Dominican Republic Haiti

Together Haiti and the Dominican Republic fo rm the island of Hispaniola. With easy cross border travel, this guide is aimed at both the independent traveller and th e adventurous package tourist, providing all the necessary p ractical information. '

"The first book on the market that considers the experience of Haitians and Dominicans in the United States in one single effort of analysis and does so through the cultural venue of literary texts produced by writers from the two communities."--Silvio Torres-Saillant, Syracuse University "A new understanding of the island of Hispaniola. . . . [This] work brings to the fore a most neglected aspect of Caribbean history--the close links between two nations, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, who are perceived as enemies but whose peoples have shared similar histories of violence and pain."--Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, Vassar College The Tears of Hispaniola appraises the ways in which Haitian and Dominican diaspora writings serve as public record--documenting violence, terror, memory, and human rights violations on the island of Hispaniola, home to the two nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Lucía Suárez offers a thorough and delicately nuanced reading of central works by Jean-Robert Cadet, Junot Díaz, Loida Maritza Pérez, and Edwidge Danticat, to establish the function of this literature as a socio-literary catalyst, and to bring attention to the larger injustices still occurring on the island. Stories of a "torn country" continue to haunt the people of Hispaniola's diaspora. In their images of what they left behind and what exists today, these writers engage in a process Suárez contends can transform unspeakable truths into memoirs of survival, understanding, and resistance. She argues that as authors and intellectuals articulate traumatic memories of their homeland, and expose the intersections of new violations in their host country, their writing creates a venue to transcend violence and claim justice. Of particular importance is how Suárez interprets these texts as a platform from which to consider questions of ethnic identity and social reform for the large and growing U.S.-Caribbean community. The author suggests that citizens of the diaspora challenge prejudices and make a distinct impact on the cultural landscape of the United States. This is a pioneering book that offers a compassionate and constructive, comparative analysis of the literatures and societies that have emerged from Haitian and Dominican dispersion to the United States. It thus offers a critical and highly important lens toward the understanding of the links between literature, history, and memory. The Tears of Hispaniola boldly reframes Caribbean and diaspora literature in terms of a new pan-Caribbean diasporic canon in the Americas.. Lucía M. Suárez is associate professor of Spanish at Amherst College.

Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti fills a large void in the literature on birdwatching and the environment in these tropical countries. The first comprehensive field guide devoted to Hispaniola's birds, it provides detailed accounts for more than 300 species, including thirty-one endemic species. Included in the species descriptions are details on key field marks, similar species, voice, habitats, geographic distribution on Hispaniola, status, nesting, range, and local names used in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The authors also comment on ecology, behavior, and taxonomic status. The book provides color illustrations and range maps based on the most recent data available. But the authors' intent is to provide more than just a means of identifying birds. The guide also underscores the importance of promoting the conservation of migratory and resident birds, and building support for environmental measures.

Like two roosters in a fighting arena, Haiti and the Dominican Republic are encircled by barriers of geography and poverty. They co-inhabit the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, but their histories are as deeply divided as their cultures: one French-speaking and black, one Spanish-speaking and mulatto. Yet, despite their antagonism, the two countries share a national symbol in the rooster--and a fundamental activity and favorite sport in the cockfight. In this book, Michele Wucker asks: "If the symbols that dominate a culture accurately express a nation's character, what kind of a country draws so heavily on images of cockfighting and roosters, birds bred to be aggressive? What does it mean when not one but two countries that are neighbors choose these symbols? Why do the cocks fight, and why do humans watch and glorify them?" Wucker studies the cockfight ritual in considerable detail, focusing as much on the customs and histories of these two nations as on their contemporary lifestyles and politics. Her well-cited and comprehensive volume also explores the relations of each nation toward the United States, which twice invaded both Haiti (in 1915 and 1994) and the Dominican Republic (in 1916 and 1965) during the twentieth century. Just as the owners of gamecocks contrive battles between their birds as a way of playing out human conflicts, Wucker argues, Haitian and Dominican leaders often stir up nationalist disputes and exaggerate their cultural and racial differences as a way of deflecting other kinds of turmoil. Thus Why the Cocks Fight highlights the factors in Caribbean history that still affect Hispaniola today, including the often contradictory policies of the U.S.

In We Dream Together Anne Eller breaks with dominant narratives of conflict between the Dominican Republic and Haiti by tracing the complicated history of Dominican emancipation and independence between 1822 and 1865. Eller moves beyond the small body of writing by Dominican elites that often narrates Dominican nationhood to craft inclusive, popular histories of identity, community, and freedom, summoning sources that range from trial records and consul reports to poetry and song. Rethinking Dominican relationships with their communities, the national project, and the greater Caribbean, Eller shows how popular anticolonial resistance was anchored in a rich and complex political culture. Haitians and Dominicans fostered a common commitment to Caribbean freedom, the abolition of slavery, and popular democracy, often well beyond the reach of the state. By showing how the island's political roots are deeply entwined, and by contextualizing this history within the wider Atlantic world, Eller demonstrates the centrality of Dominican anticolonial struggles for understanding independence and emancipation throughout the Caribbean and the Americas.