Haitian Lives Matter: Anti-Haitian Stereotypes in Haitian and Dominican Newspapers, Building upon the Research of Craemer and Martinez (2021)

This thesis explores how Haitian migrants are received in the Dominican Republic and considers the implications of this for media representation and immigration policy. A variety of mechanisms are identified by which Haitians and people of Haitian descent are positioned as ‘the other’ and are defined and treated as different from the host community in the Dominican Republic. Anti-Haitian attitudes are widely acknowledged to exist in the Dominican Republic but it is unclear whether these are driven by racist ideologies or fears of losing national sovereignty. This paper builds upon the study conducted by Craemer and Martinez (2021), who identified four Haitian stereotypes; anti-Black, anti-immigrant, criminal violence, and anti-Haitian stereotypes. A content analysis is conducted of articles containing the search term ‘Haiti’, from 2020 to 2021, in two Dominican newspapers (El Listín Diario and El Día) and two Haitian newspapers (Rezo Nòdwès and Juno7). This thesis adds to the...Show moreThis thesis explores how Haitian migrants are received in the Dominican Republic and considers the implications of this for media representation and immigration policy. A variety of mechanisms are identified by which Haitians and people of Haitian descent are positioned as ‘the other’ and are defined and treated as different from the host community in the Dominican Republic. Anti-Haitian attitudes are widely acknowledged to exist in the Dominican Republic but it is unclear whether these are driven by racist ideologies or fears of losing national sovereignty. This paper builds upon the study conducted by Craemer and Martinez (2021), who identified four Haitian stereotypes; anti-Black, anti-immigrant, criminal violence, and anti-Haitian stereotypes. A content analysis is conducted of articles containing the search term ‘Haiti’, from 2020 to 2021, in two Dominican newspapers (El Listín Diario and El Día) and two Haitian newspapers (Rezo Nòdwès and Juno7). This thesis adds to the previous study by examining the content of Haitian newspapers and corroborating previous results. Consistent with Craemer and Martinez, this study finds the strongest stereotype-consistency bias in the criminal violence stereotypes. Diverging from this, the anti-Haitian stereotypes showed a significant increase in stereotype-consistent bias. This contradicts conclusions drawn by Craemer and Martinez. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.Show less

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Haitian Lives Matter: Anti-Haitian Stereotypes in Haitian and Dominican Newspapers, Building upon the Research of Craemer and Martinez (2021)