The grey forms of knowledge. Border scraps, secrecy and the reproduction of skateboarding in Tijuana (Mexico)

Abstract

Tijuana is materially and symbolically shaped by the scraps of the North; they have even inspired cultural paradigms of border analysis like ‘Rudology’, echoing studies on the Anthropocene. By following the trails of these scraps, particular border grey spaces emerge. Local skateboarding thrives exactly on the scraps flowing through this grey infrastructures: DIY spots are built from the Tijuana River’s debris, second-hand U.S. skate-wear comes from informal transborder markets, and scrap skateboard decks are hijacked from the U.S. maquiladoras. The practices surrounding these objects, however, often operate within regimes of secrecy to elude border bureaucracy. Although the ‘unspeakable’ underpins skateboarding’s subcultural lore, particular social configurations of secrecy emerge from specific cultural contexts. Among Tijuana skaters, the concealment imposed by the border regime coexists with a performance of secrecy stimulated by the proximity to California and its resources. I call this ambivalence a ‘grey form of knowledge’ built around the scraps of border grey spaces necessary for skateboarding. A creative tactic shaped from below to reproduce a leisure community within a specific political and cultural border experience. I conclude by emphasising the articulations between material and symbolic grey spaces and highlighting their inherent potential for ‘relationality’ through my border ethnographic case