Abstract

AMARIS CERVANTES, Orlando. The Huetar people and 'tribeless' indigenous people: differences and similarities with regards to residence and occupation in the 2011 Costa Rican census. Reflexiones [online]. 2016, vol.95, n.1, pp.33-49. ISSN 1659-2859.

The article analyzes the residence and occupations of the Huetar people, using the 2011 Costa Rican Census; contrasting it with the residence and occupations of those who identified themselves as "tribeless indigenous" and/or "white or mixed" in this census. The findings indicate that those who self-identify as Huetar and those who do so as "Tribeless indigenous" share similar characteristics with regards to their location and their occupations; which suggests that those who identify themselves as "Tribeless indigenous", born on traditionally Huetar cantons, are in fact Huetar, even if they do not identify as such. This would mean that the Huetar people are larger than what the identification with the nominal category expresses or allows for. The study also delves into the occupational differences that exist between those who self-identify as Huetar and "Tribeless indigenous", as a whole, and those who self-identify as "white or mixed"; where the latter hold the higher paying occupations, while the Huetar also show differences with regards to the other indigenous groups. These differences are fundamentally related to the Huetar territory of Quitirrisí's proximity to the Great Metropolitan Area (GAM), and to those locations where the other members of this group more recently reside.

Keywords : Indigenous Identity; Displacement; Internal Migration; Occupation; Cultural Control.

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