Everything you always wanted to know about NY Dominicans (but were afraid to ask)

Not exactly.

But I am interested in following the conversation over at the NYT City Room blog with Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, author of A Tale of Two Cities: Santo Domingo and New York after 1950, a historical study of how Dominican identity is formed entre aquí y allá.

Given that Dominicans have been immigrating in significant numbers to NY for some four or five decades (depending on when you start counting), and that beyond-the-Census estimates of their presence in NY circle around 800,000 (one out of ten New Yorkers), it's really amazing how little non-Dominicans/non-Latinos still know about the basics of 1) Latino culture; 2) Latin American/Caribbean history; 3) basic NYC demographics.

A sampling of the questions asked:

Outside of the Lower East Side and East/Spanish Harlem are Dominicans concentrated in other parts of the City?

many Dominican women dress as though they believed that their bodies - and by extension, their sexuality - are all that they have to offer the world. Is this an accurate assessment, and, if so, what accounts for it?

Dominicans have changed completely the NY image. The are uneducated and no manners. Washington heights is a perfect example of what they are capable of. Where ever there’s a large population of Dominicans, Property values go down, the area becomes sort of ghetto like.

OK, these are the most annoying ones. Some of the other questions run a little deeper -- about brain drain migration to Miami, about government corruption, about the extent of a Dominican political lobby in the U.S. And of course, a question about Dominican hair styling.

If I put on my teaching hat, I have to say that there are no stupid questions. But why do we always have to explain the most basic stuff over and over and over again?

I don't envy Prof. Hoffnung-Garskof having to address these questions. Having done one of these for my book Nueva York, patience and focusing on constructive engagement is the name of the game.

In that spirit, I'd encourage y'all to post your own questions.

[Sorry. Can't remember where I got image of Marge Simpson with a Dominican blow-out]

UPDATE 3/18/09: First set of answers here. A basic primer on the origins of Dominican migration, a discussion on Dominican (and working-class immigrant) participation in higher education, and an outline on why newer immigrants do not fall predictably along the US Dem-Rep axis. I bet he's saving the Blackness question for the next installment.

Comments

[Kiko Jones]

Interesting stuff, without a doubt.

Oh, and btw, you may have gotten that image of Mrs. Simpson from a shampoo ad that ran a few years ago.