Chantalle Verna

 


vernaEDUCATION

Ph.D. in History, Michigan State University, 2005

M.A.  in History – Urban Studies, Michigan State University, 2000                    

B.A.   in Political Economy, Tulane University  1996                                 

Certificate Tulane University African Diaspora Studies 1996

RESEARCH INTERSTS

Professor Verna focuses on the culture of inter-American relations, specifically concerning Haiti and the United States during the mid-twentieth century. She is revising a book manuscript entitled Haiti ’s Second Independence and the Promise of Pan-American Cooperation, 1930-56 for publication. The study emphasizes the importance of examining the post-occupation period: the decades that followed the U.S. military occupation of Haiti (1915-34). Using evidence collected in Haiti and the United States , Professor Verna interrogates how Haiti ’s public officials and privileged citizens rationalized nurturing ties with the United States at the very moment when the two nations began negotiating the reinstatement of Haitian sovereignty in 1930. The public and private records she collected include the papers of Haitian presidents, ministers, and Americans working on development missions in Haiti ; the writings of Haitian intellectuals; and interviews with elders from the study period. Professor Verna’s findings reveal that during the mid-twentieth century, the ideas and actions of Haitians and Americans were heavily informed by Pan-Americanism – an ideology that stresses the shared history and interwoven future of all independent nations in the Americas . Her book will demonstrate why Haitians had an affinity for inter-American cooperation as a nation-building strategy and how that strategy facilitated the rise of international aid as a central component of U.S. foreign relations.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

Professor Verna’s teaching concentration is on twentieth-century United States and Haitian history. When teaching about the Americas or any other region of the world, she focuses on the relationship between domestic concerns and foreign relations in its broadest sense. Thus, her courses lend attention to issues of diplomacy, migrations, diaspora communities, transnational practices, and other types of global intersections

Currently Teaching:

AMH 2042                  Modern American Civilization, LAH 3718 U.S. - Latin American

Relations

AMH 5905                  U.S.-Haiti Relations, INR 4931 Topics in Int’l Rel: Inter-American

Relations

AMH XXX

Past Courses at FIU:

AMH 2002/2042                     Modern American Civilization                  

AMH 4930/5935                     Topics in U.S. History: Inter-American Relations           

INR 4931                                Topics in Int’l Rel: Inter-American Relations           

HIS 5908                                 Independent Study                                                            

HIS 5930                                 Topics in American History: Contemporary Dynamics of              International Relations                                                           

INR 5609                                Contemporary Dynamics of International Relations         AMH 4930                            Topics in U.S. History: Haiti-U.S. Relations                      

INR 4931                                Topics in Int’l Rel: Haiti-U.S. Relations                       

SELECT AWARDS

  • University of Florida Library Travel Grant, Summer 2008.
  • Faculty Research Award, College of Arts and Sciences, Summer 2008.
  • Postdoctoral Associate, Department of History, University of Miami, Fall 2007
  • Faculty Research Award, Office of the Provost, Florida International University, Summer 2007
  • Scholar-in-Residence, Rockefeller Archives Center, 2003
  • International Pre-Dissertation Fellowship, Social Science Research Council, 2001-02

SELECT RECENT PUBLICATIONS

  • “Maurice Dartigue and Educational Reform as a Strategy for Haitian National Development, 1930-46,” Journal of Haitian Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Fall 1997), 24-38.
  • “The Role of International Aid in Creating Ties between Haiti and the United States, 1934-1957” Research Reports Online, Rockefeller Archives Center, http://archive.rockefeller.edu/publications/resrep/rronlinesub.php?printer=1

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND PUBLIC SERVICE

Affiliations

University

Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC), Transnational and Comparative Studies, Women’s Studies Program, and the Center for the Study of Spirituality

Professional

  • American Historical Association
  • Association for the Study of African-American Life and History
  • Association of Black Women Historians
  • Caribbean Studies Association
  • Digital Library of the Caribbean
  • Haiti Research Group, University of Miami
  • Haitian Studies Association
  • Inter-University Institute for Social Research ( Port-au-Prince, Haiti )
  • Latin American Studies Association
  • National History Center
  • Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations

Select Public Service

  • Consultant/On-Camera Interviewee, Koval/PBS Documentary Film: “Egalité for All: Human Rights and the Haitian Revolution.” See: http://www.kovalfilms.com/Egalite/Promo/Promo.html and http://www.kovalfilms.com/Egalite/Tease/Tease.html (Forthcoming)
  • Advisory Board Member for Community Research, Historical Museum of Southern Florida, January 2007-present
  • Forthcoming 2009 exhibits “Black Freedom in Florida, 1700-1865” and “Black Crossroads: The African Diaspora in Miami”; 
  • Co-Chair, Church Oral History Project, Universal Truth Center for Better Living, Inc., Miami Gardens, FL, 2006-2008

CONTACT INFORMATION

Assistant Professor of History and International Relations

verna@fiu.edu

Biscayne Bay Campus: AC1, Room 372

Tel.: 305. 919.5859                                                                       

University Park: : DM, Room 385A

Tel.: 305. 348.0180