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E-book
Author Kordick, Carmen, 1980- author.

Title The saints of progress : a history of coffee, migration, and Costa Rican national identity / Carmen Kordick
Published Tuscaloosa : The University of Alabama Press, [2019]

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Description 1 online resource (xx, 268 pages) : illustrations and maps
Contents Introduction: Tarraz: a place, a coffee, and a people -- Tarraz's founding and settlement -- Coffee, downward mobility, and political power in Tarraz -- Maintaining the order: gender, class, state authority, and violence -- Revolt in Tarraz -- The civil war and its consequences -- Migration and shifting class, racial, and national identities -- National belonging and exclusion beyond Costa Rica's borders -- Conclusion: Costa Rica's Cold War exceptionalism
Summary "This work narrates the development of a historically remote--although internationally celebrated--coffee-growing region from the early 19th century through to the first decade of the 21st century. It considers the nation-building process from the margins to question traditional scholarly works that have reproduced, rather than deconstructed, Costa Rica's exceptionalist national mythologies that imagine this isthmian republic as Central America's 'white, ' democratic, nonviolent, and egalitarian republic. The book recognizes that even though Costa Rica's exceptionalist rendition draws on some undeniable realities, it thoughtfully considers the origins, applicability, and longevity of the different elements of this exceptionalist master narrative. In particular, it suggests the mythology emerged during the Cold War, as revolution, civil war, military dictatorship, and state violence plagued much of Central America. In this same period, Costa Rica not only retained a relatively stable democratic system, but policymakers eliminated the standing army in 1948. This widely embraced and celebrated historical narrative, however, distorts as much as it illuminates the experience of contemporary and historical actors"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Coffee industry -- Political aspects -- Costa Rica
HISTORY -- Latin America -- Mexico.
Coffee industry -- Political aspects
SUBJECT Costa Rica -- History. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85033213
Subject Costa Rica
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780817392093
0817392092