Mapping Dominican Transnationalism

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    Mapping Dominican

    transnationalism: narrow and broad

    transnational practices

    JosItzigsohn, Carlos Dore Cabral, Esther Hernndez Medina and

    Obed Vzquez

    AbstractThis article maps the structure for understanding the Dominican trans-

    national eld. By transnational eld we refer to a web of linkages that

    affects the lives of Dominicans in their places of residence in every social

    eld. We nd that social boundaries of the nation do not coincide with

    political ones and the degree of participation in transnational exchanges

    varies. We suggest that the structure of the transnational social eld is better

    understood by establishing and dening broad and narrow transnational

    social practices.

    Keywords: Transnationalism; immigration; Dominicans; linkages; institutions;

    communities.

    While standing in line to check in for a ight to Santo Domingo, one of

    the authors was approached by a woman who asked if he could carry abag for her. The airline claimed she was carrying too much baggage

    already, but she needed to take everything with her because she had a

    little shop in Santo Domingo and these were goods to stock it. Everyone

    ying to Santo Domingo has stood in the long lines of people carrying

    many large bags. Some of the people make these trips in a periodic way

    as a form of living, but for most, the many bags are the norm as part of

    their annual homecomings. These bags contain many gifts for their

    family, goods to sell which help nance their trip, items for the houses

    they are building in the Dominican Republic, or a combination of all

    three. These recurrent airport scenes are one expression of the strong

    links that unite the island and its diaspora. The links, are not, however,

    only personal or economic. The Dominican congress currently has a rep-

    resentative of the Dominican community in New York. He was elected

    according to current laws, appearing in the lists of representatives of a

    Ethnic and Racial Studies Volume 22 Number 2 March 1999

    Routledge 1999 0141-9870

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    Dominican city. But debates in the Dominican Republic over the exten-

    sion of the right to vote for Dominicans abroad are far from settled.

    These examples illustrate an existing Dominican transnational social

    eld. This transnational social eld can be thought of as a eld of social

    interactions and exchanges that transcend political and geographicalboundaries of one nation and have become the relevant eld of action

    and reference for a large number of Dominicans in their country of origin

    and in the broad diaspora that it has generated. Many Dominicans have

    a deep involvement in these links and exchanges, whereas others par-

    ticipate in them only occasionally. Some members of this transnational

    community engage in economic exchanges; some are part of its political

    links, others only experience the transnation al eld in a symbolic way, as

    part of their space of meaningful references. Nevertheless, few Domini-

    cans are untouched by the existence of this transnational eld of social

    relations.

    The goal of this article is to contribute to our understanding of the

    structure and workings of this transnational social field through the

    analysis of the dynamics of Dominican transnationalism. Throughout

    this essay we attempt to map out the different linkages that pattern this

    community. We propose to distinguish between narrow and broadforms of transnationality as two poles along a continuum of different

    forms of transnational practices. These poles are distinguished by three

    factors: the degree of institutionalization of various practices, the

    degree of involvement of people in the transnational field, and the

    degree of movement of people within the transnational geographical

    space.

    Expanding the boundaries of the nation

    Until recently, studies of immigrant communities were focused mainly on

    the processes of incorporation and acculturation of immigrants, and

    limited to the ethnic communities they created in the host societies. The

    concept of transnational social elds arises to describe immigrant com-

    munities that do not delink themselves from their home country; instead,

    they keep and nourish their linkages to their place of origin. This is not

    an unheard of phenomenon, nor a new one, but progress in communi-

    cation and transportation technologies have allowed for an increasing

    intensity and immediacy to those linkages (Portes 1996). The emergence

    of transnational social elds challenges the accepted boundaries in the

    study of political participation, social mobility and identity formation as

    these processes take place across national boundaries rather than within

    them.The current work on transnationalism was given impulse by the

    pioneering work of Glick Schiller, Basch and Blanc-Szanton (1992). They

    dened transnationalism as the processes by which immigrants forge and

    Mapping Dominican transnationalism 317

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    sustain multi-stranded social relations that link together their societies of

    origin and settlement (Basch, Glick Schiller, and Blanc-Szanton, 1994,

    p. 7) Transnationalism is a product of the present conditions of global

    capitalism and the type of relations between labour and capital that it

    generates. The transnational social eld is constructed through the dailylife and activity of immigrants affecting all aspects of their life, from their

    economic opportunities, to their political behaviour, to their individual

    and group identities.

    Alejandro Portes (1996) provides another look at this phenomenon.

    For Portes, transnationalism is focused mainly on economic activities.

    Transnational activities constitute a form of grass-roots alternative to the

    debasement of immigrant labour in the centre of the world system. Con-

    fronted with low-paid dead-end jobs, immigrants use their social

    relations from their place of origin and their place of migration to build

    economic enterprises that operate across borders. A central character-

    istic of these enterprises is that their existence is dependent on the con-

    tinuation of the transnational linkage.

    The work of other scholars has added to the conceptualization and

    understanding of transnational communities. Smith (1994, 1998) ex-

    plored the linkages between the town of Ticuani, in the Mexican state ofPuebla, and the migrants from this town who live in New York City.

    Smith shows the construction of a close-knit community, organized along

    the lines of traditional social organization and communal obligations, but

    geographically split between Mexico and the United States. Kyle (1995)

    studied the migration networks between Ecuadorians in New York and

    several Ecuadorian towns, indicating how the organization of the move-

    ment of people is superimposed on existing networks for the movementof goods between Ecuador and the United States.

    Migration and transnationalism among Dominicans

    Throughout its history, the Caribbean Basin has witnessed constant

    migration ows, and until the 1960s the Dominican Republic was mainly

    an immigrant receiving country. In the last three decades, however, the

    Dominican Republic has become one of the main emigration countries

    in the Caribbean Basin and in Latin America in general. According to

    the Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS], during the 1980s

    Dominicans ranked seventh in the number of people admitted to the

    United States (251,803). During the 1990s Dominicans ranked in the top

    ve nationalities in the number of immigrants admitted, following coun-

    tries with much larger populations, such as Mexico, the Philippines,

    China and Vietnam (http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/public/stats).The large size of the migration ows, and the relatively short period of

    time in which they occurred, caused a large transformation in Domini-

    can society, making the Dominican case a paradigmatic one for the study

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    of the rise of transnationalism. Dominican migrants are found all over

    the world, from Antigua to Madrid, from Caracas to Alaska. The main

    centre of Dominican migration, however, is New York City.

