Silencing the Past

Power and
the Production
of History

Beacon Press Boston Michel-Rolph Trouillot

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@ I ~}95hy Michd-Rolphiruuillm
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To the memory of my father,
lllusi r:nion~: Hcnry I, Kin!!;of Haiti, court.:sy Inst it lll de Sauvegardi:d ll
[>;urimoin1:Natinnal [ISl'AN): Sans Snuci-Milnt, rndar, cuuni:sy !SPAN;
Ernst Trouil!ot
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Afriqucst:O Creation.
Anm-lvlarie J'l,forisset
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1- Histnridmi. .2. Power ({'hi!mophy). 3. Him,riography. L 1itlc.
Dl6. 1.l.Tll5 1:J'J5
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An Unthinkable History
The
Haitian
Revolution
as a
Non-event
~3
he)'ouug womrm stood up in tht' mitldle ofmy leeturt'. ''.A11:
(T Trouil!ot, you nwhe us read all those white scholars. Vvhat
can thtJ' /mow ,zbout sfrwe1J'?Yfl"htTt'were they whm we
wt·n· jumping off the boats? \\'Ihm we chose death OZJt.'r mise1J and
killed our own chilclrento sprrrt·them from a life of rape?"
I was seater.Iand she wm wrong. She W(lS not rt!llding white rrnthors
onlyanti she ueverjumped fi-mn a slave ship. I WllS dumbfounded 1md
hut hnw does one rermm with rmger?! was on my way
she w,zs1111/.;JJ.;
to a Ph.D., and my u11chiugthis C(JttrSt' Il'!lshrzre(yrl stopove1~,z way
of pap'.ng the dues of guilt iu this li{J,-whiteimtitutio11. She had
takcu my class ma mmt,t! break on her way to nlt'd school. or Har-
vard lt1w) or some li{J1-whitec01110mtio11.
I hacl wtit!t'r.l the course "The Bf,zck£-.,:pcrit·nain tlu Ame,·icas. "J
should have known bt·tter: it attmctecl the fi'w blacli! students
!l.rot111d-plus 11few coumgeous whites-mu! they wete all expectiug
too much, umd; more than l cou!r.lcll'livt.'r.They wanter.Ia life that
no 1w1-ratillccould provide, ez.ienthe bt"stfiction. They wanted a life
that only thq coulrl lmilrl right now, right htTe in tht· United
Strttcs-except th{{t tht'.J'die/ not /mow this: thq wae too closeto the
unfolding stmy. }et alrear.61I could set: in their qt·s that part of my
I 1iNZ11tedthem to /moll' that s/ave1ydid not happm
lesson rtJ!Jstc."rcrl.
70
only in Georgiamu! Afississippi. I wantl't! them to fl'Llmthat the Af
rican connection wm more complex ,md tortuous than they had ever
imaginu!, that tht· U.S. 11101wj}(dyon both blrzclmessand racism was
itst'/f a mcist plot. A11d she hfld brolien the spell on he1·way to Har-
Mrd law. I wns a ;wvia and so was sht>,each of us struggling w£th
the hist01:ywe chose, Mch ofus ,zlsof,"ghting,m imposed oblivion.
Tm years h1te1~.l was 11isiti11g ,mother institution with ,z lesspresti-
gious clit'me!t·mu! mon: modest r.lremnsz.ohmmtother young black
womrm..the same age but much more timid, mught mt• again by sur-
prise. "I am tired," sht.·s!lid, "to hear ahout this slrwt•1ystuff' Ctw we
hear the st01y nf the hlac!?mil/ionaires?"Had timt's d1imgul safit.St,
tahes on s!twl',J'n:flt•ctio11s
ar were their diffl.·rr:.·nt of classdifferences?
I flmhecl b,1ckto the first wonum clinging so tightly to that s!twe
boat. 1 undastood betta why she wantt•d to jump, evm once, on her
way to Harvard lm1/, med school, or whcrez1er. Custodian of the fu-
ture for tm imprisoned rrtce whose young males do not live long
enough to have a past, she needed this 1ul1T(ltiveof n•sistance. Nietz-
sche wns wrong: this Wfls no extra luzggage,but tl necessityfa,·the
i',
1'·
Joumt~V, rmd who was 1 to say that it was 110 better 11 pmt than 11
bunch offi1ke millimutires, or fl mt'da! of St. HemJ' mu/ the crum-
bling rvtZllsof a decrepit pa!ttce?
I wish I cauld shuffle the yeats and put both _youngwomen in the
smm· toom. U7ewould ha11eshared stories not yet in the archives. \¥7e
would have read Ntoz11keShmzg/s tale of a coloredgirl drt'ilming of
Towmint louverture mu{ the revo!utio11that t!Jt'world forgot. Then
wt· would have retunu·d to the plmzters'joumals, to t·conomet6t his-
t01J1and its industry of stlltistics, mu! none of us woulcl he rt/mid of
the numbers. Hard jiffts are 110 moref1·ightmi11.g than rlarkness.Yim
CtW play with them ifyou are with.friends. Tht')' are scary 0116 1 ifyou
rt·at!them. alone.
W1eall m.wl histories that 110 histtnJ boo!.!can tell, but thc:yare not
in the classroom-1wt the history cl,tssrooms,rtnyway. Thq ttre iu
wt· learn at home, in poetry and childhoodgt1mes,in what
tht ll•sso11s
An Unthinkable Hi.~rnry 71
is left ofhistmJ' when we closethe historybookswith their verifiable live tranquilly in the midst of rhem without a single thought of
facts. Otherwise, why woulcl a hlack wmmm horn mu/ mised irz the their uprising unless chat was fomented by the whites them-
richest com1t1Jof the late twentieth cwtmy be more t1fraid to talk selves.11.:.!
There were doubts at rimes. Bur the planters' practical
about sltweJJ'thttn ,1 white plmzta in colo11i,zl
Saint-Domingue just precautions aimed at srcmming individual actions or, at worst, a
days hefore 1Ybdliousslaves knocked 011 his door? sudden riot. No one in Saint-Domingue or elsewhere worked our
This is a storyfi1ryoung blachAmericans who are still afi'aid of the a plan of response to a general insurrection.
dark. Although t!uy are not alone, it may tdL thmi wh)' thq Jal Indeed, the comemion that enslaved Afrirnns and rhcir descen-
they ,rre. dants could not envision freedom-let alone formulate strategies
for gaining and securing such freedom-was based not so much
Uuthinki11ga Chhnem on empirical evidence as on an onrology, an implicit organization
of the world and its inhabitants. Although by no means mono-
In 1790, just a few monrhs before rhe beginning of the insurrec- lirhic, this worldview was widely shared by whites in Europe and
tion rhar shook Saint-Domingue and brought about the revolu- the Americas and by many non-white plantation owners as well.
tionary birrh of independent Haiti, French colonise La Barre re- Although it lefr room for variations, none of these variations in-
assured his metropolitan wife of rhe peaceful state of life in the cluded the possibility of a revolutionary uprising in the slave
tropics. He wrote: uThere is no movement among our Negroes . plantations, let alone a successfuJ one leading to the creation of
. . . They don't even rhi nk of it. They are very tranquil and obedi- an independent state.
ent. A revolt among them is impossible." And again: "We have The Haitian Revolution thus entered history with the peculiar .
norhing ro fear on the part of the Negroes; they are tranquil and characteristic of being unthinkable even as it happened. Official ·
obedient." And again: "The Negroes are very obedient and al- debates and publications of the times, including the long list of
ways will be. \Y/e sleep with doors and windows wide open. Free- pamphlets on Saine.Domingue published in France from 1790 to
dom for Negroes is a chimera. ni 1804. reveal the incapacity of most contemporaries i:o under-
3
Historian Roger Dorsinville, who cites these words, notes that stand che ongoing revolution on its own terms. They could read
a few months larcr the most important slave insurrection in re- rhe news only with their ready-made categories, and these cate-
corded hisrory had reduced to insignificance such abstract argu- gories were incompatible with the idea of a slave revolution.
ments abom Negro obedience. I am not so sure. \W'hen realiry The discursive comext within which news from Sainr-

I
does not coincide wjch deeply held beliefs, human beings rend to Domingue was discussed as it happened has important conse-
phrase inrerprerations that force reality within the scope of these quences for rhe historiography of Saint-Domingue/Haiti. If some
beliefo. They devise formulas to repress the unthinkable and ro events cannot be accepted even as they occurt how can they be as-
bring it back within the realm of accepted discourse. sessed later? In other words, can historical narratives convey plors
La Barre's views were by no means unique. Witness this manager that are unthinkable in the world within which these narratives
who constantly reassured his patrons in almost similar words: "I take place? How does one write a history of the impossible?

72 Silencing rhc l':isr An Unthinkable History 73

 The key issue is not ideological. Ideological treatments are now rhe westernization of Christianity, and the invention of a Greco-
more current in Haiti itself (in the epic or bluntly political inter- Roman past ro \X'estcrn Europe were aH part of the process
pretations of the revolution favored by some Haitian writers) through which Europe became the West:i \Xlhat we call the Re-
than in rhe more rigorous handling of the evidence by profession- naissance, much more an invention in irs own righr chan a re-
als in Europe or in North America. The inrernational scholarship birth, ushered in a number of philosophical quesrions ro which
on the Haitian Revolution has been rather sound by modem politicians, theologians, artists, and soldiers provided both con-
standards of evidence since at leasr the 1940s. The issue is rather crete and abstract answers. What is Beauty? \Xlhac is Order? What
epistemological and, by inference, methodological in the broad- is the Scare? Bur also and above all: \Vhar is Man?
est sense. Standards of evidence norwirhsranding, to what extent Philosophers who discussed that last issue could nor escape the
has modern historiography of the Haitian Revolution-as part face rhat colonization was going on as they spoke. Men (Euro-
of a continuous Western discourse on slavery, racet and coJo- peans) were conquering, killing, dominating, and enslaving ocher
nizarion-broken rhe iron bonds of the philosophical milieu in beings thought to be equaHy human, if only by some. The conrest
which it was born? between Bartolome de Las Casas and Juan Gines de Sepulveda at
Valladolid on [he nature and fare of rhc Indians in 1550-1551
A Cert11i11
Idea of li1m1 was only one instance of chis continuous encounter bet\veen the
symbolic and the practical. \~hence, the very ambiguities of the
The \Vest was created somewhere at the beginning of the six- early Las Casas who believed both in coJonization and in the hu-
teenth century in the midsr of a global wave of marerial and sym- manity of the fndians and found it impossible to reconcile rhe
bolic transformations. The definitive expulsion of the Muslims two. Bur despite Las Casas and others, rhe Renaissance did not-
from Europe, the so-called voyages of exploration, the nrsr devel- could nor-settle the question of rhe ontological nature of con-
opments of merchant colonialism, and the maturation of the ab- quered peoples. As we well know, Las Casas himself offered a poor
solutist state set the srage for the rulers and merchants of\Xfestern and ambiguous compromise that he was ro regret larer: freedom
Christendom w conquer Europe and the rest of the world. This for rhe savages (the 1ndians), slavery for rhe barbarians (the Afri-
historical itinerary was political, as evidenced by the now well- cans). Colonization won rhe day.
known names rhac it evokes-Columbus, Magellan, Charles V) Tbe sevcmcenrh century saw the increased involvement of En-
rhe Hapsburgs, and rhe turning moments that set its pace- gland, France, and rhc Netherlands in the Americas and in rhe
the reconquest of Castile and of Aragon, the laws of Burgos, the slave trade. The eighteenth century followed the same path with
transmission of papal power from the Borgias to the Medicis. a touch of perversity: the more European merchants and merce-
These political developments paralleled the emergence of a new naries bought and conquered ocher men and women, the more
symbolic order. The invention of the Americas (with Waldsee- European philosophers wrote and talked about Man. Viewed
muUer. Vespucci, a.nd Balboa), the simulraneous invention of from outside the \Vest, with its extraordinary increase in both
Europe, the diviscon of the Mediterranean by an imaginary Jine philosophical musings and concrete ,lttention to colonial prac-
going from the south of Cadiz to the north of Constantinople, tice, rhe century of rhe Enlightenment was also a century of con-

