Dominican Studies: Resources and Research Questions

Transcription

City University of New York (CUNY)
CUNY Academic Works
Publications and Research
CUNY Dominican Studies Institute
1997
Dominican Studies: Resources and Research
Questions
Luis Alvarez-López
Sherrie Baver
Jean Weisman
Ramona Hernández
Nancy López
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Alvarez-López, Luis; Baver, Sherrie; Weisman, Jean; Hernández, Ramona; and López, Nancy, "Dominican Studies: Resources and
Research Questions" (1997). CUNY Academic Works.
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D om inican Studies:
Resources and
Research Questions
Luis Alwrcz-Lopcz
SJicnic Baver
Jean Wcisman
Ramona Heniaiidez & Nancy Lopez
Dominican Research Monographs
T h e C u n y Dominican Studies Institute
D o m i n i c a n S t u d ie s :
Resources and Research Questions
A Selected Bibliography
Luis Alvarez-Lopez
On Studying Women and Work in the
Dominican Republic:
A Bibliographic Orientation
Sherrie L Baver
Gender and Class Consciousness:
Women in the Dominican Republic
Jean Weisman
Yola and Gender:
Dominican Women's Unregulated Migration
Ramona Hernandez and Nancy Lopez
Dominican Research Monographs
The CUNY Dominican Studies Instihite
Dominican Research M onographs
Copyright © 1997 The CUNY Dominican Studies histitute
Dominican Research Monographs, a publication of the CUNY Dominican
Studies Institute, appearing roughly every three months, seeks to dis
seminate knowledge on the Dominican experience in the United States,
the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere. Generally, the texts published
in the series will have been generated by research projects sponsored by
the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute.
Publications Coordinator
Jermifer Radtke
Credits: This publication has been made possible in part by the support
of the Chancellor's Office and Organized Research, the City University
of New York.
The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at City College is an organized
research imit of the City University of New York approved by the Board
of Trustees of the University on February 22, 1994. The Institute's pri
mary mission is the production and dissemination of knowledge on the
Dominican experience. City College, Hostos Community College, and
the central administration of CUNY, with the support of the Dominican
community in New York, have led the effort that created the CUNY
Dominican Studies Institute.
For information on the series or on the overall research agenda of the
Institute, you may reach us at:
The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute
The City College of New York
North Academic Center, Room 4-107
New York, NY 10031
Telephone: (212) 650-7496
Fax: (212)650-7489
e-mail: dsi@phantom.cct.ccny.cuny.edu
Foreword
In the Summer of 1993, the CuNY Dominican Studies
Institute, then a pilot project, began implementing its research
agenda, having already achieved a measure of visibility through
conferences and other public events. The first volume in this
Dominican Research M onographs series, Jorge Duany's
Quisqueya on the Hudson: The Transnational Identity of Dominicans
in Washington Heights, came out of that incipient effort. The pub
lication of the present Dominican Studies: Resources and Research
Questions by Luis Alvarez-Lopez, Sherrie Baver, Jean Weisman,
Ramona Hernandez, and Nancy Lopez, brings closure to the
Dominican Institute's research initiatives during our first year.
Unlike the previous volumes in this series, Dominican
Studies: Resources and Research Questions is an assorted publica
tion, gathering together the results of four independent research
projects. Alvarez-Lopez set out to compile a modest Dominican
studies bibliography for use by students working in various aca
demic disciplines. He drew his selection from titles available in
New York libraries. Baver and Weisman prepared their separate
reports on the basis of their contacts with women's centers and
organizations in the Dominican Republic. They traveled to Santo
Domingo to complete their projects in the Summer of 1993.
Finally, the text authored by Ramona Hernandez and Nancy
Lopez grew out of their field study that same year of a
Dominican town known to be a frequent point of departure for
many imdocumented migrants aiming for Puerto Rico and the
mainland United States. They highlight the daring participation
of women in the migratory process.
On the whole, Dominican Studies: Resources and Research
Questions provides valuable information about resources and
points to meaningful research questions that await in-depth
treatment by scholars of the Dominican experience.
Silvio Torres-Saillant
Director
CuNY Dominican Studies Institute
Biographies
PhD in History from New York
University, currently teaches at Borough of Manhattan
Commtmity College and Hostos Community College
and serves as labor organizer for Hospital Workers'
Union 1199. His publications include the books
Domimcidn colonial y guerra popular: 1861-1865 and arti
cles in N a c la Report on the Americas, Revista de Antropologta e Historia, Nuevo Humanismo, and Eme-Eme.
L u is A lv a r e z -L 6 p e z ,
L. B a y er, Department of Latin American and
Hispanic Caribbean Studies at the City College of the
City University of New York, is author of The Political
S h e r r ie
Economy o f Colonialism: The State and Industrialization in
Puerto Rico (1993) and co-editor of Latinos in New York:
Communities in Transition (1996).
Administrative Coordinator of the City
College Center for Worker Education, has organized
several student and faculty research trips to the
Dominican Republic and Cuba. She is a member of the
A dvisory Board of the C u n y Dominican Studies
Institute, the Executive Committee of the C u n y Caribbean Exchange Program, and L a sa 's Task Force on
Scholarly Relations with Cuba.
J e a n W eism a n ,
is an Assistant Professor in the
Latino Studies Program at the University of Massachu
setts at Boston and serves as a researcher with the C u n y
Dominican Studies Institute. Co-author of Dominican
New Yorkers: A Socioeconomic Profile (1995) and co-editor
R am ona H ern an d ez
of Punto 7 Review: A Journal of Marginal Discourse, she has
written widely on Dominican migration to the United
States.
a doctoral candidate in the Sociology
Department at the Graduate School and University Center,
City University of New York, has taught at LaGuardia
Commxmity College and the John Jay College of Criminal
Justice, CuNY. She has published in Phoebe: Journal of
N a n c y L 6 p ez ,
Feminist Scholarship, Theory, and Aesthetics.
Table of Contents
A Selected Bibliography
Luis Alvarez-Lopez........................................................1
On Studying Women and Work:
Sherrie L B aver ..........................................................33
Gender and Class Consciousness;
Women in the Dominican Republic
Jean W eism an ............................................................ 41
Yola and Gender:
Dominican Women's Unregulated Migration
Ramona Hernandez and Nancy Ldpez..................... 57
A S elec ted B ib l io g r a ph y
by Luis Alvarez-Lopez
Nota Introductoria
Fuentes y Perspectiva de Investigacion
La presente compilacidn hibliogrdfica representa un esfuerzo
del Instituto de Estudios Dominicanos por ofrecer al estudiantado de CuNY asi como al profesorado y al publico en general un
muestreo bdsico de la creciente produccion bibliogrdfica sobre los
dominicanos en general. Para esta compilacidn fueron consultadas varias bibliotecas publicas y privadas de Nueva York, entre
las quefiguran las bibliotecas del Centro Graduado de C u m , de
City College, de Columbia University y la Biblioteca Publica de
Nueva York.
La pesquiza, en principio, cubrio el Comprehensive
Dissertation Index, desde 1861 hasta 1992, publicado por
University Microfilms International, en A nn Arbor, Michigan,
asi como algunos articulos especializados sobre disertaciones doctorales y tesis de maestria acerca de Latinoamerica y el Caribe.
Ademds, se consulto algunas de las publicaciones mas importantes sobre dicha region, tales como Hispanic A m erican
Historical Review, Latin American Perspective, Caribbean
Studies, International M igration Review y el Journal of Latin
Am erican Studies.
Sobre las relaciones entre la Republica Dominicana y los
Estados Unidos existen varias fuentes primarias de informacidn
de suma importancia para los estudiosos del tema. Muchas de
estas fuentes forman parte de las Colecciones Presidenciales de
Lyndon B. Johnson en Texas, y John E Kennedy en Massachussetts. Ademds de los papeles presidenciales existen los documentos del Consejo Nacional de Seguridad, organismo asesor del
Presidente de los Estados Unidos, los que constituyen fuentes
primarias de gran valor historico. Igualmente utiles son los do1
cumentos desclasificados del gobierno de los Estados Unidos, los
cuales, publicados bajo el tUulo de Declassified Documents por
Research Publications International, estdn a disposicion del
publico en general en la Biblioteca Publica de Nueva York. Una
gran parte de lasfuentes primarias relativas a las relaciones entre
la Republica Dominicana y los Estados Unidos ya ha sido consultada por investigadores dominicanos tales como Bernardo
Vega, Victor Grimaldi y Luis Alvarez-Ldpez, entre otros.
Estamos satisfechos de que investigaciones iniciales sobre el
desarrollo politico y cultural, los patrones de asentamiento
dominicano en los Estados Unidos, la experiencia femenina en el
marco de la emigracidn, la relacion hombre-mujer, la produccidn
artistica y literaria de los dominicanos inmigrantes y otros topicos dentro del contexto de la migratoria en los Estados Unidos
pueden abordarse en su etapa inicial a partir de varios titulos
recogidos en la presente compilacion.
Hay otras fuentes igualmente importantes que por ahora no
nos hemos propuesto escudrifiar. La prensa hispana en general y
dominicana en particular que circula en Nueva York y en otros
estados constituye unafuente de primera mono para reconstruir
algunos aspectos de la historia general de las comunidades
dominicanas en los Estados Unidos. Ejemplo de estos son El
Diario-La Prensa, El Listin USA, la edicion neoyorquina de El
Nacional y algunos de los periodicos de la RepHblica Dominicana
que circulan en Nueva York. Asimismo, revistas, boletines, folletos, hojas sueltas, minutas de reuniones de organizaciones y
agendas comunales, igual que records de partidos politicos, orga
nizaciones culturales, femeninas y juveniles proveen fuentes
vitales para el estudio de dichas comunidades. La pesquiza de esas
fuentes deberdformar parte de un proyecto futuro.
