Free Delivery Over $100
|
|
|||
|
||||
OverviewA reshaping of traditional understandings of Costa Rica and its national identity. The Saints of Progress: A History of Coffee, Migration, and Costa Rican National Identity chronicles the development of the Tarrazú Valley, a historically remote—although internationally celebrated—coffee-growing region. Carmen Kordick's work traces the development of this region from the early nineteenth century to the first decades of the twenty-first century to consider the nation-building process from the margins, while also questioning traditional scholarly works that have reproduced, rather than deconstructed, Costa Rica's exceptionalist national mythology, which hail Costa Rica as Central America's “white,” democratic, nonviolent, and egalitarian republic. In this compelling political, economic, and lived history, Kordick suggests that Costa Rica's exceptionalist and egalitarian mythology emerged during the Cold War, as revolution, civil war, military dictatorship, and state violence plagued much of Central America. From the vantage point of Costa Rica's premier coffee-producing region, she examines local, national, and transnational processes. This deeply textured narrative details the inauguration of coffee capitalism, which heightened existing class divisions; a successful armed revolt against the national government, which forged the current political regime; and the onset of massive out-migration to the United States. Kordick's research incorporates more than one hundred oral histories and thousands of archival sources gathered in both Costa Rica and the United States to produce a human history of Costa Rica's past. Her work on the recent past profiles the experiences of migrants in the United States, mostly in New Jersey, where many undocumented Costa Ricans find low-paid work in the restaurant and landscaping sectors. The result is a fine-grained examination of Tarrazú's development from the 1820s to the present that reshapes traditional understandings of Costa Rica and its national past. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Carmen KordickPublisher: The University of Alabama Press Imprint: The University of Alabama Press Weight: 0.618kg ISBN: 9780817320027ISBN 10: 0817320024 Pages: 312 Publication Date: 30 January 2019 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In stock  We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately. Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Introduction. Tarrazú: A Place, a Coffee, and a People Chapter 1. Tarrazú’s Founding and Settlement Chapter 2. Coffee, Downward Mobility, and Political Power in Tarrazú Chapter 3. Maintaining the Order: Gender, Class, State Authority, and Violence Chapter 4. Revolt in Tarrazú Chapter 5. The Civil War and Its Consequences Chapter 6. Migration and Shifting Class, Racial, and National Identities Chapter 7. National Belonging and Exclusion beyond Costa Rica’s Borders Conclusion. Costa Rica’s Cold War Exceptionalism Notes Glossary Bibliography IndexReviewsKordick makes a substantial contribution to the literature on Costa Rica and joins an ongoing discussion (especially among Costa Rican scholars) of the prevalent Costa Rican national myths by debunking the idea of the nation as a timelessly peaceful land of primarily white yeoman farmers. --Julie A. Charlip, author of Cultivating Coffee: The Farmers of Carazo, Nicaragua, 1880-1930 and coauthor of Latin America: An Interpretive History Kordick makes a substantial contribution to the literature on Costa Rica and joins an ongoing discussion (especially among Costa Rican scholars) of the prevalent Costa Rican national myths by debunking the idea of the nation as a timelessly peaceful land of primarily white yeoman farmers. - Julie A. Charlip, author of Cultivating Coffee: The Farmers of Carazo, Nicaragua, 1880-1930 and coauthor of Latin America: An Interpretive History Author InformationCarmen Kordick is an assistant professor of history at Southern Connecticut State University. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
||||
