Liminal lives : Haitian migration to the Barrio of La Zurza, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

dc.contributor.advisorSletto, Bjørn
dc.creatorRubio-Zepeda, José Daniel
dc.creator.orcid0000-0003-0960-150X
dc.date.accessioned2020-03-30T21:31:19Z
dc.date.available2020-03-30T21:31:19Z
dc.date.created2017-12
dc.date.issued2017-12-06
dc.date.submittedDecember 2017
dc.date.updated2020-03-30T21:31:19Z
dc.description.abstractImmigration 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
dc.description.departmentLatin American Studies
dc.description.departmentCommunity and Regional Planning
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2152/80491
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.26153/tsw/7507
dc.language.isoen
dc.subjectHaiti
dc.subjectDominican Republic
dc.subjectImmigration
dc.subjectLa Zurza
dc.subjectLiminality
dc.titleLiminal lives : Haitian migration to the Barrio of La Zurza, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialtext
thesis.degree.departmentCommunity and Regional Planning
thesis.degree.departmentLatin American Studies
thesis.degree.disciplineCommunity and Regional Planning
thesis.degree.disciplineLatin American Studies
thesis.degree.grantorThe University of Texas at Austin
thesis.degree.levelMasters
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Science in Community and Regional Planning
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts

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