she challenges social constructions of Chicanx women as it relates to the Virgen de Guadalupe. Additionally, in Carmen Lomas Garza’s work, one can see traces of rasquachismo, specifically in some of the ofrenda work she has done that also feature her famous papel picado. Both rasquachismo and nepantla are important concepts that can be found in the work of Yolanda M. Lopez and Carmen Lomas Garza as well as many of the other Chicana/Latinx artists we have learned about throughout the quarter. The photo above is a mural dedicated to honor Yolanda Lopez created by Jessica Sabogal.