to absorb/absorber

It's a slow morning here on calle 19 marzo; it seems like the whole pace of my life has slowed down a bit here in this Caribbean capital. The heat, the language, and the project work take their tolls, and I have been guarding my afternoon naps with ferocity. While my pace has become more like a meandering walk than the sprint I usually live, the days do seem to be disappearing. There is so much to take in, so much to absorb, so many experiences to be had in the next four weeks.

School is moving along, though my favorite classmate, Chris, is leaving tomorrow. Good news is there is a revolving door of students, and I hope we add new faces to class next week. A friend and fellow teacher, Kristy, will be joining me here next week and beginning Spanish classes as well. I'm looking forward to having another partner in crime! I have one more week of grammar and conversation classes, and then I add an afternoon class in Dominican culture and history to the mix for my third and fourth weeks of school. I will be interested to see what kind of teacher they bring in for this cultural studies course, as he or she is coming from one of the local universities to teach me.

So far most political or cultural discussions we have gotten into in my classes have been a bit truncated as my teachers are very conservative evangelical Christians whose religious perspectives define most aspects of their lives. Both women are lovely people, but they most definitely find me to be a bit out there, which to an extremely conservative, evangelical Dominican woman, I most certainly am! I have simply been trying to take in their points of view and beliefs about life, their country, and their people--absorb what they have to teach me. Chris and I both love to talk about race, so we have been bringing those issues up in class a lot (who will be a rabble-rouser with me now?!), and it has been really fascinating to compare how African-Americans relate to their black identity as compared to most Dominicans. Chris, who is black, pointed out to me that for Americans of color, one drop of black blood proudly allows you to claim your African heritage. Here every word in the world is used to describe people who are all of color; every word, that is, but black.

Indio, indio claro, morena/o, morenita/o, mulatta/o. To be called negro/a here is an offense, an offense that usually comes along with being called haitiana/o, as the darker one's skin is the more closely one is related to the other part of the island--the part of voodoo, creole, inexplicable natural disasters, and abject poverty. In one of my interviews yesterday, a former Dominican high school teacher and his lovely wife discussed the relationship Dominicans have with their African heritage as one of refusal and rejection. Yet, as Candi explained to me, it is a rejection that can only go so far. A woman of very light-skin and mixed background (French, Italian, Spanish, and African), she said that since childhood, she has felt her African roots through music and dance. When she hears the beat of a tambour, she feels it in her blood. Her husband, a non-dancing dominicano (a rare breed here!) elaborated on this refusal of blackness and the general quest Dominicans have always been on to set themselves apart from their brother country, Haiti, and find some sort of pure Dominican identity. This search, it seems, has led the culture to see itself as more white, more Spanish, more Catholic, and less black, less African, less connected to the cultural practices brought to the island with slavery.

Chris also turned me on to PBS's recent series, Black in Latin America, which shot an episode here in DR and Haiti. I have been consuming that series with intensity, taking in so much new information and many enlightening perspectives about the black experience across Latin America. In my own project, one question I am asking people is to identify experiences that unite all parts of the Americas...and our continental relationship with slavery and the African diaspora is one of the most important links we all share.

Well, the day stands before me, waiting to lead me to new places donde puedo absorber momentos nuevos. I am excited for this day, which includes shooting the second part of my interview with Candi and Eduardo, an afternoon of photography, and an art show tonight featuring Nathalie's collection of reportage here in Santo Domingo. I happily make myself into dry cloth ready to sponge up all the day has to give.