    The scholarly literature on Dominican migration can be divided into

    three stages, documenting the changes in the characteristics of thismigration. The rst stage occurs during the 1970s and early 1980s when

    the Dominican Republic was a model for the study of migration as labour

    ows. Migration was perceived as a strategy of the rural and urban poor

    in search of economic advancement. Several case-studies of rural com-

    munities in the Dominican Republic looked for factors that motivated

    the migration ow and its social and economic impact (Hendricks 1974;

    Bray 1984; Del Castillo & Murphy 1987).

    The 1980s brought a new stage in the study of Dominican migration

    distinguished by the study of the characteristics of the Dominican com-

    munity in the United States, particularly in New York City. These

    included the work of Gurak and Kritz (1982) analysing the role of kinship

    networks, that of Pessar (1984, 1985) on the gender dynamic of migrant

    households and the work of Georges (1988) on Dominican associations

    in New York City. These studies began to look at the Dominican com-

    munity as an ethnic enclave, with a certain degree of internal socialstratication. During this stage we also begin to see studies covering

    Dominicans on the island and the continent. The study of Grassmuck and

    Pessar (1991) on two communities in the Dominican Republic (one

    urban and one rural) and its emigrated members in New York City, and

    that of Georges (1990) on the effects of migration on a rural community,

    are an indication of the growing consciousness about the transnational

    phenomenon.1

    It is in the current stage of the study of Dominican migration that we

    see a focus on transnationality. The work of Portes and Guarnizo (1991)

    initiated a series of studies on this topic. This work shows the emergence

    of an entrepreneurial class, part of which owes its existence to its con-

    stant travel between the Dominican Republic and the United States. This

    entrepreneurial class uses its social networks to gain information and

    contacts that allow it to conduct business between the two countries,

    sometimes in a formal and sometimes in an informal way.

    Several scholars have studied different aspects of Dominican trans-

    nationalism. Duany (1994) analyses the cultural aspects of Dominican

    transnationality, showing how immigrants recreate Dominican life in New

    York City while they also incorporate elements of American culture to

    their cultural repertories. Guarnizo (1992, 1994) wrote on Dominican

    entrepreneurs in New York and on the binational character of the New

    York Dominican community. Guarnizos most recent work (1998) focuseson the forms of political participation of transmigrants and on state

    responses to the rise of transnational communities. Graham (1997) makes

    the connections between transnational and local political participation

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    among Dominicans in New York City, focusing on the parallel struggle by

    Dominican organizations that lobbied for the legislation of double citizen-

    ship by the Dominican government and the creation of a Dominican dis-

    trict in New York City council elections. Levitt (1997, 1998) analyses

    organizational and value changes in Dominican community, political, andreligious organizations and institutions as a result of their expansion over

    national boundaries.

    The increasing interest in Dominican transnationality is the result of

    the changes experienced by the Dominican diaspora. This diaspora grew

    exponentially during the 1980s, and has developed a certain degree of

    social differentiation and institutional density that accounts for the rise

    of transnational connections (Guarnizo 1994). In addition, migrant

    remittances have become one of the main sources of hard currency of the

    island (Itzigsohn 1995). The consolidation of competitive politics during

    the 1980s and 1990s generated a need for political fundraising. Domini-

    cans abroad became an important source of nance for Dominican politi-

    cal parties. Grahams (1997) informants estimate that fundraising in the

    United States provides between 10 and 15 per cent of Dominican parties

    campaign funds.

    The studies mentioned above have no doubt greatly increased ourunderstanding of Dominican transnationality. Nevertheless, many ques-

    tions remain unanswered, partly due to the lack of empirical data, and

    partly because the conceptualization of transnational communities needs

    to be tightened. Is transnationalism mainly an economic phenomenon,

    or is it a social eld that affects all aspects of life, such as group and indi-

    vidual identities and symbolic practices? Are transnational migrants only

    those involved in continuous dealings between the two countries, or areall the people involved in a broad social eld? Does transnationality refer

    mainly to a diaspora condition, or does it also include the people that

    remain in the home country? Finally, is there any spatial centre or order

    in this transnational community?

    Searching for a transnational social eld

    This study is part of the rst phase of a larger comparative study of trans-

    national communities. The goal of this phase was to explore the differ-

    ent practices that sustain the transnational social eld. For this purpose

    we conducted a total of eighty-three interviews with key informants in

    two locations in the United States, New York City and Providence,

    Rhode Island; and in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Repub-

    lic. Table 1 presents a description of our interviewees.

    We selected two locations in the United States to achieve a broad viewof the existing transnational practices. New York City was chosen

    because it has the largest concentration of Dominicans abroad, and is the

    second largest Dominican city after Santo Domingo, the capital city of

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    the Dominican Republic. Dominicans have settled in every borough of

    New York City. However, our interviews were restricted to the area of

    Washington Heights in upper Manhattan where the largest concentration

    of Dominicans is located. While New York City has by far the largest

    concentration of Dominican immigrants, the trend has been towards the

    deconcentration of the population. Providence, RI, is one of several

    places of secondary migration for Dominicans, where the Dominican

    community is playing an increasingly important role in city life. The study

    of Providence allows us to look at the increasingly growing phenomenon

    of residential deconcentration among Dominicans. Table 2 presents an

    overview of the evolution of the Dominican population in New York Cityand Providence.

    We selected the informants by looking for people with a central posi-

    tion and a broad knowledge of the community. We selected the rst

    informants based on our knowledge of the communities, and we followed

    a series of snowball-chains after that. Most of the respondents in the

    United States were rst-generation immigrants with the exception of two

    cases who were second-generation Dominicans. In the DominicanRepublic the majority of the interviews were conducted in Santo

    Domingo, with the exception of two interviews that took place in Santi-

    ago. Six of the interviews in the Dominican Republic were with North-

    Americans linked to different US institutions in the country. The

    interviews were semi-structured and followed an interview guide that

    served to direct the conversation. The research design and the analysis

    are qualitative, pointing to trends in transnational practices, and sug-gesting paths for further research.

