First Time Days and the Development Life: Afro-Costa Rican Narrative Memory and the Critique of Racial Inequality in Global Restructuring

Abstract

Afro-Costa Ricans in Puerto Viejo critique the injuries of the economic transition from agriculture to tourism during the past three decades. I use the term ‘narrative memory’ to draw on the insights of Fields and Benjamin, describing the interpretive framework created by remembering and the place where the subject dialectically constructs the past and present. Narrative memory creates an inheritance of understandings, emotion, and analysis through which to understand the here and now. Narratives of ‘first time days’ define Puerto Viejo as a space characterized as formerly Afro-Caribbean, economically prosperous, and collaborative. These recollections contrast with the present (‘now days’), demonstrating that nostalgia is not an elite act to be easily dismissed, but rather an important diagnostic tool for actors to critique the racial inequalities generated by global restructuring.

Keywords:

• Afro-Caribbean
• narrative
• memory
• tourism
• Costa Rica
• neo-liberalism

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful for the insightful comments of Susana Peña, Peter Chua, Jim Larson, and Light Carruyo, as well as the helpful comments of Peter Wade and three anonymous reviewers, in the preparation of this article. Invaluable research assistance was provided by Victor Tonelli, Bruce and Joyce Vandegrift, Robert and Carolyn Tonelli, and Trent Pingenot. Funding from the Drake Center for Global Citizenship and the Fulbright-Hays Fellowship program made this research possible.