Abstract
In this paper we explore the racial and ethnic self-identification of Dominican immigrants in the United States. This issue is central in understanding how immigrants experience the process of incorporation into American society. We argue that as Dominican immigrants incorporate to American life, they adopt a Hispanic or Latino identity. This identity serves both as a form of racial identification within the American racial stratification system and as a form of assertive panethnic identity. This identity, however, does not supersede national identification, which remains the anchoring identity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alba, Richard 1990 Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Andrade, A. Rolando 1990 “Latino students: struggle for identity.” Latino Studies Journal 1: 48-59.
Bean, Frank and Marta Tienda 1987 The Hispanic Population in the United States. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Bourdieu, Pierre 1991 Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Harvard University Press [first published in French in 1991].
Chevan, Albert 1990 “Hispanic racial identity: beyond social class.” Paper presented at the American Sociological Association meetings, Washington, D.C. August 1990.
Cornell, Stephen 1988 The Return of the Native: American Indian Political Resurgence. New York: Oxford University Press.
— 1990 “Land, labour, and group formation: Blacks and Indians in the United States.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 13(3): 368-388.
Cornell, Stephen and Douglas Hartmann 1998 Ethnicity and Race: Making Identities in a Changing World. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Cortina, Rodolfo 1990 “Cubans in Miami: Ethnic identification and behavior.” Latino Studies Journal 1: 60-73.
Denton, Nancy A. and Douglass S. Massey 1989 “Racial identity among Caribbean Hispanics: The effect of double minority status on residential segregation.” American Sociological Review 54: 790-808.
Dore-Cabral, Carlos 1995 “Encuesta Rumbo-Gallup: La población dominicana es mas antihaitiana que racista.” Rumbo 29: 8-12.
Duany, Jorge 1994 Quisqueya on the Hudson: The Transnational Identity of Dominicans in Washington Heights. New York: The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute.
Espiritu, Yen Le 1992 Asian American Panethnicity, Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Espiritu, Yen Le and Paul Ong 199 “Class constraints on racial solidarity among Asian Americans.” In Paul Ong, Edna Bonacich and Lucie Chang (eds.), The New Asian Immigration in Los Angeles and Global Restructuring: 295-331. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Gimenez, Martha E 1992 “U.S. ethnic politics: Implications for Latin Americans.” Latin American Perspectives 19(4): 7-17.
Grasmuck, Sherri and Patricia Pessar 1991 Between Two Islands: Dominican International Migration. Berkeley: University of California Press.
— 1995 “First and second generation settlement of dominicans in the United States: 1960-1990.” In Silvia Pedraza and Ruben Rumbaut (eds.), Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race and Ethnicity in America. Belmont: Watsworth Press.
Guarnizo, Luis E. 1992 “One Country in Two: Dominican-Owned Enterprises in New York and the Dominican Republic.” Ph.D. Dissertation, The Johns Hopkins University.
— 1994 “Los Dominicanyorks: The making of a binational society.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 533: 70-86.
Hernandez, Ramona, Francisco Rivera-Batiz, and Roberto Agodin 1995 Dominican New Yorkers: A Socioeconomic Profile. New York: The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute.
Lopez, David and Yen Le Espiritu 1990 “Panethnicity in the United States: A theoretical framework.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 13: 198-224.
Massey, Douglas S. 1993 “Latinos, poverty, and the underclass: A new agenda for research.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 15: 449–475.
Melville, Margarita B. 1986 “Hispanics: Race, class or ethnicity?” The Journal of Ethnic Studies 16(1): 67–83.
Moore, Joan 1990 “Hispanic/Latino: Imposed label or real identity?” Latino Studies Journal 1: 33–47.
Nagel Joanne 1994 “Constructing ethnicity: Creating and recreating ethnic identity and culture.” Social Problems 41: 152–176.
— 1996 American Indian Ethnic Renewal. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Oboler, Suzanne 1992 “The politics of labeling: Latino/a cultural identities of self and other.” Latin American Perspectives 19: 18–36.
— 1995 Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Omi, Michael and Howard Winant 1994 Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Padilla, Felix 1984 “On the nature of Latino ethnicity.” Social Science Quarterly 65: 651–664.
— 1985 Latino Ethnic Consciousness. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Phinney, J.S., M. Devich-Navarro, S. Du-Pont, A. Estrada, and M. Onwughalu 1994 “Biculturalism among African American and Mexican American adolescents.” Paper presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Diego, CA, May 1994.
Portes, Alejandro and Dag MacLeod 1996 “What shall I call myself? Hispanic identity rormation in the second generation.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 19(3): 523–547.
Rodriguez, Clara 1992 “Race, culture, and Latino 'otherness' in the 1980 Census.” Social Science Quarterly 73: 931–937.
Rodriguez, Clara, Ada Castro, Oscar Garcia, and Analisa Torres 1991 “Latino racial identity: In the eye of the beholder.” Latino Studies Journal 2(3): 33–48.
Rodriguez, Clara and Hector Cordero-Guzman 1992 “Placing race in context.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 15(4): 523–541.
Torres-Saillant, Silvio 1998 “The tribulations of Blackness: Stages in Dominican racial identity.” Latin American Perspectives 25(3): 126–146.
Waters, Mary 1990 Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
— 1994 “Ethnic and racial identities of second-generation Black immigrants in New York City.” International Migration Review 28(4): 795–820.
Yancey, William, Eugene Erikson, and Richard Juliani 1976 “Emergent ethnicity: A review and reformulation.” American Sociological Review 41: 391–403.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Itzigsohn, J., Dore-Cabral, C. Competing Identities? Race, Ethnicity and Panethnicity Among Dominicans in the United States. Sociological Forum 15, 225–247 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007517407493
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007517407493