CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

The following is a list of some of the Institute's research projects in progress as of June 2007.

Understanding Dominican Financial Behavior in New York City:  A Coalition for Building Assets in the Dominican Community
Forthcoming Publication in the Dominican Monograph Series 

CUNY Dominican Studies Institute is working on a research investigation studying the financial behavior of Dominicans in New York City.  In conjunction with two private businesses and a community based organization that prepare taxes for a predominantly Dominican clientele, CUNY DSI distributed a survey and collected information on the personal finances of Dominicans in New York City at the conclusion of Tax Year 2006. This study assesses the financial literacy of participants and the findings provide insights into both the capacity for asset building and the prevention of wasteful practices within the Dominican community in New York City. This project was designed in collaboration with Dr. Barbara Robles from Arizona State University, who completed a similar study with Mexicans in the border region. 

The research is conducted by the CUNY DSI in collaboration with Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, Nuñez Tax Services Inc., and Alvarez Tax, Accounting and Financial Services.

International Media Coverage of the Dominican Republic
Co-authors: Journalist Sully Saneaux and Ramona Hernández

This book length manuscript investigates the global media coverage of three events in the Dominican Republic during the early 1960s that have had a tremendous impact on the course of Dominican history.  The three events are the assassination of Generalíssimo Rafael Trujillo in 1961, the Coup d’Etat against President Juan Bosch in 1963, and the invasion of the Dominican Republic by the United States military in 1965.  Due to the assortment of newspapers included in this study, a number of researchers with varying language skills are contributing to this project.

The newspapers utilized in this investigation include the New York Times (USA), El Diario/La Prensa (USA), El Mundo (Puerto Rico), La Revolución (Cuba), El Universal (Venezuela), El Excelsior (Mexico), El Mercurio (Chile),  La Nación (Argentina), Le Monde (France), El Corriere Della Sera (Italy), The Times (United Kingdom), ABC (Spain), The People’s Daily (China), Pravda (USSR).

 

Profile of NYC Dominican Taxi Drivers

The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute has undertaken an investigation profiling the socioeconomic status of Dominicans in the taxi and limousine industry in New York City.  This study combines the collection and analysis of institutional data from the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission with extensive ethnographic interviews, so as to create the first academic assessment of one of the labor markets most populated by Dominicans in the New York metropolitan area.  Researchers are: Ramona Hernández, Lincoln Restler, José Ramón Bello, and Pedro Heredia, co-owner of Riverside Taxi.  

Dominican Monograph Series: Socioeconomic Profile of Dominicans 2007

Dr. Ramona Hernández is currently working with Dr. Francisco Rivera-Batiz, Professor of Economics and Education at Teacher’s College, Columbia University, to produce the most updated statistical study on Dominicans in New York City and the United States. The findings of their research are based on various institutional sources, including the decennial US census, CPS, and the American Community Survey, which shed light on the socioeconomic status of the Dominican people in the United States.

 

People of Dominican Ancestry Living in the Canary Islands
Researchers: Dr. Martha Montero-Siebuth, Assoc. Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Massachusetts–Boston, and Dr. Lidia Cabrera, Professor of Didactics and Educational Research at Universidad de la Laguna (Canary Islands).

Dr. Montero Siebuth and Dr. Cabrera are embarking on a pioneering study on the experiences of people of Dominican ancestry who are living in the Canary Islands. The study is based on institutional data and on ethnographic research conducted among people of Dominican origins residing in the Canary Islands. This investigation is part of a series of studies being funded and/or conducted by CUNY DSI on the status of Dominican communities in Europe.

Northern Manhattan Telephone Survey
Researchers: Dr. Ramona Hernández, Director CUNY DSI at The City College and Dr Gregg Van Ryzin, Director of the Survey Research Unit at the School of Public Affairs, Baruch College. 

The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute and the Baruch Survey Research Unit are conducting a randomized telephone survey of adults in Northern Manhattan who are of Dominican descent.  Households in Northern Manhattan that are located in neighborhoods with a high density of Dominicans, as determined by the US Census, are being contacted and interviewed by telephone. The survey questions inquire into the health and economic conditions of this population, as well as the nature and extent of their social networks in both New York and between the US and the Dominican Republic.

An Introduction to Dominican History for High School-Age Readers  
Researcher: Anthony Stevens-Acevedo, Assistant Director CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College.  

Stevens-Acevedo is currently working on an ambitious project to generate a general manual of Dominican history for young readers that will provide an overview of the five hundred years of history of the Dominican people from pre-Columbian times to our very present day. An emphasis will be placed on language appropriateness, conceptual structure and clarity, analytical charts, use of historical document abstracts, didactic maps, and images of historic value. Attention will be given to social constituencies and topics traditionally overlooked in historical narratives about Dominicans, like the presence and impact of slavery, the incidence of social groups, the multiplicity of ethnic heritages infused into Dominican society throughout the centuries, and the role of migrations in Dominican society.

A particular contribution of this manual will be the incorporation of the history of the Dominican diaspora as a fundamental force in the shaping of Dominican contemporary society during the last five decades. Units and lessons will be supplemented also by study assignments guided by analytical questions aimed at encouraging a critical reading of the historical narrative provided in the book itself. The many issues in Dominican history still to be researched and clarified will also be highlighted.  Ultimately, the goal of this book will be to provide young readers with the necessary tools to identify and understand the impact of five hundred years of collective past on the shaping of the Dominican people and their society as it exists today. A volume format as well as a Web-based component are envisioned for this material.

Dominicans in the Unites States Prison System 
Researcher: Dr. Ramona Hernández, Director CUNY Dominican Studies Institute at The City College.

Ramona Hernandez is currently working on a research project dealing with Dominicans who are incarcerated.  This is a pioneer research since up to this moment no research has been done concerning this growing population. The research project, conceived as a book-length manuscript entitled The Forgotten: Dominicans in the Prison System, will provide a detailed analysis of Dominican inmates detained in different jails in the United States. It will look at the types of crimes, the kinds of punishments, including jail sentencing, types of prisons, and placement in isolation. The study will be based on personal interviews and institutional data (jail, police, immigration records and reports as well as census data) as well as information extracted from a questionnaire that will be distributed among inmates. This study departs from an innovative theoretical approach in The Mobility of Workers Under Advanced Capitalism where Hernandez establishes a correlation between migration and surplus population both in sending and receiving societies.