Here, here and here are three pieces from three perspectives on the contentious issues in the Dominican community around race, color, and Haitian migration. The overall picture I get from the three is that of an upcoming generation of Dominicans, raised in the US and exposed to a different value set around race and ethnicity than their grandparents and uncles on the island. As the views and comments shared show these remain sensitive topics for Dominicans, and one where there are clear generational and perhaps geographic divides. There are also real problems of semantics; what exactly do the words you choose mean to an older Dominican? How are your claims colored by what he or she knows concerning attitudes of white Americans, representations of blackness in American media, etc.? The confusion can be compounded in the case of Dominican Diasporans as even when Spanish was our first language it is not likely to have been the language of our schooling and our academic and intellectual development. This semantic issue is one that needs to be kept in mind as this conversation grows if those of us reared stateside hope to influence those on the island grappling with these issues.
About a year ago I began going onto the forums of an English language Dominican news site. I'll leave my rant on the value of internet forums for another day. In any case I haven't had much choice in the matter regarding this forum. My intellectual curiosity over this period has run to DR and DR history, and this was the only English language forum with participants among whom numbered a few with solid historical knowledge and developed opinions about DR. Unfortunately, my experience there has been largely negative. Instead of celebrating the Dominican there is considerable ferocity on display at this forum regarding the issues of illegal Haitian immigration and Dominican racial complexes. And though many, especially Diasporans, aim to inject a more humanistic perspective to Haitian immigration issue, it runs into a lot of walls. One quickly learns it isn't as simple as increasing the peace; there are not only the usual legitimate economic factors that pit one group against another, not only the layer of colorism which is present throughout the Americas, but there is also the matter of actual Dominican history. If history matters, it does matter that these nations repeatedly battled militarily since their respective births in the age of Atlantic revolutions. These wars are events that our homegrown Dominican cousins will bring up in discussions on the topic. They are not entirely without merit. These events occurred at the foundations of the national psyche, and the fires they started were re-awakened and strengthened by DR's infamous benefactor Trujillo. It may not always be evident how, but the point is these histories are relevant. One problem of the more universal, human-rights based level of values that we Diasporans bring to the table in these conversations is that this level of thought can create blindspots to the positive value of nationalism. Having a more globalist outlook on the world is admirable, and it is on the whole my own viewpoint. Still I have observed that many who operate from this worldview seem to have missed a step on the ladder. They affect to have transcended nation and tribe, but often not in an organic way that would require us to respect, value and embrace the healthy aspects of the older worldview. And it has not been my experience that we Diasporans know, much less embrace, the history of our parents' homeland as well as we could; or if we do, we know it more from a regional paradigm, and might consider DR as just one more example of many in 'post-colonial' history. As with semantics this is another obstacle to understanding between the home-grown and foreign branches of this family that could undermine any positive influence we can have on this discourse. It begs of those in our island Patria the question, who are you to discuss how we identify who do not even know our story?
For now those are my two offerings to the discussion; cautions about potential pitfalls. My feeling is that the kind of violent headlines and uninformed criticism sparking increased discussion of this matter across borders will go on. I think we Dominican-Americans can offer something to this discourse, just as I think the native Dominicans have something to offer us if we really study our story. It is a story that bears the marks of all the hurricanes and vicissitudes that came with the whole of the Atlantic transaction from the age of colonization, through the Industrial Revolution, to the Cold War, through today. Working through these issues together I hope we can one day offer new paradigms to our region, our hemisphere, and maybe even our world.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
more of overflowing (note #3)
More overflow from trudging the world of forums. Once again to be read as a number of connected brainfarts than as statements.
====
leña pal fuego!
A colonized intellectual is a person raised and educated to a high degree in the ways of the metropolis, in the language of the metropolis, and in the politics and culture of the metropolis. in other words MANY of those present here raised as Americans. but also sometimes domestics in the islands highly Westernized in their thinking.
there are three psychological stages that a colonized intellectual goes through. The first is apprenticeship. This is the stage where the colonized intellect enthusiastically believes the way forward for his people is to adopt metropolitan cultures and 'catch up'. this gives way after some disappointment to a phase of searching for 'authentic' identity of their people. this is the stage that concerns us. When they reach this stage of looking for 'real, authentic _____' many make the sad error of reaching for primitive conceptions that he has been taught (by the metropolis) are authentic expressions of his people.
a dangerous form of this primitivism is what we will call the cosmic cult of Negroism. This vague notion asks us to look back indiscriminately to a mythical, fuzzy conception of the continent Africa, where we were all supposedly in harmony as black men, and whose monolithic culture will offer us unity across borders. this idea is dangerous because of its ultimate aim: to undermine NATIONS. only concrete NATIONS, with BORDERS, LAWS and INSTITUTIONS can effect inter-generational change. The way forward, whatever your politics may be, will not be based on vague, fuzzy global notions of your fellow 'black' or 'Latino' man. the way forward is for NATIONS to crystallize, to embody strong states capable of balancing all the interests and classes composing the state, to form functioning organic political orders between families with shared pasts and shared futures.
so beware this cultural artifact brought to us by THOROUGHLY colonized intellects. pride in the antiquities of the world, including glorious Africa, is a positive thing. celebrating ethnic and racial commonalities is a positive thing. however you are not helping anyone by turning your back on your NATION, how ever that nation may have come to be. the unit of race is too basic and amorphous to build upon or to offer a foundation for your psyche:
ultimately a real tiger does not worry about celebrating his tigritude.
*
I would say however that the case for the Europeans is different. they are well past their national moments, their nations were born, had their glories, and in a few cases are entering old age. so many Europeans are ready to move on to a higher order of organization, perhaps based on race or a larger geography, or something new. in other words they can take the option of a 'cosmic' identification because they already enjoy the bounties of having been crystallized nation-states, so they can afford to undermine nationalism.
the post-colonials that went through the transaction across the Atlantic are still going though this stage. because certain aspects off our heritage were so methodically repressed it is no surprise many of us are eager to shine spotlights on those elements…however per my piece above we need to understand that each island and each nation draws in different ways from huge, diverse Africa as well as from its local melange of European empires that touched the soil and other sometimes surprising migrations from elsewhere on the big planet.
I'd say that is a valid counter-point. I agree I don't think every average Juan España, Pierre France or Hans Austria is at a stage where they are over their nationalism and their nation-states. still the declining demographics and the overall culture there I think points to a weakening of these construct if not exactly imminent demise. I would also say that the elites are not something wholly separate from the people, and in theory in the alleged bastion of democracy that is Europe they are representative of the people.
the important point I'm trying to make is that the European man has the option to identify in that cosmic sense, especially if he chooses to migrate to the Americas. you can either say those nation-states are strong enough to handle this type of subversion, or as I put it that they already reaped the benefits of going through that stage and so opened this optionality. but this option is one with grave consequences when men from New World nations take it, whichever 'cosmic tribe' they choose.
*
to your comment I just would like to add that 150 years ago African diasporans in the USA faced a completely different situation than Dominicans did on our island. the way I see it the African-Ameircans have played their cards as well as they could have been played; a notion of being a 'separate nation' was instilled on them, yet they have gloriously turned this around to become a tool for their betterment. now in 2009 they are arguably the most materially advanced African Diasporans in the world. I also believe we have not seen it all yet from them; their mission and their approach to blackness will continue to be the major global force in deconstructing the effects of the Atlantic transactions.
so we shouldn't disdain their approach to race just as we would not like our emerging approaches written off. we do need to be sharp in selecting from their offerings those ideas that can serve us without dividing us. we also need to be able to communicate to them why our approach is different, and finally we need to learn approaches to 'reprogramming' our cousins who have learned much from that community but fail in advancing their personal psychology when they decide to 'contribute' to Dominican discourse.
That high visibility is a big reason I have high hopes for the continued development of their story and their approach stateside. As you go on to mention the effect of this regime has been that in some ways they are the MOST separated from genuine African cultures or histories. So the reverse implication, which we've touched upon in mentioning that they are the most materially advanced group in the African Diaspora, is that they are also the MOST Westernized. Given that configuration to me within the scheme of Western identity, culture, history they are the most potent weapon, and given their well agitated sense of 'Post colonial inferiority complex' they are also the most motivated, to viciously challenge racist structures in the world the West has created.
The rest of us just have to make sure we are intellectually prepared to defend our own culture and history when they make the error of turning the guns on us instead of on the edifice of the West. Since this is just a forum it is probably not the right place to dissect where the concepts 'black' and 'African Diaspora' part ways but having this convo with misguided racial activists is important.
