Cuisine

Welcome back to D.R. Diaspora! In this entry, I'd like to take you through the Top 5 foods of the Dominican Republic and tell you a little bit about each one:

1. Sancocho

SANCOCHO
http://www.elboricua.com/images/sancocho.jpg

The Sancocho, which derives from Cocido (Spanish Dish), is a popular soup consisting of meat and vegetables served in a broth. The dish is often similarly compared to Bouillion in Haiti.


2. Kipes (Quipes)

Kipes or Quipes are deep fried bulgur rolls. They are the Dominican adaptation of Lebanese Kibbes, which arrived from the migration of Middle Eastern peoples throughout the 19th century.

3. Empanadas

Empanadas are personally my favorite Dominican food and I was lucky enough to enjoy these in Punta Cana over spring break. They are stuffed bread pastries with a variety of ingredients including, but not limited to: cheese, meats, and vegetables. The name derives from the Spanish word, empanar (to wrap).

4. Mangu

Mangu consists of boiled green plantains, covered with sauteed onions, salami, deep-fried cheese, and eggs. The dish has been traced back to Congo and grew to become a traditional Dominican dish during the slave trade.

5. Tostones

Tostones are double fried green plantains. First, they are fried for a couple minutes on each side until golden brown. Then, they are pounded flat and fried until crispy. Tostones are often served as a side dish alongside fried fish.

TOSTONES
http://www.laylita.com/recipes/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/patacones-1.jpg

Many of these foods have developed as Dominican's take on various traditional African dishes and add to the African Diaspora.







Sources


1. http://www.thatsdominican.com/dr/top-ten/top-10-dominican-foods

From D.R. to the MLB

New Major League Baseball rules have changed the game. The MLB has capped the amount teams can spend on amateur, free agent players in the international market. This directly affects the Dominican Republic because the D.R. is the number one source for international baseball players. History has proven the exceptional talent that stems from the country and the D.R. is typically the first place to look for relatively cheaper signing contracts into the farm leagues.

http://www.caribbeanlogue.com/going-to-a-baseball-game-in-the-dominican-republic.html

In the Dominican Republic, baseball comes before education. If you decide to play baseball, you only play baseball. This is a major concern and agencies are in place to develop educational programs. However, do the new rules help or further hurt this issue? Let's take a look.

Teams are now limited to $2.9 million on international players, tax-free. This rule was aimed at helping the teams with lower payrolls, who aren't able to compete for top prospects from countries like the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately this hurts the Dominican Republic baseball league because there are only a limited number of MLB teams and now international players might be overlooked, or paid less than their true value. Once in the league, they will be able to renegotiate a higher salary.

Below is a video regarding the youth's dream to play in the major leagues.

Has the stride for wealth hurt the domestic economy? I think so, which is why I'd like to see the leaders of D.R. establish a stronger push for education and baseball together, not as separates.

FACTS

Average D.R. Income: $2,000
Average D.R. Baseball Player Income: $3,250,000

SOURCES

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/page/MLB-rule-change/major-league-baseball-rule-change-free-agent-pay-causes-concern-dominican-republic-venezuela

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds09-kyZ8mU

Economy

The Dominican Republic has thrived on its decision to undertake a more free and open economy in the 1980s, when it decided on free-trade zones. A free-trade zone allows for foreign goods to enter the country without government intervention or customs authority. This relatively new plan of action has sent the Dominican Republic into a high growth economy. The graphs and charts below might help better display the recent period of growth within the D.R. :

http://www.ciaonet.org/atlas/DO/vw_vw_main_20111215t140500_0046_gif.gif

As you can see in the chart above, real GDP growth has outpaced not only the world average, but also the emerging markets (EM) within Latin America. This is an important statistic because it measures growth in the domestic borders of the Dominican Republic and is often a measure of the citizens' well being. Additionally, it is important to note that Latin America is a direct competitor for exports, which is a critical component of GDP. 

The next chart looks at CPI or the measure of inflation. Although the Dominican Republic is higher than the world average, it remains below that of Latin America. Part of the reason for high inflation is their growth rate. The Dominican Republic, as an emerging nation, has undertaken large amounts of debt from the United States in order to grow their country through investments. They borrow this money through the International Monetary Fund, or IMF. Economic theory finds that an increase in the supply of money causes short-term inflation. Despite the negative affects of high inflation, the Dominican Republic's is quite sustainable and allows for growth in the economy because it increases consumption, another component of GDP.

The biggest problem the Dominican Republic faces within its economy is their budget balance. This statistic measures the difference between government revenue and spending. A negative budget balance is okay if it's sustainable. However, it might be a sign of a weak tax system. If the government spending is being put towards good use, such as human capital, such as education then they might see a payoff. Education creates productivity, productivity creates jobs, jobs create income, and income creates higher tax collection for the government. 

Similar to the budget balance, the Dominican Republic is running a negative current account. This means they are importing more than they export. A country who lacks absolute cost advantages in production or a country who doesn't operate in an ideal geographic location might suffer in this category. Again, a negative current account is okay if it's sustainable. For example, the Dominican Republic must finance the negative current account. If they're able to finance at favorable rates and create growth elsewhere to pay the interest, then it can be sustainable. Very few nations are able to operate current account surpluses consistently and China is one of them. 

As you can see in the next two charts at the bottom, the U.S. is their biggest export and import partner. Due to geographic location this makes the most sense and the two countries have a very strong trade relationship following the implementation of free-trade zones.

The next election will be very important to address three major issues. An expansion of FDI, or foreign direct investment, investment in education, and income inequality. Take a look at my quick facts below to get an idea for the numbers:

QUICK FACTS

GDP: $85 billion (2010 est.)

GDP Per Capita: $8,600 (2010 est.)

Inflation: 6.3% (2010 est.)

Population below poverty line: 42.2% (2004)

Labour force by occupation: agriculture [14.6%], industry [22.3%], services [63.1%] (2005 est.)

Unemployment: 14.2% (2010 est.)

Main industries: tourism, sugar processing, ferronickel and gold mining, textiles, cememnt, tobacco

Here's a video link to Eddy Montilla's opinion on the education problem in the Dominican Republic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dorlWHU-uv4

SOURCES

1. http://www.imf.org/external/country/dom/index.htm

2. http://www.ciaonet.org/atlas/DO/index.html

3. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dr.html

4. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35639.htm#econ

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Dominican_Republic

Government

I'd like to give a special thanks to the Central Intelligence Agency for this post. For all my followers out there in the 315 and beyond, I'd like to educate you a bit on the government of the Dominican Republic.

The National Palace
http://maxwellreyes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Dominican-Republic.jpg

The country's official government type is a democratic republic, meaning the power lies within the people, like a democracy. However, it is also a republic, meaning those people also have control over the ultimate governing force.

1215.org explains the one difference between a democracy and republic:

"A republic and a democracy are identical in every aspect except one. In a republic the sovereignty is in each individual person. In a democracy the sovereignty is in the group."

The chief of state and head of government positions are both held by the president, Leonel Fernandez Reyna and he has held this position since August 16th, 2004. Like the United States, the Dominican Republic has three branches of power: executive, legislative, and judicial. The President, also like the U.S., is elected for 4-year terms. The national legislature is composed of two chambers: the 32 members of the senate and the 178 members in the Chamber of Deputies. Lastly, the judicial authority is composed of 16 members. In Dominican Republic's 31 provinces there is a single governor, appointed by Leonel Fernandez Reyna (Wikipedia).

President Leonel Fernandez Reyna
http://news.brown.edu/files/article_images/Fernandez.jpg

There is serious political turmoil in the Dominican Republic right now and much of it stems from the problem of "colorism". A quote from the article I found says, "...in the Dominican Republic the cause is  the consequence: you are black because you are Haitian; you are Haitian because you are black."

This hurts people of African descent in the Dominican Republic because it forces people to forget their past. Living in the United States and being surrounded by the Hamilton College community in the 21st century leaves me in disbelief when I first read this article. At first, I couldn't believe countries are still dealing with skin color at such a large scale.