Los artkulos y libros aqui fichados, con especial enfasis en
los trabajos publicados en los ultimos tres decenios y sin preten
sion de ser exhaustivos, constituyen una fuente de informacidn
bdsica sobre la Republica Dominicana y la experiencia migratoria
dominicana en los Estados Unidos. Esperamos que nuestro
esfuerzo sea de utilidad para el profesorado y el estudiantado de
CUNY, ast como para todos los interesados en conocer la expe
riencia dominicana.
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10
-
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-11
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-31
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O n S tudying W omen a n d W ork
IN THE D o m inican R epublic :
by Sherrie L. Baver
O n S t u d y in g W o m e n a n d W o r k
IN THE D o m i n ic a n R e p u b l ic :
by Sherrie L. Baver
In the summer of 1993, several researchers from the City
University of New York went to the Dominican Republic to
study the integration of women into the coimtry's labor market.
Some of the group's goals were to document that: (a) women are
an important part of the Dominican labor force; (b) feminist-ori
ented groups exist in the coxmtry to aid women workers; and (c)
archives exist with both primary and secondary data to provide
a basic resource for researchers interested in the topic.
This brief essay is intended as a preliminary guide to key
individuals, organizations, and archives and will be of most use
to students and scholars in the social sciences concerned with the
issue of Dominican women and labor m arket integration.
Discussion of the work of women novelists or artists, for exam
ple, is not included here but merits a similar essay by a scholar in
the humanities. Virtually all of the documents cited here are in
Spanish; and English translations are not available. Jean
Weisman, in the article which follows the present overview,
offers additional research orientation and some personal
accounts of the visits made by our research group.
Orienting Literature
A good place to begin research is the Dominican govern
ment's ^ reccio n General de Promocion de la Mujer, where one
can review Dr. Clara Baez's Directorio de organismos gubernamentales y no gubernamentales que trabajan con mujeres. (Santo
Domingo: Direccion General y U n ic e f , 1989). A useful overview
- 35 -
of many aspects of Dominican women's lives is fotmd in the
January-March 1988 issue of the journal Ciencia y Sociedad,
which is totally dedicated to "La Mujer." This particular issue
will introduce researchers to many of the key themes in
studying Dominican women but also to many of the leading
writers on feminism and the status of women in the republic.
The journal is published by Instituto Tecnologico de Santo
Domingo (I n te c ). Mujeres en Desarrollo Dominicano, Inc.
(M u d e) publishes a useful quarterly report, Mujer y Desarrollo.
Finally, another ongoing publication basic to research on
women in the Dominican Republic is Noticias de la Mujer.
Noticias, which appears monthly, is published by the
Programa de la Mujer del Centro Dominicano de Estudios de
la Educacion (C ed ee). C ed ee was founded in 1979 with the
goal of promoting women's education through specialized
workshops and through ongoing consciousness raising ses
sions in popular organizations.
Key Individuals, Organizations and Archives
Any study of women and work in the Dominican
Republic requires a visit to Instituto de Estudios de Poblacion
y Desarrollo (Iepd), part of P r o f a m ilia , and headed by
Universidad Autonoma (U a sd ) sociologist, Isis Duarte. Iepd's
ongoing bulletin, Poblacion y Desarrollo, often has articles of
relevance to researchers studying women's issues. The JulySeptember 1988 bulletin (no.23), however, is totally dedicated
to the topic, "Mujeres y Trabajo." Also essential are several of
Iepd's monographs such as no. 6, Poblacion y condicion de la
mujer en la Republica Dominicana, and no.7 Obreras industriales:
Un producto mutilado.
Professor Duarte has long been involved in examining
women workers and has published widely on the subject. Her
major effort to date is Trabajadores urbanos: Ensayos sobrefuerza
laboral en la Republica Dominicana (Santo Domingo: Editora
Universitaria, U a s d , 1986). In addition, one of the rare pieces
in English on Dominican women workers is D uarte's
"Household Workers in the Dominican Republic: A Question
for the Feminist Movement" in Elsa Chaney and Mary Garcia
Castro's Muchachadas No More: Household Workers in Latin
America and the Caribbean (Philadelphia: Temple University
Press, 1989), 197-219.
- 36-
The Centro de Investigacion para la Accion Femenina
headed by Magaly Pineda, does consciousness raising
work with women. Much of C ip a f's mission is to create both aca
demic studies on the state of Dominican women as well as works
that are accessible to women workers themselves and their sis
ters in popular organizations. The Centro has an excellent library
with over 2,000 books and other documents, and the staff is cor
dial and efficient. Since 1990, the C ip a f library has maintained a
clipping fUe data bank focusing on the following themes: vio
lence against women, political participation, free trade zones,
education, women's daily living conditions, and women's health.
A central area of concern for C ip a f is the condition of rural
women. A basic overview of Dominican women in the cotmtryside is found in La mujer rural dominicana (Santo Domingo: C ip a f,
1987). A chapter crucial to researchers studying women any
where is Isabel Pastora Hernandez's "El trabajo invisible: La
carga del trabajo reproductive," 185-207.
A second specific area of concern for C ip a f is the growing
number of women who, during the last twenty years, have been
working in the republic's zonas francas or industrial free trade
zones. Government officials have presented the free trade zones
as a kind of economic miracle for the country. While the assem
bly plants in the zonas francas have provided jobs for large num
bers of women (and, increasingly, men) throughout the country,
they are not the panacea for the republic's continuing unemploy
ment crisis. The story of one woman worker is told in Magaly
Pineda's "...La vida mia no es fdcil" La otra cara de la zona franca
(C ipaf: Santo Domingo, 1990). The language in this short book is
simple, since it is not intended for the academic community but
rather for the women workers themselves. Lastly, C ip a f is inter
ested in orienting women towards non-traditional employment
opportunities. To stimulate a national discussion of this issue, the
group recently published Natalia Rodriguez's Sexismo y discriminacion tecnica en la Republica Dominicana (Santo Domingo: C ip a f,
1992).
Centro de Solidaridad para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (CEMujer), founded in 1988, is directed by Angela Hernandez and,
like C ip a f, is a non-profit organization helping women to help
themselves. The organization is involved in consciousness rais
ing activities through workshops and classes as well as helping
women organize at the neighborhood level, for example, to lobby
the government for services. CE-Mujer also generates popular
(C ip a f),
- 37-
pamphlets for mass education. The group's ongoing publication,
Ambar Siete—Revista de Mujeres, is essential to scholars looking at
Dominican women's issues. The CE-Mujer library has about
1,000 volumes and, therefore, is another outstanding archive.
CE-Mujer has been especially active in focusing on the liv
ing conditions of rural women. The organization has targeted its
efforts in the eastern part of the country while another agency.
Plan Sierra, does similar work in the west. Specifically, CE-Mujer
helps women develop microentreprenurial projects in cultivating
food crops, crafts, and animal raising in addition to helping these
efforts with low cost loans. Recently, the group began to address
the needs of urban women by establishing job-training programs
in such male-dominated areas as plumbing and electrical work.
Finally, CE-Mujer has begim to focus on a form of women's
work, prostitution, which has become increasingly visible in the
republic (as well as abroad) with the growth of the domestic
tourist industry and the overall decline of the nation's economy
starting in the early 1980s, and which has prompted a mass emi
gration of Dominican women to Europe. Relevant here is the
1991 CE-Mujer pamphlet by Carmen Imbert Brugal, Trdfico de
mujeres: Vision de una nacion exportadora.
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research on
Women (I n s tr a w ) is the entity dedicated to helping women in
developing countries and has its headquarters in Santo
Domingo. Known in Spanish as Instituto de Investigaciones y
Capacitacion de la Mujer, I n s t r a w has a library focusing on
women throughout the world with a section devoted to
Dominican women. Specific areas of concern in the I n s tr a w
holdings are: a) rural women and development and b) facilitat
ing access to credit. In addition to the United Nations sponsored
studies is Clara Baez's work prepared for the Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in 1987, Las
mujeres como beneficiarias de servicios financiados por recursos asignados en el presupuesto nacional de la Republica Dominicana.
Several high quality academic studies on both rural and
urban Dominican women are being produced by researchers
associated with I n t e c 's Centro de Estudio del Genero. Professor
Lourdes Bueno, an anthropologist, is studying the effectiveness
of several funding programs, including some of the programs
mentioned above, in promoting microenterprises among rural
women. Significantly, Professor Bueno is rattier critical of some
of these efforts and suggests that the founders have not allowed
-38-
for enough participation by beneficiaries in program design and
implementation. Two other scholars at I n t e c 's Gender Studies
Center, Senaida Jansen and Cecilia Millan, have published the
important work, Genero, trabajo y etnia en los hateyes dominicanos.
(Santo Domingo: I n t e c , 1991). An early study emanating from
this Center is Ginny Taule Paiewonsky's "Condiciones y actividades de las mujeres de la ciudad de Santo Domingo en relacion
a trabajo remunerativo y al trabajo domestico" (vmpublished
manuscript, 1987).
Women and Politics
One of the questions we grappled with during our research
trip was the level of feminist consciousness and political mobi
lization of Dominican women. As women are entering the formal
economy in greater numbers, they are making demands for
workplace protection and a broader range of social services from
the state. When urgent needs are not met, women are increas
ingly likely to become politicized. The most general statement of
the present legal position of Dominican women may be foimd in
Judge Luz Dalis Acosta de Perez's Los derechos de la mujer (Santo
Domingo: Ciudad Universitaria, 1993). Two key discussions of
women's participation in the republic are La participacion de la
mujer en la poUtica (Santo Domingo: Direccion General de
Promocion de la Mujer, January 1988); and Margarita Cordero's
Mujer: participacion poUtica y procesos electorales 1986-1990 (Santo
Domingo: CiPAF, 1991). Cordero is a columnist for the newspaper
El Sigh and a well-known commentator on feminism and poli
tics.
Conclusion
In sum, this essay demonstrates the impressive nxmiber of
feminist activists and researchers working in the field of
Women's Studies in the Dominican Republic, and, more specifi
cally, working and writing on women's integration into the labor
market. Few studies are published in English; therefore, the
research arena is fertile for U.S.-based scholars interested in ana
lyzing the reality of Dominican women's struggles and successes
in the workplace.
