The recent catastrophic earthquake in Haiti and its long-term consequences has made the need to better understand our neighbouring republic more critical than ever. The earthquake, the worst natural disaster in the Caribbean this century, presents new challenges for Haiti and demands greater regional involvement. In its commitment to educate, support and inform the campus community and the wider public on Haiti's past, present, and future rebuilding, the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Office of the Principal will host a panel discussion and lectures on Haiti on Monday, February 8 and Tuesday February 9, 2010.

The panel discussion, titled “Haiti’s Relations with the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean from the Revolution to the Present” will take place on Monday, February 8 at 4:00 p.m. in the Multifunctional Room, the Main Library, Mona Campus. Panelists will include Professor Franklin W. Knight, Department of History, Johns Hopkins, University, USA and Professor Carl Campbell, Professor Patrick Bryan, and Dr. Matthew Smith, Department of History and Archaeology, UWI, Mona.

 At 7.00pm Dr. Matthew Smith, lecturer in the  Department of History and Archaeology, Mona Campus will give a lecture entitled  “Port-au-Prince in the History of Haiti”. The lecture will take place at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge and Conference Centre. Dr. Smith’s main area of Research is Haitian political and social history. He was recently recognized by the Mona Campus as most outstanding researcher and for best research publication for his book Red and Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict and Political Change, 1934-1957

Professor Franklin W. Knight will deliver a lecture entitled The Importance of Haiti to France and the New World, 1697-2010” on Tuesday February 9. The lecture which also takes place at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge and Conference will begin at 7.00 p.m.

Professor Knight is an internationally renowned scholar and a member of the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore since 1973. In 1991 was appointed the Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor of History. His research interests focus on social, political and cultural aspects of Latin America and the Caribbean especially after the eighteenth century as well as on American slave systems in their comparative dimensions. The public is invited to all presentations.