Browsing by Subject "Dominican Republic"

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An analysis of informal housing : the case of Los Platanitos, Santo Domingo Norte, Dominican Republic
(2010-12) Pusch, Christeen Alexandra; Sletto, Bjørn; Ward, Peter
Many Latin American countries have transitioned from agricultural to service-oriented societies since the 1950s and have consequently seen a vast migration of people from rural to urban areas in search of new jobs created in cities. The vast majority of migrants have not been able to afford or obtain formal or government- built housing. They have, consequentially, turned to the informal sector, settled land that was owned by another and built their houses there despite in many cases not having services. The Dominican Republic has seen a similar sequence of events and has also seen a large increase in urban populations and informal housing in its cities. This paper examines the housing in one of these informal settlements, the community of Los Platanitos, located in the municipality of Santo Domingo Norte and among the poorer settlements in Santo Domingo. Specifically, this study examines the process in which the community was settled and consolidated as well as residents’ ability to improve their situation through acquisition of this property. It also looks at the current state of housing in Los Platanitos in terms of spatial distribution and existing and needed support systems.
At the margin of the park : social inequality in urban environmental planning in the Santo Domingo greenbelt
(2012-08) Davila, Tania Elizabeth; Sletto, Bjørn; Paterson, Robert G.
Greenbelts have been used around the world to control urban growth and to enhance the natural environment of cities since the last century. However, some Latin American governments, influenced by urban renewal principles and modern planning, have implemented greenbelts to beautify and order cities. Much criticism has arisen about the social repercussions of using greenbelts as a way to control citizen behavior, which in many cases has resulted in exclusionary practices, especially of low-income populations. Based on a case study that documents and analyzes the uses and perceptions of residents of the informal settlement, Los Platanitos, of the Parque Nacional Mirador Norte, my research attempts to illuminate the political and social processes shaping urban environmental planning in Santo Domingo in order to understand practices of exclusion and marginalization in contexts marked by socioeconomic inequalities.
Can you hear me now? : smartphones, youth, and development in a Dominican informal settlement
(2018-09-11) Eggert, Brian Patrick; Sletto, Bjørn; Bailey, Diane E., 1961-
Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) is a relatively new area of research in the field of Information Studies. Despite its novelty, ICT4D shares themes and theories with a number of academic disciplines, including sociology, geography, and Development Studies. ICT4D research aims to identify ways in which personal devices and telecommunications networks can improve governance, education, healthcare, and employment in the developing world and in disadvantaged communities. With the intention of testing these themes and theories in a community that is underdeveloped both locally and globally, I performed an ethnographic study in Los Platanitos, an informal settlement in Santo Domingo, to assess smartphone use and access among youth. Despite a lack of Internet access in homes and the unaffordability of subscriptions to cellular data, most youth in Los Platanitos find ways to use social networks like Facebook and WhatsApp daily, if not far more frequently. This study attempts to explain how this is possible and whether the uses qualify as development in a way consistent with literature from ICT4D and its many associated disciplines. Metatheories like the network society and mobilities paradigm offer necessary frameworks in which to discuss these questions, while at the same time, the localization of the study and nuanced struggles of youth in Los Platanitos offer a case in which to test the scalability of the theories themselves. In a context where basic needs such as food, water, and sanitation are not readily available, ICT4D research must focus on the users, like the youth of Los Platanitos, in order to link the technology to the development goals.