- 39-
Docum entation Centers
Direccion General de Promocion de la Mujer
Avenida Mexico
Tel. (809) 687-4219
M ude
L. Navarro #61, Apartado Postal 325
Tel. (809) 685-8111-14.
CiPAF
Luis F. Thomen No. 358/3358(SB), Ensanche Quisqueya
Apartado Postal 1744
Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana
Tel. (809) 563-5263 Fax (809) 563-1159
C e-M ujer
Calle Casimiro de Moya No. 155, Gascue
Apartado Postal 21880
Tel. (809) 686-3388 Fax (809) 686-7474
C edee
Calle Santiago, No. 153, Gazcue
Apartado 20307
Tel. (809) 685-6613
Intec
Apartado Postal 342-9
Tel. (809) 567-9271
Centro de Estudio del Genero
Avenida de los Proceres, Gaia
Apartados 249-342-9
Santo Domingo,
Tel. (809) 567-9271, ext.258
I n t e c 's
I epd
Dr. Pineyro #160, suite 302
Apartado 1053
Santo Domingo
Tel. (809) 535-3003
- 40-
G ender a n d C lass C o n sc io u sm ess :
W om en in the D om inican R epublic
by Jean W eism an
G e n d e r a n d C l a s s C o n s c io u s m e s s :
W o m e n i n t h e D o m i n ic a n R e pu b l ic
by Jean Weisman
On the research trip to the Dominican Republic in June '93,
my particular concerns centered on the argument forwarded by
several social scientists that Dominican women workers were
docile and lacked class consciousness. I had organized the City
College component of the summer exchange program with the
Autonomous Uruversity of Santo Domingo for three years begin
ning in 1987, visited the coimtry three times, developed strong
friendships with women workers, union leaders, poets and polit
ical activists who visited New York, and read a lot of Dominican
newspapers and pamphlets. The Dominican women I met and
read about were not docile and had a high level of class con
sciousness.
Clara Baez and Marivi Arregui have written extensively
about Dominican women and development, the female labor
force and their participation in the urban social movement. Their
work combines an international theoretical perspective on gen
der and class issues with a statistical analysis of the Dominican
economy and interviews with activists. In their study of women
and popular movements, they conclude that:
The studies consulted and the interviews completed
affirm that women, with their majority presence, con
stitute the social base of urban popular movements,
whose struggles and demands are concentrated in
demands of the state for social services, that given the
precarious levels of subsistence of the lower classes,
are socially necessary for daily and generational
reproduction of the working class.
(Baez & Arregui 9)
-43-
Clara Baez explains that during the 1980s, the participation of
women in the labor force doubled from 500,000 to one million.
(Baez 11) While industrial work is increasing in its importance for
women in the workforce, and service and agricultural work
decreasing, service work is still the largest job category for
women. In 1991, 24% of the women workers were service work
ers, 20% were involved in sales, 17% were technical and profes
sional workers, 17% were office workers and 13% were factory
workers. (Baez 14) Over 35% of the female labor force was unem
ployed. (Baez ii) In their study, which identified 17 orgaruzations
involved with popular education and 39 women's organizations
active in the barrios in Santo Domingo, they conducted extensive
interviews with 16 organizations. They fovmd all of the organiza
tions except for one favor structural changes in society, and that
the women are gaining a new individual and social identity as a
result of their participation in these organizations.
They also found that in the mixed organizations in the bar
rios, men are usually the leaders. The various explanations they
heard were lack of time because of women's major responsibili
ties for housework and child care, lack of preparation, and the
difficulty men have in accepting women's leadership. (Baez &
Arregui 41-42)
Fatima Portorreal, a professor who had worked in a factory
in the free trade zone of San Isidro for several months, conduct
ed extensive interviews with the employees and published a case
study. The women worked five days a week, from 7:00 a m to 4:30
PM, except on Fridays when they worked imtil 3:30 PM, earning
500 pesos per month. She describes an informal social network
consisting of women who sit together in the cafeteria, loan each
other money, support each other and discuss personal and work
related problems. They provide informal orientation to new
employees, set norms by encouraging piece workers not to work
too fast, and set up communication networks by sending mes
sages from worker to worker. (Portorreal 99-103) She documents
two work stoppages. In December of 1988, when the women had
been annoyed about not getting the pay they were entitled to,
they stayed in the cafeteria after limch demanding double salary,
bonuses and vacation pay. They didn't assign a spokesperson so
that the bosses wouldn't identify a leader to be fired and the new
employees didn't participate. A male employee volxmteered to
be the spokesperson and spoke to the bosses. (Portorreal 164)
They won some of their demands and agreed to return to work.
- 44-
In April of 1989, there was a problem of a pay cut due to work
being cancelled on the Thursday before Easter Sunday, which is
a time of spiritual reflection. The supervisors supported the
strike and when they told the employees that the bosses wanted
to know who was ^ e coordinator of the strike, the employees
advised them to give the employers the names of all the employ
ees of the company.
She also documented other forms of protest in terms of slow
downs and graffiti. In one case, two women were suspended
because they took some material from the garbage. During a
three hour interview, a Department of Labor inspector told their
co-workers "We are sorry about the case of your companeras, but
there is a law—I don't remember the number—that if you take
anything from a factory, even a piece of thread, you can be fired.
And, worse, if your boss wants, you can face criminal charges.
Imagine, these are laws from Trujillo's time." One woman shout
ed that she didn't trust the government inspectors and all they
know how to do was collect money. (Portorreal 173)
Portorreal concluded that although the women supported
unionization, they didn't organize a union for a variety of socio
cultural reasons (the conception that unions were men's activity,
their lack of education, negativity on the part of the family and
lack of unity) and because of the legitimate fear that they would
be fired or arrested if they participated in unions. (Portorreal 215)
She states that conditions of extreme poverty encourage them to
stay in the factory in spite of subhuman conditions. (Portorreal
221)
With the help of several organizers at the Centro
Dominicano de Estudios de la Educacion (C ed ee) and women
activists from the barrios surrounding Santo Domingo I drew up
my questiormaire and work plan. C ed ee has been doing organi
zational work and consciousness raising with popular organiza
tions for the last 14 years. They arranged for me to conduct inter
views and participate in meetings of: activists from various com
munities discussing a survey they were conducting; various
women's organizations discussing theoretical papers with an
international perspective on gender and class issues; and wom
en's organizations in the barrios Las Canitas, Herrera and
Capotillo discussing their programs.
At the first meeting, the women talked with me about form
ing neighborhood women's organizations dedicated to women's
development and consciousness raising and improving their
- 45-
neighborhoods in terms of electricity, water, roads, the environ
ment, health, education, jobs, etc. Approximately twenty-five
members usually meet every week with a collective approach
and a division of labor. Most of the organizations have existed
for several years. I asked them what they thought of articles by
social scientists that conclude that Dominican women workers
are docile and don't have a class consciousness. Following are
some of the responses I received:
I think this is a little false. YIe were behind in terms of the
labor movement some years ago. Wie can't say that in totality
Dominican women are passive. If that were true, only men
would have been the protagonists in the strikes, and that was
n't true. There are occasions when women take the leading
role and we have seen women die in social struggles. During
the strike movement when women didn't participate in the
free trade zone it was because in those areas they don't allow
unions.
I worked for four years in the Zona Franca and in the three
factories that I worked in there were occasions when theyfired
50 or 75 women because they learned that there was a union,
and that is the reason why we couldn't gain recognition.
I remember when Nelsida Marmolejos, who is now a member
of congress, was speaking to us. We were working in afacto
ry in Herrera and my boss chased her and threatened to have
her arrested. She was orienting us to unions, and telling us
how we should organize ourselves. It was 8:00 at night, and
they wanted us to work until the next day, without giving us
notice.
I also worked in thefree trade zone and one day I realized that
my paycheck was 200 pesos less than usual. A punching
machine was broken and that had caused our salaries to be
less. I said we should organize a strike, so that they would be
more flexible. My friend said, no dear, if we do this they will
fire us all. And I said, it's better that I quit, because you are
afraid and no one is going to support me and alone I can't go
on strike, so I quit.
For many years they haven't taken into account the struggle
of women and they always say that women don't participate.
Wie can't forget the situation of women being marginal, and
- 46-
that you can't look only at this country, you have to look at
all of Latin America and perhaps other countries in the
world, the situation of women in general in the society is dis
advantaged. This is why they give less value to the contribu
tion of women because it is seen much less.
In the barrio of Las Canitas, built on the hills by squatters, a
big discussion started around the causes for the many problems
in their cormnimity. One woman said it was because of the gov
ernment. Another said she had belonged to a political party but
it didn't help them. They have no hospital in their neighborhood
and the party didn't help them to get one. Tests done at a public
hospital cost 200 or 300 pesos; hospitals are for the middle class.
She said that there are three classes in the country—upper class,
middle class and lower class and she is lower class. She also said
that the majority of the people are poor in the Dominican
Republic because God wanted it this way. Another woman
argued that it isn't because of God but because the people in the
government are crooks. Others argued that everything is politi
cal, that we aU live in politics, and that the struggle to improve
the conditions in their community is political.
