El Batey in Washington Heights?: Transnational Afro-Dominican Rituals and the Traditioning of a Diasporic Identity.

• In Event: Border Crossings in Recent Scholarship in Haiti and the Dominican Republic

Abstract

Gagá is a Holy Week carnivalesque ritual that derives from Afro-religious practices. It features dancing and singing and is practiced in communities with ties to the sugar industry throughout the Dominican Republic. Within the past few years, a community of Dominicans in the northern Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights has held an ongoing celebration of Gagá that is open to the community at large (Dominican and otherwise). This paper will examine the transnational nature of this community with the intention of highlighting its institutional characteristics and interrogating the different aspects of transnational religiosity. I argue that performance rituals such as Gagá are a part of the traditioning process, which creates a type of discursive space allowing Dominicans in the United States to extend certain transnational ties. By analyzing Gagá performances in New York City—and within the context of the transnational and migratory experience of Dominicans—it is possible to understand Gagá rituals as more than just “performances”; but rather as a phenomenon that is shaping the identity of its practitioners.

Author

• Rafael Gomez, University at Albany, SUNY