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Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
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Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola Paperback - 2000

by Michele Wucker

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Reader reviews for Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola

From the publisher

Like two roosters in a fighting arena, Haiti and the Dominican Republic are encircled by barriers of geography and poverty. They co-inhabit the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, but their histories are as deeply divided as their cultures: one French-speaking and black, one Spanish-speaking and mulatto. Yet, despite their antagonism, the two countries share a national symbol in the rooster--and a fundamental activity and favorite sport in the cockfight. In this book, Michele Wucker asks: "If the symbols that dominate a culture accurately express a nation's character, what kind of a country draws so heavily on images of cockfighting and roosters, birds bred to be aggressive? What does it mean when not one but two countries that are neighbors choose these symbols? Why do the cocks fight, and why do humans watch and glorify them?"

Wucker studies the cockfight ritual in considerable detail, focusing as much on the customs and histories of these two nations as on their contemporary lifestyles and politics. Her well-cited and comprehensive volume also explores the relations of each nation toward the United States, which twice invaded both Haiti (in 1915 and 1994) and the Dominican Republic (in 1916 and 1965) during the twentieth century. Just as the owners of gamecocks contrive battles between their birds as a way of playing out human conflicts, Wucker argues, Haitian and Dominican leaders often stir up nationalist disputes and exaggerate their cultural and racial differences as a way of deflecting other kinds of turmoil. Thus Why the Cocks Fight highlights the factors in Caribbean history that still affect Hispaniola today, including the often contradictory policies of the U.S.

First line

Dangling his dead rooster by its feet, a grizzled cockfighter shuffles out the gate of the Manoguayabo cockfighting club through the parking lot, past a row of obsolete but still working hulks of cars, decrepit versions of old Russian models and American gas-guzzlers.

Details

  • Title Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
  • Author Michele Wucker
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 304
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Hill & Wang, NY
  • Publication date 2000-04-03
  • Features Bibliography, Glossary, Index, Maps
  • ISBN 9780809097135 / 0809097133
  • Weight 0.95 lbs (0.43 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 in (22.61 x 15.24 x 2.03 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Caribbean
  • Category History - General History
  • Library of Congress subjects Haitians - United States, Haitians - Dominican Republic
  • Dewey Decimal Code 303.482

Media reviews

Citations

  • New York Times, 04/30/2000, Page 32

About the author

Michele Wucker, born in 1969, is a freelance writer who reports regularly on Caribbean affairs for both Dominican and North American papers. She lives in New York City. Why the Cocks Fight is her first book.

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Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
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Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola

by Wucker, Michele

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Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
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Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola

by Wucker, Michele

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by Michele Wucker

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Why the Cocks Fight : Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola

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by Michele Wucker

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by Michele Wucker

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Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
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Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola

by Wucker, Michele

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9780809097135 / 0809097133
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Why the Cocks Fight : Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
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Why the Cocks Fight : Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola

by Wucker, Michele

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780809097135 / 0809097133
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Why the Cocks Fight : Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
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Why the Cocks Fight : Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola

by Wucker, Michele

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780809097135 / 0809097133
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Why the Cocks Fight : Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
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Why the Cocks Fight : Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola

by Wucker, Michele

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780809097135 / 0809097133
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Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola
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Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola

by Wucker, Michele

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