Pål Robson
Pål Robson
Macalester College
Participant in the 2010 ACM Student Symposium on Off-Campus Study
Neoliberalism and Social Response: A Preliminary Study of the Peasantry in Alfaro Ruiz, Costa Rica
I conducted field research in the canton of Alfaro Ruiz on how the farmers there have responded to various economic and political reforms on the behest of neoliberal ideology and transnational elites. I argue that due to the strong social democratic history of Costa Rica, the neoliberal reforms left a majority of the public disillusioned in a social and political impasse. This impasse can be seen in the farming community of Alfaro Ruiz and how it attempts to deal with these reforms in various ways. Methods applied include interviews and historical research.
My presentation contains a discourse on Costa Rica's political economy from the 1950s and up until the signing of the CAFTA in 2007, as well as an analysis and discussion of the interviews conducted with the farmers themselves.
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