Transnational Hispaniola
Transnational Hispaniola
New Directions in Haitian and Dominican Studies
In addition to sharing the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, Haiti and the Dominican Republic share a complicated and at times painful history. Yet Transnational Hispaniola shows that there is much more to the two nations’ relationship than their perceived antagonism. Rejecting dominant narratives that reinforce opposition between the two sides of the island, contributors to this volume highlight the connections and commonalities that extend across the border, mapping new directions in Haitianist and Dominicanist scholarship. Exploring a variety of topics including European colonialism, migration, citizenship, sex tourism, music, literature, political economy, and art, contributors demonstrate that alternate views of Haitian and Dominican history and identity have existed long before the present day. From a moving section on passport petitions that reveals the familial, friendship, and communal networks across Hispaniola in the nineteenth century to a discussion of the shared music traditions that unite the island today, this volume speaks of an island and people bound together in a myriad of ways. Complete with reflections and advice on teaching a transnational approach to Haitian and Dominican studies, this agenda-setting volume argues that the island of Hispaniola and its inhabitants should be studied in a way that contextualizes differences, historicizes borders, and recognizes cross-island links. Contributors: Paul Austerlitz | Nathalie Bragadir | Raj Chetty | Anne Eller | Kaiama L. Glover | Maja Horn | Regine Jean-Charles | Kiran C. Jayaram | Elizabeth Manley | April Mayes | Elizabeth Russ | Fidel J. Tavárez | Elena Valdez Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
“Represents a milestone in a new wave of scholarship on Haiti and the Dominican Republic and a model for the future of collaborative research in defiance of disciplinary borders. . . . Far more than simply imagining more emancipatory futures, this book provides a piece of the map towards realizing them.”—Bulletin of Latin American Research
“An insightful and cohesive analysis of Hispaniola from an interdisciplinary perspective. … These diversely trained authors cooperate in creating an integrated body of knowledge pertinent to understanding Hispaniola through new narratives that challenge stale approaches tainted by nationalist points of view. . . . A necessary book.”—Hispanic American Historical Review
“By providing an insightful introduction to new, more complex narratives of Haitian-Dominican relations being developed across the humanities and social research disciplines, Transnational Hispaniola enriches a new generation’s rejection of old tropes of fatal conflict.”—New West Indian Guide
“Offer[s] a true diversity of material seldom seen in an edited volume.”—The Americas
Highly original and richly researched, this volume challenges many of the bedrock assumptions in Dominican and Haitian nationalist and statist thought, filling important gaps in the literature on the island in English.'—Lauren Derby, coeditor of Activating the Past: History and Memory in the Black Atlantic World 'This inspiring collection offers a new way of seeing the histories and futures of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.'—Laurent Dubois, author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History
April J. Mayes, professor of history at Pomona College, is the author of The Mulatto Republic: Class, Race, and Dominican National Identity. Kiran C. Jayaram, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida, is coeditor of Keywords of Mobility: Critical Engagements.
Transnational Hispaniola
New Directions in Haitian and Dominican Studies
Edited by April J. Mayes and Kiran C. Jayaram
