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Country Report: Dominican Republic

Country Report: Dominican Republic

Anthony Carnevale 4/23/2020

With its crystal clear beaches, lush and vibrant plant life, inviting people and a diverse culture, the Dominican Republic is a wonderful area for someone to plan to sojourn to. However, just like any other form of planning involves needing to do some research, a trip to another country definitely should require its own fair share. It is nice to know that the primary language of the Dominican Republic is Spanish, with 80% of the population speaking it, but what about the types of food that can be found there? It would probably be more beneficial to know what you need to expect when being there rather than just knowing some fun facts. The more information on the country, the smoother the experience will be once the trip is underway.

The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean country that shares an island with its bordering country, Haiti. Due to this geographic closeness, a chunk of the population in the Dominican Republic speaks Haitian Creole. Culturally though, the two countries are not as similar as Dominican Republic is with some of its other neighboring countries. Puerto Rico and Cuba are two other countries that are relatively close geographically to the Dominican Republic, and they share quite a lot of the same cultural aspects due to also being Hispanic countries. In general, the cultures found in these countries can be traced back to the Taino natives that live there as well as the influence that the Spanish settlers and the African settlers brought to these islands. The culture of this country is very rich as a result of being molded from so many different sources, leading to the open-minded approach the country took when establishing itself as its own entity. 

Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, is considered to be the most important city with others being Santiago, San Pedro de Macorís, La Romana, Puerto Plata, Barahona, La Vega, San Francisco and Higuey. These cities are known for their touristic attractiveness, something the Domnican Republic is widely known for and receives a large sum of their economic relevance from thanks to the wonderful scenery that can be experienced there. The currency of the country is the Dominican peso, a currency that was first implemented in 1844, which currently stands at around 54 pesos equaling 1 USD, making for a pretty good conversion rate that would allow for quite the nice stay. The beaches are probably what the Dominican Republic is most commonly known for, and for a good reason. With an accessibility to so many beautiful hotels that overlook the vast ocean surrounding the island, it would only make sense that the magnificent and convenient locations all over this island would be the destination for so many vacationers. 

Socially, the Dominican Republic is a little more friendly than the U.S. when it comes to addressing other individuals. An example of this is how complete strangers greet each other through words like “amigo” or “amiga,” which means friend. “Mi amor,” which means “my love,” is used commonly among men and women who do not know each other as well. Friends and close acquaintances may even kiss each other on the cheek once as part of their greeting. As a high-context culture with affective communication methods, this country’s people form tight-knit groups and communities the value mingling and interacting with one another in ways that express their feelings on whatever it is they discuss. With as many as 90% of the people being of the Roman Catholic faith, many of these groups end up talking about and sharing the words of their religion on a regular basis. Religion is a very important aspect of the culture of the Dominican Republic with it even being essential to the political system. The people of the country hold large quantities of attention in politics in the Dominican Republic with their system being a parliamentary presidential system not unlike the one established back in 1767 by the U.S. Due to there being such a big connection between religion and politics in the D.R., with Roman Catholicism being the official religion of state, it even gets financial backing from the government unlike protestant and non-Christian groups, like Islam, Jews, which have seen a bit of a population boom in these recent years but still do not hold a candle to the sheer amount of people who are practicing Catholics as that is what is the expected of the people. 

Expectations in the D.R. are bound by a mentality that is found in quite a lot of countries. Gender roles are very much designated in the traditional and common way that one would expect them to be. Men are expected to be the hard-working types who go out and get jobs in order to make money for the family, which typically includes more than just their wife and kids due to households also usually including parents and even siblings or cousins in some cases. The women of the household are expected to do the housework, such as taking care of the kids, cleaning, and cooking. Lunch, the big meal of the day, is at 3 PM where families will eat at their homes. Many of the foods that are made in these households are made in large quantities in order to satisfy the large number of people living in one home. Common foods that are made regularly are sancocho (7-meat stew), mangú (mashed plantains), habichuelas con dulce (sweet cream of beans), and tostones (twice-fried plantains). Probably the most common food that anyone can find there, however, is a simple combination of rice, beans, and meat. This is such a staple to the Dominican Republic that even its national dish, La Bandera, is pretty much just rice, red beans, meat, and salad. Many of the recipes found in a traditional household come from the influences of the different cultures of the Spanish, Taíno, and African origins of the country. 

When there, you must keep in mind that this is indeed a foreign country to you, meaning that you may not be entirely familiar with how you should carry yourself while there as well as nonverbal communication cues that you should look out for. In the Dominican Republic, there are certain gestures such as pointing with one’s lips rather than their fingers and scrunching their noses in a few repeated motions as a way of asking an individual to repeat what they just said because they didn’t hear them. Things like these are so easy for someone that isn’t from this country to find quite strange or confusing, but it is basically common knowledge over there. Dominicans also prefer to stand relatively close to one another even if speaking loudly while they talk with a fair amount of touching while conversing with people of the same or opposite sex. Typically, moving away from an individual while you are talking can seem rude. In general, as long as you go in with an open mind that has been educated on what to expect in this country, you should be fine. There are plenty of amazing experiences to be explored, and it only makes sense that you should make the most out of the experience by looking into what exactly you should expect prior to actually getting there. From the friendly people, to the beaches and tasty foods, the moments in the Dominican Republic are just waiting to be a part of your life. Hopefully the things you hope to accomplish on your sojourn to this amazing country are to your liking and remember to try to stay safe while you are out there having fun.

