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In this groundbreaking work, Trenita Childers explores the enduring system of racial profiling in the Dominican Republic, where Dominicans of Haitian descent are denied full citizenship in the only country they have ever known. As birthright citizens, they now wonder why they are treated like they are "in someone else's country."
Childers describes how nations like the Dominican Republic create "stateless" second-class citizens through targeted documentation policies. She also carefully discusses the critical gaps between policy and practice while excavating the complex connections between racism and labor systems. Her vivid ethnography profiles dozens of Haitian immigrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent and connects their compelling individual experiences with broader global and contemporary discussions about race, immigration, citizenship, and statelessness while highlighting examples of collective resistance.
List of contents
1 The "Haitian Problem"
Krisla: "Haitians in the Dominican Republic Are Like Monkeys Trapped in a Cage"
Racism and Immigration: A Global Problem
Anti-Haitian Racism
Liminal Legality in the Dominican Republic
Chapter Overview
2 Batey La Tierra
People in La Tierra
Sugar Mills
Batey Labor Structure
Living Conditions and Community Resources
People and Families
3 "Just a Baseball Game"
The Politics of Exclusion: Policies that Impact Haitian Immigrants
Liminal Legality in Someone Else's Country
Needed, yet Unwanted
4 "We Are Not Free"
"I'm Dominican Like You"
The Politics of Belonging: Policies that Impact Dominicans of Haitian Descent
When Citizens Live in Liminal Legality
"No Vota": Generations without a Political Voice
Foreigners in Their Own Country
5 "They Are Rounding Up Morenos!"
Tulile: A Public Lynching
Racializing Illegality
Skin Color: "They Want to Kick Out All of los Prietos!"
Last Name: "She Couldn't Finish High School Because of Her Last Name"
Speech: "You Just Have to Know How to Talk"
Racial Profiling and Immigration Policies
6 Racism, Resistance, and Reframing Illegality
Quiet Racism
Reframing Illegality
Resistance . . . and More Resistance
Appendix A: Discussion Questions
Appendix B: Research and the Researcher (Methodology)
Appendix C: Interview Guide
Key Terms
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
About the author
Trenita Brookshire Childers, a 2014–2015 Fulbright Scholar, is a health researcher at the American Institutes for Research. Previously, Dr. Childers was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. She received her PhD in sociology from Duke University.
Summary
In Someone Else's Country is a groundbreaking work that details the current situation of racial profiling in Caribbean countries where certain citizens are denied any documentation to become a citizen of the country they were born and raised in.
