The Dominican Republic and Haiti Essay Example
In the video right from the beginning social domination is introduced as the narrator speaks “two countries sharing the same small island, but little else”. On one side of the river, the people speak Spanish, and on the other side, they speak creole. In the Dominican Republic, the capital Santo Domingo happens to be the oldest European city in the world. Every Sunday people gather together to dance merengue. The dance merengue is the symbol of the Dominican Republic. Dominican people come in many different colors such as black, brown, tan, or sometimes even mixed race.
The Dominican people are very passionate about merengue, and take a great amount of pride in calling the merengue music their life, and a part of their identity. The city was the first Spanish colonial rule in American history. Dominican people are proud of that Spanish background. However, in the Dominican Republic, there are no statues of black heroes located in the area, even though 90 percent of the population consists of afro descendants. Some Dominican people reject their African identity because of the struggle for independence. On February 27, 1844, patriots raised the flag of the independent Dominican Republic for the first time.
When Dominicans were separated from Haitian many of them rejected everything related to their language, culture, and to some extent the color of their skin. Haiti was founded in 1804 by slaves and was influenced by French culture and their identity. The Haitian government forced French as the language that it had to instruct. In Haiti, they have black statues to represent their founding fathers, and despite the living conditions due to the earthquake they keep on moving forward. Haitian still take interest in their African heritage and people still learn about the arts and culture that represent their identity. Based on the video Dominican Republic was more socially dominant than Haiti. Even today Haiti struggles and is considered one of the poorest countries in the world.
