RaphaelHaiti and the Americas Conference: October 21, 2010
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
The first day of the Haiti and the Americas conference brought together exciting discussions about the influence of the Haitian revolution on pro- and anti-slavery discourses in the U.S. and Europe, contemporary representations of sex, tourism, and class struggle in Haitian literature and film, and representations of Vodou in the U.S. and the Bahamas.
The morning began with an opening ceremony that included a welcome by the Dean of FAU's Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Manjunath Pendakur. Highlights of the day's program included the Peace Studies Keynote Lecture by Myriam J.A. Chancy titled “A Marshall Plan for a Haiti at Peace: To Continue or End the Legacy of the Revolution,” as well as the screening of the film "Eat, For This is My Body" along with a discussion with filmmaker Michelange Quay, whose visit was sponsored by the Florida Humanities Council.
Information on Friday and Saturday's events, including the literary evening with PUMA.Creative Mobility Award recipient Rose Rejouis, is available at http://www.creativecaribbeannetwork.com/page/5218/en
-
Myriam J.A. Chancy's Peace Studies Keynote Address -
Professor Myriam J.A. Chancy of the University of Cincinnati delivered a lecture on post-earthquake recovery, discussing the problems with the metaphor of a "Marshall Plan for Haiti" in light of Haiti's historical relationships with colonialism and international aid organizations. Her talked covered everything from the manufacture of baseballs in Haiti to the crisis of amputees that has resulted from the "guerrilla medicine" practiced in the first weeks after the earthquake.
-
Audience at Chancy's Lecture -
Nearly two hundred students, faculty, and members of the Palm Beach community attended Dr. Chancy's lecture.
-
Patricia Saunders of the University of Miami presented a paper on Laurent Cantet's film "Heading South" and the Dany Laferriere collection of stories upon which the film is based.
-
The day's final panel on the Circulation of Vodou -
Bertin Louis of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville answers a question while Sika Dagbovie of Florida Atlantic University and Lindsay Twa of Augustana College listen.
With:
Patricia
Rose
lara
Elena
PUMAVision
AndreaContributions
Comments (11)
Macha
Haiti
Nick
The
Mark
Michael
Francesca
Haiti and the Americas Conference
The first day of the conference was really wonderful. The papers all seemed to build on and inform one another in really critical ways. Myriam's keynote gave the audience a number of critical ideological and political issues to consider and the dialogue was rich.
I am still processing the film though -- its one of those that requires greater rumination.
Great job! Looking forward to the sessions tomorrow.
Haiti and the Americas Conference
I am so pleased that the conference is going well. We all wish that we could be there at this important gathering.
Congratulations
Congratulations from PUMA.Creative
We at PUMA.Creative wanted to extend our congratulations for what seems like an exciting conference.
It is a great honour for us to partner with you on the event.
We are also pleased that we could offer a PUMA.Creative Mobility Award to ROSE MYRIAM REJOUIS to be there and present.
We look forward to reading more.
Haiti and the Americas Conference
After such deep pain that the Haitian community has felt of late it is great to learn of an important conference like this. Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Haiti and the Americas Conference
Congratulations
Haiti and the Americas Conference, Day 1
Thanks to everyone for the supportive comments, and to PUMA.Creative for their partnership on this event.
The presentations and discussions from the first day of the conference were extremely productive, and I was heartened to see so many FAU students and faculty from other South Florida schools like University of Miami and Florida International in attendance. Chancy's discussion of post-earthquake recovery seemed especially to touch people and make them think, and the momentum from that lecture really framed the examination of Vodou (and Pat Robertson's caricature of it) as well as the film in interesting ways.
I'm looking forward to continuing these conversations on Friday and Saturday!
An important platform
It is wonderful to see a platform for these kinds of important discussions to happen. Congratulations to the conference and to FAU. PUMA.Creative is extremely excited to partner with you and we are looking forward to seeing all the comments and ideas stemming from the discussions!
Congrats!
Claire
Haiti and the Americas Conference
I must congratulate this great initiative. To partner the vast efforts of PUMA.Creative on creating a collaborative working virtual network and “live” hands-on essential conferences, like this one on the present situation and history of Haiti (made possible by FAU) is indispensable to start to comprehend the diverse and always changing reality of the Caribbean nowadays. Also, to responsibly involve the student communities is a vital tool for building an ampler knowledge of the Caribbean, not only as a geographical territory, but as a space of production of meaning, intertextuality and political complexity, a space from where it is possible to elucidate and recognize much of the historical progression at the present, in short, a creative space in all the sense of the word.
Excellent Conference
This was an engaging, informative and stimulating conference! Much thanks to Rafe, PUMA and the organizers.
Andrea
Haiti and the Americas Conference
Thank you for inviting me to participate in this great conference!
I very much enjoyed chairing the panel on "Haitian Narration" the first day of the conference. The presentations by Jeff Karem, Melissa Sande, Pat Saunders and Alessandra Benedicty were thought-provoking and generated some great conversations throughout the day. Karem's archival research introduced us all to a little known novel, Viejo, about the US occupation of Haiti during the 20th Century, Sande's talk helped us think through the genre-bending of romance and tragedy in Marie Chauvet's novel Love, Saunder's presentation opened up an ethical debate about sex workers and their labor as represented in Dany Laferriere's work, and finally, Benedicty's talk gave us an entry into interpreting the ethical challenges of hunger in the movie, Eat, For This Is My Body. This panel did a great job of setting the major themes of discussion that would be developed even further with that night's viewing of Michelange Quay's film, which for me was one of the major highlights of the conference!
Congratulations
Its always wonderful to see pertinent and intellectual work that celebrates and fosters a more dynamic understanding of Haiti. Great Job!