Description:

This event will be on Zoom, and is part of our Archaeology & Heritage series.

Pauline Kulstad, independent research scholar affiliated with the Museo del Hombre Domincano, will present her work.

The traditional definition of “dominicanidad/Dominicanness” proposes that it is made up of an interaction between three roots, the Hispanic, the Indigenous and the African, although in unequal proportions. This inequality is evidenced by the large number of Spanish and Indigenous artifacts displayed in the country’s museums, while artifacts of African heritage are relatively few. Why this imbalance? I propose the need for a paradigm shift within Dominican archeology to answer this question. This new paradigm would resignify the narrative about the Indo-Afro-Hispanic interaction during the Spanish colonial period (1493-1822) on the island of Hispaniola, beginning with the recognition of the presence of Afro-descendants from the first moments of colonization.

Dr. Pauline Kulstad is the Director of the Museo del Oro y la Plata in Cotuí, Dominican Republic. She has a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Anthropology from Macalester College in Minnesota; a Masters in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida, and a PhD from Leiden University in The Netherlands. She is currently translating her book Hispaniola - Hell or Home?: Decolonizing Grand Narratives about Intercultural Interactions at Concepción de la Vega (1494-1564) into Spanish. She recently served as Project Archaeologist of the Integral Program for Tourism and Urban Development of Santo Domingo Colonial City, a US$90 million renovation project funded by a IDB Bank loan.