Homecoming and Public Education: The Cancel Culture (of class time) in Costa Rica
When I returned home on my sabbatical, I couldn’t stop thinking about Svetlana Boym’s extraordinary book, El futuro de la nostalgia.
Category: Costa Rica
Crisis of Citizen Insecurity in Costa Rica: A Challenge to the Model of Demilitarized Democracy
I began my political and public service career thirty years ago as Minister of Public Security, the first woman to ever hold that post in my country, Costa Rica.
Editor’s Letter: Is Costa Rica Different?
Is Costa Rica different?
Paradise Flawed: Contemporary Costa Rica and its Future
There is no doubt that Costa Rica is a natural paradise. But none of Earth’s paradise is perfect.
The Caribbean Spirit: Preserving Our Heritage and Ancestral Rights
Our community and other Afro-descendant tribal communities on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast are confronting what seems to be a systematic attempt by the state to uproot our community. For decades, Costa Rica has refused to grant property titles and infringed on our rights to property by targeting ownership over our ancestral lands, even to the extent of issuing demolition orders.
Behold the Tropical Arcadia: Costa Rican Cinema
One of the most successful films of all times, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993), depicts San José, the capital of Costa Rica, as a coastal town where the U.S. protagonists scheme in the midst of sandy beaches and banana trees.
Biomedical Exports and Costa Rica: The Great Reallocation of Global Supply Chains
What was Costa Rica’s greatest source of export revenue in 2023? If you guessed coffee, pineapple or bananas, you’re wrong. Medical devices—ranging from surgical and therapeutic devices to diagnostic equipment—lead the list of exports.
Costa Rica and Environmental Displacement: Natural Events do not Follow Protocols
Water, a divine and essential element, symbolizing life and constant motion, conjures images of the beauty found in rivers, seas, or rainfall.
Educational Blackout in Costa Rica: The Challenges of a National Emergency
I grew up poor in San José, Costa Rica, and the possibilities for getting ahead were thanks to my public elementary, high school and university.
A Review of Born in Blood and Fire
The fourth edition of Born in Blood and Fire is a concise yet comprehensive account of the intriguing history of Latin America and will be followed this year by a fifth edition.
The Evolution of Education in Costa Rica: Challenges and Opportunities
If you were a child in Costa Rica in the late 19th century, you would have been able to go to public school free of charge—a social privilege and means of inclusion virtually unknown in the developing world. This early investment in education has enabled Costa Rica to achieve one of the highest literacy rates in Latin America.
Pura Vida, Pura Sustainability: Costa Rica’s Path to a Green Future
I was born a “Tico” in 1985, an affectionate term that symbolizes my Costa Rican heritage.
Cloudy Horizons in the Costa Rican Caribbean: Identity and Architecture
I was raised in Limón, the poorest province in Costa Rica, with the lowest human development index and the highest rate of self-destruction among young people, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INEC).
Is Costa Rica Different? Democracy and its Challenges in a Regional Context
Let’s face it—the social and political history of Latin America over the past two centuries has not been a felicitous one.
The Game of the Little Devils
Documentary photography about the most important cultural celebration of the Brunca people.
Costa Rica’s Path to Success: Five Key Policies
I fondly remember my childhood days, walking alongside my father amidst the aromatic expanse of his coffee plantation in Heredia, Costa Rica.
A Review of El populismo en América Latina. La pieza que falta para comprender un fenómeno global
In 1946, during a campaign event in Argentina, then-candidate for president Juan Domingo Perón formulated a slogan, “Braden or Perón,” with which he could effectively discredit his opponents and position himself as a defender of national dignity against a foreign power.
Voices of the Caribbean: Afro-Costa Ricans Move Towards Empowerment and Equality
Dawn begins to appear on the coast of Cocles in the Costa Rican Caribbean and the first rays of the sun reflect on the sea. With an invitation from the Brown Hudson family, local residents who are proud Afro-Caribbeans, I am on my way to a journey of discovery and connection
Cultural Resistance in the Costa Rican Caribbean: Music and Ethnicity
Sitting in the restaurant of the Park Hotel in Port Limón, I began to reminisce about the years I’ve spent visiting, learning about and studying the culture and people of the Caribbean province of Costa Rica.
A Review of Aaron Copland in Latin America: Music and Cultural Politics
In Aaron Copland in Latin America: Music and Cultural Politics, Carol Hess provides a nuanced exploration of the Brooklyn-born composer and conductor Aaron Copland (1900–1990), who served as a cultural diplomat in Latin America during multiple tours.
