Diasporic Dreams: Documenting Caribbean Migrations

During the past five decades, the Caribbean region joined Mexico as on of the primary sources of migrants to the United States. In particular, the three countries of the insular Hispanic Caribbean ?Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic?have experienced the largest and most sustained population flows in their entire history. In the year 2006, more than half of all Puerto Ricans and nearly one out of nine Cubans and Dominicans resided outside their nations of origin, especially in the United States. Other countries of the region with large shares of their populations living abroad include Jamaica, Haiti, Suri name, the Netherlands Antilles, Barbados, Martinique, and Guadeloupe. Most of these immigrant communities maintain strong social, economic, cultural, and political ties with their sending societies. As numerous scholars, writers, and artists have documented, Caribbean people have become increasingly diasporic. Sonia Fritz is an independent Mexican filmmaker who has lived in Puerto Rico for two decades. She has edited, produced, directed, and written more than 20 documentaries, as well as feature-length films such as The Kiss You Gave Me (2000) and An Everyday Story (2004). Fritz's work has been showcased by public television stations, educational institutions, and film festivals in Puerto Rico, the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Her films have focused on social issues such as