Precario: Everyday Histories of Eviction, Squatting, and Survival in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, the adjective precario - meaning precarious or temporary - functions as a noun to denote a squatter community, encapsulating conditions of instability, poverty, and scarcity.Since the nineteenth century, eviction and squatting have shaped urban and rural landscapes across Latin America, and wherever informal housing has expanded, insecurity and poverty have followed. In Precario Joe Lenti presents a narrative-driven collection of stories that trace the loss of land, forced departures, and the occupation of new spaces in Costa Rica from the sixteenth-century moment of contact to the present.Drawing on an expansive archive of secondary scholarship, media accounts, state records, and written and oral testimonies from precaristas, politicians, lawmakers, journalists, and housing activists, this first-of-its-kind English-language history offers a ground-level account of how ordinary Costa Ricans have sought to secure land and shelter out of necessity.Their efforts are situate