Milli mála - 01.06.2016, Síða 125

HÓLMFRÍÐUR GARÐARSDÓTTIR
Milli mála 8/2016 125
light the fluid formation of hybrid social identities on the Caribbean
coast, as a result of continued cultural renewal where vertical and
horizontal cultural heritages coincide and intertwine, and where
gender matters.
2 Limón Blues
In Limón Blues the obvious protagonist appears to be the main male
figure, Orlandus Robinson, a black Jamaican who, having arrived
in Limón, is on his way to Cahuita – today a village on the coast to
the south of Limón – hoping to put his family affairs in order, earn
some money and then return to his native Jamaica. Yet, comple-
menting historical writing, the novel not only tells Robinson’s
personal, ‘coming of age’ story, but also the history of black Costa
Rica. Through a carefully crafted narrative, it offers detailed insight
into Costa Rica’s historical and socio-economic development, as
well as regional and national politics. And it reveals the Atlantic
region as a place for the building of a marginalized ethnic identity,
where the female characters form the axis of the immigrant com-
munity.
While it is true to say that Limón Blues revolves around the
themes of ethnic identity and nation formation, Rossi’s elaborations
on the issue of male and female identity are just as crucial. She jux-
taposes her male and female characters and makes them represent
different stages in the identity-formation of men and women. The
men seek rootedness, i.e., a sense of belonging, in the creation of
social organizations and the promotion of political awareness.
However, their projects fail because they tend to be unrealistic and
utopian. In contrast, the women are more directly connected with
their cultural surroundings and with practical everyday activities.
It is significant that Orlandus’ mother, Nanah, is the first female
character to appear. She is presented as a direct descendant of the
enslaved Caribbean population, a black woman from Kingston,
Jamaica, who asks her son to travel to Costa Rica and attend to a
plot of land belonging to the family. Nanah is the personification
of the African negritude of the region and, associated with Santeria,
pagan gods, herbs and a mystical relationship with the ancestors,