    Towards a comprehensive understanding of Dominican transnational

    practices

    One of the main problems in our understanding of transnational com-

    munities is who to include and what type of practice should be con-

    sidered transnational. There are currently two main answers to thisquestion. Portes (1996) includes only those people engaged in recurrent

    binational dealings and focuses mainly on economic aspects. Basch,

    Glick Schiller, and Szanton-Blanc (1994) are more inclusive, including

    Mapping Dominican transnationalism 321

    Table 1. Breakdown of interviews with key informants by place and gender

    United States Dominican RepublicNew York Providence

    Men 22 19 23Women 10 3 7

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    in the transnational eld everyday social practices that affect a range

    from economic opportunities to the choice of identities.

    Portes understanding of transnationalism is very important, because

    it focuses on one of the most innovative and dynamic phenomena: the

    rise of transnational enterprises. This new form of entrepreneurship

    affects a large number of social processes, from macro processes of

    national development, to the options for social mobility open to indi-

    viduals. It has limitations, however, since it leaves out relevant practices

    that should be considered transnational. Recalling the long lines at the

    airports, only a few of the people waiting there engage in recurrent trav-

    elling to supply their businesses. These would be transnational entrepre-

    neurs according to Portes. Most of the people in line, however, travel

    only once or twice a year to the Dominican Republic, but every time theytravel they carry those large and heavy bags lled with gifts or goods to

    sell, or both. It is not their way of making a living, but it is a regular and

    recurrent practice.

    322 Jos Itzigsohn et al.

    Table 2. Selected demographic data for Dominicans in Providence, Rhode Islandand New York City, 1990, 1985

    Rhode Providence Manhattan New YorkIsland City

    1990All Dominicans 9,374 7,973 136,696 332,713

    100% 100% 100% 100%Native Born 2,940 2,361 37,905 95,492

    % of all Dominicans 31.30% 29.60% 27.73% 28.70%Born in State of Residence 1,868 1,244 34,901 85,841

    % of all Dominicans 19.90% 15.60% 25.53% 25.80%Born in Different State 1,072 931 654 2,139

    % of all Dominicans 11.40% 11.60% 0.48% 0.64%Foreign Born 6,434 5,612 98,791 237,221

    % of all Dominicans 68.60% 70.40% 72.27% 71.30%Naturalized 1,409 1,266 24,307 60,976

    % of all Dominicans 21.90% 15.80% 17.78% 18.33%Not a Citizen 5,025 4,346 74,484 176,245

    % of all Dominicans 78.10% 54.50% 54.49% 52.97%1985Mobility

    All Dominicans 8,333 7,083 124,233 299,482(5 yrs and older) 100% 100% 100% 100%

    Same State 4,481 3,853 103,744 243,45553.70% 54.40% 83.51% 81.29%

    Different State 1,715 1,324 1,067 3,35620.50% 18.70% 0.86% 1.12%

    Abroad 1,861 1,906 19,422 52,79922.30% 26.90% 15.63% 17.63%

    Source: 1990 Census

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    The understanding of Basch et al. helps us to include a number of prac-

    tices under the transnational label. It suffers, though, from being too

    unspecied. After all, there is a difference between those who engage in

    constant travel and business in both countries and those who see them-

    selves as Dominicans in the United States and long for the homeland thatthey may never have seen. We believe that both are part of a trans-

    national eld, but this transnational eld should be further specied.

    The economic and everyday-pra ctices perspectives are not necessarily

    in opposition. Mahler (1998) points to the need for mapping trans-

    national practices and suggests a differentiation between those who

    move frequently, those who move every so often, and those whose lives

    take place within a transnational eld. We want to pursue Mahlers sug-

    gestion and propose to differentiate between narrow and broad trans-

    national practices. We want to consider narrow and broad transnational

    practices as two poles of a continuum dened by the degree of insti-

    tutionalization, degree of movement within the transnational eld, or the

    degree of involvement in transnational activities. Transnationality in a

    narrow sense refers to those people involved in economic, political,

    social, or cultural practices that involve a regular movement within the

    geographic transnational eld, a high level of institutionalization, or con-stant personal involvement. Transnationality in a broad sense refers to

    a series of material and symbolic practices in which people engage that

    involve only sporadic physical movement between the two countries, a

    low level of institutionalization, or just occasional personal involvement,

    but nevertheless includes both countries as reference points.

    In fact, each of these dimensions institutionalization, involvement,

    and movement denes its own continuum, creating three parallel con-tinua. Table 3 illustrates this idea. In many cases, transnational practicesare at the narrow end of the continuum in all three of these dimensions.

    Nevertheless, as will be shown below, some transnational practices can

    be considered narrow only on one or two of the classicatory dimensions.

    For our conceptualization, it is enough for a transnational activity to be

    narrow along two of these three dimensions to be considered a form of

    narrow transnationality.

    Table 4 maps transnational activities and illustrates both narrow and

    broad forms of transnationality. The examples refer to activities in the

    United States, but we argue that there are also examples of trans-

    Mapping Dominican transnationalism 323

    Table 3. Dimensions of narrow and broad transnationality

    Transnational practices

    Narrow BroadHigh Institutionalization LowConstant Participation OccasionalRegular Movement Sporadic

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    nationalism in the Dominican Republic. We divide Dominican trans-

    national practices into four categories: economic, political, civil-societaland cultural practices, and then position these within our analytical

    scheme. The divisions are, however, sometimes arbitrary. For example,

    is fundraising for a political party a political or an economic practice?

    Indeed, at times, the same people often engaged in transnational activi-

    ties are included under different categories. Nevertheless, the clarity of

    our analysis will benet from this division. Thus, for our analytical

    purpose we shall classify activities according to their main goal, such thatfundraising for a political party will be considered a political activity.

