Rethinking Privilege: U.S. Americans in Cold War Costa Rica

Abstract

Drawing on an historical perspective and a migration studies conceptualization, this article seeks to rethink the concept of privilege and lifestyle migration as it refers to patterns of U.S. immigration to Costa Rica from the end of WWII and up until the late 1970s, several decades before the concept of privilege migration became a buzz word in migration studies, and before Costa Rica itself became a prime destination for privilege migrants. Based on oral histories gathered by the author in 2009 from tens of U.S. American men and women who moved to the country between 1950 and 1980, the article reconsiders the often-automatic link between economic wealth and privilege among immigrants and identifies non-economic manifestations of privilege.