Chinese Migration and the Shaping of Costa Rica

“On November 20, 1930 the Ulúa arrived in Limón, Costa Rica with four Chinese passengers carrying Costa Rican passports…”

So begins today’s story from Dr. Benjamín Narváez. 

For further reading:
“The Power and Pitfalls of Patronage: Chinese Immigrants in Costa Rica during the Era of Exclusion, 1897–1943” Journal of Migration History 6 (2020) 

Episode transcript:
https://skymichaeljohnston.com/90secnarratives/

Transcript

90 Second Narratives
Season 8: “Journeys”
Episode 2: “Chinese Migration and the Shaping of Costa Rica”

Sky Michael Johnston:

Hi there, welcome back to 90 Second Narratives. I am Sky Michael Johnston and this is the podcast that gives you “little stories with BIG historical significance.” Today our current season’s theme of Journeys continues. Our storyteller is Dr. Benjamín Narváez, an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota Morris. And here he is with the story, “Chinese Migration and the Shaping of Costa Rica.”

Benjamín Narváez:

On November 20, 1930 the Ulúa arrived in Limón, Costa Rica with four Chinese passengers carrying Costa Rican passports. However, after they disembarked, officials became suspicious and detained two of them while the other two escaped. Investigators discovered that their papers were fraudulent and that the men had obtained them with the help of Chinese in Costa Rica and Panama. The former had also bribed some Costa Rican officials. The Chinese involved in this case may have broken Costa Rican law, but they were responding to a racist Chinese exclusion law in the pursuit of community and economic opportunity.

The story of Chinese migration to Costa Rica challenges the country’s myth of exceptionalism—or the idea of a white nation, with a democratic, egalitarian tradition rooted in a smallholder past. During the nineteenth century, approximately one thousand Chinese migrated to Costa Rica. However, from 1897 to 1943 the country banned Chinese immigration. While Chinese exclusion was hemispheric, Costa Rican elites were also using the Chinese as a foil in their efforts to create a hegemonic vision of Costa Rican whiteness that could mask rising social inequalities. 

The Chinese responded to Sinophobia and exclusion by creating a transnational sub-community, while integrating. They turned to each other and the larger diaspora to maintain family and community, create businesses, protect themselves, and circumvent exclusion as another 1000 Chinese immigrated during the ban. That said, Chinese immigrants also culturally adapted, forged business relationships, friendships, and family with Costa Ricans, and they participated in Costa Rican patriotic events, and even naturalized. They also sought help from powerful outside figures. Ultimately, the Chinese contributed to Costa Rica’s economic and social formation, turned the country into an integral part of a larger network of overseas Chinese, and slowly carved out their own space as Chinese-Costa Ricans.

Sky Michael Johnston:

You can learn more about the journey from China to Costa Rica in the early twentieth century and what the history of Chinese immigration means for our conception of Costa Rica today. Take a look at Dr. Narváez’s 2020 article in the Journal of Migration Historyentitled, “The Power and Pitfalls of Patronage: Chinese Immigrants in Costa Rica during the Era of Exclusion, 1897–1943.” You’ll find a link to that article in the episode description.

We’re going on another historical journey one week from today. Please subscribe to 90 Second Narratives and join me again then.