Since colonial times indigenous populations of Costa Rica have been systematically oppressed and
... more Since colonial times indigenous populations of Costa Rica have been systematically oppressed and discriminated. As a result indigenous people have been marginalized geographically and socially. Currently social inequities are common and portrayed by an educational, health, economic, technological gap which in spite of recent efforts, still persists. An issue that has recently received attention is the high rate of adolescents that become pregnant within indigenous communities. No studies have addressed this issue in this particular context, although worldwide research is vast. In spite of this, literature available seems to focus in a dichotomist discourse of good and bad, protective and risky, acceptable and stigmatized, many times not taking into full consideration the construction of realities based on subjective experiences nor fundamental socioeconomic, legal, and normative determinants that perpetuate adolescent pregnancy. This research assesses these gaps. A narrative approach was used to analyze the experiences of motherhood of a group of 20 indigenous young mothers from the Ngäbe ethnicity. From the analysis of the narratives surfaced that gender inequality/oppression, a lack of agency, human rights violations, neglect from state institutions, lack of educational/labor opportunities, social exclusion, a permissible social environment and poverty perpetuated a disruptive life course for the participants. This disruptive life course was marked by events of abuse, early-marriage, unplanned pregnancy, gender-based violence and abandonment of the educational system. Nonetheless, a great desire to overcome adversity, provide a better life for their children and modify the societal structure that marked their earlier lives signified a process of restoration through motherhood that eventually translated to a positive outcome in most of the participants’ narratives.
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Papers by Carlos Faerron
discriminated. As a result indigenous people have been marginalized geographically and socially. Currently
social inequities are common and portrayed by an educational, health, economic, technological gap which
in spite of recent efforts, still persists.
An issue that has recently received attention is the high rate of adolescents that become pregnant
within indigenous communities. No studies have addressed this issue in this particular context, although
worldwide research is vast. In spite of this, literature available seems to focus in a dichotomist discourse
of good and bad, protective and risky, acceptable and stigmatized, many times not taking into full
consideration the construction of realities based on subjective experiences nor fundamental socioeconomic,
legal, and normative determinants that perpetuate adolescent pregnancy. This research
assesses these gaps.
A narrative approach was used to analyze the experiences of motherhood of a group of 20
indigenous young mothers from the Ngäbe ethnicity. From the analysis of the narratives surfaced that
gender inequality/oppression, a lack of agency, human rights violations, neglect from state institutions,
lack of educational/labor opportunities, social exclusion, a permissible social environment and poverty
perpetuated a disruptive life course for the participants. This disruptive life course was marked by events
of abuse, early-marriage, unplanned pregnancy, gender-based violence and abandonment of the
educational system. Nonetheless, a great desire to overcome adversity, provide a better life for their
children and modify the societal structure that marked their earlier lives signified a process of restoration
through motherhood that eventually translated to a positive outcome in most of the participants’
narratives.