Social and Symbolic Boundaries, Anti-Haitianismo and Dominican Identity: From the Haitian Occupation to la Sentencia of September 2013

• In Event: Migración, derechos humanos y nuevas identidades

Abstract

On September 2013 the Constitutional Tribunal of the Dominican Republic stripped of citizenship all children of foreigners with irregular status, born in the country since 1929. The decision targets Haitians who, for decades, have constituted the largest group of immigrants in eastern Hispaniola. Known as La Sentencia, the decision is said to have been enacted for the preeminence of the Dominican Constitution. Critics denounce it as expression of blatant racism and violation of human rights. In this article, we look at the Sentencia as another stepping stone in the process of creating and maintaining symbolic and social boundaries around Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. These boundaries play a significant role in maintaining racial/ethnic, gender, and class divisions between the native Dominican population and generations of Haitians and their descendants. Boundaries also expand the social distance between these two groups. We integrate concepts from boundary theory and theories of race racism, and globalization, explaining why The Sentencia happened when it happened and how it relates to historical, cultural and economic factors. We contend The Sentencia is an instance of the hardening of social boundaries to maintain traditional definitions of Dominicanidad in an increasingly globalized context marked by heightened nationalistic concerns among elites concerning the maintenance of [official] Dominican identity. We see The Sentencia and current expressions of Antihaitianism as outcomes of dynamic processes shaped by wide-ranging social, cultural, political and economic structures as well as processes of transformation.

Authors

• Yanick St Jean, NorthWest Arkansas Community College

• Ana Liberato, University of Kentucky