*
I especially agree with your final statement about the way Africa is taught, or rather isn't taught at all in favor of a jumble of stereotypes . also I agree we need education, and I believe the education must own up to our pasts and ensure we are moving to broader concepts of humanity and not narrower. however I believe getting to that goal requires strong national culture first. I hope as you read my replies above you see that I agree embracing ALL our heritages is necessary to ensure integrity. but ensuring integrity should also mean that the approaches to our heritage that we learn/teach are homegrown and not simply foreign thought translated into the local tongue. my opinion is in a way that the cart should not be put before the horse; we must build a strong community which over time offers solid material benefits to all. as material conditions improve across the spectrum it becomes more difficult to maintain that those of certain backgrounds are less human. as material conditions improve all people will more avenues to express themselves and thus express what they truly are historically, without having to be TOLD by anybody that they are this or that, or that being such means ascribing to the inaccurate, monolithic aspects of the cosmic cult as it is too often preached.
*
I suspect those who do not make it past that apprentice stage are also ones who never really tried to engage their people or get involved in concrete ways. once you roll up your sleeves and get into it, in action, thought or study, you QUICKLY find that the pieces do not fit so simply. So a lot of US Dominicans can think this way in a surface manner, and in their comfortable lives never really put mind, money or brazos to a concrete task that would shatter this mentality.
The other type you mention, who longs for the caudillo…that is a bit more difficult to decipher. I'm not sure if they are of the same 'colonized mind' category or perhaps more homegrown minds. we know that strands of culture run deep on this island that favor the emergence of the Heareaux and Trujillos. so to me that is more of an organic desire of certain Dominicans under the influence of those strands of culture. just a thought.
====
leña pal fuego!
A colonized intellectual is a person raised and educated to a high degree in the ways of the metropolis, in the language of the metropolis, and in the politics and culture of the metropolis. in other words MANY of those present here raised as Americans. but also sometimes domestics in the islands highly Westernized in their thinking.
there are three psychological stages that a colonized intellectual goes through. The first is apprenticeship. This is the stage where the colonized intellect enthusiastically believes the way forward for his people is to adopt metropolitan cultures and 'catch up'. this gives way after some disappointment to a phase of searching for 'authentic' identity of their people. this is the stage that concerns us. When they reach this stage of looking for 'real, authentic _____' many make the sad error of reaching for primitive conceptions that he has been taught (by the metropolis) are authentic expressions of his people.
a dangerous form of this primitivism is what we will call the cosmic cult of Negroism. This vague notion asks us to look back indiscriminately to a mythical, fuzzy conception of the continent Africa, where we were all supposedly in harmony as black men, and whose monolithic culture will offer us unity across borders. this idea is dangerous because of its ultimate aim: to undermine NATIONS. only concrete NATIONS, with BORDERS, LAWS and INSTITUTIONS can effect inter-generational change. The way forward, whatever your politics may be, will not be based on vague, fuzzy global notions of your fellow 'black' or 'Latino' man. the way forward is for NATIONS to crystallize, to embody strong states capable of balancing all the interests and classes composing the state, to form functioning organic political orders between families with shared pasts and shared futures.
so beware this cultural artifact brought to us by THOROUGHLY colonized intellects. pride in the antiquities of the world, including glorious Africa, is a positive thing. celebrating ethnic and racial commonalities is a positive thing. however you are not helping anyone by turning your back on your NATION, how ever that nation may have come to be. the unit of race is too basic and amorphous to build upon or to offer a foundation for your psyche:
ultimately a real tiger does not worry about celebrating his tigritude.
*
I would say however that the case for the Europeans is different. they are well past their national moments, their nations were born, had their glories, and in a few cases are entering old age. so many Europeans are ready to move on to a higher order of organization, perhaps based on race or a larger geography, or something new. in other words they can take the option of a 'cosmic' identification because they already enjoy the bounties of having been crystallized nation-states, so they can afford to undermine nationalism.
the post-colonials that went through the transaction across the Atlantic are still going though this stage. because certain aspects off our heritage were so methodically repressed it is no surprise many of us are eager to shine spotlights on those elements…however per my piece above we need to understand that each island and each nation draws in different ways from huge, diverse Africa as well as from its local melange of European empires that touched the soil and other sometimes surprising migrations from elsewhere on the big planet.
