Dr. Ramona Hernández is Professor of Sociology at the City College of New York, City University of New York (CUNY) and Director of the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute. Dr. Hernández is also affiliated with the Doctoral faculties of the Department of Sociology and the Master of International Studies, both at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Dr. Hernández earned a Ph.D.  and a M.Phil. in Sociology from The Graduate Center, CUNY; an M.A. in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from New York University; and a B.A. in Latin American History from Lehman College. Her research interests include the mobility of workers from Latin America and the Caribbean, the socioeconomic conditions of Dominicans in the U.S., and the restructuring of the world economy and its effects on working-class people.

Dr. Hernández is the author, co-author and co-editor of numerous writings, including books, book chapters and academic journal articles. Among her publications is a groundbreaking book on the socioeconomic conditions of Dominicans in the US and winner of the “Outstanding Academic Title” from the prestigious academic journal Choice: The Mobility of Workers Under Advanced Capitalism: Dominican Migration to the United States (Columbia University Press). She is also the editor of Classic Knowledge in Dominican Studies (Routledge), the first series of classic books on Dominican studies in the U.S. She co-authored with Sully Saneaux La República Dominicana y la prensa extranjera: mayo 1961-septiembre 1963 (Desde la desaparición de Trujillo hasta Juan Bosch) (published by Biblioteca Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña) and with Silvio Torres Saillant and Blas Jimenez Desde la orilla: Hacia una nacionalidad sin desalojos (published by La Trinitaria). Doctor Hernandez co-authored with Silvio Torres Saillant Dominican Americans (published by Greenwood Press) and is currently working on two books under contract, one about Dominicans who came to the U.S. through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924 (Columbia University Press) and the other, on the transition of Dominicans into a settled, permanent community in the U.S.in co-authorship with Gregory Morton (Lived Places Publishing Press).

Dr. Hernández is a member of the Editorial Board of the following book series: Critical Studies of Latinos/as in the Americas, Latino/a Sociology, and Latinos: Exploring Diversity and Change. She is also on the Editorial boards of following journals: Latino Studies Journal and Camino Real: Estudios de las Hispanidades Norteamericanas. She is a Trustee of the Sociological Initiative Foundation and the Instituto Global de Altos Estudios en Ciencias Sociales in the Dominican Republic. Renowned public speaker, Dr. Hernández has lectured at numerous universities and community venues throughout the U.S., Europe, and the Caribbean.

About her work in the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute.

Under her leadership, CUNY DSI, which is home to a research unit, Dominican Library, and Dominican Archives, has distinguished itself as a world-class institute of research known for its groundbreaking scholarship on the history of the Dominican people in the United States and elsewhere. Among CUNY DSI's most recent contributions are the discovery of the Dominican Juan Rodriguez, the first immigrant to have settled in New York City in 1613, and Esteban Hotesse, the only Dominican-born member of the Tuskegee Airmen. The Institute is also the creator of the Spanish Paleography Digital Teaching and Learning Tool, a pioneering interactive online platform devoted to teaching the deciphering and reading of the handwriting styles of manuscripts from the early-modern Spanish-language world. In 2020, CUNY DSI again made waves in the world of public humanities with the release of the National Institute for the Humanities-funded project, A History of Dominican Music in the United States, the first open-source digital tool narrating the history of Dominican music as it developed during the past century in the U.S. In 2021, in continuation of years of research on the First Blacks in the Americas and in commemoration of the first rebellion of enslaved Black Africans in the Americas, which took place in La Española (today the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Haiti) in 1521, CUNY DSI undertook the first Archeological Survey in the Dominican Republic aimed at locating the site of the sugar mill where this transcendental event took place 500 years ago.

How did you develop an interest in the humanities/humanistic social sciences, and what led you to your academic career? 

I was always attracted to people’s story. I was also very curious and had many questions about things I saw and could not understand. I used to love, and still do, to pick older people’s brain about the past, their lived experience, and how they saw the present as compared to the past. I grew up very poor, and my parents didn’t have much formal schooling: my father never went to school and mother never finished elementary school. I remember that the only book we had was a copy of The Bible; a free copy some organization had given to my aunt. And I read it up and down, over and over again. I loved the parables. I tried to find answers to the question, “Why is there no food in my house when I know there is food in other houses?” I even wanted to become a nun to find answers to all the questions I had about the world. I was fascinated and also tormented by social dynamics, the people around me, and what I saw. This curiosity first led me to major in philosophy, which I ended up changing for history in college and then for sociology at the Ph.D. level, because I fell in love with Marx and learned that action undertaken by people was the only way to change what was wrong in the world. 

What is your favorite class to teach?  

I really enjoy teaching the classics. ¡Me encanta! Every time I read and teach classic sociological theories, or when we read Antonio de Montesinos’ “Christmas Eve Sermon of 1511” for instance, I am amazed by how enlightening they are. You ask yourself, “How did they do this?” “How could they see and understand their society so deeply?” And of course, what amazes me the most is how many of the classical thinkers were right in the money on foreseeing modern society, on predicting some of the most distressing and persisting social maladies. I challenge my students to be as knowledgeable about their society and as committed to participate in it as many of the classical thinkers were. 

What are you passionate about in your field?  

Rigorous research; rigorous methodology. I am also passionate about research that is not esoteric; mundane; but helps improve the human condition, and in my case, the lives of the Dominican people. Rigorous research takes into account a historical perspective; sees the micro from a macro perspective; it is research that requires multiple approaches to the research question; and often, mixed methodology. People are complex as we have both the capacity to create what we need to survive and move forward, and to destroy our own creation. No other species has that power. Explanations about people’s actions then should not be lineal; mechanic. It is about trying to connect as many dots across time and place as possible, and making sense of their relation to one another: that is rigorous research. It allows us to see the complexity of human actions in a world, that since 1492, has become connected at an increasingly fast pace. I am passionate about research that takes into account this connectedness, and focuses on social groups/classes to understand the world.  

What accomplishment are you most proud of? 

To have fulfilled CUNY DSI’s mission: produce and disseminate academic knowledge about people of Dominican ancestry that fills vacuums and that balances the negative generalizations, stereotypes, and prejudiced narratives that exist in many spaces in U.S. society. In fulfilling the Institute’s mission, we have raised the bar in the production of knowledge, leading to an impeccable reputation, both national and international, as an institute of research. I am proud to say that the Institute have produced the kind of information/knowledge that brings to the forefront—and corroborates—the contributions of the Dominican people.   

What advice do you have for students to succeed in their future career paths?  

I will tell you what has worked for me: I have worked on a subject that I am passionate about. Producing knowledge about the Dominican people, particularly the kind of knowledge that presents them as noble, courageous, and as a group that, as many other human groups, has fought against injustice and oppression, and has acted to secure a better life for themselves and their offspring, fulfills me and keeps me going, even when my body fails me. This conviction has guided my work and has given me the stamina, the commitment, the determination, and the lucidity that are required in an academic career. Upholding clear goals is also essential. But also, having a clear understanding of how much you are willing to put on the line, to commit, to secure those goals in a manner that at the end of the day, you would judge as successful in the way you envisioned it.