The Costa Rica Reader

The Costa Rica Reader

History, Culture, Politics

  • Author: Palmer, Steven; Molina, Iván; Kirk, Robin; Starn, Orin; Chant, Sylvia; Marquardt, Steve
  • Publisher: Duke University Press
  • Serie: The Latin America Readers
  • ISBN: 9780822333869
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780822382812
  • Place of publication:  Durham , United States
  • Year of digital publication: 2009
  • Month: January
  • Pages: 398
  • DDC: 972.86
  • Language: English
Long characterized as an exceptional country within Latin America, Costa Rica has been hailed as a democratic oasis in a continent scorched by dictatorship and revolution; the ecological mecca of a biosphere laid waste by deforestation and urban blight; and an egalitarian, middle-class society blissfully immune to the violent class and racial conflicts that have haunted the region. Arguing that conceptions of Costa Rica as a happy anomaly downplay its rich heritage and diverse population, The Costa Rica Reader brings together texts and artwork that reveal the complexity of the country’s past and present. It characterizes Costa Rica as a site of alternatives and possibilities that undermine stereotypes about the region’s history and challenge the idea that current dilemmas facing Latin America are inevitable or insoluble.

This essential introduction to Costa Rica includes more than fifty texts related to the country’s history, culture, politics, and natural environment. Most of these newspaper accounts, histories, petitions, memoirs, poems, and essays are written by Costa Ricans. Many appear here in English for the first time. The authors are men and women, young and old, scholars, farmers, workers, and activists. The Costa Rica Reader presents a panoply of voices: eloquent working-class raconteurs from San José’s poorest barrios, English-speaking Afro-Antilleans of the Limón province, Nicaraguan immigrants, factory workers, dissident members of the intelligentsia, and indigenous people struggling to preserve their culture. With more than forty images, the collection showcases sculptures, photographs, maps, cartoons, and fliers. From the time before the arrival of the Spanish, through the rise of the coffee plantations and the Civil War of 1948, up to participation in today’s globalized world, Costa Rica’s remarkable history comes alive. The Costa Rica Reader is a necessary resource for scholars, students, and travelers alike.