Caribbean: Some History
(2016-08) Chambers, Eddie; Doroba, Mark (photographer)
During Fall Semester 2016, the IDEA LAB in GWB Building will be showing This Ground Beneath My Feet – A Chorus of Bush in Rab Lands,an exhibit by Annalee Davis, one of Barbados’ leading artists. In recognition of this, the Fine Arts Library (FAL) is showing a display, assembled by Eddie Chambers, of the Department of Art and Art History, Caribbean: Some History, which contains various publications relating to different aspects of the Caribbean, a region of the world that was, until relatively recently, more commonly referred to as the West Indies. It is a region of the world rich in many different histories. Religion, music, literature, art, and sport are amongst the many fascinating subjects of the books and other publications in this display. The largest countries of the region are those such as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti, followed by comparatively smaller countries such as Jamaica. Caribbean countries such as Haiti and Cuba have renowned and celebrated art histories, and this display includes several publications related to these histories. The display points to some of the ways in which publications related to the Caribbean have changed over the course of a century. Though most people of the region might identify their religion as Christianity, it is perhaps the syncretic belief systems of the region – Santeria, vodũ (voodoo),Rastafari – that the region is better known for. Of the many different types of music emerging from the region, it is perhaps reggae that dominates many people’s associations of the region’s music. Though the Caribbean region is rich in a variety of music traditions, it is certainly reggae that the region is best known for. And within reggae, Bob Marley is the singer whose music is most recognized. A great many books have been written on the late singer, and this display includes several. Despite the extensive scholarship and research coming out of the region and its diaspora, the Caribbean continues to be a misunderstood and somewhat caricatured region of the world, often regarded in the imagination of many as a holiday destination. These publications aim to present a more nuanced understanding of the Caribbean and its fascinating, multiple histories. The pan-Caribbean cricket team of the region is still known as the West Indies cricket team. It has a very distinguished history of cricketing success, particularly during parts of the mid, late 20th and early 21st century. A number of the books and publications in this display are available in FAL, PCL, and in particular, the Benson, which contains extensive material relating to the region. Photos and design by Mark Doroba
CDE Seismograph Network, July 1, 1981 - December 31, 1983 (submitted to Ing. Fernando Luciano, Direccion de Desarrollo Hidroelectrico Corporacion Dominicana de Electricidad Jardines del Embajador #8, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on August 31, 1984)
(Institute for Geophysics, 1984) Matumoto, Tosimatu
This report is to cover the results of the CDE se1smic monitoring program during the period from July 15, 1981 through December 31, 1983. The results of the preceeding period were reported in the Technical Report #1-#3 and a number of Field Reports submitted during the period of June 1979 through July 1982. The summary of the previous works carried out under this program is given in section 2. After the completion of Bao Dam, impounding of the Bao reservoir started in February 1983. At the time of this writing (August 1984) the water loading into Bao reservoir is still continuing and the water level is 7 meters short of full capacity. Throughout this reporting period which covers the initial phase of loading period no significant increase of seismicity was recognized in the immediate proximity of the reservoir. This quiescence, however, does not mean there will be no induced earthquake since the water level still may not have reached the crucial level by the end of December 1983. Continued monitoring at least six to twelve months after the completion of loading is recommended.
Confronting the Cañada: Tackling Real-World Problems Through Service Learning
(Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, 2010) Martinez, Vanessa; Hershaw, Eva; Carte, Lindsey
The dialectic of blackness and full citizenship : a case study of Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic
(2016-05) Romain, Jheison Vladimir; Smith, Christen A., 1977-; Arroyo, Jossianna
In 2015 the Dominican Republic enforced a series of measures to expel undocumented Haitian immigrants and unregistered Dominicans of Haitian descent. As a result, thousands of people of Haitian descent became "illegal", deportable subjects forced to either return to Haiti or live in hiding in the Dominican Republic. This thesis presents a theoretical and ethnographic reflection on this most recent citizenship crisis between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Migration carried out despite legal restrictions can be considered a modern form of resistance against racialized and historically defined social structures that disproportionately affect impoverished black people of Haitian descent. How have restrictions on migration and immigration gradually crystallized the lives of black people as less valuable than those of whites and others who fit-in with white, Eurocentric values? During a time in which international migration has gained a great deal of worldwide prominence, the question of citizenship and belonging for people of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic is a window that provides insights into the politics of illegality that have been mobilized to justify the abuse and even the killing of people who have violated established rules of border crossing. Grounded in ethnographic research carried out in the Dominican Republic and Haiti from May to July of 2015, this thesis draws on the work of Sylvia Wynter (2007), Charles W. Mills (1999), and John Rawls (1971) to contemplate the ways in which the social and economic exclusion of black people of Haitian descent has been historically promoted and justified. Further, engaging the theories of Aviva Chomsky (2004), Abdias do Nascimento (1980) and Neil Roberts (2015), the thesis argues that undocumented migration is 21st century marronage – a mode of resistance, through flight, against oppressive socio-economic structures.
