Cécile Accilien is Professor of French and Francophone Studies in the School of Language, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Maryland (College Park). Her area of studies are Francophone African and Caribbean Literatures and Cultures, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Film & Media Studies.  She has published in different journals including  Forum for Inter-American Research, The Southern Quarterly: A Journal of the Arts in the South, Women, Gender & Families of Color, Revue française, and the Journal of Haitian Studies. She is the co-editor (with Valerie Orlando) of Teaching Haiti: Strategies for Creating New Narratives;  co-author (with Krishauna Hines Gaither) of The Antiracism World Language Classroom and co-author (with Jowel Laguerre) of English-Haitian Creole Phrasebook. She recently published Bay lodyans: Haitian Popular Film Culture with SUNY Press.  Since 2019 she has been serving as chair of the editorial board for Women, Gender and Families of Color. She serves as the 2024 president of the Haitian Studies Association. Prior to that she served as an HSA board member from 2019-2022. She has written for Truthout and Latin American Commentator.