    Our use of civil-societal covers those community practices in thereligious, sports, or mutual-help elds that are not mainly political ormarket oriented. This avoids labelling these practices as merely social,

    since political and economic practices are certainly social practices. It

    would be a mistake, for example, to think about economic transnational

    practices as purely market oriented. Transnational economic practices

    are embedded in complex transnational social and political networks

    and, as such, are indivisible from civil society. Nevertheless, for the sake

    of analytical clarity, we shall maintain this division. Finally, by cultural

    practices, we refer to symbolic practices, such as the formation of iden-

    tities, tastes and values. Consider the case of a Dominican student in an

    American university: The head is here, but the heart is there, she claims.

    This student, who was born in the United States, hopes to pursue a politi-

    cal career there and argues that she could not live in the DominicanRepublic because she is too accustomed to the ways things are done in

    the US. Yet she claims in the same breath that it is only in the Domini-

    can Republic that she feels at home. Her everyday life takes place in the

    324 Jos Itzigsohn et al.

    Table 4. Narrow and broad transnationality among Dominicans

    Transnationality Narrow Broadactivity

    Economic Transnational rms Carrying bags full of merchandise on occasionaltrips

    Political Membership in Dominican Participating in electoralpolitical parties in the US meetings in the US

    Civil-Societal Membership in Town Participating in occasionalCommittees benet activities for the

    Dominican RepublicCultural Participating in Dominican Dening oneself as part of

    cultural production from Dominican diasporathe US

    Note: The examples in each cell are illustrations of the kind of practices we have in mind.This is not an exhaustive table.

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    United States but her identity, and the eld of relevant symbolic refer-

    ences, includes the Dominican Republic in a very meaningful way. She

    is part of broad transnational space, but does not take part in the narrow

    transnational activities that sustain and fuel it.

    Economic transnationality

    Narrow economic transnationalism: This category includes immigrants

    who have businesses in the United States and also invest in the Domini-

    can Republic and Dominican rms that branch out to the United States.

    The most thorough study so far is the work of Portes and Guarnizo

    (1991). These researchers uncovered in the Dominican Republic the

    presence of a large number of small and medium rms linked to

    migration. This research rejected the idea that the only economic contri-

    bution of emigrants is their remittances and that those are used only for

    consumption purposes.

    Our interviews in the Dominican Republic revealed that our inform-

    ants are well aware of the presence of emigrant-created rms, pointing

    out that most of these rms are in the service, retail sectors. According

    to our informants, the main types of migration linked businesses in theservice sector are moving and remittances companies, small loan and

    investment rms called nancieras, laundries, car-repair shops and car-

    wash businesses. In the retail sector, most of the investments by trans-

    migrants are concentrated in supermarkets and colmados (small

    neighbourhood grocery stores similar to New York bodegas). There is

    also some investment in construction rms. A new form of business link

    is between remittances companies and commercial rms. This arrange-ment allows Dominicans in the United States to send remittances to their

    relatives, but the latter, instead of receiving money receive consumption

    goods such as ovens or washing machines.

    The picture we received in our interviews in the United States con-

    cerning the investment areas of transnational rms is similar to what we

    encountered in the Dominican Republic. Two of our informants were

    engaged in narrow economic transnational activities. The manager of an

    ofce of a large remittance agency told us that the owners of the agency

    have businesses in Santo Domingo and have opened the agency as a way

    of obtaining hard currency. The other informant owns a nancial and

    insurance investment company on Wall Street and owns a C-town Super-

    market in Manhattan, which are managed by relatives, while he lives and

    operates an insurance business in Santiago. These examples of narrow

    economic transnational practices are characterized by a high degree of

    institutionalization and constant involvement in businesses in bothplaces. In some cases these transnational rms involve regular movement

    between the two countries, but this is not always the case. In many

    instances the administration of businesses in one of the two countries is

    Mapping Dominican transnationalism 325

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    delegated to family members, and in the case of the larger formal rms,

    to professional managers.

    Transnational businesses are not limited to well-established formal

    rms. There is also a large informal transnational trade. An example of

    this kind of trade is the case of the woman we met at the beginning ofthis article who travels back and forth to stock her business. There are

    also a number of people who make a living out of travelling back and

    forth selling goods both in the Dominican Republic and the United

    States. Most of our informants in the Dominican Republic claimed to

    know personally one or more of these informal transnational traders.

    From the United States, these traders carry mainly non-durable con-

    sumer goods such as clothes (new and used), shoes and jewelry. Traders

    sell these goods in markets all around the Dominican Republic. The

    goods brought to the United States are consumer goods, typically

    Dominican products, such as Dominican rum, sausages, Dominican

    sweets and even traditional medicines and local brands of over-the-

    counter drugs that people are familiar with. According to our informants,

    the frequency of these trips is between once a month and once in three

    months. Their economic advantage comes from the non-payment of

    custom taxes. It is important to note that this itinerant trade is not a newphenomenon in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean. Indeed, we

    can nd people conducting the same type of trade between the Domini-

    can Republic and several islands of the Caribbean. What is particular

    about our cases is the large volume of the trade, and the fact that what

    is traded on the American end are culturally dened Dominican goods,

    which helps sustain the transnational Dominican cultural eld. What

    characterizes these informal narrow transnational economic practices isa constant personal involvement and regular movement within the trans-

    national space, but these practices show a low degree of institutionaliz-

    ation.

    Our interviews revealed the existence of a considerable segment of

    transnational rms in a narrow sense which concurs with the research of

    Portes and Guarnizo (1991). However, there are no data on the exten-

    sion and importance of this sector. We do not know the contribution of

    this type of investment to the Dominican GDP, or to employment cre-

    ation, nor do we know how many of the Dominican business people in

    the United States also engage in transnational investment. Most of the

    Dominican businesses we encountered both in New York City and Provi-

    dence are small businesses in the service sector: bodegas, restaurants,

    boutiques, beauty-parlours, car-repair shops, remittance agencies and

    legal and tax service agencies. Many of our informants argued that

    besides the remittances and moving agencies, Dominican businesspeople are not engaged in transnational rms of the type described

    above, although they may very well engage in broad economic trans-

    national practices.

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    Broad economic transnationalism: Broad economic transactions are

    those that are more or less recurrent, but do not involve regular move-

    ment or constant involvement between the two places. Perhaps the most

    distinct case is that of the remittances sent home by immigrants. These

    have become the second main source of hard currency for the Domini-can Republic, and a necessary source of income for a large number of

    people (Itzigsohn 1995).

