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Identity Politics In Search Of Community-Based Development: A Case Study Of The Indigenous Movement In Costa Rica, Susanna Francesca Schaller

Latin American Studies ETDs

Since the early 1980's the Indigenous Movement in Costa Rica has made extraordinary strides toward resolving its demands for political, economic and cultural autonomy. The leadership that has emerged at the forefront of the Movement has been adept at recognizing political opportunities and at utilizing the national and international system in order to build a national movement that maintains its base within the local and regional setting.

This thesis examines the processes by which the Indigenous Movement has begun to transform the inequitable political, social and economic relations that have historically marginalized and oppressed indigenous peoples. The Movement represents an …