Skip to content
1981
image of Queering paisa style: The chunti style of buchonas, queer rancheros and Paisaboys

Abstract

This article examines a Mexican and Mexican American style of dress referenced to as paisa style. This style of dress is often associated with corrido, norteño and Banda culture. In fact, after the Quebradita movement, during the 1990s, Mexican American youth adopted this style to create what is referred to as Chalinillo paisa subculture, which was heavily inspired by corrido singer Chalino Sanchez. Following Dick Hebdige’s definition of subculture as ‘the expressive forms and rituals of those subordinate groups’, in this article, I study how paisa style was worn to signify cultural pride in a moment of heavy anti-immigrant sentiment. In an effort to study the contemporary examples of paisa style, I analyse the work of four artists: queer photographer Fabian Guerrero, queer model Jose Hernandez, beauty influencer Jennifer Ruiz and brand designers Paisaboys. Using a performative discursive analysis, I show how contemporary queer artists and influencers, most of whom are not in the music world, have reappropriated the paisa aesthetic to centre feminine and queer embodiments. These queer artists are not only demanding the recognition of queer sexualities in this subculture, but they are also asking us to think about paisa dress as archives that hold memories, migration stories and their potential to change past narratives. The artists studied in this article add new signification to paisa subculture that centres a Brown queer lens.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/fspc_00249_1
2024-09-06
2025-02-10
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alvarez, Eddy Francisco (2014), ‘Finding sequins in the rubble: Stitching together an archive of trans Latina Los Angeles’, Transgender Studies Quarterly, 3:3–4, pp. 61827, https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2102/10.1215/23289252-3545299.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Alvarez, Luis (2008), The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Anguiano, José G. (2019), ‘Voicing the occult in Chicana/o culture and hybridity: Prayers and the Cholo-Goth aesthetic’, in D. R. Perez and R. González-Martin (eds), Race and Cultural Practice in Popular Culture, Ithaca, NY: Rutgers University Press, pp. 17594, https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2102/10.36019/9781978801349-011.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. BESE (2019), ‘Redefining norteño masculinity with Fabian Guerrero: Be you’, YouTube, 6 February, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KjDkzpi-7w. Accessed 30 July 2024.
  5. Campt, Tina M. (2012), Image Matters: Archive, Photography, and the African Diaspora in Europe, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Campt, Tina M. (2021), A Black Gaze: Artist Changing How We See, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Cantero, Bryan (2021), ‘How urban corridos became the soundtrack to South Central L.A.’, Folklife, 2 August, https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/urban-corridos-south-central-la. Accessed 30 July 2024.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Cruz, Jorge (2021), ‘Traversing intimate spaces: The photography of Fabian Guerrero’, The Latinx Project, https://www.latinxproject.nyu.edu/intervenxions/traversing-intimate-spaces-the-photography-of-fabian-guerrero. Accessed 30 July 2024.
  9. Cruz, Jorge (2022), ‘The evolution of queer latinx nightlife in Los Angeles’, The Latinx Project, 15 November, https://www.latinxproject.nyu.edu/intervenxions/the-evolution-of-queer-latinx-nightlife-in-los-angeles. Accessed 30 July 2024.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Félix, Adrián (2020), ‘Vivitos y Coleando: The cultural politics of the paisa periphery’, Boom California, 16 September, https://boomcalifornia.org/2020/09/16/vivitos-y-coleando-the-cultural-politics-of-the-paisa-periphery. Accessed 30 July 2024.
  11. Fregoso, Rosa Linda (2006), MeXicana Encounters: The Making of Social Identities on the Borderlands, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Garcia Hernandez, Yessica (2017), ‘Unapologetic Paisa Chingona-ness: Listening to fans’ sonic identities’, Sounding Out Blog!, 28 August, https://soundstudiesblog.com/2017/08/28/paisas-corridos-banda-listening-to-the-sonic-identities-of-fans/. Accessed 11 July 2024.
  13. González, Rachel Valentina (2019), Quinceñera Style: Social Belonging and Latinx Consumer Identities, Austn, TX: University of Texas Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Guerrero, Carla Maria (2008), ‘Our way of life: The swap-meet subculture’, MA thesis, Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California, https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2068/dissertations-theses/our-way-life-swap-meet-subculture/docview/193314105/se-2?accountid=14553. Accessed 30 July 2024.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Guerrero, Fabian and Castro, Gemma (2020), ‘Primera Generación w/guest Fabian Guerrero’, dublab, 27 October, https://www.dublab.com/archive/gemma-castro-primera-generacion-w-guest-fabian-guerrero-10-27-20. Accessed 30 July 2024.
