DOMINICANS AND THE ISSUE OF RACE… Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?
- Maria Aduke Alabi
- 5 days ago
- 8 min read
By Maria Aduke Alabi - June 6, 2023 - California
“ If we don’t know where we come from, we won’t know what we are, therefore we will never know what we can become. ” – Maria Aduke Alabi
These questions are fundamental to anyone's identity. In my case, as a dark-skinned Dominican woman (Afro-Caribbean or Afro-Latina) living in the United States and married to a Nigerian, these questions take on a special complexity when you add the historical, political, and ethno-cultural concepts of my country. In this article, I will try to answer these questions, not claiming to be right, but rather based on my personal opinion supported by studies from other professionals in the field, my own experience, and knowledge.
Who are we?
Knowing who we are as a nation is crucial for a deeper understanding of ourselves, both as a country and as individuals. This understanding empowers us to make more informed decisions that align with our values, goals, and needs. By recognizing our identity, we can identify our strengths and weaknesses, enabling us to enhance our abilities and address areas for improvement. Furthermore, it fosters greater self-esteem and self-confidence, leading to healthier interpersonal relationships and a more assertive approach to life. Finally, self-knowledge provides a clearer perspective on our collective and individual aspirations.
For Dominicans living on the island, knowing who they are doesn't seem to be of much value, even though all decisions made personally and at the governmental level, the country's international relations, and many other aspects depend on it, especially in terms of international relations, our values, and how we present ourselves or define ourselves in front of other nations, countries, or people.
Dominicans who emigrate, especially to countries where race and ethnicity are increasingly valued, as in the case of the United States, are forced to learn to identify ourselves within this jungle of identities, to understand who we are and where we come from, to what race we belong, since it directly or indirectly affects how we fit into that society. We are bewildered when, without a clear understanding of our race or ethnic origin, we are forced to choose one, to "tick the box" where the term "Dominican" is not listed.
We are joy, community, beach, Caribbean, we are accountants, carpenters, economists, we are many things, but understanding what we are in relation to our own racial and ethnic identity is the most difficult to interpret (because of our mix), and at the same time it is the most important since it allows us to grow as a nation.
Biologically, race refers to phenotypic (physical) traits, based on a series of characteristics transmitted through genetic inheritance. However, we must be clear that race is nothing more than " a social construct that uses certain visible biological traits as classification criteria " (Stavenhagen, 2001), something that, according to scientists, does not exist biogenetically. This explains why each society has its own classification of race. But, if we use the genetic frequency division of the human race as a point of reference, race is divided into: Negroid (African/Black), Caucasoid (European/White), and Mongoloid (Asian).
Local studies conducted by Patria Rivas Laboratories in 2016, taking samples from 1,000 Dominicans from different areas of the country, revealed that the Dominican population has in its DNA 39% European ancestry, 49% African ancestry, and 4% pre-Columbian or Taíno ancestry.
From another perspective, a 2014 study by CIA.org, published in The World Factbook, which takes into account interracial mixing, states that 70.4% of the population is of mixed race (58% mulattoes, "European with African," and 12.4% mestizos, "European with Indigenous"), 13.5% is white, 15.8% is black, and 0.3% is other. The Dominican census conducted in 2002 estimated a population of 8.4 million, of whom 7 million had African ancestry.
On the other hand, an ethnic group is a social group in which the members have a common origin and certain shared traits, such as language, religion, culture, celebration of certain festivities, artistic expressions (such as music), clothing, historical links, type of food and often, a territory, and that have all the characteristics together individually or more than two in common.
Ethnicity and race. Race focuses on phenotypic elements, while ethnicity transcends perceived racial aspects. Although they have different meanings, they are often used interchangeably by many experts, reducing ethnicity to skin color or language. However, it goes much further than that.
We are Dominicans, which is a nationality, not a race, although it could be considered an ethnicity if one is born and raised on the island. However, customs, dances, and religious expressions vary from town to town. A Dominican born in the Dominican Republic, for example, but raised in a Mayan town in Mexico, is of Dominican nationality, but with Mayan ethnicity (not Mexican) because that is the culture they adopted.
These three main ethnicities (European, African and Amerindian) and/or races (white, black and indigenous) make up the vast majority, but there are many other ethnicities that have left their mark in specific regions of the country, such as Asian, Jewish, Haitian, Lebanese, Venezuelan and many others that form a "melting pot", a crucible, a stew in our country.
When we consider our physical characteristics, such as curly or straight hair, dark, light, or mixed-race skin, the shape of our nose, the thickness of our lips, etc., we could define our race, since race refers to phenotypic traits. If we consider the genetic frequency division of the human race, we are mostly African.
Where do we come from?
Dominican culture is relatively recent, with a history spanning less than 531 years. It began in 1492 with the Spanish invasion of the island, and Spanish culture was the second major ingredient (in order of arrival) added to the melting pot we now call "Dominican." I say second because, prior to this invasion, indigenous people inhabited the island, but their culture is not ours, although it is one of its three main and original ingredients, fused together in the melting pot that created what is now our Dominican culture. The third ingredient was added in 1501, when the first African slaves were brought to the island by the Spanish.
A good analogy for the three main races/cultures is the typical merengue or perico ripiao, which only exists thanks to the convergence of three instruments: the güira, the tambora, and the accordion. “In the tambora, the güira, and the accordion are reflected the three races, the three colors, the three cultures, ” says Chaljub Mejía. Based on the origins of each instrument, the accordion represents our European heritage, the drum represents our African heritage, and the güira represents our indigenous people.
