El derecho a la tierra : rural and urban grassroots resistance in the Dominican Republic

This project investigates and collects stories of resistance from women defending their land, water and community in the Dominican Republic (DR) and puts them in conversation with each other. These movements are different from each other as one is in the community of the Los Platanitos, in the Guaricanos of Santo Domingo Norte, while the other is in Loma Miranda, a community about 20 minutes from the town of La Vega. The barrio of Los Platanitos is situated next to a cañada (ravine), which due to recent developments has now been covered by a road. Mujeres Unidas is a group of women from the community, who are organizing to protect their community from displacement, submitting “propuestas” (protests in a form of proposals) to government officials in order to improve their living condition against flooding, in addition to empowering themselves through entrepreneurship initiatives. In the community of Loma Miranda, Falcondo - a mining corporation - proposed an expansion mining project in the mountain. This mountain belongs to the foothills of the northeastern part of the cordillera central, the highest mountain range on the island of Dominican Republic. Loma Miranda is one of the most biodiverse regions of country. The mountain is also considered a “water mine” because of the many springs, basins and rivers flowing through it. In the Loma Miranda resistance movement, women are playing a significant role “behind” the scenes and on the frontlines. As the researcher the insider/outsider positionality plays a significant role in choosing to use a decolonial methodology in which alternative forms of knowledge production are used in the writing of this thesis. Part of this methodology is the transformation of silence into action by having the women speak for themselves through poetry, creative writing, first person memoirs and narratives, and sharing stories of struggle by connecting these movements through intentional gathering.