Chorotega Ceramics: Resilience and Ecotourism

Ecotourism has become a large industry as it encourages travelers to be more conscious about how they conduct themselves in the environments in which they visit. Ecotourism aims to help tourists be more intentional about how they interact in spaces and with people that are culturally different from their own. The industry also aims to provide more opportunities for the people living within the country to have more control or involvement in how tourists interact in their space. This strategy can be great as it provides jobs and generates interest in cultural traditions but it can result in a superficial interest or the loss of nuance when encouraging art from specific cultural groups. People are less inclined to learn more about the significance if there is no effort to talk about the culture and traditions behind the pieces being sold. I think there is a good opportunity to create more interaction or ways for indigenous groups to gain benefits from tourism outside of their general income avenues which are largely agricultural-based but in a way that increases their visibility. The increased visibility can create more investment from people who are not aware to show support for issues that directly affect Indigenous bodies.

Costa Rica is inhabited by multiple indigenous groups of Mesoamerican and South American cultures, currently, they represent 1% of the population. Eight major groups reside within the country, one of which are the Chorotega people. The Chorotega people are an indigenous group located in Costa Rica, primarily in the Nicoya region which is part of the Guanacaste province. Most of the culture has been lost due to assimilation but some of their traditions were well preserved by the people, such as their recipes made from corn, medical knowledge, stories, and pottery techniques.

The Chorotega people use the same traditional pottery methods as their ancestors, by sourcing sand from their local environment and turning it into clay. The clay is then used to create pots entirely by hand forgoing the use of electricity or a foot petal. They then carve symbols denoting ideas such as fertility and power, the pots are then painted with a contrasting colors to make the designs more visible. The pottery is then fired in an earthen kiln which is operated by burning wood. Marcelo was very generous and allowed me to record some of the processes, as he explains everything from gathering the clay to creating the pottery and craving the images.

To do my research, I conducted a few interviews with a pottery artist and some workers from the museums I visited in San Jose city. I was able to talk with Marcelo who is a Chorotega ceramist at the Chorotega Arts and craft museum located in Monteverde, Costa Rica. He explained the overall process of creating the handmade ceramic pieces and the ideas behind the images commonly seen on the finished products. It was also interesting to note some of the differences in the process compared to how I've interacted with pottery in classes. Marcelo only fires his pieces once, this is after glazing and carving the images and the colors seen on the piece beforehand remain once fired. This was shocking as any time I've worked with ceramics, there are various stages: greenware, bisque ware, and the finished product. First, there is the making of the ceramic piece, then it dries for a bit before its first firing then it is glazed before its final firing, and you're able to carve and do underglaze, etc between those stages. Through talking with Marcelo he noted that there is a growing interest in indigenous culture from tourists as they pass through but there isn't much of an interest to preserve the techniques from the younger Chorotega generations. Though Indigenous peoples are known within Costa Rica and there are some larger groups, there are still issues primarily regarding maintaining land rights which is also mentioned within the National Museum. Marcelo placed a large emphasis on saying the Chorotega and preventing the name from being lost, he mainly wanted the knowledge of the people and their legacy to continue passed him. He was very passionate about the art and the process of creating a single piece of pottery using the techniques passed down to him from his father and his father's father as there is a sense of pride in being a part of the generational legacy.

During my time in San Jose, I went to visit the Costa Rican National History Museum and the Jade Museum which is adjacent. The national museum though it mentions the indigenous groups within the country they are not given much space within the museum. Their ceramic art is only given one glass shelf which separates two larger exhibits that discuss Mesoamerican art before going into the history of Spanish colonization. It was very reminiscent of how some US museums give only a small mention of Indigenous groups and the art that was created before colonization. The workers I interviewed within the museum were not too familiar with the indigenous groups and due to the positioning of the display, many tourists didn't really stop to learn more. I also went to visit the Jade Museum, on the 5th floor there were rows and cabinets filled with pottery that was most likely from various indigenous groups. Most were clumped together based on similar themes, but they were not attached to a particular group. There was also not much mention of the possible influence the early Mesoamerican societies had on the Indigenous artistic styles.

Though the village of Guatitil district isn’t necessarily a popular tourist location, it does offer a wonderful opportunity to build activities and business that directly supports the village through understanding and participating in their artistic traditions. This experience is more eco-friendly as there would be less focus on blind consumption of tourist-curated products and offers tourists the opportunity to learn about the people and space they are interacting with.

This would also be a great opportunity to promote indigenous culture and businesses, as well as showcase that the Chorotega people and their culture are still living and breathing. This would also give a glimpse into how Eco-tourism can help support local communities and support the conservation of Chorotega traditions. This may also address the potential nuance that is lost when communities are trying to appeal to a larger market of people and how this can alter the representation of their culture. During my time I can see that most of the push for indigenous work or anything pertaining to learning more about them was only used something to attract tourists by providing more "handmade" crafts. Yet they are still not as popular as the other common tourist souvenir items, and there is no reassurance the product is actually handmade and supports the people who created them. The workers within the souvenir shops I visited were not able to tell me where or who exactly the funds were being given.

The indigenous people of Costa Rica today mainly struggle to gain respect over what lands are theirs as well as be acknowledged as Costa Rican. These struggles are parallel to many of the movements and struggles seen among Indigenous groups within the U.S.