The Decline of the White Idiosyncratic: Racialization and Otherness in Costa Rica

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Townsend-Bell
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Comparative Historical Analysis ◽  
Over Time

This paper employs comparative historical analysis to trace the development of shifting notions of otherness and changes in the racialization of Nicas and Afro-Costa Ricans over time. I find that both Afro-Costarrican and Nicaraguan minority groups have been central to the national identity, albeit in distinct ways. Racialized comparisons between “dark-skinned” Nicaraguans and “white” Costa Ricans, has created a third way in the Costa Rican context, where traditionally mestizo Nicaraguan immigrants become darkened or “blackened” and Afro-Costa Ricans are simultaneously privileged and disadvantaged as localized and preferred others.

scholarly journals Traditional Cattle Grazing in the Tambov Region (The Practical Aspect)

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 88-107
Author(s):  
Vladimir S. Buzin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Cattle Grazing ◽  
Practical Aspect ◽  
State University ◽  
Sheep And Goats ◽  
Comparative Historical Analysis ◽  
The Right ◽  
Over Time

The study of the practical aspect of traditional cattle grazing in the Tambov region is based on materials collected in the mid-1990s during field practices carried out by students of the Department of Ethnography and Anthropology of St. Petersburg State University under the supervision of the author of the article. It is quite justified to call the recorded practices “traditional” since breeding and grazing of private livestock by collective farmers did not change significantly even after collectivization. This is confirmed by the pre-revolutionary materials on the tradition of cattle grazing in the Kirsanovsky District (uezd) of Tambov Province cited in the article. This study employs the methods of comparative historical analysis but also take into account the unique features of the natural environment of various parts of the Tambov region. To graze its herd, a community hired a shepherd, made a written contract with him and confirmed it with a drink treat (magarych). The shepherds were usually local or from nearby villages. Each type of animal had its own shepherds. Depending on the size, a herd could have one or two shepherds, who were sometimes assisted by a shepherd boy. Grazing continued from the appearance of fresh grass in spring until the appearance of a permanent snow cover. Over time, the remuneration of shepherds changed from a combination of food and money to a mainly monetary one and shifted from a seasonal to a monthly schedule. Additionally, on certain days, the shepherd had the right to visit the cattle owners in order to get food from them. The shepherd was equipped with a whip and sometimes also had a horn. No information of any other features of his equipment and clothing was gathered. The article presents data on local peculiarities of cattle grazing. The collected materials show that to a certain extent, local differences were determined by the characteristics of the environment. When grazing in the forest, the size of the herd was smaller than on open pastures, sheep and goats were not grazed in the forest, and the shepherd used a horn there to gather animals.

scholarly journals Globalización neoliberal en Costa Rica: panorama de las tendencias en políticas culturales (1990-2010)

LETRAS ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 105-119
Author(s):  
Andrés Mora Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
The State ◽  
Development Model ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
Identidad Nacional ◽  
Cultural Policies ◽  
Definition Of

En los últimos dos decenios, la sociedad costarricense ha pasado por considerables transformaciones enmarcadas en el contexto de la globalización, y bajo el signo del neoliberalismo, visibles en la organización del Estado, la definición del modelo de desarrollo y en el papel de la empresa privada en la definición y promoción de políticas culturales. Las principales tendencias indican que son las fuerzas del mercado y las industrias mediáticas e infocomunicacionales las fuentes del cambio cultural y de una nueva noción de identidad nacional. Over the last two decades, Costa Rican society underwent profound changes in the context of globalization, and under the influence of neoliberalism. Such changes can be identified in the organization of the State, the definition of the development model, and particularly, in the role that private enterprise assumes in defining and promoting cultural policies. The main trends indicate that there are market forces, and media and infocommunication industries that are sources of cultural change and the construction of a new national identity.

scholarly journals Periodismo y literatura en Costa Rica (1833-1950).

2016 ◽  
pp. 15-33
Author(s):  
Patricia Vega Jiménez
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

This article analyzes the relationship between the development of journalism and literature, specifically the participation of Costa Rican writers in the press and the role played by the press in the publicity of literature. The journey to fulfill these objectives begins in 1833 and ends in 1950; this long period helps us identify the changes and continuities over time and therefore establish a comparative analysis.

Coded Messages: Costa Rican Protest Literature, 1970–1985

2019 ◽  
pp. 53-112
Author(s):  
Liz Harvey-Kattou
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Costa Rica ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Protest Literature ◽  
Coded Messages

This chapter posits that the 1970s in Costa Rica was a period of sociological revolution whereby dominant ideas of national identity began to be openly challenged. It analyses the protest literature of this period written by three key authors: Quince Duncan, Carmen Naranjo, and Alfonso Chase. Firstly considering Duncan’s Los cuatro espejos, it explores this novel as an example of the harmful practices of stereotyping and the internalisation of norms. It then considers the feminist subtext of Naranjo’s short stories ‘Simbiosis del encuentro’ and ‘A los payasos todos los quieren’, before moving on to analyse homosexual codes apparent in Chase’s short stories ‘La lluvia. El Silencio. La Música’.

Narratives of democracy: A call for historical studies

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-134
Author(s):  
Tim B Müller ◽  
Jeppe Nevers
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
Comparative Historical Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Over Time

Historians have long been aware of the power of narratives; but they have been hesitant to analyse the production of national narratives of democracy, in which their own profession played an important role. This issue and introduction aims to insert and study the role of narratives in the history of democracy. It builds on the growing literature in both the conceptual and political history of democracy, which has stressed the importance of the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century in the coming of modern democracy, albeit in non-linear and highly contested ways and often in contrast to the retrospective teleology at work in most older histories of democracy. Therefore, from the 19th century onwards, languages and narratives of democracy developed in many countries, but it happened at different times, at different speeds, and in different forms. This issue encourages and exemplifies systematic and comparative historical analysis of how narratives of democracy were created in that context: What national narratives of democracy did, in fact, exist in specific periods and contexts? Where have these narratives come from? How were nations ‘narrated’ as democratic, what purposes did different narratives serve, and how did they change over time?

Race, space and commerce in multi-ethnic Costa Rica: a linguistic landscape inquiry

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (254) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louisa Buckingham
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Linguistic Landscape ◽  
The Public ◽  
Tourism Sector

Abstract Costa Rica officially became a multi-ethnic, pluricultural nation in 2015. Representatives from the principal minorities, in particular Afro-Costa Ricans and indigenous peoples, played an important role in contesting the erstwhile dominant narrative of Costa Rican’s white European settler heritage. One of the intended consequences of the constitutional amendment was to ensure greater salience of ethnic minorities in public policy and social life. This study investigates the public display of linguistic and cultural diversity on commercial and community signage in six urban centres of Limón, the most ethnically diverse province. Undertaken in the same year as the constitutional amendment, the study examines the inclusion of languages and cultural references attributable to three main minority groups (Afro-Caribbean, Chinese and indigenous), and more recent migrant settlers, in public space. Greater salience was found in locations appearing to target a local readership; references to indigenous cultures were almost completely absent, however. Changes in the public narrative on Costa Rican identity may gradually encourage greater salience of official minority groups on public signage. An immediate challenge entails the effects of the expanding tourism sector, as this appears to favour a proliferation of decontextualized international cultural references rather than an appreciation of locality and historical rootedness.

Parity without Equality

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Piscopo
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Party System ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Women In Politics ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Crisis Of Representation ◽  
Female Legislators ◽  
Female President

Jennifer M. Piscopo examines how the crisis of representation in Costa Rica has placed a ceiling on gender equality in representation. The restructuring of the Costa Rican party system and party fragmentation has made electing multiple candidates from any one ballot more difficult. Top spots have become even more prestigious and more likely to be allocated to men, which reduces women’s electoral chances. Corruption scandals, party breakdown, citizen frustration, and economic problems tainted the administration of the nation’s first female president, Laura Chinchilla. Female legislators have often worked to promote women’s issues and feminist policies, but Chinchilla eschewed feminism, even though several of her policies did benefit women. Overall, her failed presidency may create difficulties for other women seeking top political offices and could have negative consequences for views of women in politics. These challenges notwithstanding, Piscopo concludes that Costa Rica remains at the vanguard of women’s political representation in Latin America.

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