Licelot Caraballo

The Haitian-Dominican border is often a place of violent encounters due to border militarization, anti-Haitianism sentiments, and how these realities impact the border-crossing experiences of Haitian workers. However, the border is also a space where markets exist, where both Haitian and Dominican market workers come together to participate in market work. These border markets demonstrate how both Haitian and Dominican workers collaborate and exercise solidarity despite everyday instances of violence. How do such market collaborations coexist with violence at this border? Through multi-sited ethnography and historical-archival research, this project examines how market workers challenge violence and division narratives by sustaining these labor and solidarity spaces. Through a lens of solidarity, this project illustrates the importance of labor-based collaborations that sustain communities along the Haitian-Dominican border and communities beyond on both nations.