Spring 2013: FORF Activities

FORF’s Special Forum on Haiti’s Amerindian Heritage will take place April 18-20, 2013 at the Hotel Kinam in Petionville. The program is set, presenters are polishing their presentations, sponsors are coming forward with financial contributions, and participants are enrolling. Join us! To register for the Forum, send us an email atforum@forfhaiti.org

LOGISTICS

• Opening Event: Evening of April 18, 2013 (details to be announced)
• Forum Sessions: April 19-20, 2013, 8:30am to 5:00pm
• Location: Ritz Kinam, Rue PanAmericaine, Petion-Ville, Haiti
• Cost: Possibility of a small fee at the door
• Who should attend? Researchers, Collectors, individuals concerned with the Amerindian’s heritage, students and teachers in Ethnology, Ministries of Culture, Tourism, Environment, members and Tourism Associations, Tour operators, Local authorities where Amerindian heritage is located, Legislators, the Media

PURPOSE OF FORUM

• To increase awareness of Haiti’s Taino past and heritage towards and achieve formal inventory of riches
• To encourage heightened protection and preservation of Haiti’s cultural riches
• To motivate tour operators and institutions to feature Haiti’s archaeological sites in local visits and eco-tourism, thereby promoting Touris Lakay
• To motivate local communities to protect and develop their Touris Lakay potential
• To encourage the creation of an Amerindian Museum

THEMES

• Identifying existing Amerindian heritage in Haiti: towards a systematic inventory. Experiences of other countries.
• Life of Amerindians pre-Columbus: Culture and society on the island and surrounding areas.
• Contact of civilizations: Tainos, Caraibes and Africans under the European colonization (in the region with the island of Haiti as focal point)
• Amerindian customs survival in today’s Haitian culture (language, customs, religion, cooking, traditional knowledge, etc.)
• Perspectives, potentialities and proposals for the rational exploitation of these cultural riches (perspectives of educators, specialists in heritage, museologists, tourism experts

PRESENTERS
Sessions will be led by a variety of well-known ethnologists and researchers, including:

• Gilbert Valme, researcher and writer
• Guy Maximilien, researcher
• Rachelle Charlier Doucet, ethnologist
• Kathleen Deagan of the University of Florida (research and publication on Puerto Real)
• Mireille Ain and Rachel Beauvoir Dominique, Taino and Voodoo religion