Differentials in traditional vs. sustainable tourism planning processes in developing countries, with an application of the sustainable tourism planning principles to the tourism destination of La Romana-Bayahibe, Dominican Republic
(2008-12) De Schaun, Kelly Robinson; Oden, Michael
Tourism development has been advocated for as a means by which to stimulate regional economic development in developing countries by international development agencies and governments seeking to transition from agricultural to industrial economies. First viewed as a purely private sector activity, tourism development planning was ad hoc or reactive to the demands of a quickly growing and highly dynamic industry. The externalities and negative impacts of rapid development and poor planning were quickly recognizable in small economies; high economic leakages, cultural encroachment, environmental degradation. When planning processes were undertaken, methodologies were derived from those of developed countries, proving not to be the most appropriate approaches to tourism development in lesser developed economies where administrative and structural capacities are weak or non-existent. Planning objectives also were heavily focused on physical requirements and financial outputs, all derived from identified market segments. Sustainable tourism development evolved from the recognition that the industry is dependant upon natural and cultural resources which must be preserved. Planning processes focus more on the capacity of these underlying resources, as opposed to simply meeting market demands for products and services. The integration of these resources as tourism amenities is furthermore thought to be crucial to sustaining the value of the tourism product. Nonetheless, sustainable tourism development planning is no better defined than its traditional counterpart. Implementation of planning processes, both traditional and sustainable, are challenging, especially in developing countries. This report seeks to identify fundamental differences in traditional versus sustaining planning processes for tourism in regards to vision, goals, objectives, strategies and performance indicators. The goals and objectives of sustainable tourism development are evaluated against national developmental indicators for socio-cultural, environmental and economic outcomes. A case study example is undertaken of the mass tourism destination La Romana-Bayahibe, Dominican Republic where, through the local private sector hotel association, the Interamerican Development Bank is funding the development of a “Sustainable Tourism Development Model”. An evaluation of the established goals and objectives is undertaken with the aim of identifying rational performance indicators for evaluation of the project’s impact.
Exit over voice in Dominican ethnoracial politics
(2015-12) Contreras, Danilo Antonio; Madrid, Raúl L.,; Philpot, Tasha; Dietz, Henry; Brinks, Daniel; Mahon, Jim
What explains why ethnoracial identity is of low salience in elections in Latin America, particularly in Afro-Latin America? Marginalized individuals in ethnoracially diverse societies, especially stratified ones, would seem most likely to mobilize politically along ethnoracial lines. I argue that, under certain conditions, individuals will deal with ethnoracial discrimination and stratification through exit rather than voice. That is, they will reclassify their way out of marginalized ethnosomatic categories instead of voting for candidates and parties that share their ethnoracial identities. This tends to be the case where ethnoracial group identity is inchoate and group boundaries are permeable. High levels of stratification combined with low degrees of ethnoracial group consolidation will typically prevent the activation of ethnoracial identity in elections. Whereas ethnoracial stratification provides the incentive structure for individuals to switch ethnoracial categories, inchoate ethnoracial group identity and permeable ethnoracial boundaries lower the transaction costs to doing so. I also argue that individuals may emphasize national origin over race or ethnicity where ethnoracial group loyalties are weak and immigration is widespread. I test my argument against competing approaches using quantitative, qualitative, and experimental evidence from the Dominican Republic. The evidence suggests that the confluence of stratification and inchoate ethnoracial group identity indeed has prevented the activation of ethnoracial cleavages in elections in the DR. This same combination, however, has not impeded the activation of national origin in elections. Rather than strengthening the salience of ethnoracial cleavages in elections, nationalism has helped to redirect those cleavages.
Green stormwater infrastructure in an informal context : feasibility and potential stormwater impacts of implementing rain gardens and rain barrels in peri-urban Santo Domingo
(2015-05) Strickler, Kelly Rebecca; Sletto, Bjørn; Hollon, Matthew
Latin America is the most urbanized region in the developing world, with much of this urbanization occurring informally. The pressure of increasing impervious cover without the provision of adequate stormwater infrastructure frequently leads to urban flooding in informal contexts. This study investigates the feasibility and potential benefits of implementing a network of decentralized green stormwater infrastructure controls in the subwatersheds of three channelized creeks that contribute to flooding in Los Platanitos, an informal settlement in Santo Domingo Norte, Dominican Republic. Through a mixed-methods research design including interviews with institutional actors and residents, as well as detailed field mapping with local experts, a Stormwater Management Model (SWMM) model was developed to estimate the potential runoff and storage impacts of the construction of a network of rain gardens and rain barrels throughout the contributing subwatersheds. The model predicts a 20% reduction in flooding for a 5-year storm, and a lengthening of the time it takes for the system to start flooding. These benefits, albeit small, are substantial when floodwaters are highly contaminated and pose a significant health risk.