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The Dominican and his African heritage.
I want to make a brief digression on this topic of our African heritage, not because it is more important than our Hispanic heritage, but because no one denies Hispanic heritage; it is well established and accepted in the Dominican mind. And although the European percentage we possess is much smaller than the African percentage in our DNA, it is our African heritage that needs attention because it has been stigmatized, to the point of being rejected, when, in reality, Dominicans are first African, then European.
Our Dominican society knows that its indigenous heritage is still alive, at least in our culture; it is also in harmony with its Hispanic heritage, which it proudly carries as its most valuable treasure (even though it was the cause of its greatest losses), but in one way or another we have shied away from the responsibility of openly declaring our African ancestry. This is due to the political events that arose with Haiti and the need to differentiate ourselves, as well as, on the one hand, the amnesia caused by corrupt figures in our history such as Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, who still leave vestiges in our present of his racism and unjustified racialism in our collective memory, and on the other hand, the feeling of inferiority that they injected into the Dominican mentality by making us believe that white is superior to black.
In our African history, our African ancestors were the victims. The subjugation, control, and abuses by our Hispanic ancestors brought many deaths, both to the Indigenous people (whom they completely annihilated) and to the Africans themselves, who were free men bought and enslaved. But despite this, we seem to favor the aggressor, the perpetrator, over their victims. This bias in favor of whiteness is a common somatic indicator among Dominicans.
According to a UNFPA survey conducted in the Dominican Republic in 2022, 45% of Dominicans consider themselves Indian, 18% white, 16% brown, 9% mulatto, and only 8% identified as black.
In another survey conducted by LAPOP in 2006, 67.6% considered themselves mulatto and Indian, 13.6% considered themselves white, and 18.3% considered themselves black.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the Office of Management and Budget, and other U.S. government agencies, Black Hispanics (Afro-Hispanics) or Black Latinos (Afro-Latinos) are classified as Black regardless of their physical appearance or cultural identity. The American principle of the "one-drop rule," codified in the laws of some states, states that anyone with a Black ancestor is considered Black. While this rule is now obsolete, the notion remains deeply ingrained in the American psyche.
We must proudly acknowledge our Afro-descendant heritage, be able to choose what to accept and what to reject, recognize the discourses and habits of our society that are products of historical racial propaganda, and be able to differentiate between political rhetoric disguised as patriotism—which fictitiously evokes the defense of a racial identity that is not at risk—and that which is the result of historical ignorance and is not patriotic, but racist. We cannot continue to be influenced or limited by the parameters that still permeate the collective imagination of our nation.
We are of African descent; to deny it is to reject an important part of ourselves, a part that is evident and that we cannot change. If we don't accept it, we don't accept ourselves. The ocean liner is part of our history.
We must consider that our collective Dominican DNA is composed of 3.6% Indigenous genes, 38.7% European genes, and 49.1% African genes (according to a study conducted by the Genographic Project, 2016). Our Indigenous heritage is significant in terms of elements, but not so much in terms of genetics. The Hispanic heritage that everyone acknowledges plays an important role in our ancestry. The African heritage that constitutes the majority of our racial makeup is what we need to proudly recognize and embrace, ensuring that our Dominican identity is no longer without a mother. The African heritage does not replace our Hispanic heritage; rather, it enhances it in a beautiful Afro-Hispanic blend worthy of admiration.
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It's clear that to progress as a society, it's crucial to be proud of all aspects of our racial identity. If we know who we are and where we come from, it will be easy to deduce where we're going.
Where are we going?
As a nation, the lack of self-recognition, the struggle against what we are and our failure to calmly and unequivocally accept it, will continue to create battles that will be fought and won when we can find ourselves as a nation.
Hope lies with the young, those who, despite technological distractions, fashion, and entertainment, accept who they are without fear or reservation. They understand that there is nothing to be ashamed of in their diversity because they are more open to accepting the world as it is and not creating it in their own image. This generation holds the keys that will unlock the doors to a future where we will live in harmony with who we are.
We are a multiethnic people of Black and white ancestry, with European fathers and African mothers, making us mulattoes. Our marginalized and rich African heritage will be reclaimed; this half that has been denied will be embraced; and clarity, a sense of belonging, and empowerment (perceived only by those who know their origins) will guide us toward our destination.
Hoy Digital Newspaper, August 22, 2016 https://hoy.com.do/estudio-revela-existencia-de-etnia-dominicana-mezclada/
MyHeritage “Dominican Republic - main ethnic groups” https://www.myheritage.es/ethnicities/dominican-republic/country-ethnicity-distribution
Ethnicity, Royal Spanish Academy of Language, Pan-Hispanic Spanish Legal Dictionary (DEJ). https://dpej.rae.es/lema/etnia
Prezi.com – Ethnic Groups in the Dominican Republic by Laura Michelle, September 22, 2015 - https://prezi.com/mlarvlbtci3l/etnias-en-republica-dominicana/
Document, “The Ethnic-Racial Variable in Population Censuses in the Dominican Republic,” issued by the National Statistics Office, July 2017. https://one.gob.do/media/5l2h0uzj/estudiolavariable%C3%A9tnicoracialenloscensosdepoblaci%C3%B3nenlarepdom2012.pdf
Document, “Brief National Survey of Racial and Ethnic Self-Perception in the Dominican Republic.” Issued by the United Nations Population Fund in the Dominican Republic (UNFPA), Sept. 2021. https://dominicanrepublic.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/encuesta_nacional_de_autopercepcion_racial_y_etnica_en_rd_100322.pdf
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