Aqui Hay Una Mezcla: Dominican Women's Transnational Identities In Santo Domingo.

Abstract

This dissertation examines the current influence of neoliberalism—as an ideological formation of globalized capitalism—on young Dominican women living in the capital city of the Dominican Republic. Existing stereotypes about Dominican women inform how they see themselves and how they are perceived globally; these dominant social ideologies have tangible impacts on their lives. Through this transnational feminist study, I consider how Dominican society is culturally and economically invested in particular representations of “the Dominican woman.” I consider how new media technology, such as the internet, influence the lives of these young women and how US popular culture permeates their identities. I scrutinize how skin color and hair type as racial signifiers matter to the Dominican women about whom I write. I argue that their racially mixed and racially ambiguous bodies cast them as shape-shifters within a global capitalist culture in which the capacity to transform what one represents in terms of race and class is rewarded. La Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (La UASD), the public university in Santo Domingo, is a site of activism that provides a window into the contemporary context of many progressive Dominican youth. Murals on the campus of La UASD give a glimpse into Dominican history of the last few decades and reflect a Dominican culture of the visual that is primed for new media discourse. Thirty interviews with Dominican women (from 2010 to 2011) illustrate their diverse experiences of gender as tied to racial ambiguity. Hollywood actress Zoe Saldaña serves as an example of the ways Dominican women’s racially ambiguous bodies are highly fetishized transnationally today. Saldaña’s value, I argue, lies not only in her gender performance but in her racial ambiguity and the possibility of her serving as whatever viewers project onto her. Additionally, I examine the impact of US black feminist writings on black lesbian Dominican activists on the island and consider how these theories of identity—now accessible via the internet—inform Dominican women’s identity-based activism. Embracing intersectionality, they have begun naming themselves as “Afro-Latinas” in a society that has historically refuted its African roots.