A Conversation with the Philosophical Heir of Eugenio Maria De Hostos

Matías Bosch Carcuro is the grandson of Juan Bosch, who transcribed the Hostos manuscripts and became the first democratically elected president of the Dominican Republic
   
On April 23rd, Hostos Community College President Daisy Cocco De Filippis had the honor of receiving a distinguished visitor, Mr. Matías Bosch Carcuro, the young scion of the Bosch family which looms large in the history of the Dominican Republic and played a pivotal role in the elevation of our namesake, Eugenio María de Hostos, in the consciousness of the world. The meeting, organized by Dean of Community Relations Ana Garcia Reyes, explored potential collaborations and events.  Mr. Bosch Carcuro is the grandson of Juan Bosch, (1909 – 2001) a celebrated writer, educator and politician who in 1963, after the long and cruel dictatorship of Trujillo, became the Dominican Republic’s first democratically elected president, albeit briefly. Many years earlier, Juan Bosch had supervised the transcription and publication of the collected written works of Eugenio María de Hostos, which transformed his world view and had a profound influence on his career and his family.
 
Matías Bosch Carcuro, his grandson, is following in his footsteps, pursuing an academic career focused on political science, equality and human rights. He is a Professor of Political Science at the University of APEC, and does socio economic research at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, the oldest university in the Americas. Meanwhile, he is working on his doctorate in critical theory focused on social and political processes. All of these activities comprise a career dedicated to analyzing the societal problems that lead to inequity and policies that affect the fundamental rights of vulnerables peoples. Additionally, he is currently at the Dominican Studies Institute (DSI) in New York City, doing research for his doctorate as well as contributing to DSI’s investigations on the socioeconomic realities of the Dominican diaspora in the U.S. and New York.
 
This focus on rights and equity can largely be traced back to the seminal work of Eugenio Maria de Hostos, whose writings were made globally accessible by Bosch Carcuro’s illustrious grandfather, Juan Bosch. Upon arriving in Puerto Rico with his young family, Bosch was looking for work. “And in Puerto Rico, where he was already known as a novelist, he found work directing the transcription of the complete works of Eugenio María de Hostos, which was to be published in 1939. So, the Carnegie Library had begun the process in 1938,” recounts Bosch Carcuro. “Later, the Cuban publishing house that won the bid to publish these complete works said, ‘who better to supervise the publishing of these works than the person who supervised the mechanical transcription of Hostos’ texts.’  So, Bosch moved to Cuba, where he met my grandmother, his second wife. But Bosch learned about Hostos reading his handwritten manuscripts and reviewing every piece of paper. From that emerged a very important work titled “Hostos, el sembrador” (Hostos, the sower) which played a fundamental role as a biography that defined a generation of Puerto Ricans. In the ‘60s and ‘70s , Puerto Ricans embraced Hostos, who up until that point had been, for many young people, a distant figure, not very committed to independence, more of a thinker, but not very involved. And through this book they rediscovered him. An in my grandfather’s life, he wrote in a preface for a Puerto Rican edition in 1976, if I’m not mistaken, he said ‘if my life becomes so important that one day it warrants being written about, it will have to begin by saying “born in La Vega, Dominican Republic in 1909, and reborn in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the beginning of 1938 when the reading of the original manuscripts of Eugenio María de Hostos allowed him to learn which forces move, and how they move, the soul of a man consecrated to the service of others.” So that book was not only very important for Puerto Rico, but the reading of Hostos transformed the life of Juan Bosch. He finally found his destiny, which was not just being a writer. He, from that moment on, dedicated his life to the freedom of the Dominican Republic and to the struggle against all the dictators of Latin America. That’s why Hostos Community College, just the name, for me, for who Hostos is in my own history, and in the life of such an important figure in the Dominican Republic, my grandfather, Hostos holds a fundamental place. He’s like another father for my grandfather, like a great grandfather in an emotional sense and in my conscience.”
 
Hostos’ legacy is evident in Bosch Carcuro’s work analyzing fundamental questions about the lives of working class populations, including immigrants, in the Dominican Republic and throughout the region, and how policies written by the elites have resulted in fewer rights for the working class. And, he points out, those trends are not limited to Latin America. “We are at a time in  Europe, in America, and in general, in which many people are doubting if it is indeed human rights, and the equality of rights, that form the structure for cohabitation in nations, and if the state is a guarantor of those rights. We are, shall we say, in a moment in which positions that had once been overcome are revindicated. The working class of various countries seems to advance more if there are groups within who suffer a diminishment of their status and their dignity. And a discourse of privatization in which the state practically disappears. And the status of citizen practically is replaced by the status of client, which is supposed to improve the quality of life. These processes are manifesting electorally, but also in political behavior that is reflected on social media, in positions that reject health policies, reject immigrants, reject women’s rights. I’m interested in the comparative analysis of all of this, how it manifests in different countries, and I’ll be doing this for a while. I’m also very interested in how the conditions have declined so much that people search for explanations, and logically, ‘someone must be responsible for the change in my condition’. They have to find a guilty party, and this can legitimize some destructive policies.”
 
When asked if he feels that, like his grandfather, he’s carrying the legacy of Eugenio María de Hostos, Bosch Carcaro demures, pointing also to his family for inculcating him with shared ideas, culture and values. “Not just our preferences,  but also things that move us, things that pain us, things that do not let us rest. I don’t know if I have a long term goal. But I do know that for many years, where there has been an issue that pains me, and I know that it’s a pain for people who cannot defend themselves, I try to do something. For example, I’ve always strived for my research work to not be merely academic, but research that can be understood and that spurs debate about what is happening to human beings, why it’s happening, and how it can be changed. It’s clear to me that this is a daily goal. There is a social and ethical obligation to act. One should live in a manner in which one contributes something to make the world better, so that human beings can live better. It’s important to me that people live with dignity, and to do whatever is within my power to make it so. Sometimes what I can do is denounce something with my cel phone, sometimes I can dedicate my profession to it, sometimes I can do it on the street, sometimes I can do it by writing a story, like my grandfather did. You don’t have to do the same thing your parents did, but you do have to respect it and have a practice that is coherent with it, and also with your children.”
 
This generational consistency is important, not only because human evolution depends on each generation improving incrementally on the previous one, but because each generation inevitably faces similar challenges.  “Every generation has its own battle for freedom, for dignity, and for justice. In that sense, it’s like a constant Greek tragedy. And every generation has this battle with new content and new protagonists. We have our own. In this sense, one does not have the same battle as one’s grandparents. But one does have to choose which side you’re on, the side of justice or of injustice, of abuse or of rights, that people are free or that they are simply prisoners or slaves. And nowadays even whether life is possible or whether life will someday cease to exist. So, you do have to choose. You have to be respectful and coherent. Know what your ancestors chose, and decide.”
   
Following in the footsteps of his ancestors eventually led Bosch Carcuro to visit Hostos Community College and meet President Daisy Cocco De Filippis. “I had the honor of meeting her in 2003 when there was a symposium about Hostos and Martí for the centennial of Hostos’ death. My grandmother was invited, but Doña Carmen wanted me to go. My grandfather had died in 2001 and my grandmother didn’t feel up to travel, so she asked if I could go in her stead. So that was the first time I came to New York and to Hostos Community College, for that event. And that’s how I came to know the institution and Dr. Daisy Cocco De Filippis.”
 
Bosch Carcuro will soon have another opportunity to come to the College, as Dean of Community Relations Ana Garcia Reyes is organizing a talk with him on civil rights, and the legacy and contributions of Juan Bosch to human society. Details on the event are still preliminary and will be shared soon.