Two women, Belkis Rodriguez, an active member of a wom
en's organization in Capotillo, and Miriam Altagracia Perello, a
C ed ee organizer, gave me copies of their senior theses. The first
(a joint project with four other students) was a study of the eco
nomic needs of their community and social communication. The
second (a joint project with two other students) was a study of
women's reality and their level of organization from 1978 to
1986. They chose a representative sample of 400 women in Santo
Domingo, in upper class, middle class and lower class neighbor
hoods and went to the homes to interview them. They found that
99% of the women currently belonged to or had belonged to an
organization. (Comeil et al 112) Of the 400 women, the distribu
tion of types of organizations were as follows:
church
41.5%
housewives
11.0%
feminist
7.2%
women's groups 3.5%
political
21.7%
neighbors
7.8%
cultural & sports 6.5%
(Cornell, et al 112)
- 47 -
We also met with Sigfredo Cabral and other leaders of the
teachers union. Although 82% of the teachers are women, the
overwhelming majority of the national leaders of the union are
male. There are many more women leaders on a local and
provincial level. They arranged for me to meet women leaders of
the union in La Victoria and Villa Mella. The group of women
teachers discussed their involvement in pushing for the con
struction of housing for teachers, in strike activities such as orga
nizing educational meetings with teachers and parents, fundrais
ing, and participation in pickets and marches. When I asked
Alejandrina de La Rosa Herrera, the president of the local, if she
was a feminist, she said yes, we have the same rights as men to
participate in decision-making. She explained how things are
changing now and women are much more involved now than
they were in the past.
At the schools I visited I saw numerous posters advertising
the conference "21 de junio: Primera Jornada Nacional: For Una
Educacion No Sexista" organized by the Centro de Investigacion
para la Accion Feminina (C ip af), the A d p , the teachers' xmion,
Eouc-Mujer (an organization designed to promote the education
of women) and the Secretary of Education. Over 400 teachers
attended. The workshops were led by two teachers from Puerto
Rico who had designed and implemented a model program with
a non-sexist curriculum in an elementary school in Puerto Rico.
The Dominican teachers got very involved in the discussion of
issues such as sexism in children's textbooks. One researcher, a
member of "Movimiento Identidad de La Mujer Negra" spoke of the
need to struggle against racism citing a teacher who told her she
was very smart even though she was black.
During a tour of a garment factory in San Pedro de Macoris,
managers told me that overtime was not required, but a labor
organizer informed me that the workers had been locked in one
night and required to work overtime. Although the majority of
the employees were women, there was a large percentage of men
sewing on the machines. The most evident problems were the
long hours, low pay, and lack of proper ventilation.
I interviewed Lourdes Contreras, the Secretary General of
the Coordinadora de Organizaciones No Gubemamentales del
Area de la Mujer, which includes 43 women's organizations and
organizations that have programs directed at women*. The orga
* As of March 1995, there were 80 organizations in the Coordinadora.
- 48-
nizations include women voters, health collectives, research
organizations, theatre groups, an organization of domestic work
ers, labor organizations, literacy programs, development organi
zations, etc. The purpose of the Coordinadora is to develop gen
eral programs, such as creating new legislation or improving the
environment, which don't duplicate the activities of individual
organizations. Gladys Gutierrez, a member of Congress and of
the Central Committee of the Partido de Liberacion Dominicana
described the various legislative activities she was involved in
relating to women. They were trying to revise laws that deny
property to women and their children when their common law
husbands of many years die. They were also trying to change the
labor code and health codes for women and establish day care
centers in the free trade zones.
I also interviewed Nelsida Marmolejos, a member of con
gress and the President of the Confederacion de Trabajadores
Unitaria ( C t u ) , a fusion of four labor federations representing
80% of imionized workers, (approximately 16% of the labor force
is organized) including workers in tourism, sugar, transporta
tion, construction, education and the press. In the last four years
the CTU had organized approximately 200 unions in the free trade
zones and most of them had been destroyed. Some vmions do
have collective bargaining agreements in the zones and others
are operating clandestinely. Marmolejos stated that women have
been the determining factor in the mobilization of workers in the
free trade zones. The secretary general of the union in San Pedro
de Macoris is a woman, and there are women organizing in Villa
Mella, Haina, Altagracia, San Idisro and La Romana.
On the national level, women's incorporation into the labor
leadership is slower. In March of 1992, they formed the National
Department of Women Workers as part of the CTU. The coordi
nating committee consists of women who are leaders of unions,
members of vmions and activists in the Free Trade Zones. Their
purpose is to encourage the organization and consciousness rais
ing of women workers, the education of women workers, the
revision of legislation related to women and maintain relations
with national and international organizations that study the
problems of working women.
When I asked Nelsida Marmolejos how she felt about being
the sole exception in the male leadership of the national imions,
she told me that she worked with thousands of women and that
although it was a shame that she was the only woman leader.
- 49-
now that is changing and there are several others. It w asn't a
good example for there to be only one woman leader. She said
that women are very active in the unions and more are getting
involved on a national level.
The Centro de SoUdaridad para el Desarrollo de La Mujer (CEMujer), was founded in 1988 to support women in their own
development. They work with 1000 women in 61 organizations.
Five of their centers are in rural areas in the eastern part of the
country and one is in Los Minas del Norte, an urban community
in Santo Domingo. Their work involves organizational develop
ment, education, consciousness raising, cultural programs and
economic development, such as the establishment of food coop
eratives and vegetable gardens, assistance with the raising of
cows and pigs, the development of natural medicine programs
and training for women in non-traditional trades. Below are
some excerpts from the interview I did with them.
Angela Hernandez {coordinator and a widely published poet and
author) In terms of the courage and values that our women have,
I would like to say that sometimes the campesinas surprise the
people of the city and I'm sure they would surprise the people at
an international conference. There is a social image that women
don't have value and they tend to internalize this. In reality these
women are the axis of their families, not only emotionally or psy
chologically, but in terms of the extraordinary amoimt of small
economic activities, for their own consumption, that save expens
es. We have seen that in the communities where we work, when
women realize the power they have, there is a great liberation of
energy... Our work is to develop the potential of the women. But
we don't give them the power. What we do is help them to dis
cover the power that they have. I believe that the Dominican
woman is a woman with a lot of strength, is a woman with a lot
of vitality. In spite of all this devalued image, she is the piUar of
the society and the pillar of the community.
J.W. Are women active in political parties?
Nelly Chalas {staff member) Women participate in the bases of the
parties, but it is not a real participation because the parties have a
bureaucratic, vertical structure, an absolute concentration of
power, of masculine power. The men are the leaders of the parties,
and the women participate in the bases, but not in a major way.
The political parties become active every four years, to make offer
ings and win votes.
-50-
Angela This lower participation of women in the parties does not
mean that men have a greater class consciousness or political
consciousness. The women have a certain level of rejection of the
forms in which power is exercised, of the elements of political
corruption. We are planning to initiate a campaign concerning
the participation of women on the political level. But we are dis
cussing the participation of women in terms of a "New Political
Ethic" because the participation of women in politics helps to
change the schemes of manipulation and corruption that domi
nate politics, not only here, but everywhere.
J.W. How do you define consciousness?
Nelly It is the capacity that people have to make their own deci
sions, concerning a specific problem. We work on consciousness
in all senses because in reality there is an absence of this. We
work on consciousness of gender, of identity as Dominicans and
class consciousness. The women in the countryside speak of the
poor class and the rich class. They are very clear about the peo
ple who are in power and how they treat poor women.
Josefina Arvelo {staff member) In this educational process which
gives them greater self esteem, in which they are discovering their
qualities, that their bodies are a great source of vitality, they begin
to identify problems and the reasons for the problems. If we look
at this academically, no. But when this change takes place in their
lives, in terms of their needs, the reason for their needs, how they
see the state, the ones with power—^this level of questioning you
can see in their songs, poems, theatre, in each step they take in
terms of what are their needs and their responsibilities, not only
in the community, but linking them to a country with a lot of
needs.
Angela We don't want to alienate them from their cultural uni
verse, but to respect their universe. We work on this within their
own universe. I believe that they have a fimdamental conscious
ness of class. Now they are not going to give a conceptualization
of class, but they have a level of reflection of why they are poor,
why they are not helped when they go to governmental office,
why the parties in power are going to use them in each election
and how the wealth is concentrated.
Altagracia Degallado {leader of a women's organization in Las
Barias, a rural area around Guerra) My idea for the future of the
covmtry is that all Dominicans will have better living conditions.
-51
that the prices will be lower, that every Dominican will live bet
ter, with clothing, a house, light, transportation, good highways,
schools, hospitals, everything. We will obtain this by working
together, trying to raise consciousness. It would be my great
ideal, as I belong to the association, that all the associations and
institutions together would raise the consciousness of the people,
so that those who are above would change their ideals, so that
they can govern better and better distribute our money, so that
everything is resolved.
J.W. What do you mean by consciousness raising?
Luisa Compres Pena (full time organizer) It implies that the peo
ple see themselves as human beings, as people that feel and
know that they have rights and these rights need to be demand
ed and obtained. What rights? To have water, light, a roof, ade
quate conditions of life and to understand who are those that
govern and what is their role. They need to leam to think for
themselves, not wait for others to think for them. The people
need to know their rights, their duties, what as human beings
needs to be resolved, and how the problems can be resolved. So
that when they have an understanding of the problem, such as
pollution, you are not just going to make a demand, but you are
going to work with the people to resolve it.
J.W. In the meetings I've attended and the publications I've read
during my trip, there have been constant references to gender.
How do you define gender?
Luisa With us it is very important to work on the issue of gender,
because in the past we only worked on what was related to polit
ical consciousness, on the ideological level. We have to under
stand that as women we have rights. In our society, which is very
male chauvinist and patriarchical, there are many maridos that
don't want the women to participate in meetings, don't want
them to work or study or do anything that will help them to
develop because they are afraid they will be abandoned. It is not
the same when a woman can make an economic contribution, and
gain more recognition and raise certain demands of the marido.
Women's work such as taking care of the pigs and chickens,
washing, ironing, and looking for water, is not given value by the
men. And if she is also in the capital in the urban sector she does
things outside of the house, such as washing, cooking, selling coal
or selling sweets for a salary. And when the census comes they
say "Do you work?" and the women reply "No I don't work."
- 52-
They only think of work in terms of a factory or a business.
J.W. How is your work on gender related to your other work?
Luisa Women think they don't have the right to speak or partici
pate so it is very important for us to work on the problem of gen
der. Women need to feel that as human beings they have equal
rights with men to participate in political work. We realize that
working on the problem of gender, the work is more secure.
