Jean Marie Théodat, born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, arrived in Paris at the age of 17. After studying geography at Sorbonne University, he obtained a doctorate and passed the agrégation in the discipline. A geographer and writer, he has been teaching at the University Panthéon Sorbonne since 1998. He is also a professor of geography at the State University of Haiti. Former director of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie for the Caribbean, he was also the first President of the Henry Christophe Campus of the State University of Haiti in Limonade. He is currently the Director of the Department of Geography at the University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne.