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    The Imagined Island History, Identity And Utopia In Hispaniola

    University Of North Carolina Press

    In a landmark study of history, power and identity in the Caribbean, Pedro L. San Miguel examines the historiography of Hispaniola, the West Indian island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He argues that the national identities of (and often the tense relations between) citizens of these two nations are the result of imaginary contrasts between the two nations drawn by historians, intellectuals, and writers. Covering five centuries and key intellectual figures from each country, San Miguel bridges literature, history and ethnography to locate the origins of racial, ethnic and national identity on the island. He finds that Haiti was often portrayed by Dominicans as "the other" - first as a utopian slave society, then as a barbaric state and enemy to the Dominican Republic. Although most of the Dominican population is mulatto and black, Dominican citizens tended to emphasize their Spanish (white) roots, essentially silencing the political voice of the Dominican majority.

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