Milli mála - 01.06.2016, Síða 122

CENTRAL AMERICAN COASTAL IDENTITY
122 Milli mála 8/2016
that hold together the members of a group who share values, be-
liefs, communal experiences, language, citizenship and political
community.15 Individuals within a social entity are asked to agree
to certain norms, beliefs, dogmas, authority, conduct and rituals,
i.e., to accept certain social constructs and follow certain patterns.
Yet, the individual social subject simultaneously enjoys the liberty
to reject or abstain from taking part, thus potentially suffering the
ultimate consequence of condemnation and/or exclusion. Montobbio
ponders over his own uncertainties regarding the meaning of iden-
tity, observing that:
Identity is, above all, a fundamental human need. It is a need for belong-
ing, for sharing a reference to a representation of a “we” beyond the im-
mediate. [...] Identity is therefore unique, “that what makes me not
identical to any other person” in the words of Amin Maalouf in Les
Murderers Identities (1998), although not immutable; depositary of two
inheritances – “a ‘vertical’ one, that comes to us from our ancestors, tradi-
tions of our people, of our religious community; the other, the ‘horizontal’
one, is a product of our time, of our contemporaries”; and although it is
made up of multiple belongings, it is one and we experience it as com-
plete. [...] Identity is constructed. It changes. It can be transformed.”16
Montobbio´s reservations become particularly relevant when
Anacristina Rossi’s literary representations of the Caribbean coast of
Costa Rica, as represented in Limón Blues (2002) and Limón Reggae
(2007), are researched, as both novels underscore a multiplicity of
15 Montobbio, Manuel, “Sobre la identidad de la identidad en la era de la globalización”, Revista de
Occidente. Madrid, 2010, N¨352. pp. 130-159. Here p. 132.
16 Montobbio, Manuel, in his article “Sobre la identidad de la identidad en la era de la globalización”,
Revista de Occidente, Madrid, 2010, explains that: “La identidad es, ante todo, una necesidad funda-
mental del ser humano. Necesidad de pertenencia, de referentes de representación de compartir un
nosotros más allá de lo inmediato. [ ] La identidad es, asimismo, única, “aquello que hace que yo
no sea idéntico a ninguna otra persona”, en palabras de Amin Maalouf en Les identities meurtriéres
(1998), aunque no inmutable; depositaria de dos herencias – “una “vertical”, nos viene de nuestros
antepasados, de las tradiciones de nuestro pueblo, de nuestra comunidad religiosa; la otra “hori-
zontal”, es producto de nuestra época, de nuestros contemporáneos”; y, aunque esté hecha de múl-
tiples pertenencias, es una y la vivimos como un todo. […] La identidad se construye. Se trans-
forma. Puede transformarse”, p. 131-132.