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Progressive Ethnocentrism

Ideology and Understanding in Dominican Baseball

Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts

This study is an effort to examine the problems associated with interpreting events and practices emanating in one cultural context (the Dominican Republic) by those of another (the United States)—part of the classic definition of ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism has been considered to be a problem linked to close-minded individuals and agencies, but this study attempts to show that progressive thinkers can also fall prey to it. Two case studies are looked at—the case of buscónes (those responsible for finding and developing Dominican ballplayers) and the case of former Little League sensation Danny Almonte (himself a Dominican émigré). The cases involve young men who have been wronged in one way or another. Guilt and innocence has been reported in the United States. However, ethnographic research into these cases shows that one can be right on the particulars while wrong in matters of cultural context and therefore unintentionally furthering ethnocentric bias.

Key Words: ethnocentrism • cultural relativism • informal economy • Dominican baseball • ideology

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