Because sometimes the women organize because there is a prob
lem of water, and when they put in the water, the committee faUs
apart. Therefore we have to do work on self-esteem. Many times
they feel ugly, that they are black or mulattos, where in our coun
try the people don't define themselves as black because they have
told us we are Hispanic or Spanish, and where the people think
that to be black is a disgrace. In addition to identity as a woman,
they lack identity as a race, ethnicity, to accept who they are. If we
don't do this type of work, the work won't succeed.
Guillermina Reyes, a leader of the women's organization
"Minerva Mirabal," named after one of three sisters killed in the
struggle against the tyranny of Trujillo, read me her prize win
ning poems about the benefits of joining the association and how,
through building it, they will break the barriers that cause people
to leave the coimtry in yolas. Marla de Jesus Lopez, who had
appeared on television at an international conference in Santo
Domingo about black women and identity played the drums and
sang;
la negra eee, la negra aaa, la negra lucha por la libertad.
She also recited the following poem:
Ya en La Pluma Tenemos
Ya lo que no tentamos
Tenemos un colmado nuevo
Y tenemos un pozo
Que nos ha hecho CE-Mujer
Con un molino de viento
con toda su energia
Tenemos vacas prenadas and tambien paridas
Eso lo hemos hecho nosotros en la union
y nuestra institucion CE-Mujer,
con toda su compama
- 53-
Se acabo las arms de casas
andar defincas enfincas
Dando los buenos dtas
Con la lata vacta
Ah! Tenemos luchando por el jabon
Queremos el jabon
Queremos el agua
Lavando toda hora del dta
Donde quiera que llegamos decian:
Coja su agm
que to' en la vida es fantasia
que el que niega el agua
Peca con Jesus, San Jose y Maria.
Prelim inary Findings
My stay in the Dominican Republic of only four weeks could
yield only a preliminary report. I would like to study further the
participation of women in political parties and the goveniment.
Although I interviewed women leaders of the p ld , I didn't have
time to speak to the leaders of other political parties. I also did
not have time to do extensive interviews with domestic workers,
hospital workers, office workers, sales workers and factory
workers.
Although there is evidence of lack of participation of women
as leaders of national vinions and in the free trade zones in gen
eral strikes, it does not foUow that Dominican working women
are docile. There are problems of passivity in the labor force, but
many women are extensively involved in organizing to improve
their lives at the workplace and in the commuruty. Generali
zations about docility deny the progress which is being made
and the growing consciousness. If, as many of the Dominican
women I interviewed stated, we define class and gender con
sciousness in terms of people imderstanding their role in society,
their class position and the reasons for their subjugation and
their participation in collective struggles to improve their lives,
we will find a high level of consciousness among many
Dominican working women.
Sources Cited
Baez, Clara, y Marivi Arregui, "Las Mujeres en El Movimiento
Urbano Dominicano: El Caso de la Ciudad de Santo
-54-
Domingo" Preparado por Consultorias Asociadas para el
C e d e e , Santo Domingo, 15 de agosto de 1989.
Baez, Clara, "Mujer y DesarroUo en La Republica Dominicana:
1981- 1991" Banco Interamericano de DesarroUo, Santo
Domingo, 2 de mayo de 1991.
Gil Comiel, Alejandrina, Miriam Altagracia Perello y Claudina
Valdez, "Relacion de la Realidad de la Mujer y Su Nivel de
Organizacion durante el Periodo 1978-1986 En La Ciudad de
Santo Domingo" U a s d , Santo Domingo, 1992.
Portorreal, Fatima, "Subordinacion, Resistencia y Estrategia de
Lucha de las Obreras Textiles de la Zona Franca de San
Isidro," CiPAF, Santo Domingo, 1990.
Ramirez de la Cruz, Paula Ant., Roberto E. Matos Florian, Pablo
Guzman, Pura Alt. Roman Rodriguez y Sofia Susana LIbri,
"Diagnostico Comtmicacional Comunitario y Proyecto de
Comunicacion Comunitaria para la Parroquia Santa Clara del
Barrio Capotillo." U a s d , Santo Domingo, 1993.
- 55-
Y ola a n d G ender ;
D o m inican W om en ' s
U nregulated M igration
by Ramona Hernandez and Nancy Lopez
Yola a n d G ender:
D o m i n ic a n W o m e n ' s U n r e g u l a t e d M ig r a t io n
by Ramona Hernandez and Nancy Lopez
No one really knows how many Dominicans flee their home
land illegally in the small, homemade fishing boats known as
yolas. But everyone seems to agree that they are simply too
many; too many women, men, and children. Dating back to the
Tainos himdreds of years ago, traveling in yola is not a new phe
nomenon. Yet, only recently has it become a frequent means used
by those who, seeking to leave, desperately violate the rules that
regulate national boundaries.
These frail wooden boats are constructed clandestinely in
two to three days and can carry a human cargo ranging from sev
enty to a hundred people. The space on yolas is smaU, and all
that happens on board—eating and defecating, crying and laugh
ing, geting iU and trying to sleep—must occur in the same
diminutive space. Sometimes, from fear of going overboard,
women may menstruate and men may soil their pants. There are
no individual choices or privacy. The travellers are all one, trying
to survive their perilous escape.
Lacking any overhead protection from the imrelenting sun
rays, passengers endure unbearable conditions for their two- to
three-day ordeal. Once in Puerto Rico, if apprehended by the
Coast Guard, they are repatriated to the Dominican Republic,
only to attempt the endeavor again. Why are so many Dominican
people, and particularly women, leaving their island in fragile
boats? And what are some of the socio-economic implications of
this phenomenon for the sending society? These are some of the
questions we intend to address in this preliminary report.
- 59-
Purpose of the Study
The aim of this study is two-fold. First, we wanted to exam
ine the socio-economic background of Dominican women who
resort to migration in yola. We began asking ourselves whether
these migrants fit a homogeneous social class description and
whether their socio-economic status resembled that of other
women who have been previously studied by scholars of
Dominican migration. Second, we wished to explore the nature
of social interaction between men and women during the actual
sea crossing. Specifically, we were curious to see whether tradi
tional male/female relationships would be modified by the pres
sure of shared calamity, a harsh and uncertain environment tem
porarily outside the supervision of the State with its configura
tions of men and women as dissimilar subjects of law and nation.
Methodology
As researchers, we combined three methodological
approaches: (1) one-to-one, in-depth interviewing in migrants'
homes; (2) focus groups; and (3) participant observation.
Research was conducted in 1993 during the months of June and
July for a period of two consecutive weeks in five Dominican
towns selected on the basis of two criteria: they were frequently
used by migrants as a port of departure, or they were commonly
known for their high incidence of out-migration. While in the
Dominican Republic, we were assisted by two Dominican
anthropologists who had conducted the only existing research on
the issue of yola migration.
During the two-week period, we interviewed twenty-five
women using a snowballing sampling method. Women were
identified for interviewing by "word-of-mouth" or through
friends and the two local anthropologists. A detailed question
naire containing eighty-seven questions was used to collect
demographic and socio-economic data. Interviews were typical
ly over three hours long and usually took place in the informants'
homes. In some cases, informants arranged for us to talk with
them at a friend's home, which, we conjectured, they deemed to
be more presentable than their own.
- 60-
I
The Towns, The Women
All the towns visited were located on the North-East and the
Eastern coast of the Dominican Republic. These, vmlike other
towns, provided ideal sites for yola departures not only for their
proximity to the Caribbean Sea, but also their wilderness, their
inaccessibility, and their remote location. The most popular of
these towns was approximately four and a half hours from Santo
Domingo by bus over bumpy roads.
The principal economic activities of these towns were agro
cattle raising, sugar, and light manufacturing. One of the regions
depended mainly on the production of rice and coconut. In addi
tion, in all the towns we found a vast informal economy domi
nated by chiriperos, people who did not hold steady employment
for long periods of time. Though in some of these towns, light
industrial production via the free trade zones had proliferated
during the last three decades, unemployment was still rampant.
Sugar production was seasonal and depended mainly on the use
of Haitian laborers. Manufacturing was increasingly based on
capital intensive production, resulting in the underuse of labor
and generating chronic structural unemployment. Extensive cat
tle raising production exacerbated the xmemployment problem
by monopolizing land, since cattle, which occupied more than
half of all agrarian land, used an estimated 12.8 tareas per animal
for pasturing on the average.
The women interviewed belonged to three different migrant
categories. One group had lived in Puerto Rico for some time or
had voluntarily returned home after establishing their legal resi
dence abroad. Specifically, nine had been deported and two had
m anaged to become perm anent residents in Puerto Rico.
Another group was represented by seven women who had been
caught in the Mona Passage while trying to enter Puerto Rico.
The third group, made up of seven women, had never left the
Dominican Republic, having been apprehended in the process of
trying to leave the coimtry. After the migrants were recruited for
the trip, the yola migration included three stages: 1) first, the
hideout in the dense, insect-infested bushes along the Dominican
coastlines; 2) second, the actual sea voyage, which may last three
days; and finally, 3) the disembarkation process which may
include hiding out again in Puerto Rico.
Asked whether they had tried to leave the coimtry through
legal means, all the women in our sample responded that they
-61
had not because they knew they did not qualify for a visa. Beside
their urgent material need and the lack of an alternative means of
emigration, the decision to embark in a yola was influenced by
the regularity, cost, and rate of success of this mode of trans
portation.
Informants explained that as many as four yolas may leave
the country in any given week during the active months of
migration. They also said that usually trip organizers, the cap
tains, are well known, for they have been on the job for some
time. The more successful trips an organizer makes, the more
clients he or she will have. Some passengers may travel on cred
it with the understanding that they will pay the captain after a
time of living abroad. For those who pay beforehand, prices
ranged from $1,500 to $5,000 Dominican pesos per person. Trips
organized entirely by family members and friends were becom
ing increasingly important. They were extremely cheap and, as
found by Taveras, Puello, and Selman's 1988 study, occasionally
included two or three non-relatives. Family members were not
normally charged a fixed amotmt, but they contributed depend
ing on their own sense of fairness. Among non-paying passen
gers on a non-family trip, we were able to identify three cate
gories. First, there were friends of the captain. Second, there were
those who had earned a seat on the boat by recruiting a number
of paying passengers, usually five. And finally, there were the
relatives of the organizer.
