Carlo Handy Charles

Visiting Toronto Metropolitan University from November to December 2025

Carlo Handy Charles is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Windsor, a Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and a Fellow at the CNRS French Collaborative Institute on Migrations in Paris. His research examines the intersection of international migration, transnationalism, race, gender, sexualities, socioeconomic inequalities, and health among migrants and nonmigrants in the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe. His research has won several grants and scholarships, including from SSHRC, CIHR, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, and the Ontario Art Council.

His publications have appeared in Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, the Journal of Haitian Studies, BMJ Global Health, the International Journal of Mental Health Systems, the Journal of Loss and Trauma, and Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Over the years, his interest in transformative research has motivated him to publish several op-eds and give numerous interviews to mainstream media, including The Conversation, Policy Options, First Policy Response, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Caracas Chronicles, CBC News, CBC-Radio-Canada, La Presse, Le Devoir, Le Soleil, Radio France Internationale, BFM-TV, M6, Le Monde, and France-Antilles, among others.

Beyond academia, Charles uses community-based research reports and creative writing in theatre and manga to disseminate knowledge to the general public. In 2022, he co-authored the play 'Kap O Mond!' (external link) , which opened in Paris and has since been produced to sold-out audiences in nearly a dozen theatres in France and the Caribbean. Kap O Mond! addresses Haitian migration to France and French Humanitarianism in Haiti. In 2024, he co-authored Histoire de Louis (external link) , his first manga on Haitian queer sexuality and migration.

Publications

Charles, C.H. (2025) “Perceptions of Queer Transnational Migrants as Importers of Homosexuality into Haiti.” Journal of Haitian Studies, 30(1-2):122-159.

Charles, C.H. & NGoumou L.F. (2024) Favoriser le bien-être et l’intégration sociale de la communauté racisée francophone LGBTQIA+ de Toronto et Ottawa, FrancoQueer, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Caqueo-Urízar, A., Alfonso Urzúa, Diego Aragón-Caqueo, Carlo Handy Charles, Ziad El-Khatib, Akaninyene Otu, and Sanni Yaya. 2020. “Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile.” Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy 12(5):521-23.

Yaya, Sanni, Yeboah, Helena, Carlo Handy Charles, Akaninyene Otu, and Ronald Labonte. 2020. “Ethnic and racial disparities in COVID-19-related deaths: counting the trees, hiding the forest”. BMJ Global Health, 5(6)1-5.

Otu, Akaninyene, Carlo Handy Charles, and Sanni Yaya. 2020. “Mental health and psychosocial well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: the invisible elephant in the room”, International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 14(38)1-5.

Cénat, Jude Mary, Carlo Handy Charles, and Philomena Kebedom. 2020. “Multiple Traumas, Health Problems and Resilience among Haitian Migrant Pathways in Canada’s 2017 Summer Migration Crisis: Psychopathology of the Crossing”. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 25(5):416-437.

Kyriakides, C., D. Taha, Carlo Handy Charles, Rodolfo Torres. (2019). “The Racialized Refugee Regime” and the Special Issue “Racialized Refuge” in Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees (June 2019). Co-edited with Christopher Kyriakides, Dina Taha, and Rodolfo D. Torres. https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/issue/view/2320 (external link) 

Charles, Carlo Handy. 2018. “Transnational Social Field: A Framework to Analyze Cultural Politics of Belonging in the Haitian Diaspora.” Centre for Research on Latin America and The Caribbean, pp. 1-19.

Op-ed articles and media interviews

Charles, C.H. (January 2025). “Histoire de Louis: le manga qui brise le tabou de l’homosexualité”, Interview by Stéphanie, France-Antilles.

Charles, C.H. (January 2025). “Un doctorat en bande dessinée pour d’homosexualité,” Interview by Radio Host Émilie Dessureault-Paquette, Matins Sans Frontières, Radio-Canada.

Charles, C.H. (February 2024). “Caraïbes: la difficile lutte pour les droits LGBT”, “Dans les Caraïbes, la lute contrariée des militants LGBT pour la dépénalisation de l’homosexualité”. Le Monde.

Charles, C.H. & M. Osmond. (April 27, 2022). Méfiez-vous du « Crypto Crush ». Le Devoir.

Charles, C.H. (March 1, 2022). « Organized crime has infiltrated online dating with new sophisticated « pig-butchering » scams. The Conversation.

Charles, CH. (July 28, 2020). "International students will suffer most from tuition hikes [after the COVID-19 pandemic]" First Policy Response.

Charles, C.H. (July 15, 2020). "Pandemic has exposed Canada's mistreatment of newcomers". The Toronto Star.

Charles, C.H. and Veronica Øverlid. (July 3, 2020). “Tuition hikes exacerbate existing challenges for international students”. Policy Options.

Charles, C.H. (June 21, 2020). "Penser le monde d'après de façon plurielle et intersectionnelle", La Presse.

Charles, C.H. (May 19, 2020). “Immigrants are worrying about social ties and finances during coronavirus,” The Conversation.

Charles, C.H. (February 27, 2019). “Québec's Trump-like immigration policies contradict Canada's welcoming image”, The Conversation.

Charles, C.H. (February 13, 2018). “Is the Petro the Outcome of a Blood Pact with Evil Voodoo Spirits?” Caracas Chronicles.