Abstract

LEON ARAYA, Andrés  and  MONTOYA TABASH, Valeria. The function of borders in the political economy of Costa Rican pineapple plantations. Trace (Méx. DF) [online]. 2021, n.80, pp.116-137.  Epub Oct 11, 2021. ISSN 2007-2392.  https://doi.org/10.22134/trace.80.2021.793.

Costa Rica is the largest exporter of fresh pineapple in the world (Harvard’s Growth Lab 2020), with more than half of its production located in the border region with Nicaragua. Based on ethnographic research carried out in two Costa Rican communities located near the border, we argue in this article that the border line between both countries accomplishes three functions that are crucial to explain both the expansion of the crop and its location in this region: 1) it separates the spaces of pineapple production, of those of social reproduction of the labor force; 2) it renders migrant Nicaraguan workers in Costa Rica vulnerable, due to their irregular entry into the country; 3) it hinders labor organization, due to both the high mobility of the labor force, and by turning class struggle, into conflicts between nations.

Keywords : borders; plantations; transborder labor; pineapple production; Central America.