Spray-painting the State, Stenciling the Self: Opening Commons of Art and Identity though Asamblea
Mexico: Grassroots Development and Social Change
Abstract
This paper explores the way in which Oaxaca, Mexico’s traditional indigenous
form of community organization and governance, the asamblea, has been appropriated
and reconstituted in the urban context of Oaxaca city. While perhaps the most widely
known adaptation of the asamblea was and continues to be the APPO - la Asamblea
Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca, I have focused upon a loosely organized group of 30-
40 street artists and their asamblea, ASARO - la Asamblea de Artistas Revolucionarios
de Oaxaca. Fragmenting the text with image narrative, personal narrative, analysis, and
direct quotation, I hope to convey the daily reality of ASARO and my experiences
therein, both of which were (and continue to be) unpredictable.
My project advisor was Gustavo Esteva. Esteva, a “deprofessionalized
intellectual,” is the author of several books, including Grassroots Postmodernism:
Remaking the Soil of Cultures (co-authored by Madhu Suri Prakash), along with several
articles and accounts of the Oaxaca’s 2006 popular movement. Currently, Esteva holds a
leading position at the civil association, Universidad de la Tierra (UniTierra). UniTierra
is an experiment in alternative education whose projects, though diverse, have the
promotion of sustainability, autonomy and auto-sufficiency as unifying goals.
Discipline(s)
Latin American Studies | Models and Methods | Political Science
Recommended Citation
Waldman, Jesse, "Spray-painting the State, Stenciling the Self: Opening Commons of Art and Identity though Asamblea" (2008). ISP Collection. Paper 32.
http://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/32
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