Silr.:ncing the Past An Utnhinkablc History 75

fusion. There is no single view of blacks-or of any non-white sally bad. Whar had happened in the meanrime, was the expan-
group, for chat matter-even within discrete European popula- sion of African-American slavery.
tions. Rather, non-European groups were forced ro enter into var- Indeed, rhe rather abstract nomenclature inherited from the Re-
ious philosophical, ideological, and practical schemes. Mose im- naissance was a.lcogecher reproduced, reinforced, and challenged
portant for our purposes is that all these schemes recognized by colonial practice and the philosophical literature. Thar. is,
degrees of humanity. Whether these connecting ladders ranked eighrecnth-ccncury colonial practice brought rn the fore both the
chunks of humanity on omologicaL crhicalr political, scientific, certitudes and the ambjguirles of the ontological order that paral-
cultural. or simply pragmatic grounds, the fact is that all assumed leled the rise of the West.
and reasserted that, ultimately, some humans were more so than Colonization provided the most parent impetus for the trans-
others. formation of European cthnoccnrrism inro scienrific racism. ln
For in dee di in the horizon of the \XIest at rh e end of rhe century, the early 1700s, the ideological rationalization of Afro-American
Ma.n (wirh a capital M} was primarily European and male. On slavery relied increasingly on explicic formulations of the onto-
this single point everyone who mattered agreed. Men were also, logical order inherited from the Renaissance. Bur in so doing, it
to a lesser degree, females of European origins, like the French also transformed the Renaissance worldview by bringing its pur-
"citoyennes," or ambiguous whites, such as European Jews. Fur- -ported inequalities much closer to rhe very practices that con-
ther down \Vere peoples tied co strong state structures: Chinese, firmed them. Blacks were inferior and therefore enslaved; black
Persians, Egyptians, who exerted a different fascination on some slaves behaved badly and were therefore inferior. In short, rhe
Europeans for being at the same rime more "advanced" and yet practice of slavery in the Americas secured the blacks' position at
potenrially more evil than ocher Westerners. On reHecrion, and the bonom of the human world.
only for a timid minority, Man could also be westernized man, \Xlith the place of blacks now guaranteed at the bottom of the
the complacent colonized. The benefit of doubc did not extend Western nomenclature, anri-black racism soon became the cen-
very far: westernized (or more properly, "westernizable") hu- tral element of planter ideology in the Caribbean. By the middle
mans, natives of Africa or of the Americas, were at the lowest level of the eighreenth century, che arguments justifying slnvery in
of chis nomendamre. 5 the Antilles and North America relocated in Europe where they
Negative connotations !inked ro skin colors increasingly re- blended with the racist strain inherent in eighteenth-century
grouped as "black" had first spread in Christendom in the late rationalist The literature in French is telling, though
thought.
Middle Ages. They were reinforced by the fanciful descriptions by no means unique. Buffon fervently supported a monogenist
of medieval geographers and travellers. Thus, the word "ncgre" viewpoint: blacks were nor, in his view, of a diflerent species.
entered French dictionaries and glossaries with negative under- Still, they were different enough to be destined to slavery. Voltaire
tones increasingly precise from its first appearances in the 1670s dis~1greed, bur only in parr. Negroes belonged ro a different spe-
to rhe universal dictionaries tha.t augmed the Encyclopedia. 6 By cies, one culturally destined to be slaves. That the material well-
the middle of the eighteenth century, "black'' was almost univer- being of many of these thinkers was often indirectly and, some-

7G Silencing the 11.tst An lJ 11t h i n k :1b Ic I-! i st cl r y 77

times, quire directly linked co the exploitation of African slave la-
bor may nor have been irrelevant to their learned opinions. By the
time of rhe American Revolution, scientific racism, whose rise
many historians wrongly attribute to the nineteenth century, was
already a feacure of the ideological landscape of the Enlighten-
ment on both sides of the Arlancic. 7
Thus the Enlightenment exacerbated the fundamental ambigu-
ity chat dominated the encounter benvecn ontological discourse
and colonial practice. If the philosophers did reformulate some
of the answers inherited from rhe Renaissance, the question
"Wlrnt is Man?" kept stumbling against the practices of domina-
tion and of merchant accumulation. The gap between abstraction
and practice grew or, better said, the handling of rhe contradic-
tions between the two became much more sophisticated, in pare
because philosophy provided as many answers as colonial practice
itself. The Age of the Enlightenment was an age in which rhe slave
drivers of Nantes bought tides of nobility co better parade with
philosophers, an age in which a freedom fighter such as Thomas
I
Jefferson owned slaves without burscing under rhe weight of his
inrelleccual and moral contradictions.
In the name of freedom and democracy also, in July 1789,
just a few days before rhe storming of the Bastille, a few planters
from Saint-Domingue met in Paris to peririon the newly formed
French Assembly co accept in its midst twenty represenrarives
from rhe Caribbean. The planters had derived this number from
the population of the islands, using roughly the machema[ics
used in France co proportion merropolican representatives in the
Assembly. But they had quire advertenrly counted the black slaves
and the gt.•nscle couleur as part of the population of the islands
whereas, of course, they were claiming no rights of suffrage for
these non-whites. Honore Gabriel Riquerti, Count of Mirabeau,
rook rhe ·scand ro denounce the planters' skewed mathematics.
Mirabeau rold rhe Assembly:
78 S if ~111:i 11g rhc ]1 ;tst
Are che colonies placing their Negroes and their gl'lls
cit·C()U!eur in the class of men or in that of che beasts of
burden?
If the Colonists wane the Negroes and gem de coulmr
ro coum as men, ler them enfranchise the first; chat all
may be electors, that all may be elected. If not, we beg
them to observe chac in proportioning the number of ·
deputies co the population of France we have taken inrn
1
consideration neither the number of our horses nor rhar
of our mules. 8
Mirabeau wanted the French Assembly ro reconcile the philo~
sophical positions explicit in the Declaration of Rights of Man
and irs political stance on the colonies. But the declaration spoke
of "rhe Rights of Man and Citizen," a ride which denotes, as
Tzvetan Todorov reminds us, the germ of a contradiction." In chis
ca.se rhe citizen won over the man-at least over the non-white
man. The National Assembly granred only six deputies to the
sugar colonies of rhe Caribbean, a few more than they deserved if
only the whites had been counted but many less rhan if rhe As-
sembly had recognized the fuH political rights of the blacks and
·the gens cle coufeur. In the mathematics of realpolitik, the half-
million slaves of Saint Domingue-Haiti and the few hundred
thousands of the other colonies were apparently worth three dep-
uties-white ones at that.
The ease with which the Assembly bypassed its own contradic-
tions, an echo of rhe mechanisms by which black slaves came i:o
account for three-fifths of a person in the United Stares, perme-
ated the practices of the Enlightenment. Jacques Thibau doubts
that contemporaries found a dichoromy between the France of
the slavers and that of the philosophers. "Was nor che \X!esrern,
maritime France, an integral part of France of the Enlighren-
10
menc?'' Louis Sala~Molins further suggests that we distinguish
An Unthinkable History 79
between the advocacy of slavery and the racism of rhe rime: one without ever becoming totally confused. So did their opposites.
could oppose the first (on practical grounds) and not the other 11
Thar allowed much room for multiple positions.
(on philosophical ones). Voltaire, notably, was racist, bur often Such multiplicity notwithstanding, rhcre was no doubt abouc
opposed slavery on practical
rather than moral grounds. So did \Vestcrn superiority, only about its proper use and effect. L'His-
David Hume, nae because he believed in the equality of blacks, toire des deux lndes, signed by Abbe Raynal wirh philosopher and
bm because, like Adam Smirl1, he considered the whole business encydopedisr Denis Diderot acting as ghost-and, some would
too expensive. Indeed, in France as in England, the arguments for say, premier-contributor to the anri-coloni.1lisr passages, was
or against slavery in formal polirica( arenas were more often rhan perhaps the most radical critique of colonialism from rhe France
nor couched in pragmatic terms, notwithstanding the mass ap- of the Enlightenmenr.13 Yet the book never fuHy questioned the
peal of British abolitionism and its religious connotations. ontological principles behind the colonialist enterprise, namely
The Enlightenment, nevertheless, brought a change of perspec- that the differences between forms of humanity were not only of
tive. T'he idea of progress, now confirmed, suggested rhat men degree but of kind, not historical bur primordial. The polyphony
were perfectible. Therefore, subhumans could be, theoretically at 14
of the book further limited its anti-slavery impact. Bonner
least, perfectible. More important, the slave rrade was running its rightly points that the Histofre is a book that reveres at once the
course, and the economics of slavery would be questioned in- immobile vision of the noble savage and the benefits of industry
creasingly as the century neared irs end. Perfectibility became an 15
and human activity.
argument in the practical debate: the westernized other looked Behind the radicalism of Diderot and Rayna.I stood, u1timately,
increasingly more profirnb]c ro rhe West, especially ifhe could be- a project of coJonial management. It did indeed include rhe aboli-
come a free laborer. A French rnemoir of 1790 summarized rhe tI~n of slavery, bur only in the long term, and as part of a process
is.sue: "It is perhaps not impossible to civilize the Negro, to bring that aimed at the better control of the colonies. 16
Access to hu-
him to principles and make a ma11out of him: there would be more man sracus did nor lead ipsofacto to self-determination. ln short,
ro gain than ro buy and sell him." Finally, we should not underes- here agaii:,., as in Condorcer, as in Mirabeau, as in Jefferson, when .
timate rhe loud anti-colonialist stance of a small, diris~ but vocal all is said and done, rhere are degrees of humanity. ·
1
group of philosophers and politicians. _l The vocabulary of the times reveals that gradation. When one
The reservations expressed in the metropolis had lirtle impact ralkedof the biological product of black and of white intercourse,
within the Caribbean or in Africa. Indeed, the slave crade in- one spoke of "man of color" as if the two terms do not necessar-
creased in the years 1789-1791 while French politicians and phi- ily go together: unmarked humanity is whire. The captain of a
losophers \Vere debating more vehemently rhan ever on che rights slave boar bluntly emphasized this implicit opposition between
of humanity. Further, few politicians or philosophers attacked white "Menll and rhe resr of humankind. After French support-
racism, colonialism, and slavery in a single blow and with equal ers of the free coloreds in Paris created the Sodett: des Amis des
vehemence. In France as in England colonialism, pro-slavery Noirs, rhe pro-slavery captain proudly labelled himself"l'Ami des
rhetoric, and racism intermingled and supported one another Hammes." The Friends of the Blacks were not necessarily Friends

80 Silencing thr.: Paq An Und1inkahlc History 81

 17
of Man. The lexical oppos1t1on Man-versus-Native (or Man- work within which proponents and opponents had examined
vcrsus-Ncgro) tinted the European lireramre on rhe Americas race1 colonialism, and slavery in the Americas.
from 1492 to the Haitian Revolution and beyond. Even rhe radi-
cal duo Diderot-Rayna] did nor escape it. Recounting an early Prelude to the News: 1'l1t·Failure of CtZtegorfrs
Spanish exploration, chcy wrire: "Was not chis handful of men
surrounded by an innumerable rnulrirude of natives ... seized Between the first slave shipmen ts of the early 15 OOsand rhe 1791
with alarm and terror, well or ill founded?''Hl insurrection of northern Sainr-Damingue, most \'v'estern observ-
One will not castigate long-dead writers for using the words of ers had treated manifestations of slave resistance and defiance
their rime or for not sharing ideological views chat we now rake with the ambivalence characteristic of their overall treatment of
for granted. Lest accusations of political correctness trivialize the colonization and slavery. On the one hand, resistance and defi-
issue, ler me emphasize that I am nor suggesting rhar eighreemh- ance did not exist, since to acknovvledge them was co acknowl-
10
century men and women should have thought about the fondn- edge rhe humanity of the enslaved. On the ocher hand, since re-
mental equality of humankind jn rhe same way some of us do to- sistance occurred, it was dealt with quite severely, within or
day. On the contrary, I am arguing that they could not have done around the plantations. Thus, next to a discourse chat claimed
so. Bur I am also drawing a lesson from the understanding of this the contentment of slaves, a plethora of laws, advice, and mea-
historical impossibility. The Haitian Revolution did chaJlenge sures, both legal and illegal, were set up to curb the very resistance
the onrological and political assumptions of the most radical denied in theory.
\Vrircrs of rlre Enlightenment. The e1N.mtsthat shook up Saint- Publications by and for planters, as well as plantation journals
Domhzgue from 1791 to 1804 constituted fl sequma for which not and correspondence, often mixed both accitudes. Close as some
even the l'Xtmne political !tft in Fmnce or in England had a ccmcep- were to the real world, pJanccrs and managers could not fully
tmtl fr,mu of reference. They were "unthinkable" facts in the deny resistance, but they tried ro provide reassuring certitudes by
framework of\X'estern thought. trivializing all its manifestations. Resistance did not exist as a
Pierre Bourdieu ddines the unthinkable as that for which one global phenomenon. Rather, each case of unmistakable defiance,
has no adequate instruments to conceptualize. He writes: ''In rhc each possible instance of resistance was treated separately and
unthinkable of an epoch, there is all rha.r one cannot think for drained of its political content. Slave A ran away because he was
\Vant of ethical or polirical inclinations that predispose to rake it particularly mistreated by his master. Slave B was missing because
in account or in consideration, but also char which one cannot he was not properly fed. Slave X killed herself in a faral tantrum.
think for want of instruments of thought such as problematics, Slave Y poisoned her mistress because she was jealous. The run-
concepr:s, methods, techniques." 19
The unthinkable is that which away emerges from chis literature-which still has irs disciples-
one cannot conceive within the range of possible alternatives, as an animal driven by biological constraints, at best as a patho-
that which perverts all answers because ir defies rhe terms under logical case. The rebellious slave in rum is a maladjusted Negro,
which the questions were phrased. In that sense, the Haitian Rev- a mutinous adolescent who eats dirt until he dies, an infanri-
olution was unthinkable in its rime: it challenged the very frame- cidal mothert a deviant. To the extent that sins of humanity

