Transnational Devils: Nicknames and Document Identities as Survival Strategies in the Context of Dominican Migration
TL;DRAbstract
Naming practices can be at the very heart of transnational existence.Drawing on multisited ethnographic fieldwork in Vicente Noble (The Dominican Republic), Passaic (The USA), and Madrid (Spain), this article discusses two contexts in which nicknames are used as a strategy to gain control in diasporic situations: on the one hand, the use of nicknames to maintain identity in the diaspora when a new document identity is purchased -analyzing nicknames as survival strategies when using multiple document identities -and, on the other, the use of nicknames in relation to religious practices, in particular to Folk Catholicism.By analyzing a Dominican proverb "nicknames are used in case the Devil comes asking for you", the author explores the mechanisms to subvert the different types of "Devils" faced by migrants.
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Naming practices can be at the very heart of transnational existence.Drawing on multisited ethnographic fieldwork in Vicente Noble (The Dominican Republic), Passaic (The USA), and Madrid (Spain), this article discusses two contexts in which nicknames are used as a strategy to gain control in diasporic situations: on the one hand, the use of nicknames to maintain identity in the diaspora when a new document identity is purchased -analyzing nicknames as survival strategies when using multiple document identities -and, on the other, the use of nicknames in relation to religious practices, in particular to Folk Catholicism.By analyzing a Dominican proverb "nicknames are used in case the Devil comes asking for you", the author explores the mechanisms to subvert the different types of "Devils" faced by migrants.
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