LGBTQ Movements and Advocacy in Dominican Republic
(2 credits), Winter/Spring Semester 2011
Instructors: Monroe France and Celiany Rivera-Velázquez
This service-learning course will explore gender and sexuality-based social justice
movements, non-governmental organizations and queer cultures in the Spanish-speaking
Caribbean, specifically in island of Dominican Republic. We seek to contextualize the
Dominican Republic as a geopolitical ideological site with shared historical, cultural and
linguistic manifestations with other Islands that compose the Spanish-speaking Caribbean,
namely Cuba and Puerto Rico. We will specifically explore culturally-specific mechanisms
through which different feminist and LGBTQ Dominican groups and organizations have
generated consciousness around the realities of people who experience discrimination
because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
Students who enroll for the course are expected to engage in experiential learning. The
course will include four class meetings at New York University and a two-week service trip
to the cities of Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata and Santiago in Dominican Republic. We will
take an intersectional approach to understand how issues of class, religion and race affect
the lives of people that live outside gender and sexualities binaries. This class focuses on
metropolitan spaces because these hold such rich histories of struggle with Western ideals
of development and because of the different marginalized cultures and subjectivities that
inhabit “the city” as landscape. Because this class has a special interest in interrogating if
sexuality is fundamentally different when experienced in an urban context, it is especially
important for students to know that Dominican Republic shares island space with the
sovereign nation of Haiti. Therefore, during our trip we will pay special attention to how the
face and public service of the major Dominican cities may have transformed a year after the
devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010. And how does this affect both, Dominican
and Haitian queer men and women.
In preparation for the trip and throughout the extension of the visit, students will get the
opportunity to meet with various professors, non-for-profit organizational leaders, clinicians,
queer activists and performers to gain a better sense of the work done around various social
issues. The main goal is to understand the complexities around the fact that many
Caribbean countries still criminalize same-sex acts. The course seeks to generate more indepth understandings of the ways in which ways the criminalization of LGBTQ bodies in the
Spanish-speaking Caribbean inform the experience of LGBTQ people living in these areas—
at the individual, the interpersonal and the ideological level?
The materials covered will scope from theoretical frameworks to hands-on expertise of how
gender and sexuality advocacy has been and continues to be conducted in the Caribbean
and Latin America. For two out of the four classes in NYU, we will have panel discussions.
One will be about legal and policy issues, the other will be about queer cultures, activism
and performance in contemporary Santo Domingo. Each class meeting will involve a
combination of discussion of readings and exercises aimed at developing a knowledge base
of social movements, a greater sense of civic responsibility and skills on being effective
public servants. The faculty will facilitate the in-class discussions, while two teaching
assistants (Alternative Break site leaders) will facilitate the out of class learning experiences
and trainings. One of these teaching Assistant will be a Graduate Student from the Silver
School of Social Work.
Assignments/Grading:
In addition to active participation in the discussion seminars, field visits, and service project,
students will participate in daily reflection activities, maintain a reflection journal, and write
a 6-8 page final paper.
Service participation:
Class Participation/Attendance:
Daily Journal:
Two-page Reading Response Paper:
Six to eight page Final Paper:
Not graded but mandatory component to
complete course; approximately 40 hrs of service
30%
15%
15%
40%
Class Participation (30%): Class participation is an important element of our course and
can take several forms: making informed comments, asking or responding to a question
posed by us or your classmates, and generally showing that you have thought about a topic
or a case. Frequently, we will break up into groups to discuss the intricacies of a specific
issue. Class participation also includes active participation in the reflection activities and in
any agency visits while abroad.
Written Assignments:
•
Reading response paper to assigned readings for the course (15%, 2
pages)
Everyone will write one response paper (2 pages double spaced) based on an
overall response of readings prior to trip departure. This paper should be a
critical analysis that should engage all the readings that we’ve done in
preparation of classes and guest lecturers (even if we directly didn’t discuss them
in class). Due date: January 3rd at Pre-departure meeting.