82 Silencing the Past An Unrhinkahlt! History 83

are acknowledged they are acknowledged only as evidence of a Dideror spoke of a black Spartacus, it was nor a dear prediction
pathology. of a Louverrure-type character, as some would want with hind-
In retrospect, chis argument is nor very convincing to anyone sight.2:: ln the pages of the Histofre des dt•ux lndes where the pas-
aware of the infinite spectrum of human reactions to forms of sage appearst the threat of a black Spartacus is couched as a warn-
domination. It is at best an anemic caricature of methodological ing. The reference is nor to Saint-Domingue burro Jamaica and
individualism. Would each single explanation be true, the sum of to Guyana where "there are two established colonies of fugitive
all of them would say little of the causes and effecrs of rhe repeti- negroes.... These flashes of lightning announce the thunder,
tion of such cases.· and the negroes lack only a chief courageous enough ro drive
In fact, this argument didn't convince the planters themselves. them to revengeand ta camagt.'.\X'here is he, this great man whom
They held on to it because it was the only scheme that allowed narure owes pethnps to the honor of the human species? \X'here is
them not to deal wirh the issue as a mass phenomenon. That lat- this new Spartacus? ... ,,z3
ter interpretation was inconceivable. Built into any system of In this version of the famous passage, modified in successive edi-
domination is the tendency to proda.im its own normalcy. To ac- tions of the Histoire, che most radical seance is in rhe unmist~1k-
knowledge resistance as ~ mass phenomenon is ro acknowledge ablc reference to a single human species. Bue just as with Las Ca-
the possibility that something is wrong with the system. Carib- sas, just as with Buffon or the left of the French Assembly, rhe
bean planters, much as their counterparts in Brazil and in rhe practical conclusions from ·what looks like a revolutionary philos-
United Stares, systematically rejected that ideological concession, ophy arc ambiguous. In Diderot-Rayna}, as in the few other times
and rheir arguments in defense of slavery were central to the de- it appears in wriring1 the evocation of a slave rebellion was pri-
velopment of scientific racism. marily a rhetorical device. T'he concrete possibility of such a re-
Yet, as time went on, the succession of plantation revolts, and bellion flourishing inro a revolution and a modern black stare was
especially the consolidation-in Jamaica., and in the Guianas- still part of the unthinkable.
of large colonies of runaways with whom colonial governments Indeed! the political appeal-ifappeal there was-is murky. To
had to negotiate, gradually undermined the image of submission start wich, Diderot's interlocutors are not the enslaved masses nor
and the complementary argument of pathological misadaptation. even the Spartacus who may or may not rise in an uncertain fu-
However much some observers wanted to see in these massive de- ture. Diderot here is the voice of the enlightened West admon-
partures a sign of the force that nature exerted on the anima.1- ishing its colonialist counrerpart. 24
slave, the possibility of mass resistance penetrated Western dis- Second and more imporrnm, "slavery" was at thac rime an easy
course. metaphor, accessible to a large public who knew that the word
The penetration was nevertheless circumspect. \Xlhen Louis- stood for a number of evils except perhaps rhe evil of itself: Slav-
Sebasrien Mercier announced an avenger of the New World in ery in rhe parlance of the philosophers could be whatever was
11
1771, it was in a novel of anticipation, a utopia. The goal was wrong with European rule in Europe and elsewhere. To wit, che
to warn Europeans of the fatalities rha.r awaited them if they same Diderot applauded U.S. revolutionaries for having "burned
did not change their ways. Similarly, when the duo Raynal- their chains," for having "refused slavery.'' Never mind chat some

Silencing the Past An Unrhink:iblc History 8.5

of them mvned slaves. The A1arseillaisewas also a cry against its founding members parricip~md in drafting the Declaration of
"slavery." 25 Mulatto slave owners from the Caribbean told the Rights of Man. But here again were degrees of humanity. The sole
French Assembly chat their scams as second-class free men was sustained campaign of the self-proclaimed Friends of the Blacks
eq ujvalent m slavery. :!<i This metaphorical usage permeated the was their effort to guarantee the civil and political rights of free
discourse of various nasc~nr disciplines from philosophy to polit- mulatto owners. This emphasis was not simply a racricaJ maneu-
ical economy up to Marx and beyond. References co slave resis- ver. Many members on the left side of the Assembly went way be-
tance must thus be regarded in light of these rhetorical cliches. yond the call of duty to emphasize that not aH blacks were equally
For if today we can read the successive "Declararions of the worth defending. On December 11, 1791, Gregoire, for instance,
Rights of Man" or rhe U.S. Bill of Rights as naturally including denounced the danger of suggesting political rights for black
every single human being, it is far from certain that this revision- slaves. "To give political rights to men who do not know their
ist reading was che favored interpretation of rhe ''men
1
' of 1789 duties would be perhaps like placing a sword in the hands of a
and 1791.27 madman. 1131
Third, here as in the rarer cexrs char speak dearly of the right to Contradictjons were no less obvious elsewhere. Under a pseud-
insurrection, rhe possibility of a successful rebellion by slaves or onym evoking both Judairy and blackness, Condorcet demon-
colonized peoples is in a very disran t future, srill a specter of what strated all the evils of slavery but then called for gradual abo-
might happen if the system remains unchanged. 2
H The implica- licion.3z Abolitionist Diderot hailed the American Revolution
tion is, of course, chat improvement within the system, or at any char had retained slavery. Jean-Pierre Brissot asked his friend
rate, scarring from the system, could prevent carnage, surely not Jefferson, whose stance on slavery was not questioned in France,
the philosophers· favorite outcome. to join the Ami des Noirs! 33 Marat and-co a much lesser ex-
Four[h and finally, rhis was an age of change and inconsistency. tent-Robespierre aside. few lea.ding French revolutionaries rec-
Few thinkers had the politics of their philosophy. Radical action ognized the right of white Frenchmen to revolt against colonial-
on the issue of slavery often came from unsuspected corners; no- ism, rhe same right whose application they admired in British
tably in England or in rhe United Srates.! 9 After examining rhe Norrh America.
conrradicrions of the Histoire., Michele Ducher concludes thar To sum up, in spite of the philosophical debates, in spire of the
the book is politically reformist and philosophically revolution- rise of abolitionism, the Haitian Revolution was unthinkable in
ary. But even the philosophical revolmion is not as neat as it first the \Vest nor only because it challenged slavery and racism but
appears, and Duchet admits elsewhere that for Raynal to civilize because of che way it did so. When the insurrection first broke in
is to colonize. 3o northern Saint-Domingue, a number of radical writers in Europe
Conrradictions were plentiful, within philosophy, within poli- and very few in the Americas had been willing to acknowledge,

tics, and between the two, even within r:he radical left. They arc with varying reservations-both practical and philosophical-
clearly displayed in the tactics of the pro-mulatto lobby, rhe So- the humanity of the enslaved. Almost none drew from this ac-
ciete des Amis des Noirs. The Societe's philosophical poim of de- knowledgment che necessity co abolish slavery immediately. Sim-
parture was, of course, the full equality of humankind: some of ilarly, a handful of writers had evoked interminenrly and, mosr

86 Silencing the Past An Unrhinlrnblt! Hisrnry 87

often, metaphorically rhe possibility of mass resistance among ation rn matters of governance and, certainly, claims about rhe
rhe slaves. Almost none had actually conceded rhar the slaves right of ,zl! peoples to self-determination wenr against received
could-let alone should-indeed revolt. 34
Louis Sala-Molins wisdom in the Atlantic world and beyond. Each could reveal it-
claims rhar slavery was the ultimate rest of the Enlighten- self in Saine-Domingue only through practice. By necessity, che
ment. \Y/c can go one step further: The Haitian Revolution was Haitian Revolurion thought itself out politically and philosophi-
rhe ulci mate rest ro the universalise pretensions of both the cally as jr was raking place. Its project, increasingly radicalized
French and the American revolurions. And they both failed. throughout thirteen years of combat, was revealed in successive
In 1791, that· is no jJtth!ic dt·brtte 0,1 the rt'Cord, in France, in spurts. Between and within its unforeseen stages, discourse al-
England, or in the United States 011 the right of black slaves to ways lagged behind practice.
achiel'e sclfdetermination., rmd the tight to do so by way ofarmed The Haitian Revolution expressed itself mainly through irs
resistance. deeds, and it is through political practice that it challenged West-
Nor only was the Revolution unthinkable and, therefore, unan- ern philosophy and colonialism. It did produce a few texts whose
nounced in rhe West, it was also-to a large extent-unspoken philosophical import is explicit, from Louvermre's declaration
among rhe slaves themselves. By this I mean chat the Revolution of Camp Turel to the Haitian Act oflndependenceand the Con~
was nor preceded or even accompanied by an explicit inrellectua1 stirurion of ] 805. Bur its inrellecrual and ideological newness
discourse.:'1 5 One reason is that mosr slaves were illiterate and the appeared most clearly with each and every political threshold
primed word was nor a realistic means of propaganda in the con- crossed, from the mass insurrection (1791) to rhe crumbling
text of a slave colony. Bur another reason is that the claims of the of the colonial apparatus (1793), from general liberty (1794)
revolution were indeed too radical to be formulated in advance of · ro rhe conquest of the state machinery (1797-98), from Lou-
irs deeds. Victorious practice could assert chem only after the verture's ca ming of that machinery (180 I) to the proclamation of
fact. In that sense, the revolution was indeed at the limits of the Haitian independence with Dessalines (1804). Each and every
thinkable, even in Saint-Domingue, even among the slaves, even one of these steps-leading up to and culminating in the emer-
among irs own leaders. gence of a modern Hblack scare," still largely part of the unthink-
We need to recall that the key tenets of the political philosophy able until the twentieth century-challenged further the onto-
rhat became explicit in Saint-Domingue/Haiti between 1791 and logical order of rhe West and the global order of colonialism.
1804 were nor accepted by world public opinion umil after This also meant: that rhe Haitian revolutionaries were not overly
World War II. \Xlhen the Haitian Revolution broke out, only five restricted by previous ideological limits ser by professional intel-
percent of a world population esrimared at nearly 800 million lectuals in the co tony or elsewhere, that they could break new
would have been considered "free" by modern standards. The ground-and, indeed,they did so repeatedly. But it further
British campaign for abolition of the slave trade was in its in- meant char philosophical and political debate in the West, when
fancy; rhe abolition of slavery was even further behind. Claims it occurred, could only be reactive. Ir dealt with the impossible
abour the fundamcnral uniqueness of humankind, claims about only after that impossible had become face; and even then, rhe
rhe ethical irrelevance of racial categories or of geographical siru- facts were not always accepted as such.

