Abstract In recent years there has been substantial research on Dominican migration and transnationalism, yet these studies have largely overlooked both the manner in which globalisation generates new localisations and the continuing salience of the state as mediator between the global and the local. Based upon fieldwork in La Ciénaga, a poor barrio of Santo Domingo, this thesis argues that emplacement, rather than transnationalism, is paradigmatic of the experiences of poor Dominicans and provides their primary source of unity. Race, ethnicity and social class have long been promoted as structuring the experiences of Caribbean people, but my analysis suggests that these operate more as sources of differentiation, rather than of identification in Santo Domingo’s barrios. I examine the strategies and practices deployed by residents to create value in place, overcome their localisation and achieve progreso (progress) within the bounds of the state. These include transforming the material environment and its symbolic meanings, elaborating certain social hierarchies and contesting others, and developing locality-based political organisations. In the Caribbean, it has been usual for studies of cultural oppositions or dualisms to effectively constitute a different genre to studies of class, race and globalisation. My ethnography indicates that this distinction is false. Residents of La Ciénaga deploy cultural oppositions and notion of difference to define a place in the social hierarchies of the barrio and city, while simultaneously recognising the moral value and identical structural position of those around them. Popular politics in Santo Domingo are characterised by this tension between social stratification and the elaboration of cultural value in place. This thesis develops a political and social economy of value that addresses both the bases of stratification in the sphere of production and the ways in which projects of self-creation, such as through consumption, allow for the elaboration of cultural value and meaning for individuals and social groups. Given the importance of locality to popular politics, I argue that this integrated approach is necessary to any assessment of the transformative potential of community organisations and other political movements in Santo Domingo. Contents DECLARATION ABSTRACT CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS INTRODUCTION: ABAJO EL PUENTE ENTERING THE FIELD ETHNOGRAPHY, ARCHIVAL RESEARCH AND SURVEYS A CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER 1. A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ECONOMY OF VALUE MODERNITY AND STRUGGLES FOR SELF-CREATION POLITICAL ECONOMY AND SELF-CREATION PRODUCTION, CONSUMPTION AND THE LOCAL-GLOBAL ORDER ORDER IN THE MODERN CITY CREATING PLACE AND VALUE IN LOCALITY CHAPTER 2. A SOCIETY, A CITY AND LA CIÉNAGA THE MAKING OF HISPANIOLA THE DEVELOPMENT OF HISPANIDAD A TENTATIVE INDEPENDENCE UNITED STATES OCCUPATION FROM OCCUPATION TO DICTATORSHIP TRUJILLO’S MODERNITYOMINICANIDAD AND CIUDAD TRUJILLO THE 1965REVOLT AND ITS AFTERMATH SANTO DOMINGO, POLITICS AND PLACE CHAPTER 3. THE STRUGGLE FOR A PLACE LA CIÉNAGA: A PLACE AT THE CENTRE FROM EL CAMPO TO EL BARRIO LA CIÉNAGA AND THE STATE MODERNIZATION REVISITED AFTER THE BLOCKADE. MAKING LA CIÉNAGA REAL CHAPTER 4. CONSTRUCTING HOUSE AND HABITUS AUTOCONSTRUCTION AND THE SOCIALITY OF THE BARRIO THE HOUSE AS LIFE STRATEGY LIVING A COMFORTABLE LIFE CHAPTER 5. ARRIBA AND ABAJO : ‘DUALISM’ IN THE BARRIO RESPECTABILITY AND REPUTATION AS A MORAL GEOGRAPHY A VIEW FROM LA CLARÍN HOMBRE DE LA CASA STREET LIFE WALKING IN-BETWEEN CHAPTER 6. VIOLENCE, SOCIAL CLASSIFICATION AND THE STATE VIOLENCE AND THE (DIS)REPUTABLE POOR MORALITY AND CORRUPTION IN EL CAMPO AND EL BARRIO WORKING WITH THE CLASSIFICATIONS, CONTESTING MORAL GEOGRAPHIES THE STATE AND THE POLITICS OF THE POOR CHAPTER 7. TRANSCENDING CIRCUMSTANCE: RELIGION, PRACTICE, PROGRESO RELIGION AND ITS POLITICS LEAVING LA CIÉNAGA: ASPIRATION AND PRACTICE UNITY, DIFFERENCE AND PROGRESS CONCLUSION: ¡E’PA’LANTE QUE VAMOS GLOSSARY APPENDIX 1: SURVEY OF LA CIÉNAGA APPENDIX 2: SURVEY OF PERCEPTIONS OF SANTO DOMINGO’S BARRIOS APPENDIX 3: REPORT ON SURVEY OF LA CIÉNAGA REFERENCES Abajo el Puente Place and the Politics of Progress in Santo Domingo