An in international conference sponsored by the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the University of London—“From Duvalier to Préval: Haiti Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”—will take place on June 21-22, 2010. It will be held at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Charles Clore House, 17 Russell Square (WC1B 5DR, London, England.

The conference, which is supported by the David Nicholls Memorial Trust, will feature four keynote speakers: Michael Dash (Professor of French, New York University), Alex Dupuy (Professor of Sociology, Wesleyan University), Anthony Maingot, Professor Emeritus (Florida International University), and Reginald Dumas (former Special Advisor on Haiti to the UN Secretary-General).

Organizers Paul Sutton and  Kate Quinn describe the conference: Recent events in Haiti underscore more than ever the urgency of understanding the history, politics, development and future prospects of this Caribbean nation. This international conference will bring together academics, policy-makers and NGOs to discuss key themes in the history and development of Haiti in the last fifty years.

The central academic focus will be a reassessment of the work of the late David Nicholls who is widely regarded as producing among the best scholarly work on Haitian politics, notably From Dessalines to Duvalier (1979). Nicholls’ analyses will be subject to critical evaluation and application to determine whether his insights still hold in the face of more recent scholarship and the political turmoil of the last thirty years.

The conference will also explore how academic analyses of Haiti can engage with non-governmental organizations and policy-makers to inform policies designed to address the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the country, so sharply exposed by the recent earthquake. The conference will examine the multiple challenges Haiti has faced in the political, economic, social and environmental spheres and consider the options for sustainable development and ‘reconstruction’.

For more information, see  http://www.americas.sas.ac.uk/events/programmes/Haiti.html

You may also contact the organizers at  p.sutton@londonmet.ac.uk   or  kate.quinn@sas.ac.uk.