If you are born in the United States, you are a United States citizen. If you are born in the Dominican Republic, this is not the case. One might argue that anti-Haitianism played a major role in the Supreme Court's decision on December 2nd, 2011 to deny citizenship to children of Haitian parents born in the Dominican Republic.

If you'd like to read more about this highly confrontational issue within the island of Hispaniola, please read this article below:

http://blackagendareport.com/content/dominican-republic-hates-black-people

Another article/interview I found online is titled "President calls for Haitians in the DR to return home".

http://www.defend.ht/politics/articles/presidential/2662-haiti-president-martelly-receives-dominican-newspaper-at-national-palace

SOURCES

1. http://www.1215.org/lawnotes/lawnotes/repvsdem.htm
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Republic
3. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dr.html

History

Prior to Christopher Columbus’ exploration in 1492, the indigenous people known as the Taino, inhabited the island of Hispaniola. Shortly after Columbus’ arrival, the island came under control of the Spanish, as colonization and oppression flooded the land (Library of Congress).

Map of Dominican Republic
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/caribbean/dominican-republic/map_of_dominican-republic.jpg

The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 marks the partition of “La Isla Espanola”, involving the Spanish and the French, into the countries Haiti and the Dominican Republic. While Haitians speak both French and Creole, Dominicans speak Spanish as their native language (Library of Congress).

Although according to several reliable sources that just 11% of Dominicans are of African descent, the number is arguably much higher. Part of the reason being the common assumption that “blacks” must be Haitian. This has exacerbated the Anti-Haitianism problem and caused a divide between the two nations (The African Diaspora in Latin America).

Unfortunately, many scholars are quick to point out that Dominican Republic, similar to Brazil, is built upon this idea of “colorism”. Unlike the “one drop rule” we commonly hear of, an Afro-Latino background in the D.R. may be considered white (Fuller). According to CIA World Factbook, 73% of the people are “mixed”, 16% white, and the remainder black. These demographics likely disregard many slaves of African descent who were brought over to the island of Hispaniola to work the plantations throughout the 16th-18th centuries, prior to Toussaint L’ouverture’s revolt (Guitar).

I chose to research and blog about the Dominican Republic because I'll be headed to Punta Cana, D.R. for a week over spring break (March 13 - March 19). I have also studied the Haitian Revolution in one of my Africana Studies classes and wanted to learn more about the eastern side of the island.

Punta Cana Beach
http://www.myuptodate.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Tourist-destination-in-Punta-Cana-2012.jpg

 QUICK FACTS 

Population: 9.96 million (2nd largest Caribbean nation behind Cuba)
Area: 48,670 sq km
Capital: Santo Domingo
Independence: 27 Feb 1844 (from Haiti)
Main Exports: sugar, gold, silver, coffee, cocoa, tobacco
President: Leonel Fernandez Reyna (since 16 Aug 2004)

MY SOURCES

1. Library of Congress Country Studies: Dominican Republic

URL: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/dotoc.html#do0001

2. CIA - The World Factbook: Dominican Republic

URL: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dr.html

3. The African Diaspora in Latin America

URL: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/experienceafrica/index.php?en_the-african-diaspora_african-diaspora-in-latin-america

4. Fuller, Regina. From Slavery to Exclusion: Perceptions of African Identity in the Dominican Republic and Brazil.

URL: http://www.africandiasporatourism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=575:from-slavery-to-exclusion-perceptions-of-african-identity-in-the-dominican-republic-and-brazil&catid=107:editorial&Itemid=131

5. Guitar, Dr. Lynne. History of the Dominican Republic.

URL: http://www.hispaniola.com/dominican_republic/info/history.php

6. Map of Dominican Republic

URL: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/caribbean/dominican-republic/map_of_dominican-republic.jpg

7. Punta Cana Beach
URL: http://www.myuptodate.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Tourist-destination-in-Punta-Cana-2012.jpg

Welcome!

 Welcome to my D.R. Diaspora blog!!!