{"id":97007,"date":"2026-02-09T04:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T08:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/?p=97007"},"modified":"2026-02-10T13:27:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:27:37","slug":"english-professor-explores-identity-anger-belonging-in-revised-memoir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/02_09_2026\/english-professor-explores-identity-anger-belonging-in-revised-memoir","title":{"rendered":"English Professor Explores Identity, Anger, Belonging in Revised Memoir"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDique\u201d is a word in Dominican Spanish that translates to \u201csupposedly\u201d and is often used in irony.<\/p>\n

For Dr. Ayendy Bonifacio, it\u2019s a word that captures his lifetime of navigating who he is and who the world expects him to be.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Ayendy Bonifacio\u2019s \u201cDique Dominican\u201d blends personal history with cultural analysis to challenge the feeling that you are not who you are \u201csupposed\u201d to be.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bonifacio, an associate professor of English, explores these complexities in the newly revised and expanded edition of his memoir, \u201cDique Dominican\u201d (Unsolicited Press<\/a>, $21.95).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The memoir traces Bonifacio\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word \u2018dique\u2019 is important for understanding my book, which in large part is about feeling like you are not who you are supposed to be,\u201d Bonifacio said. \u201cGrowing 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201ctone down\u201d his inherited accents \u2014both Brooklyn and Dominican \u2014 to combat imposter syndrome.<\/p>\n

The new edition, written nearly a decade later, is a more raw and honest examination of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new edition explores a very complicated emotion, particularly in Latino men: anger,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the memoir, I explore the complex roots of anger and their ties to memory, grief, confusion, acceptance and various forms of trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned that the history of who we are is connected to the history of who we have been,\u201d he said. \u201cAbout 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope all readers find something in the pages of \u2018Dique\u2019 because our stories are deeply connected,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are all living in the same spacetime right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Ayendy Bonifacio\u2019s \u201cDique Dominican\u201d blends personal history with cultural analysis to challenge the feeling that you are not who you are \u201csupposed\u201d to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":97008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,498,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97007"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97010,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97007\/revisions\/97010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}