FIFA’s Haiti jersey ban echoes the long campaign to discredit and downplay the Haitian Revolution

Ahead of its first match in the 2026 World Cup, the Haitian national soccer team was forced to make a last-minute change. But it didn’t have anything to do with its roster or travel plans. It was the team’s jersey.

FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, said the jersey design violated its rules, which ban political slogans or imagery.

Haiti at the World Cup is more than an underdog tale – it is the story of global migration

When Haiti’s soccer team lines up against Scotland on June 13, 2026, its players will be representing the Caribbean nation at a World Cup for the first time since 1974. They will also embody the complexities and possibilities of Haiti and its diaspora.

Of the 26 players selected for the squad, only 10 were born in Haiti. And just one, Woodensky Pierre, plays for a Haitian club. Twelve were born in France of Haitian parents, one in Canada, one in Switzerland and two in the United States.

Update on Haitian Immigration in the United States (June 18, 2026)

The event brings together immigrant rights advocates, lawyers, and scholars to provide an update on Haitian immigration in the United States. Panelists address the volatile and shifting immigration landscape for Haitians, the SCOTUS TPS case, and Congressional TPS advocacy. This timely conversation is for the public and will help clarify misconceptions about current immigration policy and procedures.

Reading Frederick Douglass through a Haitian Lens (July 1, 2026)

The Haitian Studies Association (HSA) honors the work of Frederick Douglass by reading and reflecting on the Haitian Kreyòl translation of “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July”/”Kisa jou kat jiyé vle di pou nèg nwa” in the context of Haitian studies and the Haitian diaspora in the US. Frederick Douglass engaged directly with Haiti as U.S. ambassador from 1889-91 and his “Lecture on Haiti” at the Chicago World’s Fair (1893). The reading will be followed by a panel to discuss the translation and consider Douglass’ legacy and relationship with Haiti.

Haitian Studies in Dialogue: Emerging Scholars Bridging Dyasporas in France, the United States, and Beyond (May 25, 2026)

The study of Haiti, like the country itself, is caught between colonial and neo-colonial currents. For nearly four decades the Haitian Studies Association, based in the United States academy, and its scholars have played key roles in defining Haitian Studies. U.S. regional hegemony has drawn Haitian migrants to its shores, increasing the number of people interested in the study of Haiti. This growth in scholarship focused on Haiti and Haitian diasporic communities is sustained and advanced by the formation of the Haitian Studies Association, the Haitian Studies Institute at Brooklyn College (New York), and the Journal of Haitian Studies. These institutions were born from activism and political organizing, but they also exist in relation to the historical legacies of Cold War-era area studies (1940s-1990s), and with the development of Black/Africana Studies departments from the 1960s onward. Haitian Studies in the United States, then, is a product of specific historical developments, local and state funding opportunities, and community-based socio-political mobilization, but it is also vital in this era of global crises. The United States’s continuing intervention in Haiti as well as its inhumane treatment of Haitian migrants and asylum seekers require ongoing response from experts to provide Haiti-informed perspectives.

Virtual Program & Politics Briefing (Apr. 2, 2026)

Please join the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) for a Virtual Program & Politics Briefing on Thursday, April 2nd at 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST with the leaders of our sister organization, the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI).
The Leadership Council members Mèt Kattia Dorestant Lefruy, Mèt Gesnel Pierre, and Mèt Chadony Canon will speak about the complex and challenging political context in Haiti. They will share how the BAI is navigating these barriers and continuing to advance justice, democracy, and Haitian human rights.

Journal of Haitian Studies Fall 2025 – Volume 31, Number 2

SOLIDARITIES AND DIVISIONS ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN
CREATIVE FORMS OF TEMPORALITY, HISTORY, AND BIOGRAPHY IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY LITERATURE
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON SARA E. JOHNSON’S ENCYCLOPEDIE NOIRE: THE MAKING OF MOREAU DE SAINT-MERY’S INTELLECTUAL WORLD
RESEARCH NOTE
REVIEWS

Film Konbit Kolektif – Spring 2026 Series

The Film Konbit Kolektif, a collaborative effort of the Haitian Studies Association (HSA) with CUNY Haitian Studies Institute (HSI) at Brooklyn College, presents the Spring 2026 Film Series which features short and feature films on Women and Women’s Health.