8!! Silencing the Past An Unrhinbblc His1ory 89

 why the news had to be false: a) anyone who knew the blacks had
to realize rhar ir was simply impossible for fifty thousand of them
to get together so fast and act in concert; b) slaves could not con-
ceive of rebellion on their own, and mulattoes and whites were
not so insane as co incite them ro full-scale violence; c) even if
the slaves had rebeHed in such huge numbers, the superior French
troops would have defeated them. Brissoc went on:

What are 501000 men 1 badly armed, undiscjplined and

used co fear when faced with 1,800 Frenchmen used to
fearlessness? \Vhat! In 175 I, Dupleix and a few hundred
Frenchmen could break the siege of Pondicheri and bear
a well-equipped army of 100,000 Indians, and M. de
Blanchelande with French troops and cannons would
37
fear a much inferior troop of blacks barely armed?
Barrie in Sai111-Domingm:. a conrcmpurary l.'ngraving

1
\Xlirh such statements from a "Friend/ the revolurion did not
need enemies. Yet so went majority opinion from left to center-
Dealing with the UuthhdMhlt': Tht·Failures {)f.Narrrtti011 right within the Assembly until the news was confirmed beyond
doubt. Confirmation did not change the dominant views. When
\X'hen the news of the massive uprising of August 1791 first hit derailed news reached France, many observers \Vere frightened
France, the most common reaction among interested parties was not by rhe revolt itself but by the fact that the colonists had ap-
disbelief: the facts were roo unlikely; the news had to he false. pealed to the English. 3nA serious long-term danger coming from
Only the most vocal representatives of the planter party took the blacks was still unthinkable. Slowly though, rhe size of the
them seriously, in part because they were the first to be informed _uprising sank in. Yet even then, in France as in Saint-Domingue,
via their British contacts, in pan because they had the most to as indeed in Jamaica, Cuba, and the United States before, plant-
lose if indeed the news was verified. Others, including colored ers, administrators, politicians, or ideologues found explanations
plantation owners then in France and most of rhe lefr wing of the that forced rhe rebellion back within their world view, shoving the
French assembly, just could nor reconcile their perception of facts into the proper order of discourse. Since blacks could not
blacks with the idea of a large-scale black rebellion. 36
[nan impas- have generated such a massive endeavor, the insurrection became
sioned speech delivered to rhe French assembly on 30 Ocrnber an unfortunate repercussion of planters' miscalculations. It did
1791, delegate Jean~ Pierre Brissot, a founding member of the noc aim at revolutionary change, given its royalist influences. Ir
Amis desNoirs and moderate anti-colonialist, outlined che reasons was not supported by a majority of the slave population. It was

Si Ic n ci 11g t 11c Pa H An Unthinkable History 91

due to outside agitators. It was the unforeseen consequence of has not moved. VVorldview wins over the faces: white hegemony
various conspiracies connived by non-slaves. Every party chose its is narural and cakcn for granted; any alternative is still in the do-
favorite enemy as the most likely conspirator behind the slave up- main of the unthinkable. Yet this passage was written in Decem-
rising. Royalisti British, mulatto, or Republican conspirators ber 1792. At that rime 1 behind che political chaos and the many
were seen or heard ever)'\vhere by dubious and interested wit- battles between various armed factions, Toussaint Louverture
nesses. Conservative colonialists and anti-slavery republicans ac- and his closest followers were building up the avant-garde chat
cused each other of being rhe brains behind the revolt. Inferences would push the revolution to rhe point of no return. Indeed, six
were drawn from writings that could not have possibly reached or months later, civil commissar Leger Felicite Sonthonax was
moved the slaves of Saint-Domingue even if they knew how co forced ro declare free all slaves willing to fight under the French
read. In a revealing speech, deputy Blangilly urged his colleagues republican Bag. A few weeks after Sonthonax's proclamation, in
to consider rhe possibility char the rebellion was due, at least in August 1793, Toussaint Louverture raised the stakes with his
parrr to rhe slaves' namraf desire for freedom-a possibility that proclamation from Camp Turel: immediate unconditional free-
most rejected then and later. Blangiily then proceeded ro suggest dom and equality for all.
what was in his view the most logical conclusion: a law for the By then, the old conspiracy theories should have become irrelc-
amelioration of slavery.J 9 Legitimate as it was, the slaves' natural . vant. Clearly, the Louverrure parry was nor willing to take orders
desire for freedom could not be satisfied, Iese it threaten France's from colonists, French Jacobins, or agents of foreign powers.
interests. \Xlhat was going on in Saine-Domingue was, by all definitions,
For rhirceen years at least, \Vestern public opinion pursued this the most important slave rebellion ever wirnessed and it had de-
game of hide-and-seek with the news coming out of Saint- veloped its own dynamics. Surprisingly, conspiracy theories siu-
Domingue. \Virh every new threshold, the discourse accommo- vived long enough ro justify the trials ofa few Frenchmen accused
dated some of the irrefutable data, questioned others, and pro- to have fomented or helped the rebellion, from Blanchelandc, the
vided reassuring explanations for the new package so created. By old royalist governor of 1791, to republican governor Lavaux, to
the spring of 1792, for instance, even the most distant observer Felicite Sonchona.x, the Jacobin.41
could no longer deny the extent of the rebellion, the extraordi- As the power of Louvercure grew, every ocher party struggled to
nary number of slaves and plantations involved, the magnitude convince itself and its counterpans that the achievements of the
of the colonists' macerial losses. Bue then, many even in Saine- black leader.ship would ultimately benefit someone else. The new
Domingue argued that the disaster was temporary, that every- black elite had to be, willingly or not, che pawn of a "major" in-
thing would return ro order. Thus, an eyewitness commented: "If ternational power. Or else, the colony would fall apart and a legit-
the whites and the free mulattoes knew what was good for them, imate international state would pick up the pieces. Theories as-
and kept tightly together1 it is quite possible that things would suming chaos under black leadership continued even after
return to normal, consideringthe asa11dancythflt the whitt IJ11s
al- · Louverrure and his closest lieutenants fuUy secured the military,
ways had over the 11egroes.
''-ill Note the doubt {the witness is political, and civil apparatus of the colony. If some foreign gov-
tempted to believe his eyes); bur note also chat rhc nomenclature ernmems-notably the United States-were willing to maintain

92 Silencing the Pase An Unrhinb1ble History 93

a guarded coHaboration wich the Louvercure regime, It was in the 1804 declaration ofindependence would the fai taccompli be
part because rhey "knew" rhat an independent stare led by for- ungraciously accepted.
mer slaves was an impossibility. Toussaint himself may have Ungraciously, indeed. The inrernational recognition of Haitian
not believed in the possibility of independence whereas, for all independence was even more difficult to gain than military vic-
. practical purposes, he was ruling Saint-Domingue as if it were tory over the forces of Napoleon. Ir took more rime and more re-
tndependent. sources, more than a half century of diplomatic struggles. France
Opinion in Sainr-D0ming1:1e, in North America, and in Europe imposed a. heavy indemnity on the Haitian state in order to for-
consrandy dragged after rhe facts. Predictions, when rhey were mally acknowledge its own defeat. The Uni red States and the Vat-
made, revealed themselves useless. Once the French expedition of ican, notably, recognized Haitian independence only in the sec-
reconquest was launched in 1802, pundits were easily convinced ond half of the nineteenth century.
that France would win the war. In England, the CohbetPolitic(zl Diplomatic rejection was only one symptom of an underlying
Regista doubted that Toussainc would even oppose a resistance: denial. The very deeds of the revolution were incompatible with
he was likely to Bee rhe coumry:i 2 Leclerc himself. the com- major tenets ~f dominant Western ideologies. They remained so
mander of the French forces, predicted in eady February that the until at least the first quarter of this century. Between the Haitian
war would be over in t\VO weeks. He was wrong by two years, give independence and World War I, in spice of rhe successive aboli-
or rake cwo months. Ye[ planters in Sainr-Domingue apparently tions of slavery, little changed within the various ladders that
shared his optimism. Leclerc reported to the Minister of the ranl~ed humankind in the minds of the majorities in Europe and
Marine char French residems were already enjoying the smell of the Americas. In face, some views deteriorarcd:13 The nineteenth
victory. Newspapers in Europe and North and Latin America century was, in many respects, a century of retreat from some of
translated and commented on these dispatches: restoration was rhe debates of the Enlightenment. Scientific racism, a growing
near. but debated strain of Enlightenment thought, gained a much
By mid-1802, the debacle ofLouvcrrure's army seemed to verify wider audience, further legitimizing the. ontological nomencla-
rhat prophecy. The rejection of the truce by a significa.nt minor- ture inherited from the Renaissance. The carving up of Asia and
ity of armed rebels-among whom wa.s Sans Souci-and the full- above all of Africa reinforced both colonial practice and ideology.
scile resumption of miliwry operations when the war within the Thus in most places outside of Haiti, more than a cenrury after it
war forced the colonial high brass co rejoin the revolution in che happened, the revolution was still largely unthinkable history.
fall of 1802 did little to change the dominant views .. Desptte
rhe alliance between the forces of Dessalines, Perion, and Chris- Erasuremid Trivializrttion: SilenCt'shz W7orld
HistoJJ1
tophe and the repeated victories of the new revolutionary army,
few outside of Saint-Domingue could foresee the outcome of this T have fleshed our nvo major points so far. First, the chain of
Negro rebellion. As late as the fall of 1803, a complete victory by events that constitute che Haitian Revolution was unrhinkable
the former slaves and the creation of an i ndepcnden t state was before these events happened. Second, as they happened, the suc-
still unthinkable in Europe and Nonh America. Only long after cessive events within that chain were systematically recast by

9·l Silencing the Pase ,\n Unthinkable Hisrnry 95

many participants and observers to fit a world of possibilities. or to the relevance of Afro-American slavery belong ro this type:
That is, rhcy were made to enter into narratives that made sense The Germans did not really build gas chambers; slavery also hap-
-::··
to a majority of \X/estern observers and readers. T will now show ?=:( pened co non-blacks. On a seemingly different plane, other nar-
how the revolurion rhac was thought impossible by its contempo- ratives 5'.Veeren rhe horror or banalize the uniqueness of a situ-
raries has also been silenced by historians. Amazing in this story ation by focusing on details: each convoy to Auschwitz can be
is the extent ro \vhich historians have treated the events of Sajnc- explained on its own terms; some U.S. slaves were berrer fed rhan
Dominguc ·m ways quite similar to the reactions of its Western British workers; some Jews did survive. The joint effect of these
conrernporarics. That is, the narratives they build around these two types of formulas is a powerful silencing: whatever has not
facts are strikingly similar to the narratives produced by individu- been cancelled out in the generalities dies in the cumulative irrel-
als who thought that such a revolut1on was impossible. evance of a heap of details. Th is is certainly the case for the Hai-
The treatment of the Hairian Revolution in written history our- tian Revolurion. 4'1
sMe of Haiti reveals two families of tropes that are identical, in The general silence that Western historiography has produced
formal (rhetorical} terms, ro figures of discourse of rhe late eigh- around the Haitian Revolution originally stemmed from the in-
teenth century. The first kind of tropes are formulas that rend to . capacity to express the unthinkable, hue it was ironically rejn-
erase di reedy the fact of a revolution. I call them, for shore, for- forced by rhe significance of the revolution for ics contemporaries
mulas of erasure. The second kind tends to empty a number of and for the generation immediately following. From 1791-1804
singular events of their revolutionary content so that the entire to the middle of the century, many Europeans and North Ameri-
string of facts, gnawed from all sides, becomes trivialized. J call cans came to see that revolution as a litmus test for the black race,
them formulas ofbanaliza~ion. The first kind of tropes character- certainly for the capaciries of all Afro-Americans. As Vastey's pro-
45
izes mainly the generalists and the popularizers-textbook au- nouncements on Sans Souci dearly show, Haitians did likewise.
thors, for example. The :,;econd are the favorite rropes of the spe- Christophe's forts and palaces, rhe military efficiency of rhe for-
cialists. The first type recalls the general silence on resistance in mer slaves, che impact of yellow fever on the French troops, and
eighreemh-cencury Europe and Norrh America. The second re- the relative weight of external factors· on revolutionary dynamics
calls the explanations of the specialises of che times, overseers and figured highly in these debates. Bur if the revolution was signifi-
administrators in Saint-Domingue, or polhicians in Paris. Boch cant for Haitians-and especially for the emerging Haitian elites
arc formulas of silence. as its self-proclaimed inheritors-co most foreigners it was prj-
The literature on slavery in the Americas and on the Holocaust marily a lucky argument in a larger issue. Thus apologists and
suggests rhar there may be struccural similarities in global silences detractors alike, abolitionists and avowed racists, liberal irrrellec-
or, at the very least, that erasure and banaJization are not unique . tuals, economists, and slave owners used rhe events of Saint-
to the Haitian Revoluriorr. Ar the level of generalities, some nar- Domingue co make their case, without regard to Haitian history
ratives cancel what happened through dirccr erasure of facrs or as such. Haiti mattered to ail of them, but only as prerext to ralk
their rdevance. "lr" did not reallyhappen; it was not that bad, or about something else.'Hi
that i mporranr. Frontal challenges ro the fact of rhc Holocaust With time, rhe silencing of the revolution was srrengrhened by

