Narratives from the Pineapple Republic. On national self-understanding and sustainability paradoxes in Costa Rica as detected in Adrián Jiménez Brais’ play PIÑA

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47633/v8kwtd85

Keywords:

agrarian extractivism, drama, green exceptionalism, narrative analysis, pineapple, sustainable development, work and peace

Abstract

The following article analyzes the play PIÑA (2023) by Costa Rican author Adrían Jiménez Brais. Based on an understanding of literature as a repository of social knowledge, where urgent narratives, discourses and issues are made visible and negotiated, this study focuses on the function of storytelling in the play. The play deconstructs Costa Rican narratives that pertain to the core of national self-understanding and identity formation, and that promote current agricultural extractivism, producing sustainability paradoxes. By working out these narratives and situating them in cultural history, the literary analysis aims to show, in line with Dillon and Craig, to what extent the play places "narrative evidence" alongside scientific evidence.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aguilar Vargas, M. (2007). Los Papeles de Silvio Víctor. Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.

Amoretti Hurtado, M. (2002). Magón: la irresistible seducción del discurso. Editorial de Costa Rica.

Bachtin, M. M. (1979). Die Ästhetik des Wortes. R. Grübel (ed.). Frankfurt a.M., Suhrkamp.

Jiménez Brais, A. (2019). Representación de la obra PIÑA [video]. Escuela de Artes Dramáticas, Universidad de Costa Rica. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je_u1QlRcmc

Jiménez Brais, A. (2023). PIÑA. Repertorio Americano, 33, 407–428. https://web.archive.org/web/20240806004738/https://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/repertorio/article/view/19323

Chao, S., Wolford, W., Ofstehage, A., Guttal, S., Gonçalves, E., & Ayala, F. (2024). The Plantationocene as analytical concept: a forum for dialogue and reflection. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 51(3), 541–563. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2023.2228212

Córdoba Rojas, D. (2019). “Piña”: una puesta en escena que busca concientizar sobre el cultivo de esta fruta. Noticias Universidad de Costa Rica. https://www.ucr.ac.cr/noticias/2019/5/10/pina-una-puesta-en-escena-que-busca-concientizar-sobre-el-cultivo-de-esta-fruta.html

Cubillo Paniagua, R. (2022). Emergence and consolidation of the Olympus generation: the founders of the so-called Costa Rican literature (1880-1920). Noticias Universidad de Costa Rica. https://www.ucr.ac.cr/noticias/2021/10/22/surgimiento-y-consolidacion-de-la-generacion-del-olimpo-los-fundadores-de-la-llamada-literatura-costarricense-1880-1920.html

Dillon, S., & Craig, C. (2023). Storylistening: How narrative evidence can improve public reasoning about climate change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 14(2), e812. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.812

Dürbeck, G. (2018). Narrative des Anthropozän – Systematisierung eines interdisziplinären Diskurses. Kulturwissenschaftliche Zeitschrift, 3(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.2478/kwg-2018-0001

Eco, U. (1982). Lector in fabula. Lumen.

Erll, A. & Roggendorf, S. (2002). Kulturgeschichtliche Narratologie: Die Historisierung und Kontextualisierung kultureller Narrative. In A. Nünning, & V. Nünning (Eds.). Neue Ansätze in der Erzähltheorie (pp. 73–113). Wissenschaftlicher Verlag

Esencial Costa Rica. (n.d.). Retrieved August 22, 2024, from https://www.esencialcostarica.com

González Bonilla, E. (2020). Más allá del Siglo: Entre bananos y machetes (Las Hermanas Argueta, Ed.). Editorial EVA.

Gutiérrez Arguedas, A., & Granados Chaverri, C. (2020). Nacionalismo, Frontera y Excepcionalismo Verde en Costa Rica. Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos (46), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.15517/AECA.V46I0.43807

Haraway, D., & Tsing, A. (2019). Reflections on the Plantationocene. A conversation with Donna Haraway and Anna Tsing moderated by Gregg Mitman. Edge Effects, 1–19. https://web.archive.org/web/20250218074517/https://edgeeffects.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PlantationoceneReflections_Haraway_Tsing.pdf

Iser, W. (1976). Der Akt des Lesens: Theorie ästhetischer Wirkung. Fink.

Jiménez Matarrita, A. (2005). El imposible país de los filósofos. Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.

Jones, M. D., McBeth, M. K., & Shanahan, E. A. (2022). A Brief introduction to the Narrative Policy Framework. In M. D. Jones, M. K. McBeth, & E. A. Shanahan (Eds.), Narratives and the Policy Process: Applications of the Narrative Policy Framework (pp. 1–12), Montana State University Library. https://doi.org/10.15788/npf1

Jones, M. D., & Song, G. (2014). Making Sense of Climate Change. How Story Frames Shape Cognition. Political Psychology, 35(4), 447–476. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12057

Kaltmeier, O., Rohland, E., Cham, G., Lima, S. H., Acker, A., Romero, L. E. Á., Becerra, J. A. C., Acosta, V. G., McDermott, A. G., Gutiérrez, R., Duarte, R. H., Ibarra, C., Sandoval, M. F. L., Bohne, S. M., Pádua, J. A., Rashkin, E., Scott, H. V., Taks, J., Wendt, H., & Zarrilli, A. G. (2024). The Anthropocene as Multiple Crisis: Latin American Perspectives on Land Use. In O. Kaltmeier, M. F. López Sandoval, J. A. Pádua, & A. G. Zarrilli (Eds.), Land Use – Handbook of the Anthropocene in Latin America I (pp. 15–44). Bielefeld University Press. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783839470114-003/html

Koschorke, A. (2012). Wahrheit und Erfindung: Grundzüge einer Allgemeinen Erzähltheorie. S. Fischer Verlag.