Preliminary Findings
Socio-Economic Background
Early studies in Dominican migration concluded that most
Dominican migrants in the United States were predominantly
rural, poor proletarians or unskilled workers (Gonzalez 1970,
1973, 1976; Hendricks 1974; Vicioso 1976). However, Ugalde,
Bean and Cardenas (1979) challenged this notion by arguing,
instead, that Dominican migrants were mostly urban and edu
cated, coming from the middle and working class strata of the
population. Most recent research on migration to the United
States has adopted the finding of Ugalde, Bean and Cardenas
(see for instance, Kritz & Gurak 1983; Bray 1984, 1987; Baez
Evertsz & D'Oleo Ramirez 1986; Georges 1991; Grasmuck and
Pessar 1991; Portes & Guamizo 1991).
Contrary to the prevailing socioeconomic model, we found
- 62-
that Dominican yola migration is an all-encompassing phenome
non which includes people from both rural and urban settings.
When asked about their birthplace, equal numbers of the women
reported having been bom in small rural villages and in urban
settings. The significant number of women in our sample who
came from a rural background suggests that a three-fold migra
tory process —rural-urban-intemational— is characteristic of
unregulated migration. Our study did not reveal, however,
whether migration in yola has reinforced rural-urban mobiliza
tion in the Dominican Republic.
Our study found that all the women interviewed were poor,
belonged to the working class, and only half of them were
employed prior to migration. Most of the women worked as
domestics or in a factory in the free trade zones, or in retail sales
in the informal economy. None of the women interviewed had a
profession or generated a salary that could place her in the rank
of the middle class. Salaries ranged from $350.00 to $1000.00
pesos per month. With the exception of two, all women were the
heads of their households, and most of them resided in over
crowded homes. In some instances, as many as fifteen people
lived a two-room shack, without nm ning water or sewage,
which is a t)q3ical feature of ghettoes in the Dominican Republic.
Seven of the women interviewed had not finished elemen
tary school and some who had started high school were not able
to complete their studies because they needed to work full time
to contribute to the household income. Three of the women were
high school graduates, but none of them had any college or tech
nical education.
Factors Influencing M igrants
Many of the women interviewed were primarily concerned
about generating income to maintain their children and families,
regardless of whether it was in Puerto Rico or in any other coun
try, including Saint Thomas, Saint Croix, or Antigua. Those who
identified Puerto Rico as their destination were asked whether
they intended to stay there or migrate eventually to the United
States. Those who had managed to live in Puerto Rico for a while,
or who had seen it before being apprehended by the coastguards
there, invariably said that they always wanted to return home.
When asked specifically about using Puerto Rico as a stepping
stone to go to tiie continental United States, with the exception of
- 63-
two who said they had family there, the rest indicated they were
not interested in moving further if they could earn a decent liv
ing in Puerto Rico. Three of the women who had been appre
hended in the Mona Passage said they would have returned
home after living abroad for some time. The others were not clear
and felt that it all depended on what they foimd in the host coun
try.
Interestingly, the seven women who had not yet succeeded
in leaving the Dominican Republic all wished to leave for good
and bring their children and as many members of their family as
possible whenever they had the chance to do so. Whether their
answer stemmed from resentment towards their home coimtry
for repeatedly frustrating their aspirations, or from some other
feelings or thoughts, we do not really know. What we do know,
however, is that among those who somehow manage to leave,
even for a little while, the intention to return is clear.
When asked about why they wanted to leave the Dominican
Republic, all women categorically said that they were forced by
the economic situation. Specifically, they talked about their
inability to find a job and provide a decent life for their children.
It is important to note that all our interviewees had children and
their children's well-being was identified as the main reason
behind migration. They were all the primary caretakers of their
children. The number of children among our informants ranged
from two to six. Responsible fatherhood was perceived more as
a voluntary or optional behavior on the part of the men.
During the interview women were asked to figure out a
monthly income which would have allowed them to remain in
their country. Their answers indicated incomes which ranged
from $1,500 to $8,000 Dominican pesos. The differences in the
ideal monthly income reported by informants may be based on
the specific class sector each informant represented. For example,
while some informants lived in quarters which would hardly fit
the description of a house (made from rice bags, wood, thatch
and mud), others had homes that were made of wood or cement.
Their differing types of jobs and employment status may have
also shaped their responses.
Although the majority of the women in our sample were
heads of their households, the amoimt of money they made was
not enough for the social reproduction of their families. What
prompted them to endure such a perilous trip was not a concern
about their own well-being. Instead, they were urged by the
- 64-
desire to enhance the life chances of their family. The survival of
her kin, particularly her children, seems to be foremost on the
mind of each Dominican woman who decides to migrate in yola.
Impact of W omen's Yola Migration
The Economy
Informants stated that a good portion of the earnings remit
ted by those who actually managed to live abroad went towards
basic food items. Similarly, the economic impact of yola migra
tion was evidenced in the construction of houses. Some houses
were built in cement, while others originally made out of wood
were converted into cement houses. Migrant homes, unlike the
surroimding homes, possessed electrical appliances and other
modem goods, such as video cassette recorders, stereo systems,
and cassette players. Also, the migrants' contact with a foreign
country was notable in their way of dressing: designer labels as
well as gold rings, bracelets, earrings, and chains. These goods
are not only for the sake of pure vanity. Informants told us that
these items served as barter in moments of economic need. Some
migrants who had a good collection of the latest merengues and
other Latin rhythms intentionally played loud music in their
houses for the enjoyment of neighbors who did not have radios.
A married informant whose husband also migrated in yola
and worked in Puerto Rico, managed to save enough money to
build an inhabitable wooden house in her town. Though the
house, composed of two bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen,
was too small for the five-member family, the informant told us
that it took her five years to build it. She explained that every
year she traveled to Puerto Rico by yola and worked there for 9
months as a domestic servant. She normally decided to go back
to the Dominican Republic when missing her children became
unbearable. To return to the Dominican Republic, she bought a
route permit {carta de ruta). She usually stayed with her children
for about three months, repaired whatever had to be fixed in the
house, and again embarked on a yola to Puerto Rico. At the time
of the interview, the informant told us that on her next trip to
Puerto Rico, she was going to save enough money to build a
bathroom and to pay a number of bills amounting to $1,300
pesos. The informant stated that the money she received from
her husband, who remained in Puerto Rico while she was in the
- 65-
Dominican Republic, was simply not enough to cover all the nec
essary expenses to continue to build the house.
Visitors to many of the sending towns would be struck by
the number of houses that were boarded up by people who had
left, as well as by the mushrooming of cement houses in progress
that were surrounded by weeds. For many migrants, however,
the construction of livable homes stagnates for years and many
empty lots bought by emigrants slated for the construction of
homes were literally vegetating in the sending towns. Since
migrants who owned these potential houses were no longer in
the town, we never had the opportunity to ask why they were
not firushed or in some cases even started. We h)^othesized that
migrants either lost interest in returning to their home town or
were simply not making enough money abroad to be able to
build or finish these homes.
In addition to changing the household finances, yola migra
tion impacts the local economy. The consimiption of potential
migrants and trip organizers who come to the departing towns
stimulates economic activity. Previous research has found that
the number of buses for public transportation and the number of
trips to these towns has increased considerably since the yola
movement began around the 1970s. After reaching the towns,
potential migrants need to wait some time before boarding the
yola and in the meantime need services such as lodging and
food. Informal entrepreneur practices, such as room rentals and
the selling of food and beverages in some homes have proliferat
ed spontaneously in these towns. Similarly, the number of formal
food and clothing shops have increased as a direct response to
local demand for these items.
Migrants also buy a number of goods for consumption dur
ing the sea voyage. These items include: Malta Morena (a type of
sweet cola), crackers, beef jerky, bread, canned food, painkillers
for headaches and Dramamine for sea sickness. When we asked
our informants why they did not bring these items from their
home towns, we were told that they were trying to avoid appear
ing conspicuous to police and other government agents who are
constantly persecuting potential yola migrants. Also, some of the
migrants believed that their presence was well-received by local
residents, particularly business people, because, with them there,
local demand for their goods and services increases.
- 66 -
The Family
In one home we visited, we found a father left in charge of
taking care of his three cliildren because the mother had emi
grated. In most cases, however, child-care arrangements fol
lowed a more traditional pattern in which children were left in
the care of women relatives, especially sisters or grandmothers,
or female neighbors. Georges has argued that children left
behind in the care of relatives, particularly grandmothers, add an
extra burden to the family in question. She noted that taking care
of these children involved not only an increase in the care-taker's
work-load, but also a high degree of psychological responsibili
ty. A grandmother whose daughter had migrated to the U.S. and
had left her with her six children, lamented that she was a "pris
oner" since her responsibility towards her grandchildren restrict
ed her from visiting her other daughters in the country (Georges
1990: 201).
In our study we were unable to document any complaint or
resentments on the part of the grandmothers and other relatives
who were left in charge of the migrants' children. What we found
was that in general their increased responsibilities were per
ceived as an inevitable duty. This was not surprising to us since
for most Dominicans it is only normal that relatives perceive
themselves as directly responsible for the well-being of other
members of the family, whether they are children or adults.
There, the prevalent kinship model is the extended family, which
may include members who are not directly related by blood or
marriage. Often, a family includes a compadre or comadre (co-par
ents) and even neighbors who have seen the family's children
grow up and have developed a close relationship with the fami
ly in the process.
