National Identity & Lifestyle

Transationalism in Dominican New York City

Throughout the process of our interviews, we have learned that the majority of Dominican American immigrants, along with their children, visit the Dominican Republic quite frequently. Taking trips up to three or four times a year, Dominican immigrants maintain a transnational identity. They left the Dominican Republic to find more opportunities, but they brought their culture along with them. Many of the immigrants we interviewed identified themselves as both Dominican and American.

“My Son Works at Jet Blue”

Dr. Piña travels to the Dominican Republic three to four times a year because he gets discounted or free tickets from his son. The Dominicans believe frequently travelling to Santo Domingo solidifies the family's connection with relatives abroad and the culture. The flight between JFK and Santo Domingo is approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Referring to the travelling agencies in Washington Heights, Dr. Piña claims, “It’s amazing how rich they became because we like to travel.”
 

Junot Diaz On Traveling

Diaz, like many Dominican-Americans both first generation and second, travels back to the Dominican Republic frequently: about five times every year. His relationship with his home country is strained, the tale of one who “left early and goes back a lot.” According to Diaz, there is a great deal of hostility towards people such as himself who leave the Dominican Republic and yet continue to return to their country frequently, infusing its economy with money earned in the United States. “Political, cultural, and social elites in any country have zero interest … and are often hostile towards immigrants or people they send abroad,” according to Diaz. Furthermore, the presence of first- and second-generation individuals who emigrate and then return strike fear into the country’s leaders and threaten to undo a great deal of “corruption.”

In the words of Diaz: “they know that Dominicans who leave the island and send tens of thousands of dollars back every year could knock them out of work. […] There are a lot of internal interests who don’t want to see [things] change. […] The best way to do that is to make sure all the people who have new ideas are marginalized.”

This marginalization of individuals who travel back and forth to the republic has changed Santo Domingo, as Diaz himself has observed. However, one of the reasons for this rising hostility may be attributable to the sheer number of people who have emigrated from the Dominican Republic between 1960 and today:

Source: MPI Data Hub

With rising numbers of an extremely transnational ethnic group with a penchant for travel agencies, more Dominican-Americans may be trying to incorporate the right side of the hyphen into the politics and lifestyle of their land of heritage that is resistant to its now momentous tide.

Dr. Piña's Perception of being an "American"
Dr. Piña cites the abundant opportunities in education, employment, social mobility and cultural diffusion as being “American” and emphasizes that what is considered a necessity in America such as a house and a car is a luxury in Santo Domingo. 

The table below proves Dr. Piña's claim of limited employment opportunities in the Dominican Republic. From 2003-2008, the annual unemployment rates in the Dominican Republic have exceeded 14%, a rate much higher than the US natural rate of unemployment which is approximately 3-4%.

Unemployment Rate in the Dominican Republic

Source: www.indexmundi.com

Still Dominican Nonetheless

Dr. reveals the love and pride he has for being Dominican in his poem, "Metapoema del Caribe," referring to this "wonderful Caribbean island," as mi mujer, mi poema, mi cuero, mi isla, mi todo (my women, my poem, my whore, my island, my everything).

Metapoema del Caribe
Por: Jorge Piña
(a Carlos Gómez Doorly, a Yiyo Robles y a Gerci Mella por el encanto y la locura y el exorcismo de mis demonios)

Al escribirme en poemas
Soy garganta encendida
Mandíbula hinchada
Sueño que sueña la muerte
Sol siniestro
Mirada espeluznante
Cuerpo imantado en el suicidio
Palabra
Rostro del fuego
Al escribirme en poemas
Mi mano grita:
Ay mi mujer-mi cuero-mi isla-mi todo
Golpe voraz
Tierra que soy
Miseria perdida
Cuerpo entre tumbas
Un abismo
Sostén de ternuras soy

Tierra, Tierra, Tierra

Y la noche se pierde para siempre
Qué martirio encontré al dejar tu presencia
Ron pervertido
Mano que sufre
Soliloquio de Ciguapas
Cigua palmera embrujada en el oro

Al escribirme en poemas
Mi llaga canta:
Ay mi mujer-mi isla-mi cuero-mi todo
Ocurrió la vida como apagar la muerte
O cerrar los cielos
Nunca antes supe de mi infierno
Si morí – viví o soñé
Sólo ahora la repienso
500 años
Y qué

Ay mi mujer-poema-isla-cuero-todo
Parece mentira
Abandono exterminio
Recién ahora me descubrí a mí mismo
Cuando todo me queda
Dolor juventud y el tiempo

Ay mi mujer-Poema-isla-cuero-todo
Mañana
Gaviotas negras
Enseñando leñas a las palomas
Rabia
Qué temor me procura

Coño

Qué nada me piensa
Porqué sufro cuando lo bello me asecha
Voy a matar a la muerte poeta

Ay mi mujer-poema-isla-cuero-todo
Mío en mi cuerpo
La isla me llama
Ven mulata percute conmigo
Indio
Blanco
Beban mis senos

Ay mi mujer-mi poema-mi cuero-mi isla-mi todo

Al escribirme en poemas soy
Mundo olvidado que quiere ser Dios

"The First Civilization Came Through Santo Domingo"

Dr. Piña gives us a historical context of Santo Domingo, where the first mass, first, cathedral and first university was established. 

Works Cited

"MPI Data Hub Graph." Migration Information Source. 30 Apr. 2009 <http://www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/charts/fb.2.shtml>.

"Unemployment Rate." Index Mundi. 2 May. 2009

<http://www.indexmundi.com/dominican_republic/unemployment_rate.html>.

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