H.S.A. Working Groups – Informal Virtual Event

1:00pm – 3:00pm Zoom – Open to the public

Are you interested in learning more about the H.S.A.’s working groups and how you can get involved? Please join representatives of the Sexualities, Environmental Understanding and Archives and Public Memory Working Groups to learn about what each group has done so far, what we are planning for the future, and to participate in an informal discussion and Q&A. 

The Sexualities Working Group brings together U.S. and Haiti-based scholar-practitioners-activists to mobilize toward the rights to live creatively for Haitian LGBTQ/M-community, Vodouyizan, and all those who do not conform to sexual/gendered norms. It catalyzes new networks and knowledge between scholars, activists, artists, and queer Haitians living in resistance to multiple assaults on their existence. The Environmental Understandings Working Group focuses on the past, present, and future of Haiti’s ecosystems, seeking to define a set of recommendations for management of Haitian land and natural resources in a time of climate change and profound environmental challenges, and develop more effective models of environmental communication. The Archives and Public Memory Working Group is a generative, collaborative space that will provide practical resources for archivists, library workers, and cultural heritage workers, researchers, and others to enable people in Haiti and the diaspora to be aware of and access existing archives, and provide knowledge and resources to preserve, store, and catalogue archival collections.

Virtual Advocacy Training

Using your power to positively influence U.S. foreign policy

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You can view the recorded event here.

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3:00pm – 4:30pm Zoom – Open to the public

Presenter: Alan Yarborough, Church Relations Officer, Office of Government Relations of The Episcopal Church and chair, Haiti Advocacy Working Group

Special Guests:

Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick FL-20

Guerline Jozef, Founder and Executive Director Haitian Bridge Alliance, Black Immigrants Bail Fund, Cameroon Advocacy Network

Description: For starters—what is policy advocacy and how is it different from, and complementary to, political activism? How can you leverage your power to influence U.S. foreign policy toward Haiti? Moreover, working for justice on any issue, including through policy advocacy, is an exhausting process, as so many different issues are pressing for our time and attention. Learn how to craft an advocacy strategy that also acknowledges the need for self-care and maintaining energy for long-term, effective engagement. Attendees will come away with best practices for advocacy and a deeper understanding of various advocacy tools and how to use them.

DEPORTED Film Screening & Discussion

4:30pm – 6:00pm University of Maryland – St Mary’s Hall, Multi-Purpose Room (Free and open to the public)

6:00pm – 7:00pm Q&A Roundtable with Professors Cécile Accilien (Kennesaw State), Valérie Orlando (Umd Fren) & Phd student Ligia Neryanna Gonzalez (Umd Spap)

DEPORTED follows members of a unique group of men in Haiti: criminal deportees from North America. Since 1996, the United States has implemented a policy of repatriation of all foreign residents who have been convicted of crimes. Every two weeks, about 50 Haitian nationals are deported from the United States; 40 percent are convicted legal residents who completed their jail sentence in America. Through the portraits and interviews of four deportees in Haiti and their families in North America, DEPORTED presents the tragedy of broken lives, forced separation from American children and spouses, alienation and stigmatization endured in a country they don’t know and don’t understand.

The Q&A Roundtable will be recorded and available at a later date.