    The words of the Dominican Consul in New York in a celebration of

    the Dominican independence day in Providence highlight the import-

    ance of remittances in the structure of the Dominican transnational eld.

    Consul Bienvenido Perez argued that Dominican immigrants should not

    be called absent Dominicans(Dominicanos ausentes), as they often are,

    but Dominicanos abroad (Dominicanos en el exterior). This was so,

    according to the Consul, because Dominicans abroad are always present

    by means of the remittances they send which are indispensable for the

    economic survival of the country.

    Another form of broad economic transnationality is carrying bags full

    of merchandise on trips to the Dominican Republic. This is done by

    almost all Dominicans who travel, and according to our interviews, most

    Dominicans in the United States travel rather regularly to the island. Themerchandise, however, has different purposes: sometimes it consists of

    gifts for the family, sometimes it is for the family to sell and in this way

    help the family economy, or it might be to sell and help nance the trip

    and even make some prot.

    By carrying or sending consumer goods from abroad to the island,

    transmigrants provide the low-income sectors with access to consumer

    goods that these sectors could not buy with their local income. Promi-nent among these are durable consumer goods, such as TVs, VCRs,

    video cameras and video games, and also non-durable consumer goods

    such as clothing and footwear. Commonly found in households, these

    goods are one of the main contributions that Dominicans abroad have

    made to the standard of living of their relatives and friends. Among the

    middle classes, it is popular to send cars and computers.

    Dominican transmigrants also invest in building houses or buying

    businesses as a form of building assets for eventual retirement. Many of

    our informants have houses, tracts of land, or small businesses that are

    tended to by family or friends, or maintained idle waiting for their

    owners to return. Consider the case of Juan, who has lived fteen years

    in Providence. Juan had some university training when he migrated, but

    in all his years in the United States he has been a factory worker. Never-

    theless, Juan has saved enough money to buy land near his home town

    in the Dominican Republic. Juan has also bought a number of cows, cur-rently kept by his father. The goal of Juans investment is not to make

    a living out of his investment, but to have some assets for an eventual

    retirement home. Whether Juan will retire in the Dominican Republic

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    is an open question. The fact is that the desire to return leads a large

    number to invest money in businesses and real estate in the Dominican

    Republic.

    One difference between these investments and those included in the

    narrow category is on the future orientation of these broad economictransnational transactions. The goal of these broad investments is not

    necessarily immediate subsistence but old-age insurance although theyoften create sources of livelihood for people in the Dominican Republic,

    having an effect also on immediate subsistence. Another difference is

    that broad transnational economic practices also have symbolic mean-

    ings. They contribute to sustaining the emotional linkage between

    Dominicans abroad and in the Dominican Republic, and to strengthen-

    ing the Dominicanness of transmigrants.

    Political transnationality

    Narrow political transnationalism: Narrow political transnationalism can

    best be seen in membership and activism in Dominican political parties

    which have branches in US cities where there is a Dominican presence.

    The most visible political organizations are the three largest Dominicanparties: the governing Partido de Liberacion Dominicana [PLD Domini-can Liberation Party], the largest opposition party, Partido Revolucionario

    Dominicano [PRD Dominican Revolutionary Party], and the party offormer president Joaquin Balaguer, Partido Reformista Social Cristiano

    [PRSC Social Christian Reformist Party]. The rst two parties haveofces in New York and Providence. The presence of the PRSC, though,

    has diminished after they were forced out of government, so much so, thatwe did not nd an ofce of the party in New York or Providence.

    The main activities of these parties are fundraising meetings. Indeed,

    Dominicans in the United States are a very important source of funding

    for political parties. During election periods, activities increase and a

    great number of campaign meetings take place. Both main candidates in

    the 1996 presidential election, current president Leonel Fernandez and

    PRD candidate, the late Jos F. Pe a Gmez, conducted campaigns in

    New York and Providence, searching for political support and partici-

    pating in fundraisers. Graham (1997) estimates that between 10 and 15

    per cent of the campaign funds is raised in the United States. Our inform-

    ants did not provide a specic percentage, but stressed that the Domini-

    can community in the United States is a very important source of funds.

    Dominican politicians argue that the opinions of Dominican trans-

    migrants are important in inuencing the voting decisions of Dominicans

    on the island. One prominent politician we interviewed argued that thisis because many Dominicans in the Dominican Republic believe that

    Dominicans in the United States are better informed. According to this

    informant, when a Dominican from the United States goes back home,

    he (in this case the informant referred to men) has money to invite

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    people to eat and drink, and when he expresses his political preference,

    that opinion carries great weight. The same politician added that the

    dependence of many people on remittances also adds weight to the politi-

    cal opinions of transmigrants. This political inuence, real or assumed,

    expands the eld of transnational political competition. Parties competefor funds and support in New York and New England, as well as in Santo

    Domingo and Santiago.This competition will certainly increase if the

    current debates on the right to vote for Dominicans abroad leads to

    favourable constitutional changes.

    Representation of the Dominican community in the Dominican legis-

    lature is perhaps the most clear example of narrow political trans-

    nationalism. The PLD decided to include a member of its New York

    branch in its congressional lists for the rst time in the 1996 election. This

    candidate, however, had to be included in the lists of candidates from

    Santiago, his home town, since there is no institutional mechanism for

    electing representatives abroad. This member of parliament expressed to

    us his hope that representation from abroad will increase in the future,

    since such an increase would make it easier for him to put forward the

    needs of his constituency. In addition, the current president, Leonel Fer-

    nandez grew up in New York City and had close relations with the NewYork branch of the PLD. After his victory, numerous members of the

    PLD in the United States were rewarded with positions in public

    administration in the Dominican Republic. Also for the rst time, the

    New York Consul and his top assistants are members of the New York

    community, rather than people sent from the Dominican Republic. It

    appears from our interviews and observations that the Dominican con-

    sulate in New York has now become much more responsive to the needsof that community than in the past, and its administration is much more

    transparent. All these point to the increasing participation and weight of

    transmigrants in Dominican politics and public administration.

