ELEMENTS OF DOMINICAN CULTURE By: Maria Aduke Alabi 07/22/2026 There are days when one wakes up with a heart aching with nostalgia, and it may be the hormones; but looking at the little Dominican flag that decorates my living room warms my soul and reminds me that "I am Dominican even though I am far away." That blue of hope, that dark red of courage, and that white that calls us to purity… And, in the center, the National Shield, which is not just a symbol: it is a declaration of who we are....

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...