Only one informant, a father who was left with the children,
was angry and complained strongly about his duty. What is
interesting to note is that we do not loiow whether this man was
angry due to the responsibility he had of taking care of his chil
dren, or due to the fact that his partner had left him without his
approval. As he said "Yo no se porque esa mujer tuvo que arriesgar
su vida. Como pobres que somos, yo creo que a ella no le faltaba nada
aqui Lo que pasa es que ella es una mujer ambiciosa." (I don't xmderstand why that woman had to risk her life. Though we are poor,
I don't think she needed anything more than what we have. The
problem is that she is an ambitious woman). As he spoke, the
man proudly showed us his home, which obviously was far from
- 67-
meeting the basic needs of a poor working-class family. The socalled house had two-rooms which were divided not by a wall
but by a long curtain made of 100-pound rice bags. The kitchen
consisted of a couple of tables placed in the backyard of the two
rooms. One had two anafes (rudimentary stove made of iron and
fueled with coal) and the other had eating and cooking utensils.
Yet, he felt that his wife had no reason to leave.
Regular remittances sent to relatives in charge of taking care
of migrant women's children constitute a secure income which
could play an important role in the socio-economic Ufe of certain
households. This is evidenced in the case of Maria, a woman who
had migrated to Puerto Rico three years before, leaving her four
children with her older sister, her sister's husband, and their
three children in an Eastern town highly recognized for its high
incidence of clandestine emigration. Maria's monthly remittance
to support her children was the only regular and secure income
of her sister's home. The sister's husband was a chirvpero and he
was often unable to find jobs. Maria's sister was a home-based
seamstress who produced women's clothing. Many times during
the month she was unable to contribute to the household income
because there were no orders. As she told us, the money from
Puerto Rico always came. Even when it was known that Maria
was sick and could not work for a few days, the money came and
at least the food for the household was secured. Maria's sister
had tried to leave the country five months before, using the same
captain Maria had used. Unfortunately, we were told, she was
apprehended while still in Dominican waters and could not
leave.
While Maria's remittances to her children came on many
occasions to save her sister's household from not being able to
meet basic demands, remittances from abroad have been per
ceived by some scholars as having a negative impact in the recip
ient family as well as in the national economy. Franc Baez
Evertsz and Frank D'Oleo Ramirez (1985) argue, for instance,
that remittances received in homes whose members are within
economically active ages but where no one is engaged in the
labor force, contribute to the development of parasitism and sus
tained idleness in the country (45).
The prevailing notion among scholars of women and migra
tion from the Dominican Republic is that paid labor in the receiv
ing society has yielded psychological and material rewards for
women. It is argued that Dominican couples residing in the
- 68-
United States, for instance, have fostered a new social interaction
in their homes, a "movement away from the hegemony of one
sex over decision-making and control of domestic resources to a
more egalitarian division of labor and distribution of authority"
(Pessar 1987: 120). Furthermore, it is contended that before
migration to the United States, Dominican women are guided by
a "housewife ideology," a set of values and norms that prevents
them from complete or full physical movement and limits their
sexual behavior and employment opportimities (Georges 1990:
130-35). In this view, male domination in the Dominican
Republic is reflected in women's subordination and their
oppressed position in their homes. Once in the U.S., whether
they articulate it or not, women exhibit a roughly feminist out
look in so far as they seem to act in ways that favor themselves
as women. Leaving aside the fact that when compared to men,
women in U.S. society still remain in a socially disadvantaged
position, whether in politics, the economy, or the home, we
wanted to explore the sources of the feminist attitude expressed
by Dominican women. Did it derive from their contact with a
supposedly more egalitarian society or, in fact, from their own
cultural endowment and their social and historical development
in the sending society?
Female Yola Migrants and the Feminist M entality
When women were asked about the ways in which they
interacted with their spouses prior to migration, they categori
cally stated that most Dominican men were "machistas" who
believed they had the right to control women just because they
were men. They agreed that there were some "hombres buenos"
(good men) out there, but these men were too few. The majority
of Dominican men were selfish and "mujeriegos" (womanizers).
Five women believed that men had the right to control women
and saw being womanizers as stemming naturally from this enti
tlement. The overwhelming majority (15), however, categorically
denied men any such right.
One woman, the oldest one, whose mate was much younger
and lighter skinned than her, strongly remarked that no man, no
matter how he felt about being a man, "podia inventar con ella"
(could mess with her). In other words, Dominican men could be
as macho as they wanted, but they could not dominate her. This
- 69-
woman had attempted to migrate but was left behind by the
organizer who had promised to bring her to Puerto Rico. She told
us that she was just waiting to get the money to try again. Three
other female neighbors who were very close to our informant
and who we assumed wanted to observe the interviewing
process, corroborated what our informant had told us by adding
as they nodded "eso si es verdad" (that is very true). Although
none of these women had tried to migrate illegally, one who had
a daughter in the U.S. had already begvm the migration process
and was waiting for a permanent visa. These non-migrant
women, though, echoed the same sentiment of insubordination
to patriarchal imperatives as our yola migrant.
This leads one into some of the complexities of women's
behavior in Dominican society. While there were Dominican
women who passively accepted their subordination inside the
home and who thought that that was how things were meant to
be between women and men, a good many held a completely
opposite belief. Similarly important was the fact that non
migrant women, women who had not demonstrated the kind of
aggressivity assumed necessary to undertake such an intimidat
ing trip, seemed to share the understanding held by the yola
migrants that a man should have no control over a woman's life.
An interesting piece that problematizes the picture even further
is the fact that, even while consciously accepting their subordi
nation inside their homes and openly granting their mates cer
tain privileges they deny to themselves (i.e. the right to have
multiple mates), some women reject the subordination imposed
by society when they, consciously, may at the same time decide
to violate laws concerning the international mobility of people.
By moving without formal consent from the sending or receiving
societies, these women are acting as subversive agents, showing
a type of resistance against rules and regulations of male cen
tered notions.
Upon examining some of our respondents' answers, one gets
the impression that in Dominican society a man could under
stand himself as a macho and not have full control of his part
ner's life. How could this be possible? How could a man be a
macho and not dominate "his woman"? How can a woman live
under patriarchal domination and at the same time feel that she
is in control of her private life? We believe that the answers to
these questions are found in Dominican culture, in which the
female/male relationship is not commonly characterized by
- 70-
negotiations expressed verbally, or by women assuming an
overtly defiant attitude in society. Through their control of the
social mechanisms of communication, Dominican men have the
socially sanctioned command of public verbal expression on
patriarchal norms. But Dominican women have managed to cir
cumvent this power by simply exercizing their agency at will.
While men talk of their norms, representing what in sociology is
called the ideal culture, women act, representing practices of the
real culture. This asserting of their sovereignty in the real culture
has been a common form of women's resistance. Thus, social
impositions of men's dominance in the public sphere may not
necessarily permeate the male/female conjugal relationship.
A good example of this phenomenon is reflected in women's
sexual behavior. Dominican men can openly exercise their sexu
al freedom (i.e., by having multiple and simultaneous sexual
relationships). Dominican women, however, forbidden from the
same sexual freedom, opt to re-define their sexuality quietly.
Publicly, most women are "decent" women, women of respect,
who refrain from extramarital sex. Typically, "good and decent"
women do not discuss their sexual experiences and many would
even deny having any if they are not living with a man. Thus, it
is uncommon to hear a woman talking publicly about her sexu
ality. Yet, in the private sphere, women subversively create
spaces to cope with society's sexual mores. News concerning a
man who, in a rage, has killed his wife after finding her in anoth
er man's arms, suggests that many "decent" women do disobey
the patriarchal norms that legislate bedroom activity. That is to
say that, despite their awareness that infidelity is socially and
legally precluded, Dominican women do exercize sexual agency
by deviating from the prescribed morality when they deem it
necessary.
An interesting twist to this matter is that although extramar
ital romance on the part of the women is highly condemned, peo
ple are fully aware that women may not conform to their mates'
or society's impositions in that matter. This is clearly evidenced
in a highly popular merengue of 1995 which broke sales records
in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and New York. The
song tells the story of a "vemo" (Dominican pronunciation for
venado, deer), a Dominican man who is mocked by his neighbors
for his complicity in his wife's extramarital affairs. Apparently,
the m an's wife had these involvements in her native country as
well as in Puerto Rico, where she eventually migrated in search
-71
of work. In Puerto Rico the song was harmed from public radio
stations and other places. Puerto Rican authorities, including the
church, alleged that the song portrayed Puerto Rico as a society
where women have extramarital involvements, which they
believed denigrated all Puerto Rican women.
The existence of such suggestive documents as the afore
mentioned merengue that highlights the occurrence of female
infidelity would seem to accord with the answers given to us by
some of our informants who also suggested that women only
pretend they are obedient and conform to society's regulations.
Yet, when the right moment comes, they act, and, with their
actions, challenge prevailing moral conceptions about how they
ought to be. Rather than articulating frank violations of social
norms, they tell other women "No importa que tan macho sea; pero
a mi no me domina" (So what if he is a macho. He does not domi
nate me). Women act when actions are necessary without involv
ing themselves in face-to-face confrontations with men. Their
humoring of machismo, on the other hand, represents another
form of women's resistance by trivializing patriarchal standards.
Studies on Dominican women migrants have disregarded
the subject of women's resistance to male domination in
Dominican society. Yet, most Dominican feminist scholars recog
nize that women, although uninvited, have been active agents in
social change. During the last three decades their activism has
become ever more salient, as evidenced, for instance, by the pro
liferation of diverse women's organizations. Documenting wom
en's activism and changing roles in Dominican society. Carmen
Julia Gomez (1990) has explained that Dominican women have
historically resisted men's dominance through a process she calls
"insubordination."
Insubordination is defined by the author as
the process in which women resist the limita
tions imposed on the development of their
potential and their full integration to society as
subjects who possess the same rights as men.
Women's insubordination has expanded social
spaces and has either broken or weakened social
barriers based on gender division.