•
Journals (15%, approximately 15-20 entries)
You are asked to keep a reflective journal of your class discussions and daily
service work while in the community. This will include your personal reflections
and reactions. You will receive instructions and a suggested format of the journal.
Due date: Monday, January 24th by 5 PM. (Please submit to the front desk staff
at the NYU LGBTQ Student Center, 602 Kimmel Center.)
•
Final Paper (40%, 6-8 pages)
In this final paper you will examine one social issue in the Dominican Republic
and the movement built around it. This paper should take a comparative
approach, and should cover an issue discussed in class or while on the site visits.
Please include aspects of your service experience in the paper. Due date: Friday,
March 11th by 5 PM. (Please submit to the front desk staff at the NYU LGBTQ
Student Center, 602 Kimmel Center.)
Class Sessions Prior to the trip
December 4
Introduction to LGBTQ Terminology and Dominican Cultures
December 11
Development of LGBTQI Movement (Jacqueline Jiménez-Polanco, guest lecturer)
Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Dominican Art (Maya Horn, guest lecturer)
December 16
LGBTQ Dominicans in New York City (Yosely Castillo, guest lecturer)
Classes during Alternative Break Trip in DR (subject to change)
Wednesday, January 5
TBD, Guest Lecturer, Dominican History and Culture
Friday, January 7
Contemporary LGBT Movement Experiences (Leonardo Sanchez and Lorena Espinosa, guest
lecturer)
Monday, January 10
How US policies and practices impact the Dominican Republic (Centro Franklin, guest
lecturer)
Work/Life Experiences as Trans Individuals in DR (Cristian DuMont, TRANSSA, guest
lecturer)
Thursday, January 13
Anthropologist and INTEC Professor: Alternative Social Movements in DR (Fatima Portorreal,
guest lecturer)
Classes after trip:
TBD (1-2 classes)
Required Course Readings
Decena, C. (2008). Tacit Subjects. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 14(2-3),
339-359.
Horn, M. (2008). Queer Caribbean Homecomings: The Collaborative Art Exhibits of Nelson
Ricart-Guerrero and Christian Vauzelle. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 14(2-3),
361-381.
Jiménez Polanco, J. (2006). Pájaras y maricones, llegó la hora: un relato de mi experiencia
en el movimiento LGBTIR dominicano. Latin American Studies Association Forum, 3, 15-18.
Lara, A.M. (2006). Our Names are Never Silent. In J. Jiménez Polanco (Ed.), Divagaciones
bajo la Luna: Voces e imágenes de lesbianas dominicanas/Musing Under the Moon: Voices
and Images of Dominican Lesbians (pp. 5-12). Santo Domingo: Idegraf.
Padilla, M. B. (2007). Caribbean Pleasure Industry: Tourism, Sexuality, and AIDS in the
Dominican Republic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Supplementary Reading (available on Blackboard)
Castillo, Y. (2006). The Builder. In J. Jiménez Polanco (Ed.), Divagaciones bajo la Luna:
Voces e imágenes de lesbianas dominicanas/Musing Under the Moon: Voices and Images of
Dominican Lesbians (pp.85-86). Santo Domingo: Idegraf.
Lara, A.M. (2006). The Girl From Boston. In J. Jiménez Polanco (Ed.), Divagaciones bajo la
Luna: Voces e imágenes de lesbianas dominicanas/Musing Under the Moon: Voices and
Images of Dominican Lesbians (pp.104). Santo Domingo: Idegraf.
Mayes, A.J. (2008). Why Dominican Feminism Moved to the Right: Class, Colour and
Women’s Activism in the Dominican Republic, 1880s-1940s. Gender & History, 20(2), 349371.
Norman, L. (2006). Brujería Love. In J. Jiménez Polanco (Ed.), Divagaciones bajo la Luna:
Voces e imágenes de lesbianas dominicanas/Musing Under the Moon: Voices and Images of
Dominican Lesbians (pp.101-102). Santo Domingo: Idegraf.
