The Dominican Racial Imaginary: Surveying the Landscape of Race and Nation in Hispaniola (Critical Caribbean Studies)

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Description

This book begins with a simple question: why do such a lot of Dominicans deny the African components of their DNA, culture, and history? 
 
Seeking answers, Milagros Ricourt uncovers a complex and frequently contradictory Dominican racial imaginary. Observing how Dominicans have traditionally identified in opposition to their neighbors at the island of Hispaniola—Haitians of African descent—she finds that the Dominican Republic’s social elite has long propagated a national creation myth that conceives of the Dominican as a perfect hybrid of native islanders and Spanish settlers. Yet as she pores through rare historical documents, interviews latest Dominicans, and recalls her own childhood memories of life at the island, Ricourt encounters persistent challenges to this myth. Through fieldwork at the Dominican-Haitian border, she gives a firsthand take a look at how Dominicans are resisting the official account of their national identity and as a substitute embracing the African influence that has all the time been a part of their cultural heritage.  
 
Building at the work of theorists ranging from Edward Said to Édouard Glissant, this book expands our understanding of how national and racial imaginaries develop, why they persist, and how they could be subverted. As it confronts Hispaniola’s dark legacies of slavery and colonial oppression, The Dominican Racial Imaginary also delivers an inspiring message on how multicultural communities might cooperate to disrupt the enduring power of white supremacy. 
 

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