CUNY DSI Produces Special Edition of Prestigious Journal Issue of ‘Camino Real’ Devoted to Dominicans in the U.S.

CUNY DSI Produces Special Edition of Prestigious Journal Issue of ‘Camino Real’ Devoted to Dominicans in the U.S.
At the invitation of the Instituto Franklin of the University of Alcalá, Spain, the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute (CUNY DSI) will produce a special issue of its prestigious journal, “Camino Real,” devoted to multidisciplinary monographs on Dominicans in the United States. CUNY DSI Director Dr. Ramona Hernández and Associate Director Anthony Stevens-Acevedo will edit the edition and conduct a national call for papers.

“This is an important recognition for the emerging field of Dominican Studies and Dominicanists, as well as for the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute,”

This is the first such agreement between the CUNY DSI, which is housed at The City College of New York, and Instituto Franklin, Spain’s renowned center for research on Latin American and Caribbean immigrant communities in the United States. “This is an important recognition for the emerging field of Dominican Studies and Dominicanists, as well as for the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute,” said Dr. Hernández. “It furthers CUNY DSI’s stature as the leading institution in the United States devoted to study of people of Dominican ancestry.”

The Dominican population in the United States, defined as people who trace their ancestry to the Dominican Republic, is one of the largest Latino immigrant groups in the country at more than 1.5 million. In recent years it has grown more complex in terms of the source of its population growth, its geographical distribution and its generational makeup.

Socioeconomic indicators of Dominicans in the United States have changed dramatically since the 1990s, especially in educational attainment. A rapidly growing second generation that has become a major social force in U.S. Dominican society has driven this feat. In addition, the U.S. Dominican population is increasing its influence in the arts, literature, popular culture, politics and business.

The special issue will examine, from a multidisciplinary perspective, the increased complexity of the Dominican experience in the United States. “We want to move beyond the vast amount of literature on Dominicans as immigrants with one foot in the United States and the other in the Dominican Republic,” said Dr. Hernández. “We aim to offer new perspectives on the vibrant culture and society Dominicans have built in the United States.”

The editors will examine and are soliciting papers that investigate such issues as:

• What do changes in population growth imply for the situation of the Dominican population in the United States?
  
• Do Dominicans in New York differ from Dominicans settling in other parts of the country, such as Florida or New Jersey?
  
• What are the major themes of the literature, art, and music of the Dominican people in the United States?

The deadline for submission of invited and contributed papers is January 2011. Publication is planned for spring 2011.

The deadline for submission of invited and contributed papers is January 2011. Publication is planned for spring 2011. Articles will be accepted in Spanish and English, and should not exceed 8,000 words. Detailed publications guidelines are available on the “Camino Real” website . Please contact Anthony Stevens-Acevedo at the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, 212-650-5453, astevens@ccny.cuny.edu, for assistance with the submission process or questions.

About “Camino Real”

“Camino Real” is an official publication of the Instituto Franklin, established in 1987 as Centro de Estudios Norteamericanos, a university research institute of the University of Alcalá, Spain. “Camino Real” is a peer-reviewed and multidisciplinary publication and is published twice a year, spring and fall. It is divided into four sections – Critical Articles, Interviews, Reviews and Creative Writing – and includes articles that reflect the different sensibilities and peculiarities of the Hispanic world in the United States, including artistic, political, economic, sociological, cultural, literary and historical perspectives.
Website: http://www.institutofranklin.net/en/research/publications/revista-camino-real

About Instituto Franklin

The Instituto Franklin is a research institute of the University of Alcalá, Spain. Its main mission is to serve as a cooperative and unifying communication platform between Spain and North America, with the goal of promoting mutual understanding. The Instituto Franklin fulfills its mission: fostering and nurturing the creation of groups of researchers in collaboration with different North American universities; offering official post-graduate training (master’s degrees and doctorates in North American Studies); disseminating the knowledge about North America through diverse publishing venues, and organizing academic meetings, of national as well as international character, on themes inherent to the mission of the Institute itself.

About the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute

Founded in 1992 and housed at The City College of New York, the Dominican Studies Institute of the City University of New York (CUNY DSI) is the nation’s first university-based research institute devoted to the study of people of Dominican descent in the United States and other parts of the world. CUNY DSI’s mission is to produce and disseminate research and scholarship about Dominicans and about the Dominican Republic. The Institute houses the Dominican Archives and the Dominican Library, the first and only institutions in the United States collecting primary and secondary source material about people of Dominican descent. CUNY DSI is the locus for a community of scholars, including doctoral fellows, in the field of Dominican Studies. It sponsors multidisciplinary research projects and organizes lectures, conferences, and exhibitions that are open to the public.

CUNY DSI Contact:
Altagracia Diloné Levat, P: 347-739-7664 E: alevat@ccny.cuny.edu
Media Contact
Ellis Simon P: 212-650-6460 E: esimon@ccny.cuny.edu

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