Brittany Fulgione \u2718 has traveled to Central America and the Caribbean three times to contextualize social justice work in Latin America. This is her senior capstone reflection

Fulgione, Brittany

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Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic

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Roger Williams UniversityDOCS@RWUFeatured News Story The Week at Roger5-17-2018Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in theDominican RepublicBrittany FulgioneRoger Williams UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_newsPart of the Higher Education CommonsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The Week at Roger at DOCS@RWU. It has been accepted for inclusion in FeaturedNews Story by an authorized administrator of DOCS@RWU. For more information, please contact mwu@rwu.edu.Recommended CitationFulgione, Brittany, "Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic" (2018). Featured News Story. 79.https://docs.rwu.edu/weekatroger_featured_news/796/7/2018 Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic by Brittany Fulgione '18 | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/untitled-exploration-anonymity-dominican-republic-brittany-fulgione-18 1/8 News ArchiveUntitled: An exploration of anonymity in theDominican Republic by Brittany Fulgione '18Brittany Fulgione '18 has traveled to Central America and the Caribbean three times tocontextualize social justice work in Latin America. This is her senior capstone re ection.May 17, 2018 Brittany Fulgione '18This past January Autumn Quezada-Grant, associate professor of Latin American history, and Dorian Jackson, assistantprofessor of Spanish, led a group students on an intensive study abroad experience to the Dominican Republic toexplore social justice in Hispaniola. One of the students on that trip, Brittany Fulgione '18, turned that experience in anexhibit that was on display in the Global Heritage Hall this spring.All of the photos here were taken across the western half of the island of Hispaniola, starting from the wealthiest partof the Dominican Republic to the poorest, at the border of Haiti. This project focused on capturing di erent aspectsof race and power in the DR, speci cally looking at issues of disenfranchisement, statelessness, and poverty.The exhibit is called “Untitled”. All pieces in this project remain untitled, mirroring the sense of anonymity that eachrepresents. This is an outside look into the lives of few that represents the lives of many- the powerlessness that comeswith injustice. Facelessness of the marginalized remains a constant threat to dehumanization, a tool of the oppressor."Untitled.01"Two boys peer into their classroom, on the outside looking in. What has caught their attention?6/7/2018 Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic by Brittany Fulgione '18 | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/untitled-exploration-anonymity-dominican-republic-brittany-fulgione-18 2/8Inside, barren. Notes scribbled across the walls. The room is empty besides a few desks pushed into the back corner.Students are running outside, while the classroom stands empty. On the board- Spanish, French, Creole and Englishcursive. It is inadequate and unfair to equate poverty with the lack of knowledge. People are able to overcome theboundaries of material resources. Learning was once a communal, vocal transition from one generation to the next.Emptiness of the physical space is not the same as emptiness of the transient thought."Untitled.02"6/7/2018 Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic by Brittany Fulgione '18 | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/untitled-exploration-anonymity-dominican-republic-brittany-fulgione-18 3/8Waist deep, wading through, weighted down- by both the physical and the emotional. This river, divisive, standsbetween Dajabon, Haiti and Restauración, Dominican Republic. It is the physical manifestation of the division of twonations. What distinguishes one country, one group of peoples, from another? The imagination of a nation is creatednot from what one is, but from what one is not. The Dominican is di erent from Haiti, therefore the Dominican exists."Untitled.03"6/7/2018 Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic by Brittany Fulgione '18 | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/untitled-exploration-anonymity-dominican-republic-brittany-fulgione-18 4/8From Batey Palo Bonito, located outside of La Romana, Dominican Republic. Groups of externally and internallydisplaced peoples are tra cked into the cane  elds. Communities, both hidden away and crumbling, wereconstructed miles with the sugar cane plantation by the companies who own the  elds. These people live here,forever, working for less than 50 cents a day, cutting and chopping and hauling and sleeping and restarting againevery morning. They maintain and harvest the sugar cane. Back breaking, scarring labor for little to no money.People have created entire lives for themselves and their families within the cane  elds. Few ever leave. Thesefamilies, these people, are faced with a statelessness that is hard to understand. As they were tra cked illegally intothe country, they have no legal rights, no access to resources and no voice.6/7/2018 Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic by Brittany Fulgione '18 | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/untitled-exploration-anonymity-dominican-republic-brittany-fulgione-18 5/8"Untitled.04""I stand, barefoot atop of the hard ground, feeling every pebble pressing my sole, pressing back against me as I onthem. The sky, so bright and blue as a bird  ies over me, I can see him looking at me. He tells me that all he can seefrom up there is a sea of green, spreading in every direction for miles. He sees dark shapes below, scatteredthroughout the sea, bopping up and down.