"Tigueraje" Disposession and Popular Dissent in Samaná, Dominican Republic
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2016 What the Tides May Bring: Political "Tigueraje" Disposession and Popular Dissent in Samaná, Dominican Republic Ryan A. Mann-Hamilton Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1311 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] WHAT THE TIDES MAY BRING: POLITICAL “TIGUERAJE”, DISPOSESSION AND POPULAR DISSENT IN SAMANÁ, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. by RYAN MANN-HAMILTON Dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2016 Copyright 2016 RYAN MANN-HAMILTON All Rights Reserved ii WHAT THE TIDES MAY BRING: POLITICAL “TIGUERAJE”, DISPOSESSION AND POPULAR DISSENT IN SAMANÁ, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. by RYAN MANN-HAMILTON This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Anthropology to satisfy the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dr. Donald Robotham___________________________________ ____________ ____________________________________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Dr. Gerald Creed________________________________________ ____________ _______________________________________________________ Date Executive Officer Dr. Julie Skurski____________________________________________________ Dr. Herman Bennett_________________________________________________ Dr. Ismael Garcia Colon______________________________________________ Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract WHAT THE TIDES MAY BRING: POLITICAL “TIGUERAJE”, DISPOSESSION AND POPULAR DISSENT IN SAMANÁ, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. by Ryan Mann-Hamilton Adviser: Dr. Donald Robotham My dissertation is a historical and ethnographic project that delves into the conflictive relationship between the development of the Dominican state and the formation of the community of the port city of Samaná. The African diasporic community of Samaná has actively constructed the local space throughout shifting political projects, while sustaining their collective voices against the waves of dispossession crashing on their shores. Using a combination of archival research, participant observation, oral history and ethnography, I document multiple instances of state intervention to understand how the Samaná community has been coerced over time to consent to these processes. I juxtapose the autonomous development of the Samaná littoral space to the formation of the Dominican state, which required the incorporation of this African Diasporic community into the national imaginary through forceful sociocultural, political, economic and infrastructural manipulations. This interdisciplinary project seeks to explore the contradictory ways the Dominican state represents itself, and excavate the economic and sociocultural practices of modern nation making that it engaged in so as to examine the concrete realities of the concept of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ in Samaná. My ethnographic work engages with the unequal relationship between state actors and the population of the DR, which has led to the entrenchment of an authoritative mode of governance that disenfranchises and displaces many communities for the sake of continued accumulation of iv capital. I argue that this new round of capital circulation, spearheaded by the Dominican tourism economy, though presented as positive by the state and media, is increasingly displacing the members of the community of Samaná through the manipulation of land titles, the privatization of coastal lands and the dismantling and cooptation of civil society institutions. The residents of Samaná have learned to maneuver the multiple modalities of power present in the space and are deciphering new ways to intervene, create spaces of organizing and reclaim agency through a reengagement with local and regional history. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to the uneasy souls who sought freedom and arrived on the shores of Xamana and whose story I tell today. As I reflect upon this long process two images stand out in my mind, that of my grandfather Ezra Hamilton and my grandmother Altagracia Coplin, who continue to watch over me. Writing these pages has been a cathartic experience and being able to spend a year in Samaná sharing with my grandmother before her passing was the best gift that one could get in this life. To my mother Leonora Hamilton who constantly asked me whether I was satisfied with my work and though I kept avoiding the answer, I can now say I am. It is because of your struggle and prodding that I am who I am. To my sister Jaelle and my incredible nephews Julian, Mathew and Nicolas who