  • Contents
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • I. Birth of an Exception?
    • Warriors and Sacred Struggle. Pre-Columbian Distinctions
    • A Conqueror Looks on the Bright Side. Town Council of Castillode Garci-Muñoz
    • Hunting Indians. Claudia Quirós
    • The Execution of Pablo Presbere. José María Figueroa
    • The Trial of Pablo Presbere, Cacique of Suinse.Lorenzo Antonio de Granda y Balbín
    • A Slave’s Story. José Cubero
    • Free Blacks, Mulattoes, and Mestizos Seek Legitimacy. Cabildo of Cartago
    • Brotherhood of the Virgin. Ricardo Fernández Guardia
    • Life and Labor in the Central Valley, circa 1821. Iván Molina
    • The Fall of Morazán. Unknown
    • Libelous Pornography from 1841. José María Figueroa
    • Civilizing Domestic Life in the Central Valley, 1750–1850. Eugenia Rodríguez
  • II. Coffee Nation
    • Privatization of the Land and Agrarian Conflict. Silvia Castro
    • Tico Sweepstakes. Pío Joaquín Fernández
    • Witness to Heroism. Gerónimo Segura
    • Holidays in Costa Rica, 1858. Thomas Francis Meagher (illustrated byRamón Páez)
    • Denunciation of the Lazarene Brothers. Diego Quesada
    • Building Civilization. Fernando Zamora
    • Getting to Know the Unknown Soldier. Steven Palmer
    • The Burning of the Mesón. Enrique Echandi
  • III. Popular Culture and Social Policy
    • Alleyway of Open Wounds. Claudia María Jiménez
    • Women of the Barrio. Luisa González
    • A District Laboratory in Costa Rica. John Elmendorf Jr.
    • Autobiography of a Shoemaker. Juan Rafael Morales
    • Maternity. Francisco Zúñiga
    • Prospectus. National Association of Coffee Producers
    • The Red Door. Teodorico Quirós
    • Banana Strike Confidential. Diplomatic Service of the United States of America
    • Notice to West Indian Farmers! West Indian Strike Committee
    • Woman in Window. Max Jiménez
    • A Governor and a Man Faces the Social Problem.Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia
  • IV. Democratic Enigma
    • Petition for Recognition of Voting Rights from a Humble Citizen, 1859.Santiago Córdova
    • The Night of San Florencio. La Prensa Libre
    • An Outsider’s View of Political Society in 1914. Dana G. Munro
    • Democrats and Feminists. Steven Palmer and Gladys Rojas Chaves
    • Women’s Vote—the Day That They Get It. Paco Hernández
    • Hail to the Jefe. Alejandro Alvares Duartes Mora
    • Unlikely Threesome. Reformist Summit, 1943
    • The Polarization of Politics, 1932–1948. Iván Molina
    • Memories of Girlhood in ’48. María E. Robles Solano
    • Democracy on the Brink: The First Figueres Presidency. Kirk Bowman
  • V. The Costa Rican Dream
    • Means and Ends for a Better Costa Rica. Rodrigo Facio
    • In Defense of the Corner Store. Constantino Láscaris
    • A Costa Rican Godfather. J. L. Vargas
    • Growing Up in the Dream. Manrique Mata-Montero
    • Alcoa No! Student Protests, 1970
    • The Crisis: 1980–1982. Jorge Rovira Mas
    • The Family. Anonymous
    • Imperial Eagle versus Peace Dove. Hugo Díaz
    • A Dictionary of Costa Rican Patriotism. Álvaro Quesada
  • VI. Other Cultures and Outer Reaches
    • Indigenous Figure. Juan Manuel Sánchez
    • Dispossessed. The Indigenous Community of Orosi
    • West Indian Limón. Paula Palmer
    • Our Blood Is Blackening. Clodomiro Picado
    • Everyday Racism, 1932. Anonymous
    • My Mother and the Seawall. Eulalia Bernard
    • The Devil and Don Chico. Marc Edelman
    • Passing: Nicaraguans in Costa Rica. Patricia Alvarenga
    • Taking Care of Sibö’s Gifts. Gloria Mayorga,Juanita Sánchez, and Paula Palmer
  • VII.Working Paradise
    • A Community Takes Care of Its Environs.Owners of Montaña de la Candelaria
    • Caffeinated Miasmas. Residents of Santo Domingo de Heredia
    • Migration and the Costa Rican Environment since 1900. Uli Locher
    • From Rain Forest to Banana Plantation: AWorkers’ Eye View.Ana Luisa Cerdas
    • Pesticides and Parakeets in the Banana Industry. Steve Marquardt
    • The River of Milk. Environmental and Administrative Tribunal, Ministry ofEnergy and the Environment
    • La Loca de Gandoca. Ana Cristina Rossi
  • VIII. Tropical Soundings
    • Social Development with Limited Resources. Carmelo Mesa-Lago
    • Visit Beautiful Costa Rica! Tourism Propaganda of Another Era
    • Corruption. Alfonso González and Manuel Solís
    • The Contemporary Protest Movement
    • The Narcotizing of Costa Rican Politics. Mercedes Muñoz Guillén
    • Citizens 2000. March against the Combo ice
    • On the Recent Protests against the Privatization of the Costa RicanHydroelectric Company (ice). Rodolfo Cerdas
    • Building Your Own Home. Antonio
    • Men in Crisis? Sylvia Chant
    • Are the Kids Alright? Osvaldo Orias and Kenneth
    • Costa Rica: A Millennial Profile. Steven Palmer and Iván Molina
    • Demoperfectocracy. Yolanda Oreamuno
  • Suggestions for Further Reading
  • Acknowledgment of Copyrights
  • Index

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