A new book by Valentina Peguero (pictured at left), professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, recounts the story of immigrants to the Dominican Republic.

Published by the Reserve Bank of the Dominican Republic, "Colonizaci�n y Pol�tica: Los japoneses y otros inmigrantes en la Rep�blica Dominicana" ("Colonization and Politics: The Japanese and Other Immigrants in the Dominican Republic") tells of Japanese immigrants who moved to the Dominican Republic in the 1950s, as well as Jewish, Spanish, and Hungarian refugees who immigrated to this Caribbean nation between 1939 and 1959.

In remarks at a reception in Santo Domingo, Haruo Okamato, Japanese ambassador to the Dominican Republic, credited the book for generating better understanding of the cultural and economic contributions of Japanese immigrants to Dominican society on this, the 50^th anniversary of their arrival. Toribio Marmolejos, president of Reserve Bank, thanked Peguero for her seminal research and contribution to the study of Dominican and Caribbean immigration. Danilo de los Santos, a Dominican intellectual and artist, called Peguero "a writer with no borders" who uses a multidisciplinary and cross-cultural approach to the study of history.

In 2000-2001, Peguero studied Japanese immigration to the Dominican Republic under a fellowship from the Institute for Research in the Humanities at UW-Madison. She received support from UWSP�s University Personnel Development Committee (UPDC), the College of Letters and Science, and the Department of History to complete the research and publish the book.

In January 2005, Peguero was appointed contributing editor for the Handbook of Latin American Studies and Consultant, Hispanic Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. In addition to her book, she wrote a chapter, "Women�s Grass-Roots Organizations in the Dominican Republic: Real or Imagined Female Figures" published in "Contemporary Caribbean History and Society in a Global Context" (University of North Carolina Press, 2005); another chapter, "Las Mirabals: Lucha politica y su impacto en la No Violencia Contra las Mujeres (the Mirabls: Political Struggle and their Impact on No Violence Against Women)" appears in "La Escritura de la Historia de las Mujeres en America Latina: el Retorno de las Diosas" (Universidad de San Martin de Porres, Lima, Peru, 2005).

A native of the Dominican Republic, Professor Peguero joined the UWSP faculty in 1990. She has a B. A. from Pontificia Universidad Cat�lica Madre y Maestra, Santiago, the Dominican Republic; a master�s degree in education from Ball State University, Muncie, Ind.; and a master�s degree and Ph.D. in history from Columbia University, New York City.

Peguero�s publications analyze an array of significant problems. She is the author of "The Militarization of Culture in the Dominican Republic, From the Captains General to General Trujillo" (University of Nebraska Press, 2004), "Pe�a y Reynoso y Amantes de la Luz," a study of an organization dedicated to Dominican cultural studies (Amantes de la Luz, 1985), and "Visi�n General de la Historia Dominicana," a book-length history of the Dominican society (UCMM, 1978). Her articles have been published in both Spanish and English, and have appeared in books, journals and conference proceedings in the Dominican Republic, Peru, Spain and the United States.

Peguero has given public readings in China, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Venezuela and the United States. Peguero received a University Excellence in Teaching Award in 1995 and the Eugene Katz Letters and Science Distinguished Faculty Award from the UWSP College of Letters and Science this past spring.

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