Jessica Disla Interview
(2022-02-25) Institute for Diversity & Civic Life; Department of Religious Studies
This interview is with Jessica Disla, a member of the IslamInSpanish community and an aspiring teacher. Jessica talks about growing up and family dynamics in a Dominican-American family in Dominican Republic and New York City. She shares her journey in her career and education and is currently working towards her bachelor’s in education in order to teach ESL. She discusses spiritual seeking and asking difficult questions about religion, and how her curiosity eventually led to IslamInSpanish and her conversion to Islam. Jessica describes her love for the IslamInSpanish community and the many ways she participates in it.
Letter to H.B. Stenzel from Russell Raymond Voorhees on 1938-10-02
(1938-10-02) Voorhees, Russell Raymond
Letter to H.B. Stenzel from Russell Raymond Voorhees on 1938-11-08
(1938-11-08) Voorhees, Russell Raymond
Liminal lives : Haitian migration to the Barrio of La Zurza, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
(2017-12-06) Rubio-Zepeda, José Daniel; Sletto, Bjørn
Immigration by Haitians to the Dominican Republic is a long-standing phenomenon, and today, an estimated 210,000 Haitians live as undocumented immigrants in the Dominican Republic. Immigration from Haiti has been driven by a variety of factors, including historic labor programs designed to attract cheap labor; and poverty, political turmoil and lack of economic opportunities in Haiti. In the Dominican Republic, Haitians tend to primarily live in ethnic enclaves, including a high concentration in the capital, Santo Domingo, and particularly in the informal settlement of La Zurza. Using the concepts of “black sense of place,” liminality, and maroonage, I contend that Haitians in La Zurza have built support networks that create community and a sense of solidarity, serving as a source of resilience to contend with the precarious conditions they encounter in La Zurza daily. A survey conducted with two dozen Haitian-born residents of La Zurza shows that Haitians remain in the community for several years, suggesting that their informal support network helps them contend with racialized violence in places such as the Duarte Market in La Zurza, which serves as the principal source of employment for Haitians. However, while Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent have thus created a black sense of place through the constant (re)negotiation of their identities, their liminal, undocumented status also serves to reproduce their state of displacement and placelessness. In particular, their vulnerable position has been exacerbated by the passage of Law TC 168-13 in 2013, retroactively stripping Dominicans of Haitian descent of their citizenship and further intensifying anti-Haitian rhetoric. Undocumented Haitians thus must contend with an ambivalent legal status, which limits their social and geographic mobility and their access to economic opportunities
Mapping Dominican musical pioneers in the United States
(2024-05) Bimbiras, John ; Moore, Robin D., 1964-; Paul Austerlitz; Jossianna Arroyo; Hannah Lewis; Sonia Seeman
While artists such as Cardi B, Romeo Santos, and Juan Luis Guerra have contributed to the recent prominence of Dominican artists in the U.S. media, Dominicans were already musicking in diaspora in the early twentieth century, involved in a broad spectrum of genres. The Dominican population in the U.S. during this period was relatively small, yet those who migrated had a substantial impact on the music scene in New York City and elsewhere. Early émigrés such as Napoleón Zayas, Mercedes Sagredo, Rafael Petitón Guzmán, Monica Boyar, and Luis Herrero made significant contributions to the city’s artistic life through their labor as performers, composers, bandleaders, recording artists, and educators. Yet their efforts go largely unrecognized in scholarly discourses surrounding Latino popular musics. In this dissertation, I undertake a musical mapping of early Dominican musical pioneers in the United States and to explore the diversity of their artistic projects. Each artist was involved in multiple, overlapping discrepant cosmopolitan formations. I argue that their activities complicate notions of Dominican and Latin American music itself, given their contributions to classical concert performance, African American dance music, and countless non-Dominican Latino genres, as well as to sonic and visual constructions of Pan-Americanism, Pan-Africanism, and Pan-Latinidad. The dissertation explores the lives of forgotten artists and contributes to literature on Hispanic immigration to the United States by underscoring the strikingly varied histories, backgrounds, and musical projects of performers from the same country.