    These cases of narrow transnationality are based on a high level of

    institutionalization and in constant involvement on transnational activi-

    ties. Sometimes they also involve regular movement between the two

    countries, but that is not always the case. For example, transmigrants can

    be members of a Dominican party, spend large amounts of time, effort

    and money on its activities, but not travel regularly to the Dominican

    Republic. Yet, they are transnational activists.

    Broad political transnationality: One of the most common expressions of

    broad political transnationality is the transmigrants interest in electoral

    politics. During elections, Dominicans who may otherwise not be very

    involved in the Dominican political scene become passionate supportersor opponents of particular candidates. The corners of St. Nicholas Ave,

    and those of Broadway in upper Manhattan, are the settings for passion-

    ate political arguments, and motor caravans organized by the different

    political parties clog the main streets of the Dominican neighbourhoods.

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    The Dominican broad political transnational eld is, however, richer

    and more interesting than the occasional electoral participation. In 1994

    the Dominican state granted the right to double citizenship for Domini-

    cans abroad, and by this act expanded the scope of the transnational

    political eld. This action was, in part, the result of pressures by Domini-cans in the United States who were reluctant to naturalize because it

    meant the loss of Dominican citizenship; but the decision to extend

    double citizenship was also the result of an understanding on the part of

    Dominican politicians of the dependence of the country on the well-

    being of Dominicans abroad; on their ability to send remittances. That

    realization led Dominican political parties to encourage Dominicans to

    naturalize and participate in the American political process.

    In recent years large numbers of Dominicans have naturalized, and

    Dominican participation in American politics has indeed increased.

    While mainly a reaction to the recent anti-immigration policies of the

    United States government, the recognition of double citizenship by the

    Dominican government has certainly helped. This increase in partici-

    pation has yielded results. In 1992 New York Citys rst Dominican

    councilman, Guillermo Linares, was elected, and in 1996 Adriano Espail-

    lat was the rst Dominican to be elected as state representative. In Prov-idence, a Dominican candidate lost the election to the city council by only

    eleven votes. Dominican parties, as such, have not taken part in these

    elections, but many of their members have participated actively in the

    efforts to increase Dominican political representation in the United

    States.

    If the Dominican state nally grants the right to vote to Dominicans

    abroad, it will also expand the transnational political eld. According toour informants, the current terms of the debate exclude the possibility of

    voting for president, since Dominican politicians do not want the presi-

    dential election to be decided abroad. What is currently being discussed

    is the creation of formal representation for transmigrants, creating a kind

    of overseas electoral district, which would allow Dominicans abroad to

    vote for their representatives to the Dominican congress. If the idea is

    accepted, it would raise a number of very interesting organizational ques-

    tions: how many representatives would Dominicans abroad have? How

    would the overseas geographical representation be divided? Would New

    York represent New England, or would every region in the United States

    have its own representatives? And what about the expanding Dominican

    diaspora outside the United States, in countries such as Spain, Italy and

    Venezuela?

    Civil-societal transnationalism

    Narrow civil-societal transnationality: Several transnational initiatives,

    grass roots or institutional, that are not mainly economic or political, are

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    included in this category. The most common form of organization is the

    town association; that is, associations created by people from a certain

    town or region that gather to socialize and to help their town or village.

    There are numerous organizations of this type in New York City, but

    none currently in Providence although there have been a few in thepast. The alleged reason for the current absence of this type of organiz-ation is the lack of critical mass from any particular place.

    In the Dominican Republic there are a few organizations of people

    that have lived abroad, such as the Fundacion para la Defensa de Domini-

    canos Residents en el Exterior(Foundation for the Defence of Domini-

    cans Living Abroad). Besides serving as a focus for socialization, this

    organization has goals that range from the improvement of the local

    image of Dominicans living abroad which associates Dominicansabroad with the drug trade, prostitution, and ostentatious behaviour toassisting returning immigrants, particularly those who want to invest in

    the Dominican Republic business world. That is, the goals range from

    the cultural to the economic, and address specic needs of returning

    Dominicans to the Dominican Republic, who have already been trans-

    formed by their experience abroad.

    A similar institutional transnational initiative is a graduate programmein bilingual education. This programme organized by the Universidad

    Autnoma de Santo Domingo in New York City and Providence, serving

    the entire Latino population, leads to a Masters degree. Dominican pro-

    fessors come to the United States and teach for two or three months, and

    at some point those enrolled in the programme have to take classes in

    Santo Domingo at the home campus. The degrees of the programme are

    recognized in the United States and serve to facilitate full entry into theeld of education. In New York City, the programme has been in place

    for a number of years, open to the entire Latino population, and is in

    great demand. It has recently been organized in Providence and expec-

    tations of it are high.

    As with the case of narrow political transnationality, narrow civil-

    societal transnationality is based on institutions the building of associ-ations and organizations

    and continuous involvement on issues

    pertaining to the two countries. Constant movement between the two

    places is less common.

    Broad civil-societal transnationality: Under broad civil-societal trans-

    nationality, we locate a large number of community initiatives in diverse

    areas. In both North-American cities there are numerous Dominican

    sport leagues, including baseball, basketball, bowling and domino. These

    leagues often organize trips to the Dominican Republic in which theyplay against teams from several cities, depending on the connections of

    the organizers.

    Dominican religious groups are also known by informants in both

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    countries to organize fundraising events for particular projects such as

    for churches and schools in the Dominican Republic. It appears that this

    type of exchange is frequent, but not regular. Nevertheless, they are very

    important because they show that the frame of reference for several

    activities transcends the borders of the countries. For example, Domini-can baseball leagues in the Dominican Republic, as well as in the United

    States, are always organizing games against other leagues and teams.

    Sometimes the leagues or teams are from neighbouring cities, such as a

    team from Sabana Iglesias playing Santiago, or a team from Providence

    playing in New York; or games are organized against teams from the

    other country.

    There are, however, two kinds of problems with these transnational

    exchanges. The rst one is that travelling from Santiago to New York

    City is much more costly than going to Santo Domingo. This problem is

    dealt with by organizing fundraising events, such as rafes and dances.

