…one in an occasional series

“'Finding The Better Life':
The Experiences Of
Nicaraguan Women In Costa Rica"

Wednesday, September 20, 2006
4:30PM
Bartley 3001
Caitlin Fouratt, ‘04

The research is based on the work I did during my year in Costa Rica on a Fulbright grant (2004-2005) and on further fieldwork conducted over the winter of 2005-2006. The work is exploratory in nature because other researchers have talked a great deal about the Nicaraguan population in Costa Rica without talking with the Nicaraguan communities. Migrant women represent an especially marginalized group. My work seeks to reveal the concerns of Nicaraguans as immigrants and women as they navigate their host society.

The three major areas of concern, my interviewees identified are:

• Xenophobia and discrimination
• The 'official' spheres of documentation
• Employment and social services
• Concerns centered on the 'home' and domestic spaces

These concerns reveal areas of migrants' experiences that have been largely absent from public debate and ignored by organizations working with migrants.

Co-sponsors: