In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Visions of Dominicanness in the United States Silvio Tones-Saillant What is the Dominican perspective on the Latino community and the global societ\'? The inclusion of a Dominican voice in this volwne says a great deal about the rise of Dominican immigrants as an important branch of the Latino population in the United States. It also acknowledges that tackling the difficult challenges currently facing our communit\' requires a plurality of voices. The adoption by the United States of economic and political measures prompted by the imperatives of globalization can be expected to shake the relationship of Latinos to the mainstream society. But an equally important concern is the extent to which the logic of the global society will make it possible for Latinos to see ourselves as a diverse yet unifiable human tormation-a commmlity capable of speaking with a complex but single voice. One ultimate consequence of the rel:L\:ation of national borders implicit in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other such treaties may be a weal "ignorant," and "suspicious," chosen by 40 to 50 percent of those who answered. At tl1e very bottom, chosen by a mere 5 percent, came "efficient," preceded by the adjectives "progressive;' "generous," "brave," "honest," "intelligent," and "shrewd;' none of which obtained a ranking higher tlun 16 percent.3 The percepCopyrighted Material 200.66] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 16:51 GMT) Silvio Torres-Sail/ant 141 rnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrn tions suggested by this list of adjectives helped shape the reception accorded to Latin Americans upon their arrival in the United States. Coming, as we do, from subaltern societies, it is no wonder that we occupy not the center but the margins of U.S. society. This marginalization has been intensified because, except for Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, most of us immigrated at a time when the country's economy was less expansive than during earlier waves of immigration. The arrival in the United States of Dominicans, Cubans, Colombians, and Central Americans coincided with the virtual transformation of economic life in former industrial centers such as New York, where the service sector has become the primary area of employment. Instead of fostering integration, this arrangement has produced a widening gap between recent Latino immigrants and the mainstream of productive economic life. New York exhibits what scholars have called a "dual city" model,4 where recent Spanish-speaking immigrants almost invariabl\' occupy the less prosperous side of the divide, with clear implications for our sense of identity. Our political, economic, and cwrural marginality relegates us to a condition of "otherness" with respect to the dominant social structure. The awareness of this otherness leads us to assert our commonality with those who share our condition, particularly when we can claim linguistic , ethnic, and historical links among our various national groups. The experience of diasporic uprooting and the sense of living outside the dominant realm of the receiving society penetrate the core of our Latino identity. For, even though Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans became ethnic communities in the United States through profoundly different processes, we are bound by political imperatives to see ourselves as one. Ironically, Simon Bolivar's desideratum of a unified Latin American nation and the ideal upheld by Eugenio Maria de Hostos of an Antillean federation find in us a strange kind of fulfillment. We have come to articulate a collective identity, not in our native homelands, as Bolivar and Hostos had dreamed, but within the insecure space of the diaspora. The feeling that ours is a contested terrain, that we do not inherit our social space but must carve it out for ourselves in the face of adversity, leads us to lift the banner of our oneness despite differences in the circumstances under which each of our distinct groups came to the United States. The language of unity functions as an instrlU11ent of survival. Dominicans in the Latin American Diaspora The encompassing Latino identity described above, however, does not satisfy the need for each of our national groups to articulate its own sense of itself as offspring of a particular historical experience. It is within this Copyrighted Material 142 Visions of Dominicanness ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi frame that I would like to discuss some of the issues now faced by the Dominican portion of the Latino commwuty. After three decades of massive nugration to the United States, Donlinicans are passing through a stage where it is necessary for the commwuty to define itself collectively. Dominicans in the United States have lost the privilege...

Share