The Tribulations of Blackness: Stages in Dominican Racial Identity

TLDR

The Dominican Republic has a long history of African slavery beginning in 1502, resulting in a population that is now nearly 90 % Black or mixed, yet the nation remains highly ambiguous about its racial identity. The author aims to analyze Dominican racial thinking and advocate for indigenous frameworks to clarify black consciousness in Dominican society and culture. Afro‑Dominicans have historically refrained from collectively asserting their blackness, which has surprised external observers.

Abstract

The island of Hispaniola or Santo Domingo served as port of entry to the first African slaves who stepped on Spain's newly conquered territories following Christopher Columbus' eventful transatlantic voyage in 1492. Nine years into the conquest of what thenceforward became known as the New World, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella appointed Fray Nicolás de Ovando as new Governor of Santo Domingo, authorizing him to bring "black slaves" to their colony (Saco 164). Marking the start of the black experience in the Western Hemisphere, the arrival of Ovando's fleet in July 1502 ushered in a social and demographic history that would lead in the course of five centuries to the overwhelming presence of people of African descent in the Dominican Republic today. 1 Blacks and mulattoes make up nearly 90% of the contemporary Dominican population. Yet no other country in the hemisphere exhibits greater indeterminacy regarding the population's sense of racial identity. To the bewilderment of outside observers, Afro-Dominicans have traditionally failed to flaunt their blackness as a collective banner to advance economic, cultural or political causes. Some commentators would contend, in effect, that Dominicans have for the most part denied their blackness. Faced with the population's tolerance of official claims asserting the moral and intellectual superiority of Caucasians by white supremacist ideologues, analysts of racial identity in Dominican society have often imputed to Dominicans heavy doses of "backwardness," "ignorance" or "confusion" regarding their race and ethnicity (Fennema and Loewenthal 209; Sagás). I would like in the pages that follow to reflect on the complexity of racial thinking and racial discourse among Dominicans and urge the use of indigenous paradigms to explicate the place of black consciousness in Dominican society and culture.