  16. Guerrero, Fabian and Hernandez, Jose (2021), ‘Queer Rancheros a charla with Yessica Garcia Hernandez’s Latinx Subculture class’, personal communication during Spring Semester, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
  17. Habell-Pallán, Michelle (2005), Loca Motion: The Travels of Chicana and Latina Popular Culture, New York: New York University press.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Hernandez, Jillian (2020), Aesthetics of Excess: The Art and Politics of Black and Latina Embodiment, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Hurtado, Aida and Cantu, Norma (eds) (2020), MeXicana Fashions: Politics, Self-Adornment, and Identity Construction, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Hutchinson, Sydney (2007), From Quebradita to Duranguense: Dance in Mexican American Youth Culture, Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Isa_approved (2010), ‘Chunti definition’, Urban Dictionary, 11 January, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chunti. Accessed 30 January 2010.
  22. Jen-ny69 (2021), ‘I’m launching a buchona boutique’, YouTube, 27 August, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV1KggFOBpA&t=795s. Accessed 30 July 2024.
  23. Kondo, Dorinne (1997), About Face: Performing Race in Fashion and Theater, New York: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Kun, Josh (2004), ‘What is an MC if he can’t rap to Banda? Making music in Nuevo LA’, American Quarterly, 56:3, pp. 74158, https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2102/10.1353/aq.2004.0036.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Leal, Jorge (2012), ‘Las Plazas of South Los Angeles’, in J. Sides (ed.), Post-Ghetto: Reimagining South Los Angeles, Oakland, CA: Huntington Library and University of California Press, pp. 1132.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Leal, Jorge N. (2020), ‘Mapping ephemeral music forums in Latina/o Los Angeles’, California History, 97:2, pp. 12427, https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2102/10.1525/ch.2020.97.2.124.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Leal, Jorge Nicolás (2024), ‘Rock Archivo de LÁ: Mapping transnational Latinx music scenes’, Aztlán, 49:1, pp. 193206, https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2102/10.1525/azt.2024.49.1.193.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Los Angeles Rams (2022), ‘An expression of Mexican-American identity through fashion: Paisa Boys on Rams en Mi Barrio Ep. 3’, YouTube, 13 October, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVciQqe2qt0. Accessed 15 October 2022.
  29. Macias, Stacy (2016), ‘Claiming style, consuming culture: The politics of Latina self-styling and fashion lines’, in F. L. Aldama (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Latina/o Popular Culture, New York: Routledge and Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 32344.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Marez, Curtis (1996), ‘Brown: The politics of working-class Chicano style’, Social Text, 14:48, pp. 10932, https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2102/10.2307/466789.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Martín, Esther Díaz (2017), ‘CONTESTACIONES: The Music Genre of Cyber-Hociconas’, Chicana/Latina Studies, 16:2, pp. 7699.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Mireles, Michelle Alejandra (2022), ‘Paisa aesthetics: Streetwear fashion and Latinx aesthetic labor’, MA thesis, Santa Barbara, CA: University of California.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Muñoz, José Esteban (1999), Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Muñoz, José Esteban (2009), Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity, New York: New York University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Muñoz, José Esteban (2020), The Sense of Brown, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Negrete-Lopez, Gloria A. (2022), ‘“Ima make it look fly”: Abolitionist feminist aesthetic, coding in fashion and adornment’, in A. Bierra, J. Caruthers and B. Lober (eds), Abolition Feminisms, Vol. 2 Feminist Ruptures against Carceral State, Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, pp. 20027.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Ramírez, Catherine S. (2010), The Woman in the Zoot Suit: Gender, Nationalism, and the Cultural Politics of Memory, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Rios Hernandez, Marlen (2017), ‘If La Llorona was a punk rocker: Detonguing the off-key caos and screams of Alice Bag’, Sounding Out Blog!, 30 March, https://soundstudiesblog.com/2017/03/20/if-la-llorona-was-a-punk-rocker-detonguing-the-off-key-caos-and-screams-of-alice-bag/. Accessed 11 July 2024.
  39. Simonett, Helena (2001), Banda: Mexican Musical Life across Borders, Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Taylor, Diane (2003), The Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Tulloch, Carol (2010), ‘Style-fashion-dress: From Black to post-Black’, Fashion Theory, 14:3, pp. 273303.
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Tulloch, Carol (2016), The Birth of Cool: Style Narratives of the African Diaspora, London and New York: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Vargas, Deborah R. (2012), Dissonant Divas in Chicana Music: The Limits of La Onda, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Vargas, Deborah R. (2014), ‘Ruminations on Lo Sucio as a Latino queer analytic’, American Quarterly 66:3, pp. 71526, https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2102/10.1353/aq.2014.0046.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Vences, Javier Arellano (2023), ‘Review of Amalia Mesa-Bains: Archeology of Memory, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive’, Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art, 9:1, Spring, https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2102/10.24926/24716839.17553.
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Vicki L. Ruiz (1998), From Out of the Shadows Mexican Women in Twentieth Century America, New York: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/fspc_00249_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/fspc_00249_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test