Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Spray-Painting The State, Stenciling The Self: Opening Commons Of Art And Identity Though Asamblea, Jesse Waldman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

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 …