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Abstract
Nicaragua presents the first case in which plurinationalism in a country became legislated and
regional autonomy was granted to the inhabitants of the Atlantic coast. By using content analysis
and interviews, this paper explores the social representations of national identity in advertising
campaigns used by both the private and public sectors in Nicaragua. I argue that both sectors
work as intermediaries that continue to reinforce the dominant expression of "Nicaraguanidad"
as merely that of the Pacific coast. This position is founded on the assumption that national
identity is constructed and deconstructed discursively through means of socialization. Although
Nicaragua was the first country to grant regional autonomy to a region, findings showed that the
discourse on national identity presented in promotional campaigns by both the private and
public sectors has not been successfully transformed to represent Nicaragua as a plurinational
state. This paper concludes that these representations of “Nicaraguaness” contribute to the
maintenance of a predominantly Pacific national identity discourse.