Tuesday,
November 7 at 7pm
Ecology,
Culture, and Identity Politics
with
talk by Dr Marc Prou + The Road to Fondwa
dir.
Justin Brandon, Haiti, 2005/2006, video, color, work in progress,
English
and
Creole w/ English and Creole subtitles
Presented
by Kelly
Writers House and International House Philadelphia
in conjunction with the exhibit, Life
in Fondwa: Daily Struggle, Eternal Hope
Introduced
Peter Schwarz, Art Curator of Kelly Writers House
 Fondwa
serves as focal point for a panel discussion examining the situation
of rural Haitians and how environmental issues contribute to
identity politics and culture, particularly in the creation
of a divide between Haiti's rural and urban sectors of society.
A screening of The Road to Fondwa, a documentary film
produced by Brian McElroy, will accompany the discussion.
The
Road to Fondwa is
a film project designed to present the village of Fondwa as
a model of sustainable development for rural Haiti and a unique
example of community empowerment, combining international collaboration
with grassroots organizing to produce sustainable results.
In
1988, the Association of Peasants of Fondwa (APF) was formed
at the behest of Fr. Joseph Philippe. As with most rural communities
in Haiti, Fondwa suffers from a complete lack of government
aid in terms of infrastructure, education, health, and other
areas. In response to these conditions, the peasants of Fondwa
have taken the development of their region into their own hands
by means of the APF and the people of Fondwa have come together
to find creative solutions to their common problems.
In
January 2004, the bicentennial of Haiti’s independence, the
APF founded the University of Fondwa as the country’s first
and only university in the mountains. With faculties in Agronomy,
Veterinary Medicine and Management, UNIF is designed to train
a network of sustainable development professionals who return
home to work on behalf of their communities, thus exporting
Fondwa’s progressive development model to rural areas throughout
Haiti.
For further information on Fondwa, please visit their website
www.fondwa.org.
Dr.
Marc Prou is Assistant Professor in Africana Studies at the
University of Massachusetts (Boston) and is Director of the
Haitian Institute. His academic fields include Caribbean Studies
with an emphasis on Haiti, Urban Education and Multiculturalism.
Prou has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and
anthologies on a wide range of cultural studies topics. His
forthcoming book Haitian Creole for Healthcare Professionals
(Educavision, Florida) is co-edited with Dr. Mel Schorin.
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