By Ryan Brown
F
aiti Lab
VII The Haiti Lab
or the heads of a laboratory, Laurent swell of concern for the country rising across variety of disciplines, from history to public Dubois and Deborah Jenson have an campus, while also stemming media-fueled per- health to law, all of them bringing their indiunusual set of credentials. Yes, you can ceptions of Haiti as destitute and unfixable. vidual expertise to some of Haiti’s most presscall them “doctor,” but look closely: those PhD’s Jenson, a professor of romance studies who ing earthquake needs, all the while promoting a are in history and French. They spend far more was then Duke’s only professor of Creole lan- broader understanding of the country. time combing Caribbean archives than mixing guage—the mother tongue of most Haitians— “The real hope is that we can show you can chemicals and they know more about Haitian scrambled to launch a new language class to give bring together in-depth humanities and cultural Creole than the periodic table. students and community members with an in- knowledge with projects that can have an imBut if Jenson and Dubois aren’t your average terest in the Haitian recovery the linguistic and mediate impact,” Dubois says. lab directors, that’s because theirs isn’t your aver- cultural background necessary to make them The disaster, he says, highlighted the need age lab. When the two professors open the doors effective ambassadors. Meanwhile, Dubois and to preserve and promote Haitian history, both to their Haiti Lab in Smith Warehouse this Fall, Gaffield were also planning a conference focused within the country, where educational tools are there won’t be a white coat or test tube in sight. on preserving Haitian archival materials and a pressing need, and to a world that often sees Instead, they’ll be rolling out the Univer- teams of Duke students and medical personnel Haiti—which holds the distinction of existing sity’s first ever “humanities laboratory.” It’s a were preparing for aid trips to the country. as a result of the modern world’s only successterm with the puzzling ring of an oxymoron, “We started to have a very organic surfacing ful slave rebellion—as corrupt and backward. A but as English professor Ian Baucom, director of Haitian ties and interest from the commu- central tool in this battle to remember will be of the Franklin Humanities Institute, describes nity,” Jenson says. the digitization and free Internet distribution it, the concept is simple. You take the idea of a With the ball already rolling, the question of Haitian archival documents, many of which scientific lab—a hub for teaching and research, for Jenson and Dubois, a professor of French were buried beneath crumbled concrete Jan. 12. a collaborative space for study, an intensive and and history who has worked extensively in the The lab also hopes to be heavily involved singularly focused community of with linguistic work, translating pressscholars—and apply that to a topic in recovery documents into Creole and “This has the chance to really make a ing the humanities. publishing Creole literature in English, large community around Haiti scholar- making it—and by proxy Haitian cul“With a lab we can address questions that are beyond any one ture—accessible to a wider audience. To ship at Duke.” scholar’s area of expertise,” he says. that end, the University has hired a sec“It’s an opportunity to create an inond Creole language instructor, linguist - Doctoral student Christina Mobley tensive, ongoing dialogue on a [huJacques Pierre, who will begin to teach manities] subject.” French Caribbean, was how to keep it going. and work with the lab in the fall. So where does Haiti play into all this? While Enter Baucom and the Franklin Humanities “Many people from Duke will go to Haiti a small Caribbean island nation may initially Institute. The institute, he says, was looking to for aid work [over the next few years], and we seem like a strange subject with which to kick- push cross-disciplinary collaboration in the hu- want them to be able to communicate in culture start the humanities lab program, the ties be- manities in an innovative way—and to motivate and language with the country,” he says. tween the Gothic Wonderland and Haiti run scholars to work more closely with students on As for other projects, Dubois and Jenson say deep. Duke is one of only a handful of American their research. they will depend largely on the students and facuniversities to offer a language program in HaiThe solution, it seemed, was to create a ulty who join the lab in the coming years. They tian Creole, and the University counts among long-term space for research, channeling money, intend to hire student interns and researchers, its faculty experts in Haitian history, language, resources and brilliant minds into a single press- develop new Haiti-related classes and encourage literature and dance. Renowned public health ing subject for maximum results. Thus the idea students to pursue multidisciplinary honors theexpert Paul Farmer, Trinity ’82, whose pioneer- of the humanities lab was born, and the FHI ses through the lab. ing work on medical services for the poor began made plans to launch three over a three-year In this way, Baucom says, the directors of the in Haiti, sits on the University’s Board of Trust- period. When Dubois proposed the idea of lab hope to make Haiti more than just a flash in ees, and this Spring in London, Julia Gaffield, a making Haiti the first subject, it seemed like a the pan for Duke philanthropy and research. graduate student in history at Duke, discovered natural fit. “The Haiti lab is a fabulous way for us to the only known original copy of the Haitian “We hope it will create really a think-tank- think about how to be scholars, students and Declaration of Independence. like atmosphere for those of us working on Hai- citizens of the world all at once, both to contribThe true catalyst for the lab, however, was ti,” says Christina Mobley, a doctoral student ute to historical understanding of this place and the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti on of Dubois’ who works on 19th century Haiti. also to think about what we all can contribute to Jan. 12. With the country splayed across inter- “This has the chance to really make a large com- it in the future.” national news headlines, its pain and poverty on munity around Haiti scholarship at Duke.” Students interested in working with the Haiti Lab display for the entire world, Duke’s scholars of Ideally, the lab’s creators say, that commuHaiti searched for a way to marshal the ground- nity will include students and scholars of a wide should contact Ian Baucom at ibaucom@duke.edu.
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