Defining religion, defying tradition? Concord and conflict about the role of religion in a Costa Rican indigenous community

Authors

• Bjørn Tafjord Buskerud University College

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67318

Keywords:

Power (Religion), Bribri Indians, Indians of Central America, Religion -- Definition, Politics and religion, Colonization, Colonialism and neocolonialism, Missions -- Costa Rica, Christianity, Pluralism, Religious, Religions -- Relations

Abstract

When approaching the issue of power, some fundamental questions always arise: Who is in a position to define? When, where, for whom, and why? These are also underlying questions in the particular case that is discussed in this article: Discourses about the role of religion among Bribris in Talamanca, the indigenously dominated area in south-eastern Costa Rica. The author looks at how ‘religion’ is defined by different actors, and into how the same actors understand religion in relation to what they see as other aspects of society and culture – in particular what the Bribris refer to as siwá, a concept they often translate into Spanish as tradición. In doing so, the it is highlighted how different actors discuss and negotiate the role of ‘religion’ in a particular cultural and historical context. For analytical purposes, it is proposed that defining should be seen as a practice that delimits something and gives it a certain place or space in relation to something else. To define is then to exercise power. As a consequence, discourses about the definition and role of religion in Talamanca are seen as both practices of, and contests about power.