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Country of choice: The Dominican Republic

My reasoning for choosing the Dominican Republic as my country is due to my family actually being from there. My mom, with all of her loyalty to her mother country, never stops speaking highly about the Dominican Republic, always mentioning how they have the best everything there (food, dancers, singers, etc). It is always very amusing hearing the stories that she has from her time living over there, and it has made me want to travel there and experience it for my own. I have plenty of family here in the USA, albeit they are all up north in New York and New Jersey, and due to spending so much of my childhood around my mom and them, I am able to speak both English AND Spanish. While I would say that my Spanish isn't perfect, I still believe that I would be able to communicate over there pretty well, Due to being completely separated from my father's family for just about all of my life, and because my father passed away when I was in my very early teens, my mom and her family are all that I have for finding a semblance of myself aside from the things that I have gathered here in Virginia. I would love the opportunity to meet the part of my family that I have been so far away from all of these years, especially since they have always shown interest in me and always call me for major events like my birthday. When speaking to them, even though I am always self conscious about my ability to speak Spanish, I still feel very comfortable being around them. Aside learning about myself and my family, I also just want to experience the culture and environments in general. Looking at pictures and videos of the touristic spots in the Dominican Republic showcases a wide array of beautiful sceneries. I work at an airport and have spoken to dozens of people who have traveled there on vacation who have told me nothing but wonderful things about their experiences. My goal is to be one of those people eventually. I want to have my own experiences that leave me with an enhanced perspective as well as a more tangible appreciation for the things my mom has been telling me since I was a little boy.

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Mini Report: Host Country Media Collection

Images of the Dominican Republic:

Videos of the Dominican Republic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc4hC2DtJUc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrS4cfcMQiU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Y32YuNBfk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3aGHgWTq3Q&feature=emb_title Music of the Dominican Republic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Qx-_9bLnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCEfSX-TZfc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iisV-jNDeLw Recent News in Dominican Republic: https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2020/02/27/alerta-marcha-por-la-democracia-en-republica-dominicana/ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/jenny-polanco-beloved-dominican-fashion-designer-dies-coronavirus-n1168446 https://dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2020/03/23/dominican-republic-gov-goes-bare-bone-staff/ https://thehoya.com/students-protest-against-election-suspension-in-dominican-republic/ https://dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2020/03/20/curfew/ Dominican Republic Travel Blogs & Stories: https://www.dominicanabroad.com/category/dominican-republic-travel-blog/ https://jessieonajourney.com/dominican-republic-travel/ https://travel-cam.net/en/travel-stories/dominican-republic/10-days-in-the-dominican-republic-through-the-eyes-of-a-tourist In this collection of news and media from the Dominican Republic, I attempted to gather as much about the country as I could find. The images used show a variety of people and places in the Dominican Republic and I attempted to utilize those that incorporate people interacting with others or with the environments that they were in at the time. Other images that mainly had scenery as the focus were more about showcasing the beauty of the country on a visual level. What I could add in the future is a more cultural perspective to the collection of images, as most of these do not necessarily showcase a lot of the more tradition-oriented aspects. 

The music I chose for this collection was used to showcase more of the party/dance radio music that is heard over there, but I also threw in a lengthy bit of “bachata” music, which is commonly listened to in the country as well. I hope to improve on this aspect of the collection by adding more types of music (older and newer) that can help diversify the list, especially those that highlight the types of music that have a more cultural and “less-produced” feeling to them as I recall having seen videos of people in the Dominican Republic play songs from instruments that would seem a little strange to most Americans when I was younger. 

Due to the global impact of the Corona Virus and the terror that it brings with it, the news these days in the Dominican Republic seem to mainly revolve around it as the scare continues to sweep the country. As time passes, I would hope to get more rounded news articles added to the collection so that it doesn’t all focus around one central subject. I hope with the passage of time, other articles are able to arise that help this become possible for this collection.

Most of the media inspired me to visit this country due to being able to visualize just what life over there would be like. From the way the forests, beaches, and hills look to the way that people interact with each other, everything about the country really intrigues me. I am Dominican myself, so getting to live in a country where my family is originally from would be almost like a dream come true for me. I hope to be able to use this media as a way of preparing me for the types of locations and attractions I’d like to visit while there, as well as utilize them in order to have a better understanding of what I should be expecting. The travel blogs and videos will most likely be some of the more helpful pieces of the collection to help me out with that aspect, as I can more clearly get a better feel of the country through the eyes of a foreigner with those. Just being able to “experience” this place through the tales of others is something magical to me and gets me excited to one day travel to my future destination.