96 Silencing thi; Past An Unrhinkablc History 1)7

rhe face of Haiti itself. Ostracized for the better pare of the nine- ceded any significance to the Haitian Revolution in their histori-
teenth century, i:he country deteriorated both economically and cal writings up to rhe 1970s. Very few textbooks even mentioned
politically-in pare as a result of rhis ostracism.47 As Haiti de- h. \Xlhen they did, chey made of it a "revolt,'' a "rebellion.'' The
clined, rhe reality of the revolution seemed increasingly distant, ongoing silence of most Latin-American textbooks is sriil more
an improbability which rook place in an awbvard past and for tragic. Likewise, historians of Poland have paid lirde arrcnrion to
which no one had a rational explanation. The revolution that was rhc five thousand Poles involved in the Saint-Domingue cam-
un chinkable became a non-event. paigns. The silence also persists in England jn spite of the face
Finally, che silencing of the Haitian Revolution also fir the rele- that rhe British lost upward of sixty thousand men in eight years
gation ro an historical b~tckburner of the three themes to which in an anti-French Caribbean campaign of which Saint-Domingue
it was linked: racism, slavery, and colonialism. In spite of rheir was rhe mosr covered prize. The Haitian Revolution appears
importance in. the fon!rnrion of what we nmv call the West, in obliquely as pan of mediCil!hisrory.The victor is disease, not the
spite of sudden outbursts of imerest as in the United Stares in the Haitians. The Penguin Dictionmy of A1odtTnHisto1J1 , a mass cir-
early 1970s, none of these themes has ever become a central con- culation pocket encyclopedia that covers the period from 1789 to
cern of the hisroriographic tradition in a Western country. In 1945, has neither Saint-Domingue nor Haiti in irs entries. Like-
fact, each of them, in turn, experienced repeated periods of si- wise, historian Eric Hobsbawm, one of the be.st analysts of this
lence of unequal duratio!l and intensity in Spain, France, Britain, era, managed to write a book entitled T!Jt'Age of Revolutions,
Portugal, The Netherlands, and the United Stares. The less colo- 1789-1843, jn which rhe Haitian Revolurion scarcely appears.
nialism and racism seem important in world history, the less im- That Hobsbawm and the editors of the Dictionary would proba-
portant also the Haitian Revolution. biy locate themselves quire differently within England's political
Thus nor surprisingly, as \X!esrern historiographies remam spectrum is one indication that historical silences do not simply
heavily guided by national-if nor always nationalist-interests> reproduce the overt political positions of the historians involved.
the silencing of Sainr-Domingue/Haici continues in historical What we are observing here is archival power at its strongest~ rhe
writings otherwise considered as models of the genre. The silence Hlk( power to define whar is and what is nor a serious object of re-
is also reproduced in the textbooks and popular writings char are f;1~l}~{f
.· search and, therefore, of mention.'ill
the prime sources on global hi.story for the literate masses in Eu- [jjt.r/·. The secondary role of conscious ideology and the power of the
rope, in the Americas, and in large chunks of the Third World. ·~i~(fr:historical guild to decide rdevancc become obvious when we co~-
This corpus has taught generations of readers rhat the period sider the case of France. France was the Western country mosr d1-
Tlfff_:_._:
1
from 1776 to 1843 should properly be called 'The Age of Revo- f;_ ·r::'\/·
.. reedy involved in rhe Haitian Revolution. France fought hard ro
lutions." At rhe very sanic time, this corpus has remained silent -'· ::-.-'.keep Saint-Domingue and paid a heavy price for it. Napoleon lost
on the most radical political revolution of rhat age. nineteen French generals in Saint-Domingue, including his
In rhe United Scares, for example, with the notable exceptions ·.·.. brother-in-law. France lost more men in Saint-Domingue than at
of Henry Adams and \YI.E. B. Du Bois, few major writers con- Waterloo-as did England.·i!J And although France recovered

98 Sili.:ncing the Past An Unthinkable History 99

economically from the loss of Saint-Domingue, it had indeed
surrendered the control of its most valuable colony to a black
army and that loss had ended the dream of a French empire
on the American mainland. The Haitian Revolution prompted
the Louisiana Purchase. One would expect such "facts," none of
which is conrroversialr to generate a chain of mentions, even if
negative. Yet a perusal of French historical writings reveals mulri-
ple layers of silences.
The silencing starts with revolutionary France itself and is
linked to a more general silencing of French colonialism. Al-
though by rhe 1780s France was less involved than Britain in the
slave trade, both slavery and colonialism were crucial ro rhe
French economy in the second half of the eighteenth ccntury.5°
Historians debate only the extent-rather than the fact-of
France's dependence on its Caribbean slave territories. All concur
that Saint-Domingue was, at the rime of its Revolution, the most
valuable colony of the Wesrern world and France's most im-
portant possession. 51 Many contemporaries would have agreed.
Whenever the colonial issue was evoked, for instance in rhe as-
semblies, it was almost always mingled with Afro-American slav-
ery and both \Vere presented-most often, but nor only, by the
colonists-as a matter of viral importance for the fururc of
Francc. 52
Even if one leaves room, as one should, for rhetorical hyperbole,
the fact that such rhetoric could be deployed is itself telling. But
thcn1 we discover a paradox. Every time the revolutionary assem-
blies1 the polcmisrs, journalists, and politicians that helped de-
cide rhe fare of France between the outbreak. of the French Revo·
lution and the independence ofHairi evoked racism, slavery, and
colonialism, rhey explicidy presented these issues as some of rhe
most important questions that France faced, either on moral or
on economic grounds. Yet the number of rimes rhey debated
those same issues was strikingly limited. Considering both the
100 Silencing the Pas1
weighr of the colonies in French economic life and the hear of rhe
rhetoric involved, the public deb are was of short range. The num-
ber of individuals involved, the fact thar most came from the
elites, the Iimired amount of rime that most participants devoted
ro rhese issues do not reflect the central place of colonialism in
France's objective existence. T'hey certainly do not reflect either
the colonists' claim rhar the economic future of the counrry, or
the Amis des Noirs' claim that the moral present of the nation was
at stake. Recent research, including two important books by Yves
Benot on colonialism and the French Revolution, has not chal-
lenged Daniel Resnick's earlier judgment that slavery was, even
=··
::
:,:.:··
for France's libertarians, ''a derivative concern. " 53
SriJI. revolutionary France left a trail of records on these sub-
jects. Colonial management and both private and public commu-
nications between France and the Americas also left their paper
trail. In short, the inaccessibility of sources is only relative. 1r can-
not e.·xplain the massive disregard chat French historiography
shows for the colonial question and, by extension, for rhe Haitian
Revolittion. In fact, French historians continue to neglect the co-
lonial question, slavery, resistance, and racism more than rbe rev-
olutionary assemblies ever did. Mosr hisr.orians ignored orsimply
skipped whatever record there was. A few took che time for short
and ofren derogatory passages on the Haitian revolutionaries be-
fore moving, as it were, to more important subjects.
The list of writers guilty of chis silencing includes names
:m:1ched to various eras, historical schools, and ideological posi-
tions, from Mme. de Stael, Alexis de Tocqueville, Adolphe
Thiers, Alphonse de Lamartine, Jules Michelet, Albert Mathiez,
and Andre Guerin, ro Albert Soboul. Besides minor-and debar-
able-exceprions in the writings of Ernest Lavisse and, most es-
pedally Jean Jaures, the silencing cominues. 54 Larousse's glossy
compilation of The Great Eveuts c~f 1FotldHist01:v,meant to
· duplicate-and, one supposes, fashion- "the memory of hu-
An Unrhinkahlc History l OI
mankind" produces a more polished silence than the Penguin are plenriful, and I wHl only cite a few. Many analyses of marro-
pocket dictionary. It not only skips the Haitian Rcvolurion; it at- nage ("desertion" some still would say) come quite close to the
tributes very little space to either slavery or colonialism. 55 Even biophysiological explanations preferred by plantation man-
the centennial celebrations of French slave emancipation in the agers.58 I have already sketched the pattern: slave A escaped be-
1948 did nor stimularc a substantial lireramre on the subject. cause she was hungry, slave B because she was mistreated ....
More surprising, neither the translation in French of C. L. R. Similarly, conspiracy theories still provide many historians with a
Jamcs's B!ackjacobim nor the publication of Aime Cesaire's Tous- /·.·
-,:::
deus ex machina for the events of 1791 and beyond, just as in the
saint Louuerture, which bor.h place colonialism and the Haitian rhetoric of the assem blymcn of the rimes. The uprising musr have
Revolution as a cenrrnl question of the French Revolution, acti- been "prompted," ''provoked," or "suggested" by some higher be-
56
vated French scholarship. ing than rhe slaves themselves: royalists, mulattoes, or other ex-
The public celebrations and the flood of publications
char ac- ternal agents. 5'J
corn panied the Bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989- The search for external influences on the Haitian Revolution
1991 actively renewed the silence. Massive compilations of five provides a fascinating example of archival power at work, not be-
hundred co a thousand pages on revolutionary FranceJ published cause such influences are impossible bur because of the way the
in the 1980s and directed by France's most prominent historians, same historians rrcat contrary evidence that displays the internal
show near total neglect both for colonial issues and the colonial dynamics of the revolution. Thus, many historians are more will-
revolution that forcibly brought them to the French estates. Sala- ing ro accept the idea that slaves could have been influenced by
i\tlolins describes and decries the near rornl erasure of Haiti, slav- whires or free mulattoes, with whom we know rbey had limited
ery, and colonization by French officials and the general public contacts, rhan they are willing to accept the idea char slaves could
during ceremonies surrounding the Bicenrennial.57 have convinced ocher slaves that they had the right to revolt. The
As this general silencing goes on, increased specialization wichin existence of extended communication nenvorks among slaves, of
the historical guild leads to a second trend. Saint-Domingue/ which we have only a glimpse, has not been a "seriousn subject of
60
Haiti emerges at the intersectionofvarious interests: colonial his- historical research.
tory, Caribbean or Afro-American history, the hisrory of slavery, Simil.1rly, hisrorians othenvise cager ro find evidence ofi<exter-
the history of New \X'orld peasantries. In any one of these sub- . nal" participation in the 1791 uprising skip the unmistakable ev-
fields~ it has now become impossible ro silence the fact thar a rev- idence thar the rebellious slaves had their own program. In one of
olurion took place. Indeed, the revolution itself, or even series of their earliest negotiations with representatives of rhc French gov-
faces within it, have become legitimate topics for serious research . ernmenc, the leaders of the rebellion did not ask for an abstractly
within any of these subfields. couched "freedom." Rather, their masc sweeping demands in-
How interesting then, rhar many of the rhetorical figures used cluded due~ days a week to work on their own gardens and the
to interpret the mass of evidence accumulated by modern histori- elimination of the whip. These were not Jacobinist demands
ans recall tropes honed by planters, poli ricians, and administra- . adapted ro the tropics, nor royalist claims n:vice creolized. These
tors borl1 before and during the revolutionary struggle. Examples were slave demands wid1 the strong peasant touch that would