Navigating the African Diaspora through the Dominican Parade: (Re)construction of Identities of Afro Dominican Immigrants in Santurce, Puerto Rico
(2008-02-09) Abadía-Rexach, Bárbara
Portal, Issue 11, 2016
(LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections, 2016) LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections
Reflections on Working in the Field: What You Can't Learn in the Classroom
(Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, 2008) Muñoz, Solange; Strange, Shawn M.
Seguro, Humano, Conectado : narratives of displaceability in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
(2021-05-04) Losoya, Jorge Antonio; Sletto, Bjørn; Auyero, Javier
Urban displacement continues to be a critical issue, where the most marginalized are constantly at risk of removal due to urban redevelopment. This project focuses on a redevelopment project in Santo Domingo's informal neighborhoods to further investigate this displacement process. I engage with the narratives embedded in project documents as a way to understand the state's methods of legitimizing displacement. Through a case study of the Domingo Savio neighborhoods in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, I focus on how these state discourses create "displaceable" residents. The neighborhoods in Domingo Savio are informal settlements located close to the historic center and along the Ozama River. The project Nuevo Domingo Savio (NDS), ostensibly designed to cure the environmental ills and solve the social problems faced by the community, is marketed as "Seguro, Humano, y Conectado" (Safe, Humane, and Connected). Nuevo Domingo Savio is one of many planning and development projects led by URBE, an agency founded by the national government, which has focused its projects in the informal sectors of the city. Through an analysis of this project, I seek to understand better the tie between state narratives in urban redevelopment plans and displaceability (Yiftachel, 2020). To guide this project, I pose the following questions. How does URBE characterize the project NDS and thus imagine the future of Domingo Savio? How do the narratives embedded in NDS inform the characteristics of proper residents and spaces? Under what narratives can we read the creation of displaceable residents? A qualitative approach is used to gather multiple sources of data, such as interviews, media reports, and public documents. The NDS planning documents are the primary source of data in the narrative analysis guiding this project. This analysis illuminates the discursive processes in urban planning documents that create a state of displaceability (Yiftachel, 2020) based on narratives of integration, citizenship, and securitization
¡Súbete al Progreso! : narratives of progress and social mobility surrounding the Santo Domingo Metro
(2011-05) Casey, Regina Suzanne; Sletto, Bjørn; Zhang, Ming
Transportation planning initiatives are assumed to further the development of growing cities across the globe. Latin American cities, especially, suffer from a deficit of infrastructure that presents greater challenges to the efficient movement of people and goods, which makes transportation one of the biggest hindrances to development in Latin America. Throughout the twentieth century, development projects in the Dominican Republic were carried out in the contexts of foreign military occupation and state repression, whereby processes of technical modernization arrived alongside state-led violence. Meanwhile, grandiose infrastructure projects were paired with narratives of national greatness. Decisions regarding land use and distribution of public services remained inattentive of the poorest residents, causing enormous inequalities in increasingly urbanized cities. President Leonel Fernández campaigned for his third term promising to break from old forms of corruption, and has symbolically delivered this promise of progress through the construction of a new subway system. The Santo Domingo Metro revolutionizes transportation options in key areas of a chaotic and congested road system, where many public transportation vehicles are old and dilapidated. Metro can save hours in commute times, provide safe, reliable transit at low cost, and promote sustainability. However, critics note that billions of dollars invested on Metro expansion preempt the funding of health and education. Construction processes displace neighborhoods, while many communities situated near the stations still face daily hardships associated with inadequate housing and lack of sanitation. My paper blends the perspectives of technical transportation planning and critical development theory to understand whether the Metro will serve these communities by improving their access to services, schools, and job sites, or simply drain scarce funds from these very areas. This paper also critically evaluates the way that the current administration‘s symbol of progress at times mirrors the top-down political culture of the past. The Metro thus elucidates larger theoretical and practical questions regarding the interactions of transportation planning and political culture, and their impacts on spatial hierarchies and growth within urban spaces.