In my most recent course, Haitian Culture and Society, students read a variety of text to engage in critical discussions on Haitian history, culture, and society. This course provided a new opportunity for classroom engagement through digital scholarship. We covered some of the main themes of the course including power, Haitian exceptionalism, and agency. Students used a collaborative approach to draw on technology to consider various ways of speaking, writing, researching, and representing Haiti. We discussed issues and questions on access, authorship, interpretation, and representation by considering digital humanities.
By integrating the library, this course offered new ways to promote digital scholarship and to teach, research, and learn about Hatii. At our Digital Scholarship Showcase, students presented four projects on interrelated-interconnected themes: Haitian Culture and Society; Haitian Vodou; Haitian Relations; and Gender in Haiti. Students organized and conceptualized literature and multimedia resources in a purposeful way, which allowed students to rethink Haitian Studies and to think about alternative narratives on Haiti. The showcase gave students the opportunity to share their work, knowledge, and thinking about others.
Please take a look at my students’ website below.
Website Links for All Groups:
Gender in Haiti: https://genderinhaiti.wordpress.com
Haitian Culture: https://ayitisculture.wordpress.com
Vodou in Haiti: https://vodouinhaiti.wordpress.com
Haitian Relations: https://haitianrelationspoweranddivision.wordpress.com
Many thanks our library specialists who helped students with their WordPress sites. Also, thank you to the George Smathers Libraries for providing working space for our digital workshops in the computer lab and the Nygren Studio and light refreshments at our Digital Scholarship Showcase.
Dr. Crystal A. Felima 