This McMaster student is learning a different side to her home country in a Canadian classroom

Danielle Berges grew up in the Dominican Republic but it wasn't until she started studying in Canada that she learned a more balanced history of her homeland, she says.

The Dominican Republic shares an island with Haiti called Hispaniola, or La Española, in the Caribbean sea. 

When thinking about how the relationship between the two countries was presented in her high school classes, Berges recalls feeling that something was "off." 

"There's a narrative in the Dominican Republic that Haitians are the devil... and that they shouldn't be in our country," she said.

"The same rhetoric that Trump was using [about Haitians and other immigrants], our presidents were using [about Haitians]."

Berges now studies political science at McMaster University in Hamilton and is taking Introduction to Latin American and Latinx Studies. The class is helping her learn the other side of the story in Dominican-Haitian history, she says.

The course is new in 2022, and puts McMaster among a group of post-secondary institutions across Canada offering a look at decolonized history of Latin America and the Caribbean through new content and research. That group also includes work being done at: 

The McMaster course has helped Berges change her perspective on a number of issues, including border treaties, immigration and the perceived threat of Haitians. 

"The Dominican Republic has a way of making the issue [with Haiti] a historical thing, [by saying] 'we always hated each other, we've all done bad things'... Yet the reality is that there is a power dynamic, which we never learned about in the Dominican," she said.

It's also changed the way she processes news from home. For instance, a few weeks ago the homes of Haitians living close to the border were reportedly burned down by residents of Dominican Republic after those residents heard "one Haitian — supposedly, allegedly — killed the uncle of a former minister of defence," she said.

Berges said if she were back home, she might not have interpreted the news in the same way — as the awful event it was.

Stacy Ann Creech de Castro is one of two professors teaching the new McMaster course. She is also from the Dominican Republic.

Creech de Castro said her home country, like many other countries in Latin America, is affected by the deep impact colonialism had in the region. 

In La Española's case, she said because Haiti — which was colonized by France — was the first formerly enslaved Black nation in the world, their neighbours to the east — colonized by Spain — demonized its citizens.