The Saints of Progress: A History of Coffee, Migration, and Costa Rican National Identity

293 Pages·2019·2.906 MB·English

by  Carmen Kordick

THE SAINTS OF
PROGRESS

THE SAINTS OF
PROGRESS
A History of Coffee, Migration,
and Costa Rican National Identity
CARMEN KORDICK
The University of Ala bama Press
Tuscaloosa
The University of Ala bama Press
Tuscaloosa, Ala bama 35487- 0380
uapress.ua.edu
Copyright © 2019 by the University of Ala bama Press
All rights reserved.
Inquiries about reproducing material from this work should be addressed to
the University of Ala bama Press.
Typeface: Minion and Arial
Cover image: Civic parade in San Marcos de Tarrazú, 1960s; courtesy of
Juan Mora
Cover design: David Nees
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kordick, Carmen, 1980– author.
Title: The saints of progress : a history of coffee, migration, and Costa Rican
national identity / Carmen Kordick.
Description: Tuscaloosa : The University of Alabama Press, [2019] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018021215| ISBN 9780817320027 (cloth) | ISBN 9780817392093
(ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Costa Rica—History. | Coffee industry—Political aspects—
Costa Rica.
Classification: LCC F1546 .K67 2019 | DDC 972.86—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018021215
For Alexandra and Nidia

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction. Tarrazú: A Place, a Coffee, and a People 1
1. Tarrazú’s Founding and Settlement 17
2. Coffee, Downward Mobility, and Po liti cal Power in Tarrazú 31
3. Maintaining the Order: Gender, Class, State Authority,
and Violence 56
4. Revolt in Tarrazú 79
5. The Civil War and Its Consequences 106
6. Migration and Shifting Class, Racial, and National Identities 135
7. National Belonging and Exclusion beyond Costa Rica’s Borders 153
Conclusion. Costa Rica’s Cold War Exceptionalism 178
Notes 187
Glossary 243
Bibliography 247
Index 261

Illustrations
MAPS
Map of Costa Rica xxi
Map of Tarrazú xxi
Map of New Jersey communities with Costa
Rican immigrant populations xxii
FIGURES
I.1. Santa María de Dota from the road linking
the Inter-Ameri can Highway to Tarrazú, 2008 2
I.2. San Marcos de Tarrazú’s church, as viewed
from the outskirts of town, 2008 11
1.1. San Marcos de Tarrazú’s church
under construction, early twentieth century 27
2.1. Tobías Umaña Jiménez, his son Humberto Umaña Parra,
and one of Umaña’s foremen, ca. early 1950s 37
2.2. La Tribuna po liti cal cartoon, May 1, 1942 46
2.3. Juan Rafael Umaña Jiménez with his children,
ca. late 1910s or early 1920s 48
2.4. Women sorting coffee beans at Tobías Umaña
Jiménez’s beneficio, the cafetalera, late 1950s 49
2.5. Young women wearing their Sunday best near San Marcos’s
central plaza, early 1950s 50
3.1. Men and boys standing in front of the entrance of
a San Marcos de Tarrazú cantina, 1920s 63