What We Need Is Buen Vivir

For farmers in Costa Rica, quality of life, well-being, and connection to land are more important than economic growth.

 

WORDS Felipe Montoya-Greenheck and Ana María Martínez | IMAGES Felipe Montoya-Greenheck

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The Brunca Region in southern Costa Rica, where we have worked with peasant and Indigenous communities exploring their livelihoods, links to the land, and perceptions of well-being, is among the most economically depressed areas in the country. It is also known as the most ecologically and culturally diverse, with some of the world’s biodiversity hotspots and the presence of five of the eight Indigenous Peoples of Costa Rica. This combination of factors makes the Brunca Region a propitious setting for exploring the relationships between well-being and its economic, as well as biocultural, determinants.

In our conversations with campesinos (peasants) in the region, they all agreed that their livelihoods based on cultivating the land were arduous and poorly remunerated; yet, many were determined to carry on with their peasant way of life. Cultivating the land only partially satisfied their subsistence needs, but this partial “poverty” was compensated by the many ways in which being a campesino fulfilled other fundamental needs. Being a campesino contributes to their sense of identity — a group identity they are proud of despite historical and ongoing discrimination.

“I am very proud to know how to plant, to cultivate, and not only to plant for myself. I like to share with my neighbors and with whomever I can. What more can I be, if not a campesina!”
— Rosanery Rivera

 

The campesinos’ way of life satisfies their need for creation — or co-creation, as some of them mentioned, referring to their collaboration with nature in cultivating their crops, watching how, by interacting with nature, their labor brings forth beautiful fields of crops that end up on their dinner tables.

“I love it when we plant some crop, say, maize, manioc, and it begins to germinate . . . that joy that emanates from us when we work the land. Only those of us who do this, who feel this, can fully appreciate it! It is beautiful to feel that passion for what one cultivates.”
— Javier Calderón

 

“To see how the soil reacts to what you do to it . . . that is fantastic! I mean, we know that we are not the creators of nature. But we are co-creators! And then the experience that you can go to your own garden and you can collect what you will eat, that is priceless!”
— Roberto Diaz

 

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As one campesino pointed out, their way of life fulfills their need for learning and understanding:

“Here we do a little of everything. One is the manager, you have to be a mechanic, you have to be an engineer, an agronomist, everything.”
— Marvin Arias

 

Their autonomy as peasants also fulfills their needs for freedom and participation in decisions and activities that affect their lives.

“As you can see, in my farm, if I wish, I yoke the oxen and go off with them. If I want, I saddle the horse, and off I go. I have no hurry of any kind. It is a tranquility, a tremendous peace.”
— Jorge Arias

 

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Because many of their fundamental needs are fulfilled by being campesinos, many of them emphatically stated they would not change their way of life for anything:

“I always say it. Had I studied any profession, I would not be as happy as I am with farming, being a campesino.”
— Marvin Arias

 

“I feel that I am definitely in love with what I do. No, I live it. I would never opt for the life of any princess, over this.”
— Leidy Bolaños

 

“I would never abandon this piece of land. I feel it is a fundamental part of me. And it is there so we can take advantage of what we have, what our parents have left us, not only the piece of land, but also the teachings.”
— Alejandra López

 

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Indigenous communities in the Brunca Region, despite their different worldviews and land use practices, share with their non-Indigenous campesino neighbors an appreciation for the sources of well-being that are not dependent on economic wealth. If the Brunca Region is considered among the most economically depressed in the country, the Indigenous communities are the most economically marginalized in this region. Yet, the five Indigenous Peoples in the region have rich and diverse cultural traditions. They see themselves, as humans, as just one more member of a community of living and spiritual beings, and as recipients of the bounty of Mother Nature (of the Niña Iriria, in the case of the Bribri people). And they consider themselves endowed with the responsibility of caring for the earth, including the plants and animals, mountains, and rivers.

“For us, what is most important is that we are part of the earth. We do not have a view of superiority over nature; instead, she is part of us. She is like our other half, as we must take care of her, and she gives us what we need. They criticize us Indigenous people because we are not ambitious economically. Well, that part of the ambition to have cash, to have bank accounts, for us that has never been important. For us what is important is to be healthy and eat well. What people do not understand is that we want the forested mountain so we can look for our medicines there and that we plant what we want to consume. As long as we are healthy, we are happy. These are concepts that the people, the non-Indigenous part, do not understand, and so they criticize us.”
— Julio Figueroa

 

Their diverse Indigenous cosmologies give the campesinos a sense of identity and place in the universe. Their responsibility of caring for the land gives them a sense of participation in the activities and decisions that affect their lives. When their Indigenous Territories are intact (for which they continue to struggle), it also contributes to their feeling of freedom.

