Imagining the Spaces and Faces of the Nation: History, Migration, and Diaspora in/beyond Hispaniola

Session Submission Type: LASA Section Presentation

Abstract

Since the passage of La Sentencia, questions of state and statelessness, national identity, and diaspora have become increasingly urgent in scholarly analyses of Hispaniola. However, in looking solely at the legislative issues at hand, scholars have sometimes missed larger questions surrounding the multiple identities and relations of the peoples of both island nations. This interdisciplinary panel combines historical, anthropological, literary, political, and legal perspectives to contextualize the array of interrelated concerns now surrounding Dominican and Haitian national and racial identities both on the island and beyond.

Sub Track

• Section Sessions

Chair

• Elizabeth S Manley, Xavier University

Individual Presentations

• Making Banana: Food, Power, and Popular Support in the 2015-2016 Haitian Elections - Rodrigo C Bulamah, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)

• The Risk of Statelessness: A Framework for Protecting the Right to Nationality in Hispaniola - David C Baluarte, Washington & Lee University

• The Dominican Protestants: Nationalism and the African Diaspora in Goodin vs. Astwood (1890) - Christina C Davidson, Duke University

• “Strange Encounters: Ghosts, Hauntings, and Cities of the Dead in Mayra Santos Febres’ Boat People” - Joshua R Deckman, Pennsylvania State University

• From Kongo to Kanntè: The Other’s Changing Relation to the Other Side - Karen E Richman, University of Notre Dame

Discussant

• Karen E Richman, University of Notre Dame