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Overview
In The Devil behind the Mirror, Steven Gregory provides a compelling and intimate account of the impact that transnational processes associated with globalization are having on the lives and livelihoods of people in the Dominican Republic. Grounded in ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the adjacent towns of Boca Chica and Andrés, Gregory's study deftly demonstrates how transnational flows of capital, culture, and people are mediated by contextually specific power relations, politics, and history. He explores such topics as the informal economy, the making of a telenova, sex tourism, and racism and discrimination against Haitians, who occupy the lowest rung on the Dominican economic ladder.
Innovative and beautifully written, The Devil behind the Mirror masterfully situates the analysis of global economic change in everyday lives.
Synopsis
"
In his stunningly vivid picture of communities grappling with the demons of economic globalization, Gregory shows how peoples' livelihoods are devalued and torn asunder when they are exposed to the rough justice of the market. An absorbing case study and an ethnographic tour de force."—Andrew Ross, author of Fast Boat to China: Corporate Flight and the Consequences of Free Trade
"Steven Gregory has done it again. Globalization, tourism, citizenship, gender, work, media, urban development—no topic is left untouched in this gifted and much awaited ethnography. This work is sure to illuminate and teach us much about the contemporary workings of neoliberalism and power in the Caribbean and Latin America."—Arlene Dávila, author of Barrio Dreams: Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and the Neoliberal City
"For small countries, globalization glitters with the promise of deliverance from entrenched poverty. But in the Dominican Republic, Steven Gregory finds a crazy quilt of tourist development that fixes labor, racial, and gender inequalities in place. With wit and flair, ordinary folks mock and challenge the deceptive surfaces of globalization. Gregory has written an important account of how globalization creates hope and yet hurts people in poor countries."—Aihwa Ong, author of Buddha Is Hiding: Refugees, Citizenship, the New America, and Neoliberalism as Exception: Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty
"The Devil behind the Mirror is a truly great book. Steven Gregory powerfully reveals the myriad ways in which poor—but always resourceful—people in one particular place live in, through, and against the effects of globalization.
In the process, Gregory demonstrates the continuing, and indeed increasingly urgent, value of on-the-ground ethnographic research in the contemporary world. Linking global dynamics with real people's lives, the book is both brilliantly argued and beautifully written."—Sherry B. Ortner. author of New Jersey Dreaming