National identity issues in the Dominican Republic related to blackness and whiteness are still prevalent. Yadira Perez Hazel highlights the importance on body politics and how our senses of taste, smell, touch, sight and hearing constantly respond to markers within our society. Those markers serve a distinct role in how we connect and interpret our interactions with individuals. Those markers allow us to interpret social, gendered and racial ideas through standards of normality embedded in our culture (Hazel, 2014). Kimberly Eison Simmons highlights the historical colonization of the Dominican Republic and the lasting effects of growing up in a racialized system. These effects contribute to ideologies of "Domincaness" while constructing a national identity (Simmons, 2008). Hazel's approach is geared towards standards of whiteness that have been dictated by political governing forces, which continue to impact the everyday life on the streets in the Dominican Republic. Simmons, on the other hand, emphasizes the experiences African American students encounter along with Dominican American students during their study abroad course in the Dominican Republic. Both anthropologists explain the meanings associated with the various tones of skin complexion and the detachment of the Dominican national identity from African ancestry. They highlight the unequal treatment dark skinned Dominicans have faced as they remain marginalized due to their skin color.