“For me, the earth is like our mother. She is the one who gives us food, gives us a place to walk, a place to be in peace. Because a person who does not have, at least in our case, if we do not have land, you can see, that person seems lost, worried about what he will do. But those of us who have our piece of land, as we say, we kick up our feet, and are at peace, because we have where to walk, and we feel that our generation walks, that they have where to walk. On the land, there is water, there are plants, there is everything: things I can touch, I can see, I can eat. There I can run.”
— Enrique Rivera

 

When they speak about their traditional ways of cultivating and caring for the land, the idea of Buen Vivir (a Latin American concept with Indigenous roots in Indigenous notions of well-being) comes up. An Indigenous Bribri man mentions how his people’s way of caring for the land is criticized by non-Indigenous people, but for him it provides well-being, Buen Vivir:

“We see nature, the forests, in our own way. But what do non-Indigenous people say of us? That we are lazy, that we do not work, we do not progress. But it is not that. It is not that. If we cut all the forest down, where will the water be? They do not see that. What they need is the economy, the money. What we need is Buen Vivir. Together with nature. Because here we produce almost all we need. The only thing we need to buy is salt. Yes, salt, because everything else we have.”
— Marino Delgado

 

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Marino Delgado’s struggle to recover land in the Indigenous Territories provides Buen Vivir for him and his people, as well as for the other forest inhabitants:

“Sometimes I contemplate all the land recoveries we have carried out, and the land has regenerated, the vegetation and the animals that before were frightened off have returned. Now we have jaguars. There are jaguars around here. There are many peccaries that have begun multiplying, becoming accustomed to the place. There are many, now, you should see. Even animals that for a long time had disappeared have returned. For a long time, there had not been toucans. Now there are several. It is because of the regrowth of the vegetation.”
— Marino Delgado

 

An Indigenous Bribri woman mentions how modern society only looks to exploit the land, by covering it with concrete, as she puts it. In contrast, their way of interacting with the land is to allow the forest to grow, which provides them with their vital needs:

“Many non-Indigenous people always wonder why we want land, if we have many hectares that they consider as idle, unworked. But for us, there are two very different concepts. For the non-Indigenous, we see that they cut down trees, cut down, cut down, and lay a bunch of cement. Not us. Because that is what working is for them, making cement, making cement. Covering the entire layer of the earth with cement. Not us. For us, we must care for the land. We have to preserve it. Because wherever the land is, every day a seed will grow.”
— Yamileth Figueroa

 

This harmonious coexistence with nature is a fundamental aspect of Buen Vivir. An Indigenous Bröran woman describes how her people care for the land so that it produces oxygen for the benefit of the entire planet:

“We resist because we care for a planet that is for everyone. Because the money that the large corporations generate is not for everyone. It is only for a few. But the air that we produce is for everyone, the water that we produce is for everyone, and you come here and I can share with you this wind, this air, that is for everyone, but the money of a rich man he will not share it.”
— Elides Rivera

 

She continues by emphasizing the importance of protecting and participating in God’s Creation and how, on the other hand, consumerism is destroying the planet:

“Today what is killing the planet is consumerism. Fresh air is not killing it, the water that flows in the rivers is not killing it, the little birds and the butterflies are not killing it, nor are the Indigenous Peoples. We, the Indigenous Peoples, are putting all our energies that the Creator gave us to save this planet. Those of us who have Indigenous identity, we are doing this. Every day we get up and we dedicate our energy to mitigate this climate change that is ravaging our planet. To all the young people, to the men and women, wherever you are, we can all contribute to this big house, to this cosmic house that the Creator left for all of us, even though we are all seeds of different colors.”
— Elides Rivera

 

An Indigenous Cabécar woman verbalizes this contrast eloquently:

“The difference is that we do not seek capitalism. We seek well-being and quality of life. And that does not mean having abundance. It means having peace, having tranquility. That is what the other people do not understand. They want to put us in a world that is not our world. Our world is different.”
— Doris Ríos

 

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It is undeniable that many fundamental needs can be satisfied with economic resources. Yet, the prevailing economic system that privileges profit and economic growth above all else is facing its limits and consequences, including environmental destruction and persistent social injustice. Today, it is urgent to recognize other ways of satisfying fundamental needs and providing well-being that are not dependent on economic abundance.

Biological and cultural diversity are fundamental for social and environmental well-being. These living repositories of wealth have been and continue to be the greatest sources of well-being for the majority of people and our fellow living creatures.

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Felipe Montoya-Greenheck is a Costa Rican environmental anthropologist who has worked with peasant and Indigenous communities in Costa Rica for over thirty years. His explorations of social and ecological well-being have contributed to biocultural diversity perspectives. He is the Director of York University’s Las Nubes EcoCampus in southern Costa Rica. Read more from Felipe Montoya-Greenheck:

• Legal Rights and Spiritual Responsibilities: Indigenous Land Struggles in Costa Rica
• Pura Vida: Costa Rican Peasants Fight for a World That Contains Many Worlds
• Cultivating Respect: Reviving Forgotten Plant Knowledge in Costa Rica
• Fostering Well-being Through Biocultural Diversity: The Las Nubes Project in a Biological Corridor in Southern Costa Rica
• Reviving Traditional Seed Exchange and Cultural Knowledge in Rural Costa Rica

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Ana María Martínez is interested in the intersections of climate change, biodiversity conservation, rural well-being, and international education. She has a master’s in environmental studies (2010) and a PhD in education (2017), both from York University. She is the Associate Director of the Las Nubes EcoCampus. Read more from Ana María Martínez.