This round‑table conversation brings together Prof Louis Herns Marcelin (University of Miami) and Dr Ola Osman (University of Cambridge) to explore how the legacies of enslavement and colonialism shape contemporary forms of violence in Liberia and Haiti.
Event details
Speakers:
Prof Louis Herns Marcelin, University of Miami & Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED)
Dr Ola Osman, University of Cambridge
6 May | 5.15 pm to 6.45 pm
Room S1, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DP and online
Free and open to all, but booking is essential.
• Register to attend in person.
• Register to attend online.
Event description
This hybrid event brings together Prof Louis Herns Marcelin and Dr Ola Osman for an in‑depth conversation examining how the enduring legacies of enslavement and colonialism continue to influence contemporary violence in Liberia and Haiti.
Drawing on long‑term research in both regions, the speakers will explore the intersections of kinship, social organisation, political conflict, gender, and structural inequality. The discussion will consider both historical trajectories and present‑day challenges, illuminating how the afterlives of enslavement shape experiences of insecurity, marginalisation, and resilience.
Speaker biographies
Professor Louis Herns Marcelin
Louis Herns Marcelin, Ph.D., is a Haitian social sciences professor and senior researcher at the University of Miami. He serves as Chancellor at the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development, INURED, in Haiti. He founded the Global Health and Studies program at the College of Arts and Sciences and was Associate Dean for Program Development. He has led field research in the Caribbean, the United States, and Brazil, receiving research grants and scholarly awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), Spencer Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Leverhulme Trust, and many others. His work explores marginalization, health disparities, violence, kinship, family, and migration. Currently, he is a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge (June 2025–December 2026), researching the contemporary legacies of violence from slave-plantation systems in the Americas, especially Haiti.
Dr Ola Osman
Dr Ola Osman is Assistant Professor of African Politics at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Trinity Hall, and a senior gender consultant with the United Nations World Food Programme. She serves on the Advisory Board for the Collective Healing Initiative convened by UNESCO’s Routes of Enslaved Peoples Project.
She holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies from Cambridge, supported by a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, and an MA in Women’s Studies from the University of Oxford, funded by the Clarendon Scholarship and the Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud Scholarship. Her interdisciplinary research reframes so‑called “ethnic” conflicts in Africa by situating them within the longer history of Atlantic slavery. Her current work focuses on social inclusion, conflict, climate change, and food security in Ethiopia’s Afar Region.
Registration
Free and open to all, but booking is essential.
• Register to attend in person.
• Register to attend online.