Latin American heritage
A summer Christmas in Costa Rica
January 5, 2026By: Maya Barillas Mohan, Staff Writer “Pura vida” is the unofficial national motto of laid-back, cloudless Costa Rica. It is the one-size-fits-all response to life’s greatest satisfactions: good food, weather, and company. Because Costa Rica is 10 degrees from the equator, it gets 12 hours of daylight starting just after 5:00 a.m. Locals wake up with the sun and have lengthy coffee breaks. “Puntualidad” is not a high-mileage word in this language. The Costa Rica I visited annually since I was small was detached from the hubbub in the capital, and I was allowed to teeter across the streets unsupervised…
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SFYou: Dr. María Ignacia Barraza
November 11, 2025By: Noeka Nimmervoll, Staff Writer María Ignacia Barraza is an assistant professor in the department of world languages and literatures in the faculty of arts and social sciences at SFU. This semester, she’s teaching “Modern World Literatures 104W” and “World…
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Exploring Vancouver’s Latin American culture
May 25, 2024By: Michelle Young, Copy Editor Though Latin Americans make up roughly 3% of Canada’s population, we are here. Latin Americans have come to Canada since at least the 1950s, with an influx of Chileans migrating to Vancouver following the Chilean…
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The term “Hispanic” ignores the complexities of Latin American heritage
October 11, 2021by Michelle Young, Copy Editor Ah yes, the so-called “Hispanic Heritage Month.” A month made to celebrate the “histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.” Grouping these…
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