English Professor Explores Identity, Anger, Belonging in Revised Memoir

English Professor Explores Identity, Anger, Belonging in Revised Memoir

"Dique" is a word in Dominican Spanish that translates to "supposedly" and is often used in irony.

For Dr. Ayendy Bonifacio, it's a word that captures his lifetime of navigating who he is and who the world expects him to be.

Bonifacio, an associate professor of English, explores these complexities in the newly revised and expanded edition of his memoir, "Dique Dominican" (Unsolicited Press, $21.95).

To celebrate the release, University Libraries and Judith Herb College of Arts, Social Sciences and Education will host a book launch on Thursday, Feb. 12. The event, which includes a reading, discussion and signing, runs from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Carlson Library Room 1005.

The memoir traces Bonifacio's journey from a small farm town in the Dominican Republic to the streets of Brooklyn and eventually to the halls of academia. But at its core, the book is about the internal struggle of identity.

"The word 'dique' is important for understanding my book, which in large part is about feeling like you are not who you are supposed to be," Bonifacio said. "Growing up in Brooklyn, as an immigrant and the first person in my family to graduate high school, I did not grow up with books or access to literary traditions. So it was a curious choice for me to go off and pursue a Ph.D. in English."

The first iteration of the memoir was published in 2017, when Bonifacio was still a doctoral candidate. He described that early version as an attempt to "tone down" his inherited accents -both Brooklyn and Dominican - to combat imposter syndrome.

The new edition, written nearly a decade later, is a more raw and honest examination of his life.

"This new edition explores a very complicated emotion, particularly in Latino men: anger," he said. "In the memoir, I explore the complex roots of anger and their ties to memory, grief, confusion, acceptance and various forms of trauma."

Bonifacio said the revision process was shaped by major life changes, including becoming a father and losing his own father to cancer. These experiences helped him weave his personal narrative with broader studies of colonial history, migrancy and nation-building.

"I learned that the history of who we are is connected to the history of who we have been," he said. "About myself, I learned that, regardless of how insistent my mind can be in reminding me of my so-called place in the world or where I come from, I am not an imposter. That choosing is the first step in becoming."

Bonifacio said that he hopes the book resonates with anyone who has wrestled with the roots of core emotions or feelings of being an outsider.

"I hope all readers find something in the pages of 'Dique' because our stories are deeply connected," he said. "We are all living in the same spacetime right now."