Dominican bateyes and the Haitians: New reconfigurations of a colonial legacy

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Las Pajas between 2013 and 2023, this article examines how Dominican bateyes – settlements within sugar plantations – have transformed colonial-era labour camps into paradoxical sanctuaries for Haitian migrants and their descendants. An analysis of sugar industry privatization and recent citizenship policies demonstrates how these spaces continue to mediate between labour exploitation and social exclusion while serving as sites of relative protection from deportation. As the 2024 Haitian crisis intensifies cross-border tensions, the case reveals how the historical legacies of colonialism intersect with contemporary legal frameworks to maintain vulnerable labour pools through bureaucratic rather than physical segregation.