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"THE LAND OF BULLET HOLES": IMPERIAL NARRATIVES AND THE UNITED STATES OCCUPATION OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, 1916-1924

Laurent, Patrice Nicole
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http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/3147
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This dissertation examines US media representations of Dominicans during the American occupation of the Dominican Republic between 1916 and 1924. It argues that American media images of the Dominican Republic changed to accommodate US government policy. For example, when there was interest in annexing the country in the mid-1800s, those who were in favor of annexation depicted Dominicans as white in order to demonstrate that they could be integrated into the United States. In the early 1900s, however, when the United States wanted to prevent foreign powers from intervening in the Dominican Republic, US media representations of Dominicans were overwhelmingly black to show the need for American oversight of financial matters. Whether depicted as black or white, this dissertation argues that the primary lens the US media employed to represent Dominicans was that of underdevelopment. Subsumed within this imperial narrative of underdevelopment were malleable depictions of race and, by 1916, a new element of humanitarianism that operated under the assumption that the Dominican Republic was underdeveloped and thus in need of American guidance. Lastly, this dissertation examines the shift in the US media in 1920 as American sources began to critique the occupation.
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