Costa Rica is heralded as a leader in social and environmental issues and an example of a successful development story. However, how does this singular narrative minimize the more complex lived experiences of people? I introduce nuances to the story of Costa Rica by centering the lived experiences of women, drawing on primary data from questionnaires and interviews, and situating my research within the long history of cooperatives in Costa Rica, to learn more about issues women face and opportunities these institutions may offer. When looking through the lens of everyday experiences, we see that despite the significant progress in creating a safe country for all, women still experience inequality, discrimination, and violence. My hope is by including women’s voices, we move beyond the “single story” toward a more nuanced understanding of multilayered lives of Costa Rican women and an appreciation for the opportunities they seek and create.

Submitted by Sara Ribeiro (sara.ribeiro@ucb.br) on 2018-03-12T20:41:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DanutaCoelhodeOliveiraSoaresDissertacao2013.pdf: 1013025 bytes, checksum: fe6f91775ca52a06e13e31afd1f3b3b4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Sara Ribeiro (sara.ribeiro@ucb.br) on 2018-03-12T20:48:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DanutaCoelhodeOliveiraSoaresDissertacao2013.pdf: 1013025 bytes, checksum: fe6f91775ca52a06e13e31afd1f3b3b4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-03-12T20:48:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DanutaCoelhodeOliveiraSoaresDissertacao2013.pdf: 1013025 bytes, checksum: fe6f91775ca52a06e13e31afd1f3b3b4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-28 / The current study analyzes the process of regional integration of South America and its cohesive investments in the MERCOSUL which is marked by fierce regional assymetry which harms the evolution of economic blocks of the subcontinent, such as CAN and UNASUL, mainly, by the failed pursuit of initial objects and the inefficiency of the infrastructure, such as ports, highways, waterways, railways, bridges, power plants, and so forth. The goal of this research consists of analyzing the integration process of South America and its investments in growth and integration in MERCOSUL, through a bibliographical survey and a qualitative approach. Nevertheless, it can be observed that the mechanisms to further this integation are not enough to promote a coordinated structural as well as economic and social cohesion since the development process of integration is driven by works from IIRSA Plan, a shortage of capital programs and by state interests to the detriment of the collectives. It can currently be observed that the recovery of MERCOSUL with the approach and investment in cohesion funds such as FOCEM, notwithstanding new revitalization initiatives of the IIRSA works by UNASUL, with BNDES being a primary financier. However, the structural funds have deficiencies such as a lack of resources, lack of political-institutional convergence in the intrablock commerce, with ineffective management and protectionist measures. Aggravated by a South American intergraton process which proposes utopian goals for the creation of a common market, without regard to the establishing of basic structural conditions. Therefore, it is suggested that there be larger financial investments, improvements in the political-institutional articulation, and reduction of rivalries. These soluions will promote the correct management of resources, besides the necessity of new studies that demonstrate the potential of the region and provide solutions that promote equity of the Member-Nations through the reduction of regional assymetries. / O presente estudo de pesquisa analisa o processo de integra????o regional da Am??rica do Sul e seus investimentos para coes??o no Mercosul que ?? marcado por acirradas assimetrias regionais que prejudicam o processo de evolu????o dos blocos econ??micos do subcontinente, como o CAN e a Unasul, principalmente, pela falha persecu????o dos objetivos iniciais e pela inefici??ncia da infraestrutura, como portos, rodovias, hidrovias, ferrovias, pontes, hidrel??tricas, etc. O objetivo desta pesquisa consiste em analisar o processo de integra????o da America do Sul e seus investimentos para ampliar a integra????o regional no Mercosul, atrav??s de levantamento bibliogr??fico e abordagem qualitativa. Constata-se, portanto, que os mecanismos de aprofundamento dessa integra????o n??o s??o suficientes no sentido de promover uma coordenada coes??o estrutural e, consequentemente, econ??mica e social, uma vez que o processo evolutivo da integra????o ?? impulsionado por obras do Plano IIRSA, pela escassez dos programas de capitais e por interesses Estaduais particulares em detrimento aos coletivos. Observa-se na atualidade a retomada do Mercosul com o enfoque e investimento nos fundos de coes??o como o FOCEM, al??m de novas iniciativas de revitaliza????o das obras do Plano IIRSA pela UNASUL, destacando-se o BNDES como principal financiador do bloco. Entretanto, os fundos estruturais possuem car??ncias, como a defici??nia de recursos, falta de converg??ncia pol??tico-institucional para o com??rcio intrabloco, com gerenciamento ineficaz e demasiadas medidas protecionistas. Agravadas por um processo de integra????o sulamericano, que propunha metas ut??picas de cria????o de um mercado comum, sem atentar-se para o estabelecimento das condi????es b??sicas estruturais. Sugere-se, portanto, maiores investimentos financeiros e melhorias na articula????o pol??tico-institucional, dirimindo rivalidades, que promovam o correto gerenciamento dos recursos, al??m da necessidade de realiza????o de novas pesquisas que evidenciem o potencial da regi??o e forne??a solu????es que promova a equidade entre os Pa??ses-Membros mediante a redu????o das assimetrias regionais.

