Pluralizing the Costeños—Reflections on Michael Schroeder’s cultural geographies of grievance and war: Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast region in the first Sandinista revolution, 1927–1934

Abstract

In this response article to Michael Schroeder's contribution "Cultural Geographies of Grievance and War: Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast Region in the First Sandinista Revolution, 1927–1934", the author argues that Sandino's limited success in the region was not mainly the result of an erroneous view of the local situation. His main difficulty was the absence of a coherent Atlantic Coast society and culture. In view of the mosaic of heterogeneous groups involved in long-standing rivalries or recent conflicts immersed in the racist environment of the enclave economy, a political project that could have integrated all major population groups was impossible. Sandinista propaganda did not merely consist of lofty nationalist and spiritualist jargon. There were also efforts to address the concrete problems of the people on the Atlantic Coast, such as economic depression and unemployment, and the Moravian missionaries’ attempt to enforce strict sexual morals in indigenous and Creole settlements.