I'd say that is a valid counter-point. I agree I don't think every average Juan España, Pierre France or Hans Austria is at a stage where they are over their nationalism and their nation-states. still the declining demographics and the overall culture there I think points to a weakening of these construct if not exactly imminent demise. I would also say that the elites are not something wholly separate from the people, and in theory in the alleged bastion of democracy that is Europe they are representative of the people.
the important point I'm trying to make is that the European man has the option to identify in that cosmic sense, especially if he chooses to migrate to the Americas. you can either say those nation-states are strong enough to handle this type of subversion, or as I put it that they already reaped the benefits of going through that stage and so opened this optionality. but this option is one with grave consequences when men from New World nations take it, whichever 'cosmic tribe' they choose.
*
to your comment I just would like to add that 150 years ago African diasporans in the USA faced a completely different situation than Dominicans did on our island. the way I see it the African-Ameircans have played their cards as well as they could have been played; a notion of being a 'separate nation' was instilled on them, yet they have gloriously turned this around to become a tool for their betterment. now in 2009 they are arguably the most materially advanced African Diasporans in the world. I also believe we have not seen it all yet from them; their mission and their approach to blackness will continue to be the major global force in deconstructing the effects of the Atlantic transactions.
so we shouldn't disdain their approach to race just as we would not like our emerging approaches written off. we do need to be sharp in selecting from their offerings those ideas that can serve us without dividing us. we also need to be able to communicate to them why our approach is different, and finally we need to learn approaches to 'reprogramming' our cousins who have learned much from that community but fail in advancing their personal psychology when they decide to 'contribute' to Dominican discourse.
That high visibility is a big reason I have high hopes for the continued development of their story and their approach stateside. As you go on to mention the effect of this regime has been that in some ways they are the MOST separated from genuine African cultures or histories. So the reverse implication, which we've touched upon in mentioning that they are the most materially advanced group in the African Diaspora, is that they are also the MOST Westernized. Given that configuration to me within the scheme of Western identity, culture, history they are the most potent weapon, and given their well agitated sense of 'Post colonial inferiority complex' they are also the most motivated, to viciously challenge racist structures in the world the West has created.
The rest of us just have to make sure we are intellectually prepared to defend our own culture and history when they make the error of turning the guns on us instead of on the edifice of the West. Since this is just a forum it is probably not the right place to dissect where the concepts 'black' and 'African Diaspora' part ways but having this convo with misguided racial activists is important.
*
I especially agree with your final statement about the way Africa is taught, or rather isn't taught at all in favor of a jumble of stereotypes . also I agree we need education, and I believe the education must own up to our pasts and ensure we are moving to broader concepts of humanity and not narrower. however I believe getting to that goal requires strong national culture first. I hope as you read my replies above you see that I agree embracing ALL our heritages is necessary to ensure integrity. but ensuring integrity should also mean that the approaches to our heritage that we learn/teach are homegrown and not simply foreign thought translated into the local tongue. my opinion is in a way that the cart should not be put before the horse; we must build a strong community which over time offers solid material benefits to all. as material conditions improve across the spectrum it becomes more difficult to maintain that those of certain backgrounds are less human. as material conditions improve all people will more avenues to express themselves and thus express what they truly are historically, without having to be TOLD by anybody that they are this or that, or that being such means ascribing to the inaccurate, monolithic aspects of the cosmic cult as it is too often preached.
*
I suspect those who do not make it past that apprentice stage are also ones who never really tried to engage their people or get involved in concrete ways. once you roll up your sleeves and get into it, in action, thought or study, you QUICKLY find that the pieces do not fit so simply. So a lot of US Dominicans can think this way in a surface manner, and in their comfortable lives never really put mind, money or brazos to a concrete task that would shatter this mentality.
The other type you mention, who longs for the caudillo…that is a bit more difficult to decipher. I'm not sure if they are of the same 'colonized mind' category or perhaps more homegrown minds. we know that strands of culture run deep on this island that favor the emergence of the Heareaux and Trujillos. so to me that is more of an organic desire of certain Dominicans under the influence of those strands of culture. just a thought.
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