Upcoming Events
‘A Year and A Day. Leonore Mau and Haiti’: Book Launch & Conversation (Sept. 24, 2026)
A Year and A Day. Leonore Mau and Haiti is a poly-phonic inquiry into the photographs that Leonore Mau (1916-2013) took in Haiti during the 1970s. Essays and interventions by artists and authors from diverse fields illuminate, contextualize, analyze, and challenge the German photographer’s work, revealing its many layers. Leonore Mau’s oeuvre opens a space for decolonial and critical reflection on political, economic, cultural, and personal entanglements, on aesthetics, as well as on the ethics of taking, viewing, and using photographs today.
Past Events
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.