Memories, Dangerous Narratives, and Disruption in an African, European,Creole, and Latin Nationhood: The Haitian Experience in the Dominican Republic-Daniel Joseph

Abstract: Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic dates to the early twentieth century, consisting mainly of Haitians working in the sugar industry, agriculture, construction, and tourism. Despite the geographic connection between the two countries, their relationships have been fraught with violence and discord, leading to anti-haitianismo (anti-Haitian sentiment), the exclusion of people of Haitian descent based on racial identity and nationhood formation, and their disenfranchisement through the adoption of discriminatory laws and decrees that have marginalized them and removed them from the country. In 2013, the Dominican Republic adopted a constitutional amendment that revoked the birthright citizenship of children born to undocumented Haitian parents and, at the same time, rendered tens of thousands of Haitian-Dominicans stateless and forced them out of the country. In 2015, about 2, 200 people of Haitian background arrived in the small border city of Anse-à-Pitres, Haiti. Over fourteen months (2016-2017), I conducted research fieldwork with these displaced people to investigate their life experiences. While in this paper, I adopt a broad historical and anthropological framework to understand the Haitian experience in the Dominican Republic, narratives from my research participants also help us understand the complexities of living in and integrating with Dominican society, where the past and current events are always in conversation as evidenced in political actions, discourses, and de facto practices that have shaped the Haitian experience. The combination of these factors and others has led me to examine how historical relationships, colonial experiences, current social and economic developments in the Dominican Republic, and dangerous narratives have contributed to hindering the integration of people of Haitian background into the country and marginalizing them in ways that have made them undesirable and unwelcome. This article contributes to the Anthropology of the Caribbean, interdisciplinary studies of migration, and African diaspora studies.

Key words: Haitians; anti-haitianismo; nationhood; race; identity; Dominican Republic.