Social Boundaries and Cultural Identity in Costa Rica: Implications for the Well-Being of Nicaraguan Immigrants Marisa L
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University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Doctoral Dissertations University of Connecticut Graduate School 1-31-2014 Social Boundaries and Cultural Identity in Costa Rica: Implications for the Well-being of Nicaraguan Immigrants Marisa L. Prosser University of Connecticut - Storrs, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Prosser, Marisa L., "Social Boundaries and Cultural Identity in Costa Rica: Implications for the Well-being of Nicaraguan Immigrants" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations. 310. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/310 Social Boundaries and Cultural Identity in Costa Rica: Implications for the Well-being of Nicaraguan Immigrants Marisa Lynn Prosser, PhD University of Connecticut, 2014 This research explores immigrant adaptation and well-being in Costa Rica where the growing number of Nicaraguan immigrants has been challenging concepts of national and personal identity among immigrants and the host population. Divergent histories and centuries of dispute between these neighboring nations has led to the formation of strong oppositional national identities and nationality has become the most frequently invoked basis for the differences in character and culture that many Costa Ricans perceive to exist between Nicaraguan immigrants and themselves. This research builds upon existing scholarship suggesting that a strong sense of identification with one’s country of origin can protect against a variety of stressors faced by immigrants, particularly when it forms part of a bicultural identity that fuses aspects of both home and host cultures. This research also explores how social relations between groups influence identity formation and moderate the protective effects of identity on psychological well-being. The results of this project are based upon 12 months of ethnographic research in and around San José Costa Rica, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to reveal shared cultural models of identity among samples of Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans. This research introduces a method for operationalizing the construct of cultural Marisa Lynn Prosser-University of Connecticut, 2014 identity by using individuals’ levels of cultural consonance with shared cultural models as a measure of their identification with home and host cultures. The results of this research supported the association between biculturalism and well- being, finding a statistically significant relationship between high levels of cultural consonance with both models of identity and low levels of perceived stress. However, surprisingly the lowest levels of perceived stress were found among individuals having low consonance with both models of identity. Tentative support was found for a relationship between immigrants’ perceptions of strong social boundaries and consonance with the Costa Rican identity model though the results were not statistically significant. This dissertation ends by calling for more research that furthers an understanding of how immigrants forge their identities in various social & cultural conditions and how they can adapt to host societies while preserving their well-being and unique cultural heritages. Social Boundaries and Cultural Identity in Costa Rica: Implications for the Well-being of Nicaraguan Immigrants Marisa Lynn Prosser B.A., Binghamton University, 1995 M.A., State University of New York at Buffalo, 2000 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut 2014 Dedicated to my mother, Sheryl Kenner, and in loving memory of my mother-in-law, Dr. Valerie French, for all they have done along the way to make this possible i Acknowledgements This project would never have come to fruition without the assistance of so many people to whom I owe many thanks: First, to the Anthropology department at the University of Connecticut for imparting me with the knowledge and skills necessary to complete this project. I give special thanks to my major advisor Dr. Roy D’Andrade for opening up my eyes and mind to a new world of possibilities in cultural anthropology. To Roy and to my advisory committee members Dr. W. Penn Handwerker and Dr. Pamela Erickson: thank you each for contributing in your own important ways to this project and to my progress as a scholar through the years. To the people of Costa Rica and Nicaragua who opened up to me: your stories and experiences are the true heart of this dissertation. I also give thanks to those in Costa Rica who helped along the way: Carlos Sandoval Garcia, Karina Fonseca and the staff at Servicio Jesuita Migrantes, José & Dina Leiva Pérez and the students at ALPACRI, Elvis Martínez, Josúe Bravo and the journalists at El Centroamerico, The faculty and staff at ICADS, Gail Nystrom, Luis Enrique Ballarde, Raúl Osorio Ibarra, James Solorzano, Courtney Devers & Keyea Caluette. Thank you all for doing your part to make life better for so many in Costa Rica. Finally, I must thank my supportive and ever-patient family which has grown in many wonderful ways since I began this project: my mother Sheryl Kenner, my father Myron Prosser & step-mother Libby Arnold, my sister Stacy Enoch, and my brother Michael Prosser, and all of my in-laws. You have believed in me and kept your faith in me even when I wasn’t so sure. A special thanks to my son James Prosser Allen; the hope that you will be proud of me one day was that final push I needed to finish. Finally, to my husband John French Allen, my loudest cheerleader and the most supportive spouse a person could ask for, thank you for being along for the ride! I love you. ii Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Migrant Identities and Well-being .............................................................................................. 3 Research Design.......................................................................................................................... 7 A World of Immigrants and Identities in Flux ............................................................................ 9 Well-being in Costa Rica: The Happiest Place on Earth? ........................................................ 13 Organization of the Chapters .................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2: Identity, Boundaries, and the “Cultural Stuff” Within ....................................... 18 Some Persistent Problems in the Study of Identity: The Whats, Whys and Hows? ................. 19 So Why Study Identity at All? .................................................................................................. 22 Anthropology of Identity .......................................................................................................... 23 Nationalism and National Identities: Territorialization of Identity and Notions of Home ....... 28 Costa Rica and Nicaragua: National Identities as Cultural Identities ....................................... 31 Ticos and Nicas: Oppositional Identities .................................................................................. 35 Xenophobia and Racialized Identities in Costa Rica ................................................................ 39 Chapter 3: A Tale of Two National Identities: Historical Influences on Immigration and Emigration in Nicaragua and Costa Rica ................................................................................. 44 The Construction and Dichotomization of National Identities ................................................. 44 Early Colonial Experience: International Interference and Geographic Isolation .................... 48 The Original Banana Republics: Underdevelopment and Development .................................. 55 Government and Rule of Law: Dictatorship and Democracy ................................................... 61 Conflict and its Resolution: War and Peace ............................................................................. 67 Crossing Borders and Boundaries: Emigration and Immigration ............................................. 70 Chapter 4: Ethnographic Fieldwork in Costa Rica ................................................................ 74 About the Field Site: Nicaraguans in Costa Rica...................................................................... 81 Ethnographic Methods for Data Collection .............................................................................. 90 Chapter 5: Cultural Models of Costa Rican and Nicaraguan Identity ............................... 102 Results from Informal and Unstructured Interviews .............................................................. 105 Results of Semi-structured Interviews .................................................................................... 113 Results of Structured Interviews ............................................................................................. 143 Chapter 6: How Does Cultural Identity Affect Well-being? Methods and Results ............ 162 Migration Outcomes and Psychological Well-being .............................................................. 163 Identity and Adaptation........................................................................................................... 167 iii Social Boundaries and Identity ..............................................................................................