Norman, L. (2006). Mejor Puta Que Pata (Better a Whore Than a Lesbian). In J. Jiménez
Polanco (Ed.), Divagaciones bajo la Luna: Voces e imágenes de lesbianas
dominicanas/Musing Under the Moon: Voices and Images of Dominican Lesbians (pp.132134). Santo Domingo: Idegraf.
Padilla, M.B. & Castellanos, D. (2008). Discourses of Homosexual Invasion in the Dominican
Global Imaginary. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 5(4), 31-44.
Pantaleón, V.M. (2006). Untitled. In J. Jiménez Polanco (Ed.), Divagaciones bajo la Luna:
Voces e imágenes de lesbianas dominicanas/Musing Under the Moon: Voices and Images of
Dominican Lesbians (pp.135-141). Santo Domingo: Idegraf.
Ravelo, J. (2006). Roots. In J. Jiménez Polanco (Ed.), Divagaciones bajo la Luna: Voces e
imágenes de lesbianas dominicanas/Musing Under the Moon: Voices and Images of
Dominican Lesbians (pp.84). Santo Domingo: Idegraf.
Rivera-Velázquez, C. (2007). “The importance of being Rita Indiana-Hernández: womencentered video-, sound- and performance-interventions within Spanish Caribbean Cultural
Studies”. In McCarthy et al. (Eds.) Globalizing Cultural Studies: Ethnographic Interventions
in Theory, Method, & Policy (pp. 205-227). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Suárez, L. (2006). Introduction. The Tears of Hispaniola: Haitian and Dominican Diaspora
Memory. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Volquez, P.F. (2006). Complex. In J. Jiménez Polanco (Ed.), Divagaciones bajo la Luna:
Voces e imágenes de lesbianas dominicanas/Musing Under the Moon: Voices and Images of
Dominican Lesbians (pp.105-106). Santo Domingo: Idegraf.
Zen. (2006). Desire. In J. Jiménez Polanco (Ed.), Divagaciones bajo la Luna: Voces e
imágenes de lesbianas dominicanas/Musing Under the Moon: Voices and Images of
Dominican Lesbians (pp.99-100). Santo Domingo: Idegraf.
Suggested Readings / Film
Corporan, C., & Forunato, R. (1991). Trujillo: El Poder del Jefe, The Trilogy. Dominican
Republic: Video Cine Palau.
Lara, A. (2006). Erzulie’s Skirt. Washington DC: Red Bone Press.
Glave, T. (Ed.). (2008). Our Caribbean: a gathering of lesbian and gay writing from the
Antilles. Durham: Duke University Press.
Kempadoo, K. (Ed.). (1999). Sun, Sex and Gold: Tourism and Sex work in the Caribbean.
Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Arroyo, J. (2006). To Queer or not to Queer: Coloniality, Feminism and New Research
Agendas. Latin American Studies Association FORUM, 3, 10-12.
Caleb Acevedo, D., Agosto, M., & Negron, L. (Eds.). (2007) Los otros cuerpos: Antología de
temática gay, lésbica y queer desde Puerto Rico y su diáspora. San Juan: Editorial Tiempo
Nuevo.
Chin, T.S. (1997). Bullers and Battymen: Contesting Homophobia in Black Popular Culture
and Contemporary Caribbean Literature. Callaloo, 20(1), 127-141.
Crespo-Kebler, E. (2003). The Infamous Crime Against Nature: Constructions of
Heterosexuality and Lesbian Subversions in Puerto Rico. In L. Lewis (Ed.). The Culture of
Gender and Sexuality in the Caribbean. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Cruz-Malavé, A., & Manalansan, M. (Eds.). (2002). Queer globalizations: citizenship and the
afterlife of colonialism. New York: New York University Press.
García, M., & Jiménez, M.C. (Eds.). (2004) Antología De La Literatura Gay En La República
Dominicana. Dominican Republic: Editora Manatí.
Pareja, R., & Hasbun, J. (1992). Profiles of sexual activity in the gay community of the
Dominican Republic and the level of AIDS risk. In L. S. Bond (Ed.). A portfolio of AIDS/STD
behavioral interventions and research (pp. 143-51). Washington, D.C.: Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO).