Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
They are a Latin American country, but culturally and racially share much with other parts of the Caribbean as opposed to places like Mexico and Guatemala.
Mexico and Guatemala don't have a corner on what it means to be Latin American. Dominicans are as Latin American as anybody else who is Latin American. Which I'm not even sure how to define myself.
I always viewed them as Latin until I read about the history. They are Afro-Latinos. Although it's such a shame that so many Dominicans deny their African heritage.
I think most Dominicans consider themselves Hispanic. I haven't meet many Dominicans that consider themselves Afro-descendant.
Same as my experience.
As they don't identify as being African, it's difficult to put them in that box.
They're kind of like Brazilians or Cubans. They are just their nationality. I don't think consider themselves 'Hispanic' either, but they'd probably take it quicker than a blanket assumption they represent Africa.
Dominicans, while dark-skinned, have a large mix of indigeneous and european in there as well.
Dominicans tend to identify as Latino/Hispanic, and fairly often reject or ignore any African ancestry, but most of the population does have a substantial African ancestry. It would make sense to refer to them as mostly Afro-Latino, but seeing as that's not what they want they're just Hispanic/Latino.
It reminds me a bit of Northern Sudan. The ruling class in North Sudan tend to be "Arabs." They speak Arabic, identify with Arabs, and have Arab ancestors on the male-line. However they're often of substantial "Black" ancestry and "look black."
There is no distinction between being Afro-Latino and being Latin American. You can be an Afro-Latino, while still being Latin American. I would have chosen both those options. It is unfair to label the WHOLE country as Afro-Latino when in fact there are many pred-European Dominicans. For those of you who love to use the One Drop Rule to label everyone black, well the average Dominican is a mulatto with slight Euro dominance, so in essence they are as much white as they are black.
The interior north of the country resembles Puerto Rico, that is the people are on average more European. While the East is home to darker more Afro influenced people.
I consider them typical Latin American. They have much more in common with Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Colombia and Venezuela; than they do with the rest of the Caribbean.
It even feels like a typical Latin American country, while in other Caribbean countries it feels more, well, Caribbean -the exception may be Haiti which is just extremely unique-.
One thing that greatly distinguishes the DR from the rest of the Caribbean is the large number of mixed race people seen almost everywhere. You will see so many people with a combination of racial features that is almost unknown in other islands, except maybe in PR and Cuba. My suggestion is to not go by what you see in videos or pictures, you have to be there to see how mixed the place truly is, both in terms of quantity of mixed race people and in terms of mixture of races. I hope you guys understand what I'm trying to say here.
Americans have a tendency to think that Latin Americans are only those of Mexican/Central American origin, but in reality it's a mixed bag down there and you can group all those countries into at least four major subcultural groups:
The Afro-Latin (or as they call it, the Mulatto Latin America) would be the countries I mentioned already.
The Mestizo countries would be Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, the interior of Colombia, and Paraguay.
The Indigenous (or Indian) countries would be Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.
The Euro countries would be Argentina, Uruguay and Chile (this one is really majority Mestizo, but they are predominantly European in culture and habits, and their appearance is predominantly European, IMO).
And then there's Brazil which is a world of its own.
This is why people need to travel. You will learn that few countries, especially in Latin America, fit nicely in generalized labels.
All the countries I grouped here have more in common among themselves than they do with the rest of the region, but they have more in common as a region than they do with countries outside of it. Even though I put Brazil on a category of its own, its mostly due to the Portuguese heritage. Had Brazil been of Spanish heritage but the current racial/cultural admixture, it would had easily fitted into the Afro-Latin group, especially with the Spanish Caribbean islands.
One thing that may be a surprise to many people here is that I didn't noticed much denial of anything African. Maybe its a generational thing and the newer generations are more open to that, but I really didn't see any major signs of denial. Race appears to not be a big deal since you will see people of all types enjoying each others company quite often and racial tensions appear to be almost unknown. I would even say that the concept of race simply doesn't exist for most people down there. That's what it seem to me.
I was there for three weeks, for whatever that is worth.
Oh yes, and before I forget, one other thing that really distinguishes the DR from the rest of the Caribbean is the large number of exotic/attractive looking people. Its unbelievable. In this aspect it really resembles Brazil.
Oh yes, and before I forget, one other thing that really distinguishes the DR from the rest of the Caribbean is the large number of exotic/attractive looking people. Its unbelievable. In this aspect it really resembles Brazil.
That's how I felt when I was in Santo Domingo. You'd see all types of Dominicans, some very Spanish looking, but most very, very mixed. Just a smorgasborg of skin tones, which I always like to see. The entire spectrum.
Combine that with what I remember as being some colorful architecture...it was kind of a rush to be in Santo Domingo and taking in all those sights and the people.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