This thesis is a study of La Nacion, the largest circulating newspaper in Costa Rica. The purpose of this study is to examine whether claims made by La Nacion regarding their fairness and balance of news coverage are justified.

Magíster en Gestión y Políticas Públicas / La evolución y apertura comercial han llevado a un proceso donde el conocimiento se ha convertido en el factor de producción más valorado y relevante, esto por su capacidad para innovar en la creación de insumos, bienes y servicios, lo cual, permite obtener mayores ventajas competitivas para las empresas y la oportunidad de un mayor crecimiento económico para las economías. En Costa Rica, de acuerdo con el Programa Estado de la Nación (2014, p. 45): la Universidad de Costa Rica es el principal centro de investigación del país , esto la convierte en un complemento perfecto para el sector empresarial en la medida en que éste último pueda beneficiarse de procesos de transferencia de conocimientos. En este contexto, las relaciones entre universidad y la empresa adquieren un interés económico y social, en vista de su potencial para la innovación y el desarrollo. En atención a lo anterior, este estudio de caso tiene como propósito analizar los elementos que facilitan y obstaculizan la asociatividad entre la Universidad de Costa Rica y el sector empresarial para la explotación comercial del conocimiento. Para alcanzar el objetivo planteado, el estudio se desarrolla bajo el enfoque de investigación cualitativo tipo exploratorio. Se utilizan fuentes secundarias de información para elaborar el marco conceptual y antecedentes, del cual se toman los elementos para analizar los mecanismos formales e informales existentes en las relaciones de vinculación entre los actores: universidad-Estado-empresa, relacionadas con la transferencia de conocimientos. Asimismo, se realizaron entrevistas a los actores mencionados con el fin de obtener información en profundidad sobre los factores críticos en los procesos de vinculación. En términos generales, los resultados del estudio demuestran que los actuales esfuerzos que realiza el Estado en materia de apoyo a la ciencia y la innovación no contribuyen con el desarrollo de condiciones para la articulación de un sistema que promueva la innovación productiva, por otra parte, la Universidad y el sector empresarial buscan activamente mayor participación en el diseño e implementación de iniciativas que contribuyan a este objetivo, por ejemplo, en el aumento de capacidades institucionales y en la alineación de los incentivos de investigación con las necesidades del país. Se concluye que, el desafío central está en generar una mayor interacción entre la Universidad de Costa Rica, el Estado y el sector empresarial, en la que se pueda crear un modelo de colaboración conjunto, que permita reducir los obstáculos y aprovechar los elementos facilitadores para alcanzar nuevas oportunidades de desarrollo de cara al futuro.

This dissertation examined the relationship between food security status and cultural congruence and indicators of child growth and development in a rural mountain town in Costa Rica. Results show that children from food secure households are significantly shorter and shorter-legged than their food insecure counterparts. It is theorized that these findings correspond to low quality diets associated with increasing commodification of food systems in rural Costa Rica. Identity-based mechanisms are discussed as potential factors contributing to the increasing commodification of life through the encroachment of the global market economy.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1965. / Includes bibliographical references.