-Take me with you, take my spirit so I can see through your eyes what lies beyond this great big sea. -Follow me.He  ies away, soaring over the tops of plants, wind  owing between his feathers, free. We see far o  in the distance a erce mass of blue. It does not sway lightly in the breeze as do the sugar stalks. Instead it smashes against rocks alongthe coast, smashing and destroying itself, then returning slowly back towards the great blue. Pebbles beneath myfeet again, puncturing the underneath of myself, yet I can see the waves smashing and breaking. There’s so muchbeauty in that, I too wish to smash against the rocks, to break apart, to sink slowly back to something larger thanmyself.The don calls my name. He points towards the cane  eld and hands me a machete. He shouts at me, and pushes metowards the sea of green. I don’t know what he’s saying, but I know he wants me to get back to work. He watches memove from far above, dri ing slowly back into the  ow of the  elds. I swim in, waist deep, neck deep, into the stalks,until they’re so tall I can barely see the sky. I drop slowly down, sinking my knees into the mud. I know no one can seeme now, except maybe him, circling above the stalks. If I were to stay kneeling here for too long, long enough for themud to dry, to trap me here- would anyone notice? Would they send someone out for me, or would they simply sendsomeone knew in my place. This is my section of stalks to cut, but how long would it take before they notice that Ihave vanished, swept out to sea.-What can you see from up there now? -Waves of green, swaying in the wind. -Have they sent anyone else for me yet? -Not for you.6/7/2018 Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic by Brittany Fulgione '18 | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/untitled-exploration-anonymity-dominican-republic-brittany-fulgione-18 6/8A car drives by on the long stretch of road by the  elds. I wonder where it is they’re going. Can they see me, in myragged black shirt, my ragged black skin beating under the heat of the sun?I spend most of my days hiding in plain sight. When I’m sitting in the kitchen of the Don’s casa, peeling potatoes forhis dinner, I wonder if his children can see past my exterior. They don’t know my name. I wonder where the bird istoday, what branch outside he is perched on. When he is not here, I feel as though I am still stuck, knees plastered tothe ground, drowning in the cane  elds. My body is there,  oating in remembrances of moments of my life. When heis not close to me, within my sight, or when I am unable to picture him in my mind’s eye, as it has been weeks since hehas  own by to talk with me, I realize that I am alone. Do I still exist, kneeling here in the midst of an ocean of sugar, Iknow no one. And when he is not here, no one knows me. Do I exist outside of this sea even if I have never le  itphysically? I  y out with him sometimes, but I am always forced back, machete in hand, dripping in the sweet sweatof cane sugar, the stench of burning  elds  lling my lungs."Background6/7/2018 Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic by Brittany Fulgione '18 | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/untitled-exploration-anonymity-dominican-republic-brittany-fulgione-18 7/8Brittany Fulgione '18 is graduating as a biology and spanish double major with minors in sustainability studies andlatin american and latino studies. This exhibit was created for Brittany's Latin American/Latino Studies Capstoneproject but the images and experiences were collected during a faculty-led study abroad trip to the DominicanRepublic with Autumn Quezada-Grant, associate professor of Latin American history, and Dorian Jackson, assistantprofessor of Spanish.The students who spent the 2018intersession in the Dominican Republicas part of the class, Social Justice inHispaniola.That intensive study abroad experience, which takes place during the winter intersession, is a six-credit course titledSocial Justice in Hispaniola which combines explorations of history and the spanish language. Students on the tripdevelop a deep understanding of the history of the island of Hispaniola including the tensions that exist between theDominican Republic and Haiti, the two countries which share the island.Share This: REQUEST INFO6/7/2018 Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic by Brittany Fulgione '18 | Roger Williams Universityhttps://www.rwu.edu/news/news-archive/untitled-exploration-anonymity-dominican-republic-brittany-fulgione-18 8/8 VISIT CAMPUS APPLY MAKE A GIFTMap & DirectionsContact UsDirectoryNewsEventsAthleticsrwu.eduUndergraduate SiteGraduate SiteSchool of LawSchool of Continuing Studies    © 2018 Roger Williams University. All rights reserved.GMAIL AT RWU BRIDGES MY RWU IT HELP SITE POLICIES WORK AT RWUOne Old Ferry Road, Bristol, RI 028091-800-458-7144

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Untitled: An exploration of anonymity in the Dominican Republic

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