Reference no: EM133589838
Assignment: Introduction to Latin American History- Secondary Reading Paper
In Edward Paulino's Dividing Hispaniola: The Dominican Republic's Border Campaign Against Haiti, 1930-1961, the author seeks to challenge the widely accepted view that Haitians and Dominicans, particularly in communities living along the border between the two countries, were always in conflict. From the moments of tension under the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship to the 1937 Haitian Massacre and its aftermath, Haitians have been perceived, through government propaganda and education, as a threat to Dominican identity and nationhood. This book is a great example of the argument-based scholarship historians produce.
Considering all we have read and discussed this semester, particular the focus on how race and national identity have been intensely linked throughout Latin American history, what do you make of Paulino's argument?
Question 1. If we are to believe that Haitians and Dominicans were not always in conflict, then how does Paulino build his argument? What evidence and examples does he use to support his thesis?
Question 2. How did the Trujillo dictatorship justify its narrative that Haitians were culturally and racially inferior to Dominicans?
Question 3. Why is Paulino's work important for understanding the history of Haiti and the Dominican Republic?