Milli mála - 01.06.2016, Blaðsíða 118

CENTRAL AMERICAN COASTAL IDENTITY
118 Milli mála 8/2016
Hólmfríður Garðarsdóttir
Háskóli Íslands
Central American Coastal Identity
Multiple Faces of Mestizaje in Narrative by
the Costa Rican novelist Anacristna Rossi
“Donde quiera que voy limonense soy”.1
The implications of mestizaje, understood as “racial and/or cul-tural mixing”,2 have been at the forefront of investigation
throughout the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. As part
of this process, in recent times, the multiple cultural, ethnic and
linguistic mixtures that have occurred in the Americas since colo-
nial times have raised crucial questions about social identity and,
consequently, the understanding of self. However, amongst the
many studies on Latin American identity, few can be found that
tackle the issues of collective and personal identities on the
Caribbean coast of Central America, even though it is home to one
of the most diverse populations in the region.3 To fill that void this
article investigates the theme of Central American coastal identi-
ties, as seen embodied in two novels by the Costa Rican novelist
Anacristina Rossi, namely Limón Blues (2002), previously studied
1 Seen at the central bus terminal in the Costa Rican port city of Limón. “Wherever I go I´m a
Limonene” (Icel. “Hvert sem ég fer er ég límoni” (own translations).
2 For more information see: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3424300472.html
3 Stavenhagen, Rodolfo, “La diversidad cultural en el desarrollo de las Américas: Los pueblos indíge-
nas y los estados nacionales en Hispanoamérica”, 2013, pp. missing, http://www.oas.org/udse/
documentos/stavenhagen.doc See also: Mackenbach, Werner, “Representaciones del Caribe en la
narrativa centroamericana, 2007, pp. missing, http://collaborations.denison.edu/istmo/n05/articu-
los/ representaciones.html [Accessed August 2016]. Also Garðarsdóttir, Hólmfríður , “Að
skyggnast í skúmaskotin. Um fjölmenningarsamfélag við Karíbahafsströnd Kostaríku í verkum
Anacristina Rossi”. Milli mála 2011, pp. 31-63.