Isolated Systems

Katherine Taveras

Blog post 1

                   

                                                      Isolated systems

Image from: http://www.sobremesamagazine.com/on-the-dominican-racial-crisis/

While some may say the creation of the idea of race is necessary in creating social categories and structures. It is imperative to understand that race is not innate but rather a formulated concept to categorize people into further control. Institutionalized in the mid 19^th century race became the moral compass in which people saw themselves. Through colonization this notion soon became a worldwide view. In which people with white skin benefited from exponentially and those of darker skin suffered from.

           

This can be seen as one examines the island of the Hispaniola and its development since the colonization of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish in 1492: one can determined how the implication of race has created a divided nation. Originally populated by the Arawak’s the island of Hispaniola was foreign to the concept of race. This soon changed when the Spanish saw the monetary potential in the island through gold and other commodities. With high demands and not enough workers, the Spanish sought the acquisition of enslaved Africans, through the slave trade. Which resulted in creating a melting pot of people and cultures. However, through the process of racialization the Spanish ensured to not only separate themselves from both the Arawak’s and the Africans but to ensure themselves as the dominant race. Through the notion of superiority and inferiority, imposed by the Spanish is how I believe race came to be in the island of the Hispaniola.

           

Previous academic courses have all shed meaning to the concept of race, in which led me too interpret race as the concept of categorizing individuals into groups based on ones heritage. However, early lessons presented in this class have further educated me in understanding race not only as a developed concept but also as a concept that has been imposed on humanity and used as a form of control. Furthermore, how race is used to oppress those who are not members of the superior race, giving rise to the evils of racism.

           

When considering the importance of race and why it persists in the Hispaniola it is important to understand the correlation between nation and race. Today we know the island as the Dominican Republic and Haiti. As both countries became colonized by different nations, different ways of life and culture were adapted. Eugenio Matibag states “they are separate and unequal: Haiti has a predominantly black, French Patois- speaking population; the Dominican Republic, a predominantly mestizo or mulatto, Spanish-speaking population” (pg.1) while this quote states the factual information of the countries it underlines the root of racism between the countries. Most Dominican people considered themselves mulattos, which is a mix between Europeans and Africans this is often thought of as being more “white”. It is this belief that creates a notion of superiority over Haitian people. Over time this has been the reason for endless massacres and crimes against the Haitian people. Furthermore, Dominicans benefit from oppressing Haitians through abuse of labor and resources.

References:

             Matibag, Eugenio. Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint: Nation, State, and Race on Hispaniola.

      First ed. New York: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 2003. Print.    

               Edward, Paulino. Dividing Hispaniola: The Dominican Republic's Border Campaign Against          

Haiti, 1930-1961. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016. Print.

Haiti & the Dominican Republic: An Island divided. Narr. Henry L. Gates. PBS, 2011. Film.

Hazoury, Lissete. "To Be Dominican is to Not Be Haitian: Development of Dominican Racial Identity through Antihaitianismo and the Indio Myth." sobremesa magazine 2016. Print.