    The second problem is that in spite of the blurring of the importance of

    nation-states, political borders and migration ofcers still exist. This

    problem is more complicated to deal with. Dominicans are among the

    largest national groups in the United States, and as a result obtaining a

    visa to the United States in recent years has become increasingly dif-cult. One of our informants in New York City who has organized a bas-

    ketball tournament with a youth team from his home town told us that

    in order to get visas for the team he had to sign a guarantee that they

    would all return home. He was successful in achieving this and has now

    gained credibility to bring more teams. However, if anyone on the team

    he brought had stayed on in the United States, it would have precluded

    him from bringing any other team.

    Cultural transnationalism

    Narrow cultural transnationalism: Cultural transnationalism refers to a

    diverse number of practices and institutions that take part in the for-

    mation of meanings, identities and values. These are the processes that

    dene the changing discourses about what it is to be Dominican, in the

    Dominican Republic and abroad. The experiences of Dominicans in the

    United States are re-dening cultural denitions and practices of Domini-

    cans in general. The question is, to what extent and in which ways do these

    changes take place? This is a rich eld of inquiry and scholars are increas-

    ingly paying attention to it (Duany 1994; Levitt 1997; Weyland 1997).

    Among the institutional elements that maintain the cultural connec-

    tion between Dominicans is the media. Existing communication tech-

    nologies allow for a constant linkage between Dominicans at home andabroad. El Nacional, one of the most important afternoon papers, has a

    New York daily edition and can be found in most bodegas. El Siglo, a

    morning paper, is printed daily in Miami, although with a more limited

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    distribution than El Nacional. Those connected to the internet can read

    daily El Listn Diario, the oldest and most prestigious of Dominican

    newspapers (which is also sold in bodegas). Similarly, cable television

    and radio stations provide access to popular Dominican programmes and

    news. Access to the Dominican media allows Dominicans on the eastcoast of the United States to keep themselves updated and in constant

    touch with what is going on in the Dominican Republic. This constant

    connection, in turn, reinforces their identity as Dominicans, a feeling of

    being part of the national imagined community.

    A very important institution engaged in the re-elaboration of cultural

    discourses is the Center for Dominican Studies at the City University of

    New York [CUNY]. The Center was organized by Dominican scholars

    who grew up and were trained academically in the United States. It

    attempts to articulate the voice of Dominicans in the diaspora, trans-

    forming them from the objects of others discourses into subjects with

    their own voice. At the same time it has become a referent for Domini-

    can scholars in the Dominican Republic, providing a home for visiting

    scholars who spend time conducting research in New York. Currently the

    Center has been awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship to bring scholars to

    do research on the topic of Silenced Voices in Dominican history. Thusthe Center is entering into a dialogue about the denition of Dominican

    identity and the telling of Dominican history that can alter the intellec-

    tual discourses on those issues, in particular, the Dominican discourse of

    race (Torres-Saillant 1998).

    In this case, what characterizes narrow cultural transnationalism is

    institutionalization and constant involvement in cultural production in

    the Dominican Republic and the diaspora. The Center is located in NewYork, and as an institution is geographically bounded to that city. Aca-

    demics, on the other hand, move back and forth within the transnational

    space, and the Center has become a referent for Dominican academics.

    In this way, academic research, intellectual work and cultural production

    ow in the transnational space.

    Broad cultural transnationality: One central element in the formation

    of Dominican identities is music (Duany 1994). Many of our informants

    in the United States remarked that listening and dancing merengue was

    one of the main components of Dominican identity abroad. They assert

    that second-generation Dominicans, who have not been much in the

    Dominican Republic and do not necessarily speak Spanish uently, still

    dance merengue. Dancing merengue is a dening element in the de-

    nition of Dominican identity, which differentiates them from other

    youth, such as Puerto Ricans and African Americans.The cultural musical inuences are, however, complex. New York City

    is a place of constant musical innovation and Dominican musicians in

    New York have incorporated many elements of hip-hop in their music

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    and their fashion. Many young Dominican musicians in New York City

    are playing a musical genre called merenhouse that mixes traditional

    merengue rhythms with hip-hop beats. This type of music and thegroups that play it is currently the most popular one among Domini-

    can teenagers both in the United States and the Dominican Republic.The popularity of this music (and the video-clips that carry it) has an

    effect also on the way people carry themselves. New York style of dress-

    ing such as baggy pants, basketball T-shirts, and certain haircuts are

    increasingly seen in the streets of the Dominican Republic.

    Part of the rst generation, and certainly the second generation

    become accustomed to the ways certain things are done in the United

    States. The student we quoted previously argues that she has a hard time

    explaining to her friend in the Dominican Republic that she is going to

    graduate concentrating on womens studies, adding that she cannot take

    the way men relate to women there. That, however, does not diminish

    her own identity as Dominican, but raises the questions whether and how

    transnationality is changing gender relations among Dominicans. This is

    an important issue that requires further study.

    The increasing assertiveness of Dominicans abroad, and their increas-

    ing presence in the Dominican economy and politics, is changing the wayDominican transmigrants are seen by Dominicans on the island. It is true

    that the more widespread image is that of the Dominicanyork; that of

    the migrant that comes home to show-off his/her newly acquired wealth,

    which many suspect has not been acquired by legal means. However, that

    image is slowly beginning to change. Addressing the issue of image is one

    of three leading island newspapers, Hoy. In 1997 this paper published a

    series of thirty-eight articles on Dominicans in New York City, eacharticle portraying the case of a successful Dominican. These portraits

    include cases of second-generation Dominicans who are also recognized

    as successful members of the national community. They portray success

    as being based on hard work and pulling oneself up by the bootstraps.

    A similar phenomenon is taking place in the literary eld. Dominican

    writers in the United States are gaining increasing transnational recog-

    nition. These authors mix their Dominican and American experience in

    their writing. Julia Alvarez (1991, 1994) writes about How the Garca

    Sisters Lost their Accent, but also about the Mirabal sisters, the hero-

    ines of the ght against dictator Rafael Trujillo. Another author, Junot

    Daz (1996), writes about the experience of growing up in both countries.

    These authors are widely read and celebrated in both countries.