Habitat modification is the primary cause of amphibian population declines worldwide. Some species survive in modified habitats whereas others become restricted to small, isolated forest patches. Although many studies compare species richness and composition between modified and intact habitats, the factors and mechanisms that maintain biodiversity in these landscapes are poorly understood. I asked how life history traits and habitat features influence interspecific variation in frog occupancy patterns in tropical pasture and forest. To identify mechanisms underlying occupancy patterns, I used experiments to examine how abiotic conditions in different habitats influence the vital rates of tadpoles. I also explored whether tadpoles use a carnivorous foraging strategy to improve performance in nutrient-poor, ephemeral pools in pasture. Although modified and intact habitats offer abiotic environments that differ in quality for frogs, pastures contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity in fragmented landscapes. I detected an equal number of species but substantially different assemblage composition in forest and pasture. Species that occurred in pasture had different traits than those in forest, including larger body sizes, larger clutch sizes, larger geographic ranges, and reproductive modes that depend on water. The occurrence of pasture-specialists was associated with habitat features at small spatial scales, whereas the occurrence of forest-specialists was associated with habitat features at small and large spatial scales. An experiment indicated that abiotic conditions in pastures may deter or facilitate adult movements to breeding sites. Behavioral selection of sites by two model species was consistent with tadpole performance. Tadpoles of a pasture-specialist performed well across the pasture-forest gradient, but abiotic conditions in pasture facilitated faster growth and development than in edge or forest. In contrast, tadpoles of a forest-specialist performed well only in edge and forest. Most tadpoles occupying ephemeral pasture pools were facultative carnivores or cannibals of eggs and hatchlings. Tadpoles may contribute to the regulation of assemblages in pasture pools, influencing the relative abundance and composition of species through differential predation on eggs and hatchlings. The study of factors and mechanisms that contribute to population growth or decline of species can facilitate understanding of assemblage-level patterns of amphibian diversity in modified landscapes.

Exceptions to Costa Rican Exceptionalism attempts to locate the complex relationship between tourism and inequality in Costa Rican society across intersections of race and class at multiple levels of Costa Rican society. I examine the power dynamics between “the tourist” and the object of the tourist gaze, Costa Rica and Costa Ricans, Costa Rican citizen-nationals and “peripheral” racial minority citizens, and the peripheral citizen and the undocumented national “other.” This study seeks to arrive at a more complex understanding of how racial and class hierarchy is constructed in Costa Rica by analyzing the role of Costa Rica’s large-scale international tourism campaign in perpetuating that construction. I argue that Costa Rica’s national identity formation depends upon the racialization of “exceptional” political, economic, and social achievements, thereby drawing the boundaries of national belonging and citizenship according to certain features of race, gender, and class. As one of the largest economic sectors in Costa Rican society, tourism plays a significant role in the reproduction and dissemination of the “exceptionalist” construction of Costa Rican identity.

This research is an ethnographic case study of the emerging ecotourism economies in the agricultural village of San Gerardo de Rivas, Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica. Due to the village’s location as the main entry point to climb the country’s tallest mountain within Chirripó National Park, the majority of households in San Gerardo now derive some income from tourism. I conducted twenty household surveys, followed by twenty-one semi-structured interviews with male and female heads of households and representatives of local organizations and tourism businesses. Drawing on local perspectives, I found that ecotourism was a complementary income source to agriculture and that men and women were engaging differently in ecotourism employment. Local organizations were involved in the participatory management of ecotourism activities within Chirripó National Park. Ecotourism has affected environmental practices and local people are strategically negotiating the direction of tourism development, including through using environmental discourses, to optimize the benefits to their community.

The study of species diversity patterns and their causes remains a central theme of ecology. Work conducted over the last few decades has shown that both historical and ecological factors are important in determining species diversity patterns. Additionally, different causal mechanisms are important at different spatial and temporal scales. At the regional scale, species diversity patterns can best be studied in terms of three diversity components (alpha, beta and gamma). This study used the amphibians and reptiles of Costa Rica to examine these species diversity components at the regional scale. To accomplish this, existing species lists were compiled from the literature. Additionally, three herpetofaunal surveys were conducted at under surveyed sites to fill knowledge gaps. A survey of Parque Nacional Carara, a transitional zone site on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast, gave evidence of a rich herpetofauna, containing species from both the dry tropical forest to the north and the wet lowland forest to the south. Survey results show that Carara’s herpetofaunal assemblage is more similar to that of the wet forest than the dry forest, and suggest many species from both assemblages reach their range limit at or near the park. Surveys of four sites in the eastern Área de Conservación Guanacaste showed rich herpetofaunal diversity and validated the newly purchased Rincón Rainforest as an important conservation area. A survey of Reserva Natural Absoluta Cabo Blanco provided a preliminary list of amphibian and reptile species of the lower Nicoya Peninsula and highlighted the importance of Laguna Balsitas to the local amphibian fauna. A comparison of amphibian and reptile alpha diversity among 17 sites throughout Costa Rica showed highest alpha amphibian diversity in the lowland rainforests of the Pacific versant and highest reptile alpha diversity in lowland rainforests of the Atlantic versant. An analysis of beta diversity produced dendrograms showing sites within lowland ecoregions being most similar. A Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) of environmental variables showed two climate gradients, an elevation/temperature gradient and a sun/rain gradient, to be important in determining species diversity patterns for both amphibians and reptiles in Costa Rica.