The border that divides the island of Hispaniola has been the site of commercial and cultural exchanges, labor migrations, environmental change, and violence. Maria Cristina Fumagalli‘s wonderful, wide-ranging On the Edge: Writing the Border Between Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Liverpool Press, 2015) offers glimpses of the numerous literary texts, art works and films that try, in some way or another, to come to terms with what the border is and how it shapes the lives of both Haitians and Dominicans, creating a space of dynamic and creative exchanges for some and proving tragically divisive for others. The book moves from the earliest years of colonization to recent events, arguing for possibilities of co-existence rather than irremediable conflict. It is a necessary read for anyone interested in this region and in borderland literary production.



Alejandra Bronfman is Associate Professor of History at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include histories of media, race, and the production of knowledge in the Caribbean. Her forthcoming book, Isles of Noise: Sonic Media in the Caribbean, is forthcoming in Fall 2016 with University of North Carolina Press.
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