    A Dominican politician expressed the increasing recognition of the

    transnational community saying that this is the age of the two Domini-

    can Republics, one on the island and one abroad.3 In our view, it is theage of the extraterritorial nation. It is the lack of coincidence between

    the political, cultural and economic boundaries of the nation that gives

    rise to a transnational community.

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    The eld of broad cultural transnationality is extended but not limit-

    less. It encompasses cultural practices that refer to the denition and

    boundaries of being Dominican. We argue that the denition of the

    boundaries and content of Dominicanness is certainly becoming trans-

    national. Returning to the Dominican Republic is still the dream of manyrst-generation migrants. For many, this is the only way of enjoying the

    fruits of their hard work in the United States. It also allows people to

    enjoy their newly acquired social status which they cannot enjoy in the

    United States due to discrimination. Nevertheless, there is among

    Dominicans in the United States, an increasing sense of their legitimacy

    as Dominicans. As one of our informants put it We do not need to go

    back because we have recreated the Dominican Republic in Washington

    Heights. At the same time, many aspects of Dominican culture in the

    Dominican Republic are being shaped by the experience of Dominicans

    in the United States.

    The dynamics of transnationalism

    In this article we have presented an analysis of the structure of Domini-

    can transnationalism. We have argued that it is useful to distinguishbetween narrow and broad transnational practices. The sum of these

    practices constitutes the transnational social eld. There are, however,

    questions about the dynamics of this transnational eld. How was it

    formed? Is there a central element to it? Most scholars link the rise of

    transnationalism to the globalization of capital that characterize the

    present phase of the capitalist world system. We agree with this general

    argument, but that does not tell us much about the process of formationof particular transnational communities.4 At what point in the history of

    Dominican migration can we begin to speak about Dominican trans-

    nationality?

    In our review of the literature on the Dominican migration, we noted

    that the study of transnationality emerged in the 1990s. Certainly,

    Dominicans began sending remittances long before that time. However,

    it is only with the deep economic crisis that the country went through

    during the 1980s and the mass migration that took place, that remittances

    became a central element in the economy of the country. Dominican

    political parties in the United States already existed for several decades,

    but it was only in the 1990s that the Dominican communities abroad

    became central to the political life of the island. There are several reasons

    for this ascendance of Dominicans abroad. The sheer numbers and econ-

    omic capacity of Dominicans abroad increased their importance in terms

    of fundraising and political support. Dominicans abroad also becameaware of their economic and political importance in the life of the

    Dominican Republic and began to demand recognition. Finally, the

    1990s witnessed the consolidation of truly competitive politics in the

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    Dominican Republic, which provided the incentives for looking for

    support abroad.

    Transnational rms in the narrow sense also seem to be a product of

    the growth of the Dominican community abroad. A certain degree of

    capital accumulation is necessary before people can invest back home.At the beginning of the 1990s, when Portes and Guarnizo(1991) con-

    ducted their study, they found a sizeable number of transnational rms.

    We do not know when the informal transnational traders started to

    conduct their business in a regular way, but while this kind of itinerant

    trade is not new in the Caribbean, it seems that, in the present context,

    transnational traders and rms are increasingly important for the econ-

    omic welfare of Dominicans at home and abroad.

    Some of the main elements that constitute Dominican transnational-

    ity were thus present from the beginning of Dominican migration to the

    United States. However, it is only at some point during the late 1980s

    that the Dominican communities abroad gained enough economic and

    political weight in the life of the island to speak about a transnational

    community. In turn, the slow recognition of that weight by Dominicans

    at home brought the extension of double nationality, and the shifts in

    ways transmigrants are perceived. The consequence is the expansion ofthe imagined boundaries of Dominicanness.

    Conclusions

    We suggest that the structure of the Dominican transnational eld andtransnational elds in general is better understood by looking at narrow

    and broad transnational social practices. It is important to remark,however, that narrow and broad are differences of degree rather than

    categorical. People may be involved in narrow transnational practices in

    one eld, and broad practices in another eld, or in narrow and broad

    practices in the same eld at different times. The important point is that

    a large number of Dominicans, at home and abroad, take part in one or

    other of these practices.

    Is there any element that is central to this transnational eld, an

    element that without it the boundaries of the nation will return to be

    equal with the boundaries of the country? We think not, at least not as

    long as the Dominican Republic cannot generate enough jobs for its

    population fuelling emigration and continued dependence on remit-

    tances, and as long as the United States symbolic system of racial strati-

    cation continues to preclude full integration into the American system

    for people of colour. Remittances and political support were probably

    the initial engines in the construction of transnationalism, but now thecultural construction of a transnational nation and economic trans-

    national businesses are rmly established. Whether this situation is a long

    term one or not, we do not know. What is certain is that currently the

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    relevant cultural, economic and political social elds of Dominicans are

    transnational.

    Notes

    1. Georgess (1990) book uses the word transnationalism in its title, although it

    probably belongs more to the mainstream work on the socio-economic effects of migration

    than to our current understanding of transnationalism.

    2. Car-wash places are interesting to look at because in recent years they have also

    become places of entertainment. Suddenly, almost every car-wash in Santo Domingo is

    transformed into a dancing place by night. Whether this is an innovation brought by

    Dominican transmigrants is an interesting question for research.

    3. The idea was put forward by Jose Ovalle Polanco in a speech given in a celebration

    of Dominican independence in Providence.4. The work of David Kyle (1994) is an example of the kind of analysis needed on this

    issue.

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    338 Jos Itzigsohn et al.

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    24/24

    JOSE ITZIGSOHN is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Brown Uni-

    versity, Providence, Rhode Island.

    CARLOS DORE CABRAL is a researcher at the Facultad Latino-

    americano de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Santo Domingo, Domini-

    can Republic.ESTHER HERNANDEZ MEDINA is a professor in the Division of

    Social Sciences, Instituto Tecnolgico de Santo Domingo (INTEC),

    Dominican Republic.

    OBED VAZQUEZ is a Doctoral Student in Sociology at Brown Uni-

    versity

    ADDRESS (for correspondence): Jos Itzigsohn, Department of Soci-

    ology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA; email:

    [email protected]

    Mapping Dominican transnationalism 339