Online Film Screening – Douvan Jou Ka Leve (The Sun Will Rise) (Mar 20, 2026)

This intimate documentary by filmmaker Gessica Généus tackles the complex issue of mental health illness in Haitian society. Using her mother’s bipolar disorder, Généus explores what she refers to as an “illness of the soul” to examine how personal trauma is intertwined with centuries of cultural and religious colonization in Haiti. The film blends poetic narration with intimate footage in a way that invites viewers to address the issue of mental illness with compassion, care and understanding.

Online Films Screening – Four Short Films by Al’Ikens Plancher (Apr 24, 2026)

Join filmmaker Al’Ikens Plancher and Felix Jean-Louis (Assistant Professor of History, University of California, Irvine) as they discuss these short films centered on Haitian and Haitian-American identities.

Online Film Screening – Ludi (May 8, 2026)

Ludi follows a Haitian nurse employed at a nursing home in Little Haiti, Miami, trying to make ends meet to support her family in Haiti. The film helps viewers reflect on the cost of pursuing the so-called American Dream.
Join us for a post-screening discussion with filmmaker Edson Jean and Cécile Accilien (Professor of French & Francophone Studies , University of Maryland).

Haitian Studies in Dialogue – A Pre-Conference Symposium

The Haitian Studies Association (HSA) and the Haiti-DR Section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) are pleased to invite proposals from PhD students, early career researchers, and advanced (senior) scholars to participate in a one-day symposium to be held at the Paris Marriott Rive Gauche Hotel (14th arrondissement) on May 25, 2026 from 0900 until 1700.

Online Event “Kongrè Patrioyotik pou yon Sovtaj Nasyonal” (Jan 24, 2026)

At this difficult juncture for Haiti, we are forwarding an invitation to attend a zoom event Saturday January 24, 2026 hosted by the Congès National de Sauvetage National. For the past 10 months, the group has garnered opinions and suggestions through 12 symposia organized in Haiti and in the Diaspora. Follow-up meetings in Port-au-Prince, in the provinces, and in the Diaspora included different groups and constituencies representing various sectors of the population and often divergent platforms. A number of HSA members have participated as presenters or attendees.

Global Reads Webinar: Author Nadine Pinede on her YA Novel Set in Haiti (Jan 24. 2026)

K-12 educators, join us for a conversation with Nadine Pinede, author of the 2025 Américas Award Honor Book, When the Mapou Sings. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss the book with the author and consider classroom applications.
Infused with magical realism, this story blends first love and political intrigue with a quest for justice and self-determination in 1930s Haiti.
Sixteen-year-old Lucille hopes to one day open a school alongside her best friend where girls just like them can learn what it means to be Haitian: to learn from the mountains and the forests around them, to carve, to sew, to draw, and to sing the songs of the Mapou, the sacred trees that dot the island nation. But when her friend vanishes without a trace, a dream—a gift from the Mapou—tells Lucille to go to her village’s section chief, the local face of law, order, and corruption, which puts her life and her family’s at risk.
Forced to flee her home, Lucille takes a servant post with a wealthy Haitian woman from society’s elite in Port-au-Prince. Despite a warning to avoid him, she falls in love with her employer’s son. But when their relationship is found out, she must leave again—this time banished to another city to work for a visiting American writer and academic conducting fieldwork in Haiti. While Lucille’s new employer studies vodou and works on the novel that will become Their Eyes Were Watching God, Lucille risks losing everything she cares about—and any chance of seeing her best friend again—as she fights to save their lives and secure her future in this novel in verse with the racing heart of a thriller.