It seems that no one's considered that identity is often a two-way street, and can/is often be a matter of performance as well. As we all know, what it means to be Dominican can be very different depending on who you ask. In any case...I'm intrigued by the strict definition of what it means to be Dominican that you seem to be employing, Mr. Lou. Given your position on the place of an ex-pat in the discussion of Dominican identity, I'm curious to know how the issue of political citizenship fits into this view. For instance, when one legally renounces the citizenship of his/her country of birth in order to apply for/receive the citizenship of another country in which (s)he resides, (s)he can legally claim that country. In this particular case, it would mean that a person born in the US that is granted Dominican citizenship is (at very least, on paper) Dominican. While I realize that this is generally not the case with ex-pats, I'm wondering how this complicates your ideas of identity. Similarly, in what ways does/can a person claim cultural citizenship? To whom do we grant (and deny) this right and for what reasons? How does your definition of "Dominican" account for these discrepancies?
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