Multiterritorialities of the sea: uses, discourses visual representations in Cahuita, Limón, Costa Rica

To conceive the sea as a multiterritoriality in Cahuita, Limon, Costa Rica challenges the conception of marine space as devoid of social relations yet full of resources and biodiversity; as a static, depoliticized space; and as one exclusively studied through technical and natural scieces, rather than the social sciences.

This multiterritoriality results from both dialogue and conflict between hegemonic agents (international organizations, public institutions, and capital-driven private entities) and non-hegemonic agents (community organizations) that engage with the sea on different scales and temporalities. The study reveals a continuous process of "empting" and deterritorializing the sea, followed by attempts to control the space, its resources, and the people dependent on it. Since the early 20th century, the United Fruit Company (UFCo) dominated this area under the influence of the Monroe Doctrine through extractive enclaves tied to banana cultivation. Later, the sea adjacent to Cahuita became subject to Costa Rican state nationalization, which displaced and marginalized the Cahuita community through policies like the creation of the National Monument, Cahuita National Park, the Maritime Land Zone, and oil concessions. These actions aimed to pave the way for the expansion of the Blue Economy, a neoliberal paradigm that views the sea as a new economic frontier, operating through a global-local architecture.

Conversely, but still relationally, the uses, discourses, and visual representations of non-hegemonic agents—both local (such as the Community Diving Center Embajadores del Mar) and international (like the Universal Negro Improvement Association)—have produced trans-temporal and multi-scalar marine territorialities. Since the arrival of enslaved people from Ghana who escaped from Danish ships that ran aground off Punta Cahuita in the 17th century, to the mid-19th-century turtle hunter settlements where Cahuita National Park stands today, and currently, the reterritorialization efforts by youth reconstructing their identity through underwater archaeology, the territorial bond between Cahuita and its sea has been woven inextricably.

These two major spheres demonstrate that the sea is far from being a natural, pristine, and untouched space. On the contrary, it has been and continues to be multiterritorially produced, which brings us closer to solutions that align with the realities of ecological and social crises.