"They Have Evil, We have Evil" Economic, Social and Artistic Responses to Evangelical Incursions Among

Abstract: A comparison of Costa Rican Cabécar and Malecu tribal groups as they experience distinct patterns of acculturation through missionary activity and the ensuing shifts in the role and function of tribal art and artisans. We look at how these two groups paradoxically seek to preserve and exploit traditional animistic mythologies and related art forms through tourist art production vis-à-vis evangelical and Catholic religious demands that artisans divorce spirituality and creativity in response to economic necessities of daily life. Introduction: The Cabécar and Guatuso-Malecu indigenous groups of Costa Rica continue to experience distinctly different patterns of survival and redefinition, economically, as well as in terms of religion and related aspects of visual culture. The focus of this paper is on the role of increased evangelical missionary activity in this complex dynamic, with the ensuing shifts in the rol