(Gomez 1990:16)
[Authors' translation]
- 72-
Women's resistance to male domination is concretely reflected in
their increasing participation in institutions traditionally domi
nated by men as well as in their participation in redefining some
of these institutions. In Gomez's view, the increasing number of
homes headed by single mothers represents a direct form of
female insubordination to men's concept of the family. Through
the process of insubordination, the author explains, "women
have weakened patriarchal power structure and conceptualiza
tion." (17) [Authors' translation]
Dominican Ideal Culture during the Yola Crossing
Based on the premise that the female/male relationship in
Dominican society extends beyond a simple dichotomy of male
domination/female subordination, we then became interested in
learning the nature of the male/female relationship as it evolves
during yola migration. Since yola migration is an illegal activity
where people fimction outside the parameters and boundaries of
everyday society, we specifically wanted to see whether or not
Dominican social norms remained intact, were altered or per
haps transformed during the migration process.
Women's accounts of their experience identify a non-traditional sexual division of labor during the yola crossing. All the
women in our sample said that women were as brave as men,
and that in many instances, women assumed positions of leader
ship in moments of crisis. Informants told of women who perse
vered through storms encoimtered during the two-or-three day
crossing, repaired the yola when it was ruptured by the rough
sea, and did not tire of emptying water from leaky boats.
Perhaps a wider sense of solidarity may be experienced dur
ing the sea migration, a type of solidarity that seems to cut across
gender differences. Informants explained that, during the entire
yola migration, men and women, acted as if they were family,
and important decisions related to the trip were made collective
ly. We were told that rrugrants equally distributed any food
brought along with them for the sea voyage. In the words of one
of our informants: "En la yola, todos eramos como hermanos. AM no
habia distincion entre hembra y varon. Todo el mundo quena lo
mismo." (On the yola, we were all like family. There was no dis
tinction between men and women. Everyone wanted the same
thing). Only two of the 25 women reported instances of sexual
harassment by men during the emigration process. In both cases,
- 73-
the solidarity created during the trip, particularly during the
hideout stage, led migrants collectively to come to the aid of the
female victims.
Conclusions
International pressure, particularly from Puerto Rico, com
pels the Dominican government to discourage yola migration.
The trips are described as highly unorganized and risky endeav
ors undertaken by individuals who are abandoning their coun
try, a portrayal contradicted by our informants, who affirmed
that all the suffering encountered in the migration process would
not discourage them from trying the voyage again. Both the
Dominican and Puerto Rican governments are actively engaged
in apprehending potential and actual yola migrants. However, in
most cases, their efforts prove to be ineffective. In one of the
towns visited we found a newly appointed navy official who
boasted that no mojados (wetbacks) could circumvent the inten
sive surveillance operations currently undertaken on the coast
line. Similarly in Puerto Rico in 1991, "legislation was introduced...to fine the government of the Dominican Republic $1,000
for each illegal Dominican apprehended" {The New York Times
1992a). Also, xenophobic civilian organizations, whose aim is to
stop undocumented Dominicans from entering or gaining resi
dence, have proliferated in Puerto Rico and the United States.
In the meantime, the number of illegal trips has increased
considerably during the last years. While in 1988 only 1,958
Dominicans were deported from Puerto Rico, by 1991 this num
ber had more than doubled to 4,093. Immigration officials
explain that these statistics do not include an additional 3,000
Dominicans apprehended by the coastguard at sea in the Mona
Passage during that time.
The lack of jobs and their low earnings were identified by
our informants as the main reasons behind the decision to emi
grate, and our study revealed that just as many employed as
unemployed Dominican women embarked on yola. But devel
opmental strategies in the country have failed to generate
enough jobs and an effective wage policy to address the needs of
a growing labor force. The proliferation of free trade zones in the
country within the last three decades, particularly during the late
1980s, has not undermined the need to emigrate. The simple cre
- 74-
ation of an employment policy that does not take into account the
elasticity of the labor supply would not prevent people from emi
grating. Nor would the implementation of a wage policy which
does not consider the inflationary tendency in the Dominican
economy. What is required is a an effective emplo 3mient and
wage policy which takes into account the absolute expansion of
the labor force and the cost of its social reproduction.
Government institutions and xenophobic groups need to realize
that any efforts aimed at stopping or controlling the emigration
of people without addressing their needs will fail. Dominican
women, or men for that matter, will continue to cross the ocean
as long as their needs remain xmmet in their country.
In relation to the formation of Dominican women's feminist
mentality, it seems that women's consciousness has a complex
historical formation originating in Dominican society and cul
ture, which goes beyond a given historical event such as migra
tion. Dominican women, as Gomez has stated, have resisted
men's domination through insubordination, an insubordination
which, we venture to argue, has created the basis for a feminist
epistemology, which may manifest itself in patterns unrecogniz
able to those whose vision is informed by other cultural para
digms. We would propose, then, that it is not only a gender issue
which is at stake here, but also a more critical and nuanced cul
tural understanding.
Works Cited
Baez Evertsz, Franc and Frank D'Oleo Ramirez.
1985 La emigracion de dominicanos a Estados Unidos: determinantes
socio-economicos y consecuencias. Santo Domingo: Fundacion
Friedrich Ebert.
Bray, David.
1984 "Economic Development: The Middle-class, and
International Migration in the Dominican Republic," International
Migration Review 18.2.
Georges, Eugenia.
1990 The Making of a Transnational Community: Migration,
Development, and Cultural Change in the Dominican Republic. New
York: Columbia University Press.
- 75-
Gonzalez, Nancie L.
1970 "Peasants' Progress: Dominicans in New York," Caribbean
Studies 10.3.
1976 "Multiple Migratory Experiences of Dominican Women,"
Anthropological Quarterly 49.1.
Gomez, Carmen Julia.
1990 La problemdtica de las jefas de hogar: evidencia de la insubordinacion social de la mujer. Santo Domingo, CIPAF.
Grasmuck, Sherri.
1984 "Immigrant, Ethnic Stratification, and Native Working
Class Discipline: Comparisons of Documented and Undocu
mented Dominicans," International Migration Review 18.3.
Grasmuck, Sherri and Patricia Pessar.
1991 Between Two Islands: Dominican International Migration.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hendricks, Glenn.
1974 The Dominican Diaspora: From the Dominican Republic to New
York City-Villagers in Transition. New York: Teachers College
Press.
Kritz, Mary, ed.
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Issues. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books.
The New York Times.
1992 "Puerto Rico's Coastline: New York's Back Door" by Larry
Rohter. Sunday, December 13, p.30
Perez, Glauco.
1981 "The Legal and Illegal Dominicans in New York City,"
paper presented at the Conference on Hispanic Migration to
New York City, at New York University. Department of Latin
American and Caribbean Studies.
-76-
Pessar, Patricia.
1982 "The Role of Households in International Migration: The
Case of the U.S.-Bound M igration from the Dominican
Republic/' International Migration Review 16.2.
1984 "The Linkage between the Household and Workplace of
Dominican Im m igrant Women in the United States,"
International Migration Review 18.4.
1987 "The Dominicans: Women in the Household and the
Garment Industry/' in New Immigrants in New York, ed. Nancy
Foner. New York: Columbia University Press.
1988 "The Constraints Upon and Release of Female Labor Power:
The Case of Dominican Migration to the United States/' in A
Home Divided: Women and Income in the Third World, eds. D.
Dwyer and J. Bruce. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Portes, Alejandro and Luis Guamizo.
1990 Tropical Capitalists: U.S.-Bound Immigration and Small
Enterprise Development in the Dominican Republic. Washington,
D.C.: Working Papers, Commission for the Study of International
Migration and Cooperative Economic Development.
Puello, Rafael and Glenis Taveras.
1996 "Impact of yola migration in the local economy of sending
towns" (on-going ethnographic research, 1996)
Riessman, Catherine Kohler.
1987 "When Gender Is Not Enough: Women Interviewing
Women," Gender and Society 1.2.
Taveras, Glenis A., Rafael B. Puello, and Ana Sehnan.
1988 Aspectos culturales en la migracion ilegal de los dominicanos
hacia Puerto Rico, 1982-1987: la travesia en yola. Bachelor's Thesis,
Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, Dept. Historia y
Antropologia.
Ugalde, Antonio, Frank Bean, and Gilbert Cardenas.
1979 "International Migration from the Dominican Republic:
Findings from a National Survey." International Migration Review
13.2.
- 77-
Vargas-Lundius, Rosemary.
1991 Peasants in Distress: Poverty and Unemployment in the
Dominican Republic. Boulder: Westview Press.
Vicioso, Luisa (Chiqui).
1976 "Dominicar\ Migratiori to the U.S.A." Migration Today 20.
- 78-
l;u n y JJom m ican stu d ie s In stitu te
Recent Publications
DOMINICAN RESEARCH MONOGRAPHS:
Hernandez, Ramona, Francisco Rivera-Batiz, and Roberto Agodini.
Dominican NewYorkers:A Socioeconomic Profile, 1990. 1995
Published in collaboration with lUME at Teachers College, Columbia
University, the first statistical account of the current situation o f Dominicans
living in New York using 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census data.
56pp. $6.00
Duany, Jorge. Quisqueya on the Hudson: The Transnational Community o f
Dominicans in Washington Heights. 1994
A field research study of ethnic identity, popular culture, and everyday life of
the Dominican community ofWashington Heights examining the social
adaptation of Dominican immigrants to the host country.
54pp. $6.00
BOOKS:
Moya Pons, Frank. The Dominican Republic:A National History. 1995
This first major history o f the Dominican Republic available in English in
the United States in over 60 years is a chronicle of events in Dominican
territory firom pre-colonial times through the 1990s.
544pp. $21.95
Mir, Pedro. Countersong to Walt Whitman & Other Poems by Pedro Mir.
1993 A bilingual edition of the poetry of Don Pedro Mir, the National
Poet of the Dominican Republic.
179pp. $12.95
Qty.
Title
Price
Amount
Quisqueya on the Hudson
$6
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Dominican New Yorkers
$6
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The Dominican Republic
$21.95
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Countersong to Walt Whitman
$12.95
______
TOTAL
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Checks or money orders payable to The C uN Y Dominican Studies Institute.
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Dominican Studies: Resources and Research Questions

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Page 12 - Gringo Times