2014
Mémoire, dictature, citoyenneté, une mobilisation multisectorielle October 17, 2014
Mémoire, dictature, citoyenneté, une mobilisation multisectorielle
Agenda de manifestations publiques et d’ateliers sur le devoir de mémoire et la lutte contre l’impunité.
October 17, 2014
DISTINGUISHED PHILANTHROPIST MICHELE PIERRE-LOUIS SPEAKS AT CUNY GRADUATE CENTER’S HPFI October 5, 2014
DISTINGUISHED PHILANTHROPIST MICHELE PIERRE-LOUIS SPEAKS AT CUNY GRADUATE CENTER’S HPFI
ABOUT MICHELE DUVIVIER PIERRE-LOUIS
October 5, 2014
A former prime minister of Haiti in the administration of President René Préval from September 2008 to November 2009, only the second woman to have held that post in Haiti, and having also served as Minister of Justice and Public Security, Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis is a global philanthropic figure. She is currently the president of FOKAL (Fondasyon Konesans Ak Libète), a local Open Society foundation operating in Haiti and engaging with local communities, the Haitian government, and international organizations to develop the skills, resources, and institutions that Haitians can use to improve their lives and overcome political violence, natural disasters, and poverty.
Michele Pierre-Louis has also served in the private sector as Director of Credit at the Bank of Nova Scotia, Officer of Administration and Human Resources to the Haitian Development Finance Corporation, and Deputy Director at the Airport Authority. She played a leading role in the literacy campaign Mission Alpha, in particular in 1991, when she was entrusted with the task of redefining the mission of the state and coordination between the Presidency and the Ministers, taking into account the demands of rural organizations for agrarian reform. Michele Pierre-Louis also taught in the University prior to becoming Prime Minister. Her courses focused on “Culture and society in the Caribbean” and “The History of the Great Civilizations.” She was a member of the journal Chemins Critiques which published several issues on politics, economics, arts and culture, from 1989 through 2006
During this month of October, two major speaking engagements in New York City offer an exceptional opportunity to hear her.
She will be speaking first at the Fitch Colloquium: Transformative: Seven Ideas for a New Preservation at Columbia University. The colloquium is convening six leading figures with unique perspectives to re-imagine the future of preservation. Michele Pierre-Louis will address the severe challenges facing the preservation of Haiti’s heritage, as well as a more hopeful future based on a greater involvement of “underprivileged populations in the understanding of their own environment.”
On October 20, she will speak at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Henri Peyre French Institute Three-Year Seminar, Impunity, Responsibility, Citizenship: Haiti on “The Travesty of Justice.” She will be addressing difficult questions such as: What are the causes of such a persistent situation in times of dictatorship or of “democratic transition”? What is the meaning of “the rule of law” under such circumstances? What is the meaning of justice for a historically marginalized majority?
This event is free and open to the public. It will also be live-streamed on the Henri Peyre French Institute website and on the Graduate Center videostreaming channel.
News September 2014: Food and Foodstuffs Seminar October 5, 2014
News September 2014: Food and Foodstuffs Seminar
First HPFI online seminar takes place on September 30 I
October 5, 2014
On September 30, the Henri Peyre French Institute held its FIRST ONLINE FORUM as part of its ongoing three-year seminar, Food, Power, Exchange and Identity: Food and Foodstuffs in the French and Francophone Worlds.
The Forum topic focused on food discourses and practices in 19th -century France and was accompanied by an online exhibit on street foods in France during that period. The forum was held from 1 PM to 7 PM to accommodate visitors’ and members’ work hours and over one-hundred visitors followed the forum during the day. Many challenging questions, rich with possibilities for future discussions, were raised and the exchange was highly enjoyed by participants. The forum was monitored by an HPFI team comprising the Director (Francesca Canadé Sautman), its Assistant, Marguerite Van Cook, and Board member Jasmine Narcisse. The team was joined during the day by Professor Julia Przybos, Executive Officer of the Ph.D. Program in French at The Graduate Center, and distinguished scholar in 19th century studies, most recently author of Les aventures du corps masculin (Paris: José Corti, 2012) and Lauren Christensen, doctoral candidate in French, who has given many talks on food, nationalism and the work of Curnonsky at academic venues.
News Fall 2014: JASMINE NARCISSE JOINS THE HPFI BOARD October 5, 2014
In fall 2014, Jasmine Narcisse joined the Henri Peyre French Institute’s Board.
Ms. Narcisse is currently an advanced doctoral candidate in the Ph.D. Program in French, completing a dissertation on Haitian writing of the self with a year-long dissertation fellowship. CEO and director of the Haitian Book Centre and Coordinator of the Annual Haitian Book Day in New York City since 2001, Ms. Narcisse has a long record of dedication to the promotion of Haitian culture and to the understanding of Haitian affairs. In April 2014 she was invited to speak at Duke University (Haiti Lab at the Franklin Humanities Institute) about her collection of personal narratives of Haitian women (Mémoire de Femmes , 1997, which remains the only substantial work of its kind to date). Her talk was entitled: “Mémoire de Femmes- Histoire d’Haïtiennes : Retrospective and Prospective Work on Haitian Women in Digital Humanities” .
In June 2014, she was invited to represent the HPFI and the work of its Impunity, Responsibility, Citizenship: Haiti seminar, which she designed and has been curating, at the conference organized in Port-au-Prince by FOKAL. The conference, De la mémoire à la démocratie: transition, mémoire, lutte contre l”impunité, justice was also sponsored by the Ecole Normale Supérieure de l’Université d’Etat d’Haiti, the Sorbonne 5, the University Quisequeya and had the support of several Canadian universities. The conference reflected on the process of memory, the legacy of dictatorships and the process of transition to a state of law, and involved over one hundred participants from Haiti, Argentina, Rwanda, Brazil, Portugal, Canada and France.
The HPFI Three-Year Seminar April 16, 2014
The HPFI Three-Year Seminar
April 16, 2014
Visit the HPFI Events and Programs pages:
Food, Power, Exchange and Identity: Food and Foodstuffs in the French and Francophone Worlds, a three-year interdisciplinary seminar organized by the Henri Peyre French Institute.
Impunity, Responsibility and Citizenship: Haiti, a three-year interdisciplinary seminar organized by the Henri Peyre French Institute.
2013
A Centennial Celebration of Aimé Césaire December 20, 2013
A Centennial Celebration of Aimé Césaire
The Practice of Taste: from Pierre Bourdieu to Antoine de Courtin December 20, 2013
The Practice of Taste: from Pierre Bourdieu to Antoine de Courtin