Re-envisioning Caribbean Costa Rica Chinese-West Indian Interaction in Limón during the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

While West Indians constituted a much larger immigrant group in the port of Limón, Costa Rica and its environs, Chinese also migrated there during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In hopes of maintaining their culture and in response to the prejudice they faced, both groups formed their own tightknit transnational subcommunities. Nevertheless, they also interacted with each other. These interactions ranged from tension and conflict on the one hand, to routine, peaceful interaction and even collaboration on the other. In particular, class differences and the marginalization these groups experienced combined to produce this complex relationship. Tension and conflict often emerged due to both sides hoping to move up the social ladder and because of the economic power that many Chinese held as shopkeepers and lenders. Nevertheless, as groups experiencing social marginalization and living in proximity to each other, they could develop neutral or positive social and economic relationships.