The Creation of Tiquicidad and Theories of National Identity

This chapter delves into the psyche of Costa Rica’s identity, providing a historical and sociological analysis of the creation of the dominant – tico – identity from 1870 to the present day, framing these around theories of colonial discourse. Considering work by postcolonial scholars such as Benedict Anderson, Frantz Fanon, Homi Bhabha, Gayatri Spivak, and Judith Butler, it explores how the discourse of centre and ‘Other’ has been created within the nation. It then provides a historical account of ‘Otherness’ within the nation, detailing the existence and rights won by Afro-Costa Rican, feminist, and LGBTQ+ groups, detailing a framework of hybrid subalternity which will be used to consider the challenges put forward to dominant national identity in chapters two and three.