Latour, B., Ait-Touati, F., & Latour, C. (2011). Kosmokolos. Global Climate Tragi-Comedy (J. Rose, Trans., Version 4). https://web.archive.org/web/20240622055409/http://www.bruno-latour.fr/sites/default/files/downloads/KOSMOK-JULIE-ROSE-GB.pdf

Lejano, R., Ingram, M., & Ingram, H. (2013). The Power of Narrative in Environmental Networks. MIT Press.

León Araya, A. (2021). Agrarian extractivism and sustainable development. The politics of pineapple expansion in Costa Rica. In B. M. McKay, A. Alonso-Fradejas, & A. Ezquerro-Cañete (Eds.), Agrarian Extractivism in Latin America (pp. 99–116). University of Calgary. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367822958-6

Méndez Alfaro, R. Á. (2007). Imágenes del poder. Juan Santamaría y el ascenso de la nación en Costa Rica (1860-1915). Editorial UNED.

MINAE – SINAC – CONAGEBIO – FONAFIFO. (2018). Sexto Informe Nacional al Convenio de Diversidad Biológica de Costa Rica. https://web.archive.org/web/20230806102405/https://www.cbd.int/doc/nr/nr-06/cr-nr-06-p2-es.pdf

Molina Jiménez, I., & Díaz Arias, D. (2021). El gobierno de Carlos Alvarado y la contrarrevolución neoliberal en Costa Rica. CIHAC.

Mondol López, M. (2021). Literatura, identidades y sociedad costarricense. Desde el siglo XXI hasta los inicios de la literatura nacional. EUNED.

Monge Hernández, C. (2015). Desarrollo sostenible a la tica: geopolítica y ambiente en la Administración Figueres Olsen (1994-1998). Revista Rupturas, 5(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.22458/rr.v5i1.712

Morataya-Montenegro, R., & Bautista-Solís, P. (2020). Water Governance and Adaptation to Drought in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. In E. de Oliveira Vieira, S. Sandoval-Solis, V. de Albuquerque Pedrosa, & J. P. Ortiz-Partida (Eds.), Integrated Water Resource Management: Cases from Africa, Asia, Australia, Latin America and USA (pp. 85–100). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16565-9_8

Probst, S., Dürbeck, G., & Schaub, C. (2022). Was heißt es, von ‚anthropozäner Literatur‘ zu sprechen? Einleitung. In G. Dürbeck, S. Probst, & C. Schaub (Eds.), Anthropozäne Literatur (Vol. 1, pp. 1–24). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-63899-6_1

Quesada Soto, Á. (2008). Breve historia de la literatura costarricense. Ed. Costa Rica.

Schlünder, S. (2024). Estéticas de contaminación en el plantacioceno: Adrián Jiménez Brais, PIÑA (2019/2023). In R. Bolte, H. Doetsch, B. Loy & S. Schlünder (Ed.), Existencias contaminadas (pp. 273–290). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111339290-016

Schmieder, F. (2018). »Eingebaute Verantwortungslosigkeit« Über Systembedingungen mangelnder Nachhaltigkeit. In A. Henkel, N. Lüdtke, N. Buschmann, & L. Hochmann (Eds.), Reflexive Responsibilisierung: Verantwortung für nachhaltige Entwicklung (pp. 181–194). Transcript Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839440667-010

Shanahan, E. A., McBeth, M. K., & Hathaway, P. L. (2011). Narrative Policy Framework. The Influence of Media Policy Narratives on Public Opinion. Politics & Policy, 39(3), 373–400. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2011.00295.x

Soto Quirós, R. (2008). Imaginando una nación de raza blanca en Costa Rica: 1821-1914. Amérique Latine Histoire et Mémoire. Les Cahiers ALHIM, 15. https://doi.org/10.4000/alhim.2930

Wolford, W. (2021). The Plantationocene: A lusotropical contribution to the theory. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 111(6), 1622–1639. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2020.1850231

Published

2025-06-15

Issue

Section

Publicaciones arbitradas (artículos, ensayos, revisiones bibliográficas)

How to Cite

Schlünder, S. . (2025). Narratives from the Pineapple Republic. On national self-understanding and sustainability paradoxes in Costa Rica as detected in Adrián Jiménez Brais’ play PIÑA. Academic Journal Arjé , 8(1), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.47633/v8kwtd85

Similar Articles

1-10 of 30

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Most read articles by the same author(s)