Las Rucas

[lasrucas-blog]

Notebook #5 (Reflection)

Throughout the creation of my zine, the focus of my content largely varied. After choosing the theme of “Chicanx Youth in the 90′s” my research began to take its course. I was aware that the direction would take one of “whiteness” and “immigration”. But through my research, I discovered that these particular female groups of youth created “gangs” in order to combat their marginalization. And, this was undeniably tied to the concept of whiteness. Although Chicana youth varied in appearance and complexion, their brows were a feature that helped the identify with each other, and was later used as a popular "trend". 

Chicana women did not fall on the spectrum of whiteness and were also marginalized by their male counterparts. In order to resist this form of societal oppression, they formed 'girl gangs" and were deemed "rucas". The connotation of this term frequently presented these women simply an extension of the Chicano social group. However, they began to proudly wear the term"rucas". Thus, this empowered their resistance. 

Their resistance was not a typical one. Instead, it took form as their culture. They embraced both masculinity and feminity in their aesthetics. And, despite being seen as "tough" or "aggressive", they embraced their power as women.

Nevertheless, through this course, and the production of my zine, I learned that resistance can occur through survival. This can be survival of the narrative of a people, or by bringing to light a counter-narrative. This counter-narrative aids in combatting the negative implications of the master narrative. 

[lasrucas-blog]

Las Rucas by Yuvia Lopez (A14100168)

http://issuu.com/yuvialopez4/docs/merged_document

(ISSUU Publication Link)

[llopezgo-blog]

This is one of Frida Kahlo’s paintings signifying the wounded deer and all the struggles that she has been through as a Female Mexican artist.

[lasrucas-blog]

Notebook #4: 

Overall, I've gathered that this zine’s focus will feature the duality of Frida Kahlo’s identity. This will include an analysis on her German and Mexican identity. This zine will perhaps be very cultural, in the sense of perspective. The sense I get from the provided context is that this zine will include a lot of historical context. 

[lasrucas-blog]

Notebook #3:

Focus:  I have decided to narrow my end goal to highlighting the aspects of unity within the “Ruca” community.I will exhibit the positive aspects of their “rebellious” behavior. I will connect it to the concept of resistance. 

Relational Analysis: The national context of the zine will focus on the migration of Chicana youth from Mexico to the United States. In turn, they created a sub-culture amongst each other. 

[lasrucas-blog]

Notebook #2:  “As Rumbaut (1966, p. 123) has pointed out, coming to grips with discrimination and prejudice can be much more psychologically damaging to adolescents than for adults. The degree of damage depends on individual factors, as well as on the strength of family and community networks and when the available support comes from peer groups rather than families, the result can be a general rejection of schooling and other “white” institutions and goals (Fordham and Ogbu, 1986; Sanchez and Fernandez, 1993). The resulting oppositional culture and sub-society is an important, if ultimately destructive form of segmented assimilation (Suarez-Orozco, 1991; Portes and Zhou, 1993). As Rumbaut points out, there can be a great diversity of adaptive responses within the same community, depending on individual as well as social heterogeneity. Putting aside the individual factors, which do not concern us here, it follows that the comparatively low level of social heterogeneity in the Mexican American San Diego sample would lead us to expect comparatively little heterogeneity in adaptive responses among them.” -

https://migration.ucdavis.edu/rs/more.php?id=48

- National Binds: This history of Chicana youths in the 1990′s heavily relates to the national binds of Citizenship and Whiteness. In terms of Citizenship, chicana women of this era were often “problematized” by society. Although some had entered illegally, most applied for legal citizenship in a law abiding manner. This, in turn, relates to the concept of Whiteness. The socially constructed concept of “Whiteness “ was a strong contributor to the marginalization of these women. Although many Chicana youths were indeed legal citizens, they were deemed “unfit” to fall under the category of white. They were perceived as “lacking” in white aesthetics and behavior. Thus, they created their own communities, many in the form of gangs. 

Example:  “ This large percentage is actually a legacy of the legalization programs of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), under which about two million formerly undocumented Mexicans acquired legal status. In terms of the annual inflow of legal immigrants, about one in seven are Mexican. This share is substantially larger than the legal flow from any other country.” - http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigration-us-latest-estimates

- Intersectional Analysis: As Chicana women, these individuals faced societal barriers perpetuated from both their race and gender. Due to their ethnicity, they faced societal barriers and prejudice that questioned the legitimacy of their place as an American, due to their heritage. In addition, this overlapped with their gender. Within their own Chicanx culture, they lacked in opportunity. A constantly pushed expectation of submissiveness followed these women. As a form of resistance, they created their own communities as “Rucas” and held themselves to the same standard as male “groups”. 

[lasrucas-blog]

Notebook #1 : Research on Chicano Youth /  Los Angeles / 1990′s

-Strong, yet thin, arched brows, fearlessly filled with a pencil of reddish brown tints, often framed the faces of Chicana youths. This was a feature that exhibited itself on the bodies of young Chicana exteriors. 

Within these communities, the formed friendships through parties, gatherings, and adversity. They found community within themselves and ignored the prejudices of society.

One Chicana recalls, “Also appearing was Rachel Ortiz, who once went by the moniker Flame in the party crew “Aztek Nation.” She shared a personal narrative about she and her single mother encountering another 14 year-old girl and her mother on her first and last day of an overcrowded Garfield High School, when both girls were being transferred out to a smaller school. The other girl asked innocuously if Ortiz “partied” to which Ortiz, without skipping a beat, replied “of course!”

- Theme: This Chicana youth movement, associated with their brow aesthetic, could possibly relate to the theme of immigration and citizenship. These young women were often immigrants or the children of immigrants. Because of their distinguishable exterior appearance, they often carried the stigma of invalid citizenship. Although many Mexican individuals had entered illegally during the 90′s, many gained citizenship legally soon after. However, these communities remained ostracized. 

- Trans/national: Many Chicana Youth in the 1990s were immigrants or children of immigrants. This particular generation of Chicana Youth was part of a dramatic Mexican Immigrant increase. And, “While the Mexican-born population in the United States has grown substantially since 1990, the undocumented population from Mexico has increased even faster. The 1990 Census included 4.3 million immigrants from Mexico. By 2000, this population more than doubled to 9.2 million with a further increase to 9.8 million in 2002. The undocumented population from Mexico increased from two million in 1990 to 4.8 million in 2000 and to 5.3 million in 2002. Thus, between 1990 and 2002, the undocumented population from Mexico increased by about 250,000 to 300,000 per year on average; evidence from successive CPSs suggests that the annual inflows increased dramatically around 1997 or 1998.”

- Significance of the Brows: The eyebrows featured on Chicana youth helped them identify with their community and their past culture in Mexico. These arched brows were also adopted by Mexican Immigrant women in the 1940s. 

http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigration-us-latest-estimates