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4 - Blackness and Identity

Dominican Merengue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2022

By
Angelina Tallaj
Edited by
Nanette de Jong
Nanette de Jong
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle
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Summary

This chapter investigates the merengue as a tool for unpacking the complicated questions about race and representation in the Dominican Republic. Warning against viewing merengue through essentialist frames, it invites readers to formulate a more heterogenous approach to studying merengue, Dominican identity, and experiences of Blackness.

Keywords

Dominican RepublicMerengueRaceIdentityRepresentation
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Caribbean Music , pp. 52 - 64
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

References

Austerlitz, Paul. 1997. Merengue: Dominican Music and Dominican Identity. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Averill, Gage. 1999. ‘Caribbean Musics: Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago’. In Schechter, John, ed., Music in Latin American Culture: Regional Traditions. New York: Schirmer Books, 126–87.Google Scholar
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Bhabha, Homi. 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Candelario, Ginetta. 2007. Black Behind the Ears: Dominican Racial Identity from Museums to Beauty Shops. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
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Lipsitz, George. 2007. Footsteps in the Dark: The Hidden Histories of Popular Music. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
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Further Reading

Davis, Martha Ellen. 1994. ‘Music and Black Ethnicity in the Dominican Republic’. In Gerard, Béhague, ed., Music and Black Ethnicity: The Caribbean and South America. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
Davis, Martha Ellen. 2002. ‘Dominican Folk Dance and the Shaping of National Identity’. In Sloat, Susanna, ed., Caribbean Dance from Abakuá to Zouk. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.Google Scholar
Díaz Ferreras, Rosa Victoria [Rossy]. 2011. Rumbas Barriales: Aproximaciones al análisis del Merengue “de calle.” Santo Domingo: Editorial Seña.Google Scholar
Duany, Jorge. 1994. ‘Ethnicity, Identity, and Music: An Anthropological Analysis of the Dominican Merengue’. In Gerard, Béhague, ed., Music and Black Ethnicity: The Caribbean and South America. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
Hajek, Jessica. 2017. The Capital of Carnival: Alibabá Carnival Music and Dance in Santo Domingo as Social Enterprise and Performance Complex. PhD Dissertation, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.Google Scholar
Wade, Peter. 1997. Race and Ethnicity in Latin America. Sterling, VA: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Wade, Peter. 1998. ‘Music, Blackness and National Identity: Three Moments in Colombian History’. Popular Music. 17, no. 1, 1–19.Google Scholar
Walcot, Nadal. 1998. Los Cocolos. Santo Domingo: Instituto Dominicano de Folklore.Google Scholar

Discography

Félix del Rosario. 1973. Los Saxofones. Borínquen Records. DG-1240. LP.Google Scholar
La Banda Gorda. 2006. Puro Mambo. Musical Productions 6411. CD.Google Scholar
Morel, Antonio. 1953. Super Orquesta “San José”. Columbia Records ECGE 70428. LP.Google Scholar
Omega. 2005. Omega y su Mambo Violento. Allegro Music. CD.Google Scholar
Omega. 2009. El Dueño del Flow. Allegro Music. CD.Google Scholar
Vargas, Wilfrido. 1981. La Abusadora. Karen Records KLP 55. LP.Google Scholar
Ventura, Johnny. 1988. El Caballo…Una Legenda. CBS Records CBS-80012. CD.Google Scholar

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