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Education & Restoration of Pan African Haitian Youth

Dr. Charlene Désir | Scholars Speaker Series

Meet Dr. Charlene Désir, a renowned expert with over 30 years of dedicated research, practice, and service in education.

Don't miss this opportunity to deepen your understanding of empowering youth and promoting their well-being in today's diverse world. This session serves as a guidepost for curriculum designers, educators, parents, and advocates, offering a model for effectively integrating diverse cultures into the realms of learning and practice.

During this session, Dr. Désir will showcase her latest co-authored book, Edikasyon and Restoration of Pan African Haitian Youth: A Guide to Building Diasporic Literacy Programs. This comprehensive guide addresses first-hand experiences, offers access to valuable resources, and presents a framework for crafting a youth-focused Pan-African Haitian summer program. It introduces a fresh perspective rooted in ancestral, cultural, and self-reflective practices, shedding light on the Haitian epistemology. Furthermore, Dr. Désir will delve into Haitian Pan-African philosophies, principles, and practices that form the bedrock of well-being and mental health for Haitian youth, promising invaluable insights, addressing specific challenges faced by Haitian youth, and showcasing culturally grounded strategies that consistently yield positive mental health and educational outcomes. 

Dr. Charlene Désir is a professor at Nova Southeastern University’s Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice. She received her doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Désir’s academic interest is in the social, psychological, and spiritual adjustment of immigrants, specifically psycho-social trauma, and how psychosocial issues affect social, cognitive, identity, and spiritual development. Dr. Désir has presented various papers on the topic of immigrants and their adjustment to the US. She has also published on the topic of immigrant identity, spirituality, and becoming a reflective researcher. Dr. Désir founded the Empowerment Network (TEN), Global, a non-profit that supports the personal, spiritual, and academic development of women and students in Haiti and the US. She is a member of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and the vice president of Kosanba, an academic association on the study of PanAfrican Religions. She was the 2012 president of the Haitian Studies Association and a gubernatorial appointee to the Children’s Services Council in Broward County, FL. Dr. Désir has worked as a school psychologist, K-12 school counselor, school administrator, academic advisor, and professor.

Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program, do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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