Legal Identity, Race and Belonging in the Dominican Republic: From Citizen to Foreigner

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This book offers a critical perspective into social policy architectures primarily in relation to questions of race, national identity and belonging in the Americas. It is the first to identify a connection between the role of international actors in promoting the universal provision of legal identity in the Dominican Republic with arbitrary measures to restrict access to citizenship paperwork from populations of (largely, but not exclusively) Haitian descent. The book highlights the current gap in global policy that overlooks the possible alienating effects of social inclusion measures promulgated by international organisations, particularly in countries that discriminate against migrant-descended populations. It also supports concerns regarding the dangers of identity management, noting that as administrative systems improve, new insecurities and uncertainties can develop. Crucially, the book provides a cautionary tale over the rapid expansion of identification practices, offering a timely critique of global policy measures which aim to provide all people everywhere with a legal identity in the run-up to the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Reviews

"Tracking the rise of identity systems technologies and their inevitable abuses, Dr Hayes de Kalaf unsettles the standard binary of migrant/citizen and by focusing on the case of the Dominican Republic, uncovers a growing threat to our planetary commonwealth. Brilliant and urgent, this is a book that belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in questions of national belonging - which is more or less everyone. Junot Daz is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a MacArthur Fellow and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US.

In this important book, Eve Hayes de Kalaf explores the murky discrepancies between citizenship and legal identity in a powerful interrogation of contemporary forms of statecraft that strip minoritized citizens of their legal status and render them stateless in the only country they have ever known. Focused on the predicament of native-born citizens of the Dominican Republic who have been branded as Haitians and illegal immigrants, this book is a study with profound worldwide ramifications and crucial lessons for the study of citizenship, statelessness, and identity. Nicholas De Genova, University of Houston, US

An innovative look at the politics of legal citizenship in the Dominican Republic. Hayes de Kalaf's deft analysis shows how soft strategies of legal exclusion by the Dominican state have come to replace the hard, problematic repression of the past. Ernesto Sags, Colorado State University, US

Dr. Hayes de Kalaf brilliantly exposes the exclusionary, discriminatory and racist practices taking place in the Dominican Republic, highlighting the struggles citizens born in the country are now facing as they battle with the state to acquire essential paperwork and obtain access to welfare, education and health services. Gibrn Cruz-Martnez, Institute of Public Goods and Policies, CSIC, Spain

Author Bio

Eve Hayes de Kalafis a research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, the UK's national centre for history, based at the School of Advanced Study, University of London.