The Paradox of Education and Empire: U.S. Occupation of the Dominican Republic, 1916–1924

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

The Paradox of Education and Empire: U.S. Occupation of the Dominican Republic, 1916–1924

This dissertation examines the US occupation of the Dominican Republic from 1916 to 1924 to study how US and Dominican stakeholders used public schools to disseminate their notions about Dominican citizenship. Drawing on correspondence and memos from the Department of Public Instruction in the Dominican Republic and US military government, as well as periodicals and newspapers from both countries, this dissertation examines how US officials, education administrators, and guardians engaged in these efforts. Organized chronologically, the chapters of the dissertation feature the perspective of a core set of actors and bring attention to their distinct visions for Dominican citizenship. Although the US military government used schools to exert state control, Dominicans individually and collectively redirected these state institutions to serve their needs and to negotiate their relationship to the state. Schools were central to how both Americans and Dominicans of all classes articulated, circulated, and practiced their racial and class-based notions of Dominican citizenship. In doing so, this dissertation decenters the US in histories of American imperialism and asserts that that local actors shaped their own visions of citizenship through public schools and actively participated in US efforts. Second, this dissertation gives prominence to Dominican subjects and voices by studying their statements and actions in response to US efforts.

Author

• Alexa Rodriguez, Teachers College, Columbia University