Rituals, Runaways, and the Haitian Revolution: Collective Action in the African Diaspora (Cambridge Studies on the African Diaspora)
Cambridge University Press, 10/28/2021
EAN 9781108843720, ISBN10: 1108843727
Hardcover, 329 pages, 24.1 x 16.5 x 2.5 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
The Haitian Revolution was perhaps the most successful slave rebellion in modern history; it created the first and only free and independent Black nation in the Americas. This book tells the story of how enslaved Africans forcibly brought to colonial Haiti through the trans-Atlantic slave trade used their cultural and religious heritages, social networks, and labor and militaristic skills to survive horrific conditions. They built webs of networks between African and 'creole' runaways, slaves, and a small number of free people of color through rituals and marronnage - key aspects to building the racial solidarity that helped make the revolution successful. Analyzing underexplored archival sources and advertisements for fugitives from slavery, Crystal Eddins finds indications of collective consciousness and solidarity, unearthing patterns of resistance. Considering the importance of the Haitian Revolution and the growing scholarly interest in exploring it, Eddins fills an important gap in the existing literature.
Introduction
Part I. Homelands, Diaspora, and Slave Society
1. 'We Have a False Idea of the Negro'
Legacies of Resistance and the African Past
2. In the Shadow of Death
Part II. Consciousness and Interaction
Cultural Expressions, Geographies and Space, Networks and Ties
3. 'God Knows What I Do'
Ritual Free Spaces
4. Mobilizing Marronnage
Race, Collective Identity, and Solidarity
5. Marronnage as Reclamation
6. Geographies of Subversion
Maroons, Borders, and Empire
Part III. Collective Action and Revolution
7. 'We Must Stop the Progress of Marronnage'
Repertoires and Repression
8. Voices of Liberty
The Haitian Revolution Begins
Conclusion
Index
Notes
References.