Description:

Isabella Soto, Latinx Studies Major, Northwestern University '19

Scholarship and writing on Dominican Americans has largely focused on Dominican American communities in New York City, New Jersey, Boston/Providence, and South Florida. Even though academic work and research on Dominicans living outside of these familiar destinations is growing, Dominicans living in the southern United States have rarely been studied, and neither have the interactions and relationships between Dominicans and Mexicans on the “home turf” of Mexican-Americans -- the U.S.-Mexico border. This paper highlights findings from over thirty interviews with the Dominican community living in the Rio Grande Valley, broadening our understanding of what a South Texas border culture looks like, and aims to offer a widened perspective on non-Mexican Latin Americans living in the Texas borderlands, and Dominicans living beyond the expected metropolitan areas.