The Afro-Dominican salve, one of the most widespread musical forms in the Dominican Republic, developed through the fusion of European and African traditions and belief systems and usually accompanies ceremonies dedicated to Catholic, African, and Indigenous deities. Due to policies that reinforce Eurocentrism and anti-Blackness in the country, Afro-Dominican salves have been marginalized by state officials and rejected as national heritage, despite their popularity. In response, Afro-Dominican singers Enerolisa Nuñez and Caridad Severino choose to perform their salves not only in religious and private spaces but also publicly. They record and distribute their music internationally, collaborating with foreign artists, performing and talking about Afro-Dominican heritage on national television, traveling to other countries to promote salve music, and incentivizing other initiatives that promote its creation and diffusion. I focus on the trajectories of the singers Enerolisa Núñez and Caridad Severino, analyzing their music and their impact on the cultural reception of Afro-Dominican salves, both inside and outside of the Dominican Republic. I argue that by choosing to perform and record salves, these artists make a politically conscious effort to uphold Afrocentrism and to dismantle racist practices.

My research on music and Jamaican Marronage came from a search for connection that had long eluded me as a Black woman in the United States. Jamaican Maroons’ espoused connection to Ghana resonated with my feelings of statelessness and non-belonging because it represented a coveted prize that was beyond my grasp. I was thrilled to work in Jamaica, an independent Black nation governed by Black people, but I eventually grew disheartened when no one seemed to share my idealized view of Blackness as a potential marker of solidarity. Instead, interactions with Maroons and non-Maroon Black Jamaicans revealed that my reading of Blackness lacked social nuance. Additionally, my non-Jamaican and American Blackness, and my not-white, single, older woman researcher identities presented several challenges. These challenges yielded valuable insights and useful points of inquiry into the ways that who we are, where we’re from, and what we believe influence the work that we do. This paper draws on these experiences to examine how preconceptions, assumptions, and misconceptions get carried by us and imposed upon us when we enter our communities of research. How are our understandings of race and racism implicated in the ways that we view, and are viewed by, those outside of our own geographical and socio-political contexts? How do we incorporate the important insights gained about ourselves into our work without becoming its focus? What must we do to be proactive in approaching our communities and our work with sensitivity and self-awareness? My paper considers these questions and more.

In this paper, I present creolization as a productive way to think about the circulation of knowledge and artistry within the Black Atlantic. Creolization refers to a type of interculturation that is inextricably linked to European expansionist projects. It distinguishes itself from other forms of hybridization in that it involves cultural and ideological entanglements and asymmetrical power relationships. These struggles, in turn, offer a distinctiveness to the creolized personality, one that defies the Manichean binary of oppressor/oppressed. Thinkers, such as Sylvia Wynter, have noted the creole tendency towards self-segregation and the construction of social hierarchies. I argue still that creolization has served as a unifying force between African and Afrodiasporic populations. In order to make this point, I will use goombay as a case study. Goombay is a creolized musical tradition that originated amongst the Maroon communities of Jamaica in the late 18^th century. It “returned” to Africa in 1800, when 400 Maroons were repatriated to Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1800. It since gained popularity throughout West and Central Africa and has served as a basis for other popular musical forms, such as highlife and makossa. By examining the transoceanic and intercontinental (African) movements of goombay, I will demonstrate that creolization can reconfigure the social relations and modes of interconnectivity that were forged in the crucible of racial exploitation, and can encourage Black solidarities.