Interactive Webcast on Haiti's History and Recovery April 23

How Haiti's history may provide clues for its recovery from the devastating earthquake in January is the focus of the next "Office Hours" webcast conversation Friday, April 23. Professor Deborah Jenson will take questions from online viewers during the interview beginning at noon on Duke's Ustream channel.

To ask Jenson a question in advance or during the session, send an email to live@duke.edu, tweet with the tag #dukelive or post to the Duke University Facebook page.

In response to the earthquake, Jenson developed a Creole language course at Duke to help relief workers going to Haiti. The course spawned the Duke Kreyòl Blog with resources for learning and teaching Creole.

Jenson is participating this week in a conference "Haiti's History: Foundations for the Future," which includes scholars from Haiti and will focus on the preservation and archiving of Haitian cultural documents.

As a professor of French studies and Romance studies, Jenson teaches Creole language and French colonial history in Haiti. She is an advisor to Duke graduate student Julia Gaffield, who recently discovered what is believed to be the only known printed copy of Haiti's Declaration of Independence. Jenson's forthcoming book is "Beyond the Slave Narrative: Politics, Sex, and Manuscripts in the Haitian Revolution."

Office hours at a university are times when professors leave their doors open for individuals to stop by and discuss issues such as current events and developments in their fields. Duke's "Office Hours" series aims to bring the expansiveness and sparkle of these conversations to anyone with an Internet connection and an interest in the ideas bubbling up at Duke. To date, topics have ranged from patenting genes to political cartoons, the economics of the Islamic world and caring for people with cancer. You are invited to join the conversation.