Gender, Modernization, and the State in 20th Century Hispaniola

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

In 20th century Dominican Republic, the Trujillo and Balaguer regimes (1930-1961 and 1966-1978, respectively) promoted paradoxical discourses of progress and stability emphasizing pivotal roles for women as agents within modern society. The papers in this panel utilize gender analysis to examine three of the various projects that these dictators implemented in the name of modernization: expansion of public health services, development of the tourism industry, and promotion of baseball as an engine of national growth. These activities incorporated exploitative and exclusionary gender practices that belied equity in development projects and instead served to marginalize women further from the public sphere.

Sub Track

• Genders, Feminisms and Sexualities

Session Organizer

• Elizabeth S Manley, Xavier University

Chair

• Neici M Zeller, William Paterson University

Individual Presentations

• Gender, Tourism, and Balaguer’s “Doce Años” in the Dominican Republic, 1966 – 1978 - Elizabeth S Manley, Xavier University

• “Por Conveniencia en el Servicio”: Dictatorship, Modernization, and Nursing in the Dominican Republic (1950-1961) - Neici M Zeller, William Paterson University

• El Deporte Rey pero sin Reinas: Government Industrial Incentives and the Dominican Baseball Industry - April R Yoder, University of New Haven

Discussant

• Margaret M Power, Illinois Institute of Technology