This essay engages Dominicans in New Jersey to explore and highlight areas that remain obscure and neglected in the study of the transnational experience of this population in general. In particular, the essay pays attention to the experience of young Dominican immigrants and Dominican Americans, whose live relation to Dominican identity is markedly different from that of their immigrant parents and older generations of immigrants. After providing an initial overview of Dominicans in New Jersey through a discussion of statistical data and press coverage, the essay uses interview materials with young men and women of this population to highlight where they locate and feel dominicanidad: in language use and its affective dimensions as well as in other expressive and cultural practices (eating, dancing) that take place within family and other kin networks. These locations for feeling and identification with Dominican identity challenge us to appreciate better just how different being Dominican looks when seen by some of the young people with whom I spoke.
INSTITUTO FRANKLIN - UAH