Perejil and Prejudice: A Theoretical and Historical Investigation of the Relationship between Haitians and Dominicans in the Dominican Republic

This study investigates the effects of Rafael Trujillo’s regime on the relationship between Dominicans and Haitians in the Dominican Republic during the 20th and 21st centuries. Trujillo’s stealthily rise to power and subsequent dictatorship employed various methods of control that ultimately achieved the reenvisioning of Dominican nationalism and identity as being antithetical to many central characteristics of Haitian identity. The Haitian Massacre of 1937 and anti-Haitian nationalist rhetoric made by Trujillo’s political party in speeches, forums, and propaganda after the massacre further solidified the ethnic, racial, and class divide between Haitians and Dominicans. In the modern era, modern day migration and citizenship issues in the Dominican Republic demonstrate that this tension is still contentious and the Haitian presence in the country remains precarious. This investigation uses a historical and theoretical approach in order to demonstrate this, combining theories of ethnicity, race, and class conflict with Haitian-Dominican history. This subject deserves consideration because of the tendency to overlook or over-simplify conflict in the Caribbean. Finally, the implications of this study contribute to the overall Africana discipline by illustrating complexity in the racial and ethnic expression of African descendants