I got to share time with while at the Grad Center, making me feel at home in the big city. There are many that I have to thank, who were part of this journey. I have received incredible support from my chair, Dr. Donald Robotham, who guided me from the first day I arrived at the Graduate Center. He not only opened the doors to the institution, but steered me clear of the many pitfalls while questioning my romantic notions of community without shattering them. I must also give a special thanks to my committee, Dr. Herman Bennett, Dr. Ismael Garcia-Colon and Dr. Julie Skurski. They were always willing to listen, to talk, to read my work and with their support I was able to find my voice and maintain my sanity while smiling through this process. Dr. Juan Flores, Miriam Jimenez-Roman and the members of the Afrolatin@ Forum, who kept me grounded in community and helped me build a network of folks who I now call my family. Ramona Hernandez, Anthony Stevens Acevedo, Sarah Aponte and all the staff at the Dominican Studies institute at the City University of New York. The staff at the Center for Humanities, Dr. Robert Reid-Pharr and Zee Dempster at IRADAC. A big hug to my colleagues Dr. Nazia Kazi and Raymond Pettite, my Bushwick neighbors Martin, Maria , Igor and Ahmed, Nando and Ana and the Puerto Rico Crew, the ride or die homies who I roamed NYC with. A special thanks to Ellen Deriso for all the help she gave to me and all the other Anthro grad students in navigating this madness. To the faculty and staff at Center for Place Culture and Politics and the 2013 Fellows who provided wonderful feedback for the completion of my chapters. To Dr. Ana Aparicio for checking in and making sure I was afloat. To Meg Hammond and the IUPLR 2015 Mellon Fellows Ariel Arnau, Ana Baez, Yvette Martinez Vu, Tatiana Reinoza, and Lourdes Medrano. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………...iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………………vi LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………………xi LIST OF IMAGES.………………………………………………………………………….....xii 1. INTRODUCTION……...……………………………………………………………………1 PLACE MAKING…………………………………………………………………………….. 5 WHY SAMANÁ?………………………………………………………………………………7 ECONOMIC FORMATIONS: FROM THE PLANTATION TO THE BEACH ……………..8 RETHINKING THE STATE………………………………………………………………….11 THE DOMINICAN STATE…………………………………………………………………..15 THE MODERN DOMINICAN STATE………………………………………………………17 RESEARCH DESIGN………………………………………………………………………...19 CHAPTER OUTLINES……………………………………………………………………….23 2. EL PUEBLO DE SAMANÁ AND PROJECTS OF RULE……………………………..28 EARLY HISTORY OF SAMANÁ…………………………………………………………...33 PERIOD I 1791-1844 SAMANA COMMUNITY FORMATION: THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION AND ITS AFTERMATH……………………………………………………36 AFRICAN AMERICAN EMIGRANTS TO SAMANÁ……………………………………...43 PERIOD II 1844-1899 THE THREATS OF ANNEXATION: COMMUNITY CONSOLIDATION IN THE FACE OF NATIONAL DISORDER………………………….49 US COMMISSION OF ANNEXATION……………………………………………………..55 THE AFTERMATH OF THE ATTEMPTS AT ANNEXATION……………………………64 PERIOD III 1907-1960 CULTURAL AND SOCIAL DISPOSESSION: THE RISE OF THE NATION STATE………………………………………………………………………..71 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………..74 3. WHAT RISES FORM THE ASHES: RACE, IDEOLOGY AND THE DOMINICAN STATE…………………………………………………………………………………………..77 THE DOMINICAN NATION STATE: TAMING THE NATIONAL SUBJECT…………...80 THE RACIAL AND GENDERED STATE…………………………………………………..81 vii DOMINICAN RACIAL FORMATIONS…………………………………………………….83 THE RISE OF THE DICTATOR……………………………………………………………..87 ANTI-HAITIANISM, BLACKNESS AND THE DOMINICAN STATE…………………...89 BORDER CONFLICT AND THE EXTENSION OF VIOLENCE…………………………..93 THE POWER OF THE REGIME……………………………………………………………..95 SAMANÁ AND THE DICTATORSHIP……………………………………………………..98 EDUCATION………………………………………………………………………………..100 LANGUAGE………………………………………………………………………………...101 RACIAL IDENTITIES AND CULTURAL EVISCERATIONS……………………………102 BAMBULA…………………………………………………………………………………..103 THE AFTERMATH OF THE FIRE…………………………………………………………105 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………108 4. DOMINICAN STATE POWER: THE DESTRUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF SAMANÁ………………………………………………………………………………….112 TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE…………………. ……………………………………….114 FROM DICTATORSHIP TO AUTHORITARIAN DEMOCRACY……………………….115 THE MODERN TURN: BALAGUER AND THE PRSC…………………………………..118 PHASE I: STATE LED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FROM AGRICULTURE TO INDUSTRY ……………………………………………………………………………...…….120 AGRARIAN REFORM AND RURAL POPULATIONS………………………………..…123 THE ECONOMY OF SAMANÁ: WE LIVED OFF THE COCONUT…………………….125 PARADOX OF TOURISM………………………………………………………………….128 WHAT REMAINS: