Ramón A. Victoriano Martínez, Ph.D.

Ramón A. Victoriano Martínez, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Spanish (Caribbean Literature and Cultures) at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. His book, Rayanos y Dominicanyorks: La Dominicanidad del Siglo XXI, published by University of Pittsburgh Press, analyzes the contentious relationship between the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Haiti, and the United States. Prof. Victoriano’s current project, a monograph titled Blood, Blacks and Books: Dominican Culture under Balaguer, 1966-78, traces Dominican cultural production during the so-called “Doce años,” a repressive regime aimed at eliminating all traces of leftist resistance. By examining novels, short stories, and poems of the period, Prof. Victoriano has found a large collection of writings dealing with the defeat of the liberal project that started with the election of Juan Bosch in 1962. By paying close attention to the dynamics of publishing and researching at Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, Prof. Victoriano will provide a new narrative about how blackness endured during the governments of Dr. Joaquin Balaguer, a notorious negrophobic and staunch supporter of Trujillo. Prof. Victoriano’s project expands CUNY DSI’s research about the resistance of black Dominicans and blackness in the Dominican Republic, beginning with the arrival of African Black enslaved peoples in 1502.