Alexis Thomas on Starting the JYAN in the Dominican Republic

A junior at Georgetown University double majoring in Sociology and Spanish, I am currently spending my fall semester in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The first city of the new world, Santo Domingo has a wealth of history and culture to offer both its residents and visitors alike. I have learned so much in my brief time since being here; not only through my academic courses, but also through my daily experiences. Perhaps, the subject that has most captured my attention has been that of identity. While Dominicans principally identify themselves by nationality, there exists a complex history of racial miscegenation and a current social system of identifying people by their physical characteristics. For example, a person in the Dominican Republic may be identified primarily as Dominican, but also as any of the following: “morena,” “rubia,” “india clara,” “india oscura,” “negro,” “blanca,” “haitiana,” “jabao,” etc.