Ethnicity, Religion and Repression: The Denial of African Heritage in Costa Rica

Abstract

The experience of West Indians in Costa Rica in the first decades of the twentieth century was marked by instances of racism and intolerance. The West Indian immigrants were English-speaking Protestants of African descent, and they found themselves in a Hispanic country that distinguished itself as a white settler society in Central America. West Indians were discriminated against by their Hispanic neighbours, United Fruit Company officials, and the Costa Rican government. Tension increased as the banana industry faltered and the world economy declined in the 1930s. This article examines the reaction of West Indian community leaders and the Costa Rican government to the proliferation of African-influenced religious sects in Limón during the 1930s. The sects were a source of division within the community and a target of discrimination by Hispanics. The article looks at the rise in popularity of the sects and studies some of the reactions to the heightened profile of the religious groups. Hysteria is shown to have replaced common sense after the local press alleged that the sects committed all sorts of atrocities. The government’ s response was to arrest and attempt to deport suspected practitioners. The local West Indian elite, mindful of the tenuous footing the community had in Costa Rica, joined in the condemnation of and attacks against the dissident religious groups. The increased popularity of African-influenced religion was not just a passing episode in the history of the West Indian community in Costa Rica. It was part of a larger social malaise that marked a turning point in the relationship between the West Indian minority and Hispanic majority in Costa Rica.