102 Sili:ncing the Past . An Unrhink:i.b[,: History 103

characterize independenr Haiti. But such evidence of an internal
drive, although known co most historians, is nor debated-nor
even to be rejected or interpreted otherwise, Ir is simply ignored,
and this ignorance produces a silence of trivialization.
Jn rhat same vein, historian Robert Stein places most ·of the
credit for the 1793 liberation of the slaves on Sonrhonax. The
commissar was a zealous Jacobin, a revolutionary in his own
right, indeed perhaps the only white man to have evoked con-
cretely and with sympathy the possibility of an armed insurrec-
tion among C:iribbean slaves both befim-' the fact and in a public
forum .61 We have no way ro estimate the probable course of the
Revolution without his invaluable contribution to the cause of
freedom. But rhe poim is not empirical. The point is that Stein's
rhetoric echoes the very rhetoric first laid out in Sonthonax's trial.
Implicit in that rhetoric is the assumption chat the French con-
nection is both sufficient and necessary to the Haitian Revolu-
tion. That assumption trivializes the slaves' independent sense of
their right to freedom and the right to achieve this freedom by
force of arms. Other writers rend to sray prudently away from the
word ''revolution," more often using such words as "insurgen rs,"
0
"rebels," bands," and "insurrection.'' Behind this terminologi-
cal fuzziness, these empirical blanks and these preferences in
interpretation is the lingering impossibility, which goes back ro
the eiglueenrh century, of considering the former slaves as the
62
main actors in the chain of events described.
Yet since ar least the first publication of C. L. R. Jam cs's classic,
The Black j,zcohins (but note the dde), the demonsrration has
been well made ro the guild that the Hairian Revolurion is indeed
a "revolution" in its own right by any definition of the word, and
not a.n appendix of Bastille Day. But only wirh the popular reedi-
tion of James's book in 1962 and the civi'I rights movement in the
United States did an· international counter-discourse emerge 1
·which fed on rhe historiography produced in Haiti since the
104 Silencing the P:1st
nineteenth century. T'hat councer~discourse was revitalized in the
1980s with the contributions of historians whose specialty wa.s
neither Hairi nor the Caribbean. Then, Eugene Genovese and-
fatcr-Robin Blackburn, echoing Henry Adams and W. E. B. Du
Bois, insisted on the central role of the Haitian Revolution in the
collapse of rhe entire system of slavery.'; 3 The impact of this
counrer-discourse remains limited, however, especially since Hai-
tian researchers are increasingly distant from these international
debates.
Thus, the historiography of the Haitian Revolution now finds
irsdf marred by rwo unfortunate tendencies. On the one hand,
x· mqst of rhe literature produced in Haiti remains respectful-coo
}(·respectful, I would say-of the revolutionary leaders who led the
/. masses of former slaves to freedom and independence. Since rhe
}· early nineteenth century, the Haitian elites have chosen ro re-
\/: spond to racist denigration with an epic discourse lauding their
\f. revolution. The epic of 1791-1804 nurtures among them a posi-
·../. rive image of blackness quire useful in a white-dominated world.
{:-But die epic is equally useful on che home front. Ir is one of the
(( rare historical alibis of these elites, an indispensable reference to
/t their claims to power.
\;.:.. The empirical va[ue of this epic tradition has steadily declined
\:: a.frerits spectacular launching by such ninereenrh-cenrury giants
}.·.-as Thomas Madiou and Beaubrun Ardouin, and in spire of indi-
./_.·vidual achievements of the early twentieth century. Unequal ac-
':f·cess ro archives-products and symbols of neo-colonial domina-
.)( don-and rhe secondary role of empirical precision in this epic
)\: discourse continue to handicap Haitian researchers. They excel at
/. purring facts into perspective, bur their facts are weak, sometimes
·'\: wrong, especially since rhe Duvalier regime explicitly politicized
(:·"hisroricaldiscourse.(i•i
}/ On rhe other hand, the history produced outside of Haiti is in-
_}/cre;isinglysophisticated and rich empirically. Yet its vocabulary
\i:An lforhinkablt History !05
and often its emire discursive framework recall frighteningly world before and since. Thar fact itself is not surprising: rhe his-
those of rhe eighteenth century. Papers and monographs rake chc torical process is always messy, often enough conrradicrory. Bur
tone of planrarion records. Analyses of the revolution recall rhc what happened in Haiti also contradicted most of what the Wcsr
letters of a La Barre, the pamphlets of French politicians, the mes- has told both i rself and others about icself. The world of rhe West
sages of Leclerc to Bonaparte or, at best, rhe speech of Blangi1ly. I basks in what Frarn;ois Furer calls rhe second illusion of truth:
am quire willing ro concede chat the conscious poliricaJ motives what l~appened is what must have happened. How many of us can
are nor the same. Indeed again, rhat is part of my point. Effective rhink of any non-European population without rhe background
silencing does not require a conspiracy, nor even a poli rical con- .. of a global dominationthat now looks preordained? And how can
sensus. Its roots are structural. Beyond a stated-and most often . Haiti, or slavery, or racism be more than distracting footnotes
sincere-political generosity, best described in U.S. parlance \Virhin that narrative order?
within a liberal continuum, the narrative structures of \Vescern The silencing of chc Haitian Revolurion is only a chapter within
historiography have nor broken with the onro!ogical order of rhe a narrative of global domination. It is part of rhe history of the
Renaissance. This exercise of power is much more important than West and it is lik~Jy co persist, even in attenuated form, as long as
the alleged conservacive or Jjbera..l adherence of the hiscorians .. rhe hisrory of the \X'escis not retold in ways rhat bring forward
involved. . the perspective of the world. Unfortunately, we are not even close
The solution may be for the two historiographic rradirions- . to such fundamental rewriting of world history, in spite of a few
66
thar of Haiti and char of the "foreign" specialises-to merge or co · spectacular achievements. The next chapter goes more directly,
generate a new perspective that encompasses rhe best of each. . albeit from a quire unique angle, into this narrative of global
There are indications of a move in chis direction and some recent domination which srarrs in Spain-or is it Portugal?-ac che end
works suggest that it may become possible, sometime in the fu- of rhe fifteenth century.
ture, co write the history of the revolution char was, for long,
unrhinkable.(; 5
But what I have said of the guild's reception of The Bltzck
]acobins, of colonial hisrory in France, and of slavery in U.S. his-
tory suggests also rhar neither a single great book nor even a sub-
sranrial increase in slave resistance studies will fully uncover the
· silence char surrounds the Haitian Revolution. For rhe silencing ;/l
of that revolution has less ro do with Haiti or slavery rhan ir has j
co do wirh rhe West. J
Here again, whar. is ar Stake is rhe interplay between historicity m
l and historicity 2, between what happened and rhar which is said i
to have happened. What happened in Hairi between 1791 and :.
1804 conrradicred much of what happened elsewhere in the i

l 06 ·An Unrhink:ihlc Hisrory 107

Lacroix bluntly challenged Clirisrnpht:'s d;1ims 10 fitrnc, biming that if Chris-
rophc was ;1s popular and respected as he .1/tirn1t.·dhr:.would h,we convinced rhc
blacks to betray San:. Souci. (Nnt~ rhc panern ofinduccd bctray,1!.} A~ the French
gcncr;1Jla1cr rcpons rht: txchangc, Christophe dodged t.hc 1.ssucof commanJ and
populariry. He called Sam Souci a "hrigand," displacing into the field of Wesrern
ra.srcfulncss what was a serious compctiriou for national lc:1dcrship.
28 Jonathan Brown, T/11~ His101?mu! Presi:m Condition of St. Dmningr1, vol. 2
(Philadelphia: W. Marsh.1ll, 1837), 116.
29 Herard Durnesle, ViJpzge
dm,sl,· Nrm! d'H,~1·ti(Cayes: In1primcrit: du gouvcr-
11t:mcnc, ! 82,.1),225-226.
30 Vcrgniaud Leconte, f-!e11ri ChristfJfht' dam i'hiswire d'H,,i"ti (Paris: Bcrgcr-
Lcvraulr, 193 l), 273.
}{1(1 Roberr Norris, Mmwirs oft/n~ Re(~11('.f'Bo,WlAd.-,/m\ King of D,ilwmy {Lnr1-
\/don: Frank Cas;;, 1963 f 1789]), xiv. On "mulatto" hisrnri:ins ~111J tht: J-Liiria n past,
{}see Daviu Nicholls, J,,·om Dcs,,rlhus m DuM!ie.r: Rtta, Colour and Narim1,tll11de-
\-)enrieuce in J:/11iti,ch;1p. 3 (London: Jvfadvlil!an Cnihbc::an, 1988). On Ardouin
{:in particular, sec Hc.nock Troui!lot, Bt·.-mbrm1/J.nlo11iu,
l'htJmmt·p(}Htiqm'1·1I 'hisw-
}>ier1 (Mexico:Instituro Panamcricano Jc Gcograffa e J-Iisroria, Comisi:on Jc His-
\i,coria, i 950). For a close reading of Ardouin, set Drexd G. Woodson, "Tbur
·/mounn ;;e mounn men rout mounn pa m~nm: A,ticro!evd Socinculr.urnJ Aspccrs of
./·LandTenure in .1 Norrhern H;1itian Lnca!itr" (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago,
("1990). On class and color in I-laid, ;;er:.1Y[ichd-Rolph Trnuillor, H,1iti: Stt1tt.'
Nation (New York and London: 1vlonthlvRt:view Press, I 989).
):.-t1g11i,m
~- -
Lacroix, 1'1b11oires,vol. 2, 287; Lecomt:, Hmri C'/Jristophc,282.
Thorncon, "African Soldiers in the Hairian Revolution."

31 Harvey, Skt:tchi:s,~f
Hr1yri. Auguste and Auguste, L'Expedition L•dcrc.

32 CharJr;:., ,1 Residence in that Repr,h-

,\fadccnzie, Nott'S,m H11iri,A!,rde.D11ri11g Arc!ouin, i£tudes sur !'hiswiruf'H11iri, vol. 5, 75.
/ic, vol. 2 (London: Henry Colburn anc.l Richard Bcndc:y, 1830), 209; Nr1tl!sa11
H11iti, vol. 1, 169-17~1. ll5, On elites' appropriaiion and control of mass aspirations in posrcolonial
A/~uilding, see TrouiHor, Ti dife bou!t·;Troutllot, Haiti: Sr,11e,tgilimt Niuion. For a
staie

33 Rirrer, Jmd Ht~i'fi, 77, 78, 81. ff/modd study of rhese issues in India and Indian historiography, .~ceP.mba Ch;tt-
'.f;{rerjce,
The Nmirm audits Fmgm1mts: CJ/a11i11/ mu/ Postcolmiial Hist(Jries(Princc-
34 Ibid., 76. f(ron: Princeton University Press, 1993).

35 Ibid., 77-82.

36 Cole. Christopht!, 207.

;N_3An Unthinkable Hisrory

37 For rhc: record, Cole was often .sympathetic 10 his subject. lvfy polnr is th:u de /,1
Quoted by Roger Dorsinville in 'fi.mss11imLrnwarm·e ou La 1raozti011
this sympathr pertains ro ;:i panicufar fidd of significance that char;1crcrizcs neat- .. \Liberti{Paris: Julliard, I %5).
menrs of che Haitian Revolution by \'vcsrc.rn hi.,rorians. See chap. 3. ··.
\f: Circd by Jacqut:s Cauna in .tf,,t<:mpsdes fries,i mcff {Paris: Karthala, I 987),
38 Rene Phclipeau, Pi,w dt· la pllliJLt·dtt Ci1pFnmrrlis t.•11 /'isle Saim Dr1111i11gue?
(hand copy, Biblioth~quc Nai-ion..i!c, Paris, 1786). \
.i~4.
f[fi Mosr of these p.!mphicts, including those drcd hen:, an: includL'd in rhc
39 Po.c,$iblt" corrnborarion of rhis intcrprcrarion i.~an ephemeral change in rhe} \Jk12 series ar the BibJiorhcquc Nario11ale, in Pari.~.Odien, wen: reproduced by
name of Grand Pre ir,.df Son1ctimc bcrwct~n the death of Sans Souci and 1827,) ;}dieFrench government (e.g., French N;1tional Assembly, Pil~as imprirnt:t·sp11ror-
chc plamarion was rcbaprized "La Vicrn1tc'' {Tiu: Victory). 1vlackc111.ic's first vol~:_) ·}re tieI>1ssm1h!ee Colonies(P~lris: 1mpr·1rncric N arionak,
N11ti{)11,zle, J791-92).
:_.·.··
mnr::opens with a picture of a planc:uion "La View ire, formerly Grand Pre, 011 rhi:\ ·.=.<·."··
Notes tm Hititi, vol. I,, fronrispicce). Unforru-)
road ro San!i Souci (f\.-facki::ttz.ic, {-( J\fo:hd-R~lph Trouilloc, "Anthropology and the S:lvagc SJnr; Tht' Pot:ric.~
na1dy, we do nor know if 1hc nam~ clwngt' occurred during Christophe's tenure\:· )ndPolitics of A,1r/m,polr1g_y:
Orhei-ncss," in l1'ctl!/JWl"iJ1.t; H'1<rrlciJ1g
in th(' Presmt,
or in the seven years bctwt:c11 his dcarh and lvfockcm:ic's visir. :; (ed.Richard G. fox (Sama Fe: Sd1ool of i\mt:rican Hcse;1rch Press, 1991 ). 17-4,i.

J 66 Nntcs 111 I':1ge5 (il-65\ I {i7

:·{
5 lV[ichad Adas, 1\Jachi11,•s of1lf,,n: Scii•1m·, Tr:chw1!t,g.Y
m the 1'1e11sure mul ldeol-
agies of Westem Domiulltirm, chap. 2 (Ithaca: Cornell University Prc5s, 1989).
tt2 David Geggu,, "Racial Equality. Slavery, and Colonial Secession during rh,
{CormirnentAssembly,'' Amcric,m Historical Rerliew94, no. 5 (Dect!mbi:r I989):
Psa!manazar's hoax about cannibalism in Taiwan captivated interest in Europe be- )290-1308; Dagct, "Le mot esdavc:"; S,lla-Molins, lifisem.
tween 1704 and 1764 cxacrly because it played on these pn:conccptfons. See f):.
Tzvctan Todorov, Lt•s1Hrmrlesde l'l1istoire (Paris: Bcrnard Gra:;scr, 1991), 134- . Histoirt· d,·s deu.-.:
Raynald, Guillaume-Fran<;ois, Imfes, 7 vols. (The Hague:
141. For an earlier example of .1dmirarion ~1ndcontempt for the Orient, see John ,. \(Grosse,
1774) . .Michele Duchcr, Didtrot t't l'Histoire des drnx bules 011 l'ecrirure
Chardin's Travels,in which rhe Persians are" Dissemblers, Cheats and the: basesr \ {fmgmem,rire (Paris: Nizet, 1978); Yves Bcnot, Dide,·()t:,de I,uhiisme ,i I't1nti-
;ind most impudt:nt Flanercres in the World" and, two p,lgt:s farer, ''rbe mosr Civi~:; {i:0!011ialisme
(Paris: i'vlaspcro, 1970}. [(I Rhmlutian fntnfllise.
Iiz'd Jlcoplt: of the East," 187-189. John Charc.Iin, Tmvl'!s in Persia 1673-1677 \ \;::-. .
{New York: Dover, 1988; originally publisht:d in Amm:rdam, 1711). ·::' . Duelm, Diderot et l'Histnire; Michel Delon 'L'Appd au lectcur clans l'His-
i.\oircdes dt!ux In<les," in Lec/tlres de R11}•1ud.L 'Histoiredes deux f1ltleseu Europeer
6 Nom• lilmtirit· (Ocrobt:r-Dccembcr 1987) no. 90, In1ages du noir clans fa ]j {j11A111eriq1U' ,m XV/Ile siecle, (eds.) H-ans-Jiirgen LOscbrink and Manfred Tietz
lirr~rarun: occidcnt:1h:; vol. I; Du Moyen-Age ;1la conqu2tt: coloniale. Simone De- Jij \ ..{Ol:ford: Voltaire Found-.itiun, 1991), 53-66; Y,,cs Benm, "Traces de l'Histaire des
lt:sa11c;inc.!Luccrrc Valt:ttsi, ''Le rnoc 'ncgre' t!;ms lcs dicrionnaires frans:ais d'an-S~ \-~leux I11deschez le;;ami-csclavagim:s sous la Revolution," in Lemm•s tfr R,~}'md,
cicn regime: hisroirc ct lexicographic." lr111g11es Ji,-mr.-tises,
no. I 5. .... 'i.J4I-154.

7 Gord(ln Lewis, 1\/,tiu Currents in C1rihhe1111 T/J{lughts,The Histor,cal Er1o/11-/ . Jt:an-Claudc Bonnet. Didr.ror.Tt:xm er debars (Paris: Livrc de Poche, i 98,i),
ofCarihhem1 Sode~}' in its Ideologim!Aspects, 1.f!:)2-1900, clwp. 3 (B.1ldmor(; i
ti,111 ) 16. On rht! construction of European civilization implicit in the Hismire, /ICC Ga-
The Johns Hopkins Univcr.~iry Press, 1983}; \\7illiam B. Cohen, The Frmch En< :(brijdaVidan, "Unt: rt:ct:ption fragmcncce: le cas de Rayna] t:n cerres slaves du
ctmma with ;~fricam: \\'7/JireRerpmm to Blacks. 1530-1880 (Bloomington: Indi-:j }ud," in Lecturesde Ray111d,
361-3 72.
ana University Press, 1980); \Vi.ndirnp D. Jord;lll, White 011tr Black:AmafrmrAt- :;
riwrles tour,rrdthe Negro, 1550-1812 (Ch.ipcl Hill: University of North Carnliua ~- /iG Louis Sal.i-Molins, Le Code 11ofr 011 le J."lll1111ire
dt.'Cmw,w (Paris: PUF, l'ra-
Press, 1968); Serge O:tgt:r, "Le mot esdavc, ncgri: er noir er lt:s jugcmenrs de valcur} }iques Theoriques, 1987), 254-261. ln Bcnot's apt phrase, auronomy was "fatally
sur la craitc negtic:rc clans l:1litteraturc :1.holidonisn~franf.ti!ic de 1770 ;1 l 8ri5,".\ \;,•hire"
whenever it c:imc up in the: H1"staire
(Benot, "Traces de !'Histoire," 147}.
"In::.
Re1111t·frm1ptiserl'histoired'outrt·-mer GO, 11(1. -i ( 197.3 ): 511-48; Pier.re Bou Ile,
.::: I

Oc:fense of Sbvc:ry: Eighrecmh-Cenu1ry Opposition to Aho Jirion and the O rigiru} Serge Dager, "Lt: mor t:Sdave, ncgrc ct noir," 519.
of Racist Ideolo1:,ry
in France," in Hist<nJJi"!11n
Below:Studies in Pop11fm·
Protf'Stmu!\.
Popu{m· !dealog_y,ed. Frederick Kr;1ntz (London: Basil B!;tckwdl, 1988), 219-j YvesBenor, Diderot, 316. Emphasis added.
246. Louis Sala-Molins, Miscresdes Lumieres. Sous l,r miso11,/'outrage (Paris: Rob-)/.
err Laffone, J 992); lvlichelc Duch et, "Au rc:mps des philosophes." Notre Lihr,zirie{ii= if19Pierre Bourdicu, Le Sem 1n·miqm·{Paris: Minuit, 1980), 14. The unthink-
(Ocrnbcr-Decembt'r 1987) no. 90, Images du noir, 25-33. {ableapplies ro the world of everyday life and to chc .~oci:~Iscit:nces. Sec Le Sem
.fpr,ttiq11e,
90, 184. 22ii, 272.
8 Archilles Pm·lmw1mires, 1st scr. vol. 8 {session of 3 July 1789), 186. =~·:
.
There is no term in the vocabulary of the times either in Englishor in French
9 Tzvcian Todorov, T'he Dt:f/ec1ion"f the E11lightcnmmr (Stanford: Srnnfor<l{ }hatwould account fi.)r the practices-or encapsulate a generalized notion-of
Humanities Cemt.!r, 1989), 4. ..-, }~.,isra.nce.I use resistance here in die rather loose ,vay it appears nowadays in the
!jirerarure. I am dealing efacwhcre with rhe nece~·s;1rydistinction between resis-
IO Jact1ucs Thibau, Lt• Temps de Saim-Domingue. L'csclrwageet l,1 revrduttimL '.t:i"ncc
and defiance and the concept of resistancc . .l'vlichd-Rolph Trouillot, "In the
jj-.-mraist·
(Paris: Jean-Claude Lanes, l 989), 9 2. .:;; .Sbdow of rhe West: Power, Resistance :1.ndCreolization in the C.tribhean." Key-
}t~Jte
Iecru re at rbc Congre.~s, "Bornom of Resistance," Afro-Caribische Culturen,
11 Michele Duchcc, .Amhrapofagiet't histnirc rm sieclt' rles Lumih·,·.s ;tenu~r
foi:"-Caribbean and Latin American Studies, Risjksunivt:rsircit Utrecht,
,...
Maspero, I 971 ), 157. Empha.~isadded. On anticolonialism in France, sec Yvc., / .-~etherlands, 26 March 1992.
!:knot, La Rh111/utioujimJf 11iseet /,1Jindes cnlonfrs (Paris: La Decouverre, 1987); \
Ltz Dhnence colmzialesmtsNaJwlitm (Paris: La Dccouvene, 1992). ···

!68 Nnrcs to Pages 76-81) 169

21 "Narure has ac lasr crcured rhi.~stunning man, rhis immorral man, who niusr·. Lokke, Fmna and the Coloni,r/ QlJf:stirm,T15.
deliver ~i world from die most· atrocious, rhc longest, rhe most insulting tyranny/
He has :dtartercd rhe irons of his comp;1rriots. So many oppressed s-hivesunder die··: }&~· Actually, tfo: two ren1;1rkablcexception.~ T am willing 10 concede ;1rcJi:an-
most odious slavery St'.emedto wait only for his signal ro make such;; he.ro. Thi/. /i~ime lvfararand Fe!iciceSonrhonax.
:i_:,-.,:·::··.·
heroic avenger has sc[ an t:x::imp1~ch;1t .~ooncr c>rlater cruelty wiJJbe punished 1:.:
and rhat Providr:nc~ holds in srore these strong rnuls, which she rdca!ies upm( ;=)5To be sure, rhere were oral and written t.cx.rsof whi.ch the philosophical im-
earrh ro recswblish the t:guilibrium which rhi: inequity of ferocious atnbitim(._ /port
became increasingly explicit as the Rcvo!udo11 advanced, from the speeches
knew how ro d~srroy." {J\frrcicr, L'An 2440, xxii. in Bonnet, Didemt, 331). ., )·iiponc:dlygiven at rhc garhcrings char preceded rhe insurrection w rhe Haitian
);.'.Consrirmionof 1805. Bur thc_i;e;tre primarily politic.al rcxrs marking immediate
22 \'v'hethcr Louvcrmre himself had re;1<lRayna! in I 791 and was convinced o( )gc>al~or recenc victorie!i. Up to rhe first pose-independence. wrir"rngsof Boisrond-
his own future role in history is unproven and bcsi<lcrhe point. · \!onncre, there: were no full-tin1e inrcllc::cwalsto engage in speech acrs one step
/removed from the political bartles, as in t·hc French ,ind rhe American revolutions,
23 1n Bl"!noc,Dideror, 214, Dueber, Amhrnpl)logie et histoirt, }ihelara-anticolonial srrugglc::sof Larin America, Asia, or Africa; or rhe revolu1-ions
added. {ih_,tr
d:1imed a lvbrxisr ancc.mr,
j
2.J lntcrpelbtion is one ofd1e fovorice tropes ofrhe Enlightenment, abundantly::·· . Clearly, many ge11.rde coule1irand especially mufatro planration owner.~ had
used in rhc Hisraire for a number of political and rhetorical reasons. Michd De~'{ )i-itern:afizedwhite racial prejudice. Furrher, some had GUitc objt:ctivc reasons ro
Jon, "l:Appe[ au !t:ctt:ur." ·· [~tguefor the m;timm,tncc of s[at,ery. European deb,ues, and espc::ciaJlyrhe French
f-te.volurion,provided d1t'.rna platform ro argue for their imcrc::s:t
;rnd to voice their
25 ''Ccs fers des longremps prepar2s ... pour nous ... / C'est nous qu'on 05~'.; '/prejudices.See Julien Raimond, Obserwuirms.wr l,1rigi11t.' et /esprogresdu prej11ge
medirer / De rend re;\ !'antique esdavagc" etc. (La 1lfm,t'illaise}. ·· {ile.r,colm1s
1,/ml(scmurr !t•shommt·s de cauleu,-;mr !es i11c,ml!h1ie11s
tie Ir:perpemer; /,r
j1ecmite de le di:trr1ire(Paris: Bdcn, l 791 )~ lv1"1d1d-Ro!phTrouil1ot, "Morion in
26 Archiz,es Parlmm1tttires, vol. 9 (session of22 October I789), ,f76-478. i}hcSystem: Coffee, Color an<l Sh1vc11·in Eigluecnth-Cenrnry Saine-Domingue,"
fjevlew5, no. 3 (AJournal of d1e l~c:rnandBrat,dd Center for rhe Study of Econo~
27 Li1cienJaumc, Les Declmmionsdt•sdmirsdel'homme.. Te....:tes
prifi1ceHtmmote/ '-:_~ies,Hisrorical Sysrcnis and Civilizations}: 331-388; Michel.Rolph Troui1lor,
(Paris: Flamrmuion, 1989). / "!iTheInconvcnicnct: of Freedom; Free Pe.op[eof Color and the:Political Aftermath
.'·} "§fSiaveryin Dominica and Saim-Domingue/[·fairi," in Tht• Mt•,ming"[Frudom:
28 E.g., Diderot in Benac, Didm1t, 187. 'J!couomicr,Politics mrd Culture ,ifier SI.we,:,,,ed. f. McGJynn a.ncl S. Dn:scher
(~imburgh: Univ~rsit)' of Pirr.sburgh Press, 1992), l-47-182: Gcggus, "Racial
29 Seymour Drescher, Ec(}n()cidt,British Sla1,e1yin the Era of .A.b(}/itio,i(Pimi} Jqualicy," 1290-1308. On the rejection of raci;il prt:judicc by mulatto leader An-
burgh; Pirrsburgh Ulliversicy Press, i 977). ·.::
·.·:
fdrc Rigaud, see Ernst Troui1lot, P1wpectiom rl'Hfrtoire.. Chost·scit Saint-Domingue
fi_d'H11l1i (Port-;1u-Pri1ict:: f mprimerie de f'Et-ar, T961), 25-36.
et hist(Jire,177; Michele Duchct, Lt• Partagedessal!oiJ~
30 Ducher, .rl11thropr1/(}gie :;.\
.. ··.

(Paris: Lt Decouvem:, 1985). ( jj Arc/JivesAzrlcmmtairer, vol.
437-38; 455-58: ti70, 522-531.
31 Arcl1ir1es Pn.rlemenmires25, 740. To be fair, the same Grt!goire was ,Lccused_f· }\(·.
more than once of inciting black rebellion, but rhe specific evidence wa.'i quire} i" 8 ·· Rohin Blackburn,
3ij {ses.~ionof 30 Ocrobcr 1791), 521; see also
The Ouerthrmu r,f Co/011ialSl,1m:r_;
(London and New
1

weak. See for instance, .Archives Parlenwzt,rirex,vol. l O (session of 28 Novembef W~rk:

1789), 3 83. Set: abo Carl Ludwig Lokke:, Fmnc,~ and rhi• Co!omn.l Question:i;
Stud;• t,j'French Gmrnnptmtr)' Opinion (New York: Columbia University Press/
1932), 125-135; Sala-Molins, 1Vishes des Lumiem, passim. _j
32 .M. Schwam: (!vlarie Je.:in-J\nroinc Nicolas Carirat, I\.farquis de Condorcet)}
Rijle:i:it)IIJ
mr l'esclaMgl'des Negres (N e.ufcharel er Paris, I 78 I}. ··
Verso, 1988). I 33.
..... Baillio, L'Ami-Bri.rsot,p(lr 1111petit blm1cde 5itim-Domingul' ( Paris: Chez Gi-
"_"'jtlin,
Club Lit~crairc et Politiquc, 1791 ); B;!il!io, lh1 Afot rle 11eritesur ft.! 111I1!-
f~"imde St1i11t-Daidi11gue {Paris, 1791), Milsccnc, Sur /es troub/t·s de St1int-Dom-
f.iigue(Paris: Imp. du Parriorc fram;ais, 1791 )·,Anonymous, Adresse,m r(}itr pieces
f~l1tives,rla t!eput,uion des cito_vmrde Names, /z l'occasioude la term/redes Nofrr ,z

170 Noti:s ro Pages 1.14-8~: 17 I

Srri11t-D11ming11e. Arrhe ,le lir Mtmicip,rfite de N111ms(Le Cap, n.c.l. {1792?});{
Anonymous, Phitim, des cito)'r.m rnnmzerrrmrs, cal{}ns,agricrdteurs,m,m,ifiu·turir.rJ '.,:
t'f autn:s de !11
ville de N{Intes; l,·ttre des commiwiires de la Sor:ihed',tgriculmrc, de(
,trts et clu commerce de Ia dite ville ,ru.\'crJmmiss11ires,
de i'assemh!fr toloni,rle tie I/
partiefril1lf1Zisetie Sai11t-D()}ning11e, er repomedescommi1J11ires de S,1i111-Domil1g11e}
(Paris: Imp. de L. Potier de Lille, n.d.[1792?1). ·:
See also rhe reports of rhe legislative commirw:s lecl respectively by Charles}
Tarbe and Carran-Coulon: Piut·J imprimee.r1,zr ,mire rle l'Assr.mblh:Natiowzle. i
G,fonir.s (Paris! lmprimeric Nadonale, l 792) and J. Ph. Carran, Rttpport sm· le1\
tmuhles deSai11t-Domir1g11e, .firit nu 1wm de la Commission des Colonies,des Ctm1irh:
de Salta Public, de Legisftttiou et de 1l.J11rilfe.rbmfr (Paris: lmprimerie Nationa:ie,\
1787-89). Furrhcr references to these debates are in the Archives Pttrlement11im,)
notably vol. 3 5, (sessions of l December 1791. 3 Decem her 1791, 9 Decemberf
1791. 10 Decembt:r 1791), 475-492; 535-546; 671-675; 701-710. BlangiH
ly's speech was read on IO December 1791 . Arcbit.es Arrlemeut,rires, vol. 3;,'.·:
1
713-716.
40 Cited by Cauna, A11 temps des isles,"tsucre, 223. Emphasis added.
.f 1 Bfanchelande, Prhis de B!tmchehmdesur w11 accrw1ti1m{P,1ris: Imprimcrie de(
N.-H. Nyon, 1793); Anonymous, E:,:mtitdime fem-esur !es 11wlheursdt•SAINT-~
DOJ\fJNGUE t'II ge11fr11!, et pricip,ilemeut sur l'incendie de la ville du CAP FRAN?,
r;AIS (Paris: Au jardin 1:galirc:pavi!fon, 1794?); Anonymous, CtmspimticmI,rrnh1-::_(;
s()m t't mlonmies dhmilees tt derwndes pm· p!,,s dt•dix millr.sfrm1piis refi1gihm(
Comi11e11t de l'Amerique, (Paris?: 1793h {Mme. Lavaux], Repome,wx c,domniei/
colanillle.rde S{1im~Domi11gt1t'.L'i:pousedu reptfhlimin L,w,wx, g()llfJ(r1J(IIY gh1er,1(
(par imerim) des Hesftmiftzises sow le 11mt, ,i sc,rrn11cit1~ye11s (Paris! Imp. de Pain;\
n.d.); J. Raimond er al., Pmll!es complette.r fsic] et materiel/esdu pm.Jetties colm1/
f'rJUr mmer !escolonies,1/'imlipmt!1t11ce, rirees1.leleurs propres ecrits (Paris: De l;imt
primcrie de !'Union, n.d. [1792?}). ·./:
42 Cobhet'sPo/itic11/Register,vol. I , ( 1802), 286.
43 Benot, Lt, D/:mence.
44 Historically, of coum:, rhc respccrive denials of the Haitian Revolution, o(
the relevance of slavery, and of rhe Holocaust h:ivc quite different ideological mo:).
tcvarions, social accepranct:, and polirica[ impacr. :,)
45 See chap. 2. See also David Nicholls, From Demrlines ta Drelllzlicr:
R,tce,Co(
mu/ Muiowtl Independence in HJtiti (London: Macmillian Caribbean, J988}:\
0111"
and Michel-Rolph TrouiUor, H,riti: Stme ,ig11i,mNt1tio11.The Origiw mu{ Leg,1d\
of D1walierism.(New York and London: Monthly Review Press, 1990).
172 N ores to Pages 91-91,;{.
{{.J6 The Haiti,m Rcvolmion sparked rhc int'eresrs of abolitionists in the United
}/ Stare.~;ind especially in England, whtre there were a fowc;tlIs for support. Bur even
\/·British abolitionists showed much amhivafencc toward the Haitian people ;ind
})their forcibly acquired independence. Blackburn, The Overthrow ofCn/011illlS/m1-
}\·er;1t
251-52; Grcggus, "Racial Equality."
(:-":··
Trouillor, Hr1iti:Smre 11gaimtNfl{ioJJ.
.. One of the rare studies of the Polish legions in Sainr-Domingue i.sJ:in Pa-
/\chonski and Reucl Wilson, Polmul's Caribht•tm "/i,1gul;:A Stur{J'af Pt1/isl,IA·gions
i(in th,· M1iti1111
mrr oflwlt7mulmce. /802-1803 (Boulder: Easr European lvfono-
'/ graphs, 1986), unfortunately marred by :1 number of mistakes.
· Hobsbawn mentions the Haiti,111 Revolution once: in rhc nores, rwice in the
:(text:rhe first rinic to s;1y,in passing, that Tous:minr Louverrun:: v..'aschc first indc-
\:·pcndcnrtevo!ucionary leader of the Amcricas~as if chat w:1s nor important: the
( second rime (in parentheses) co note th;tt rhe French Revolution "inspired" colu-
::{nial uprisings. Sec Eric]. Hobsbawm, The Age ofRl!t!Oltttiom. 1789-1848 (New
}(York:New American Library, 1962), 93, 115. If wc accept tlwr Hobsbawm is at
f the extreme lcfr of Wcsn:rn academic historiography and a hi.~c:orian otherwise
}~cotucious of both lhe invcnrion of tradition and rhe ne~d to write a bisrorv from
f_bdow, the paralld with Dideroc-Raynal is amazing. ·
Blackburn, The Overt/mm, ofCalo11it1!Si,wnJ', 2.51, 263.
Philip D. Curtin, T!1t·At!mztic S"uu Th1dt-:A Cmsru (Madison: University
{ofWisconsin, 1969), 210-220, 34.
. Jean Tarradc, "Le Commerce colonial de la France,\ la fin de l'ancien regime:
\)'evolution du systi=mcde I'exdusif de 1763 ,\ 1789," 2 vuls, (These pour le doc-
.).\orat <l'erat, Paris: Universitf de Paris, Faculce des Lcmes et des Sciences Hu-
J\maincs, I J 96911972). Robert Srein, Tiu French Sugar B11si11ess {Baton Rougt::
'.;/Lousiana State Univcrsitv Press, 198 8}.
\~:. ..
One circular of the pro-slavery force:, argues forcibly along such lines: "The
}Sociftc- des Amis des Noirs wishes to bring into question in rhc Narional Assembly
·/the ab:mclonmc:nr of our colonies, the abolition of the slave trade and rhc liberty
}),fourNegroes. If only one of these points is decreed, there would no longer exist
?/comrncrce or manufacm re in France," in Dan icl P. Resnick, "The Socicre des
}Amis des Noirs and the Abolition of S1avcrv," French HistoriMI St11tlit's,vol. 7
\/(I972), 558-569, 564. See also Archives P.trle~tuntttircs,vol. IO (scs.,ion of 26 No-
t\·ember 1789);263-65; vol. 35 (session of G December 179 J ), 607-608.
:~.::
..
:w.53Resnick, "The Socicre des Amis des Noirs," 56I. There is now a growing
\:liccratun: on public dehaces on slavery, race, and colonialism in revolutionary
~ ·..
.M~ores ro P,igcs 97-1 {)1 173
France, with quire ~1 few cirle.,in English. Sec Robin Bl;1ckburn, "Anti-Sf.1vervand
the French Revolution," Hismry JiJfll)' 41 (Novemher 1991): 19-25; Boull~, ;,In
Defense of Slavery''; Serge Dager, ''.A Model of the French J\bolit'ionisr lvfrwe-
mcnt," in A11ti-Sl,wt:1:r,Religio1tmu/ R1:fiJr111, eds. Christine Bofr and Seyrnour
Drescher (Folkstone, England: \V. Dawson, and Hamden, Connecdcur: Ardrnn
Books, I 'J80); Seymour Drescher, "T',,vo\!;triarm of Anri-Shvcry; Religious Org;t- .:(
){:. F~uchard notes this possihiliry in a book that remains one of rhe epic monuments
;(:.·ol-f·foiciw history. Gcggu5, in cum, concludes chat if royalist paniciparion is
).:'.-proved,"rbc autonomy of the slave insurrcaion will find irsdf cnnsiderabh· di"
·/{· minished.'' Robin Blackburn, who non:s rhis disp;1riry between rhe 1wo autlwrs,
{( tighdy finds Gcggus's conclusion "curious" (Bfockburn, The 01urtlmm1 o_fColo-
(\- ·11it1/ Sl,wt·ty, 2 !0). See Jean Fouchar<l, Tiu H,titirtn 1l111rMm:Lih1:rn or Dtmh1

nization :ind Social lv1obilization in Hrit;iin and france, 1780-1870," i11Anti-) }\ (Nt:wYork: Blyden Press, ! 98 r: original printing, 1~)72). · .
..
:·::.:·
S!,we1:i·,Rdigion mu! Reform, 43-63; S~ymour Drescher, "British w:w,French {
Way: Opinion Building and Revolution itt the Second French Em.:rn~rparion,"\ \(·:60 See Julius S. Scott: IJJ, "The Common \Vind: Curren rs of Afro-American
.ilmair,m Hisrorforl Rt1.>ii:w 96, no . .3 ( 1991): 709-73:i; Gc:ggus, "Raci:tl Equal- ii in the-Era of rhc Haitian Revolution" (Ph.D. di.ss.,Duke Un,-
~\Cor11mi1nicat·ion.s
ity," 1190-1308; Jean Tirradc, '' Lt:5"Colonit"s er Jes Principcs Jc 1789: Les Asscm-:: ,/.: versirv,f 986).
:-:\::.::: .,
hiees Revo!urion naires focc au problcmc: de I'esclavage," Revue fiw1r,11s,· rl'hiitoird
d'rirmt:-mt.'r 76 ( 1979): 9-34. · '.<61 RqJllblic
Sec:Robert $rein, Uget FNicite S11mhrma.'i:Tbt· Ltm Smtiud af 1/J,.·
ivlany rclevam p:issages are aho in Cohen, 7'l.1eFrmcl1 Em:rmnter wit/;Africm11,\ {:"(Rurherford: fairlcigh Dickinson, 198 5); Ben or, L1 Rh!{)ltttion.
~rndBlackburn, T/;p 0111.·rthrou.1 e.,peciaHychaps. 5 and 6. The}
tij'Cflloni,t! Sl,we1~J',
mosr: comprehensive bnuk on rlu: subject is Benot, Le Rh)(}lu1io11frm1p1ist.'. · '\\:·.62 Srein, Leger Fi:YidreSonthmMx; Cauna, Au r,.•mpstl!.!sis!t•s;David Gcggus,
j{:S/,wa;: l\.'.11r anti Rn10!11tio11:
The British Ocmp,11i()J1 af Sr. Domingut!, J 793-l 7!JR
.5-J An incre:1sing number of hisrorians are also exposing the silence. Gcggus, \ ·/_:(Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1982). The "1·cvolurio11''in Geg-
"1bcial Equalitr," l 290-I 291; Benot, Li1Rhmlurian ftm1rai.re,205-21 G;Tarrade,·."f ......gus's ride h· the Prt·11c/J
tCVl)lution. f-lc h:1s since cx:rcnded his use of die: word to
"Le!i colonies ct !es principes dt: 1789," ~)-34. \ ./:·include
:'··· ..
Haitian achicvcrnenrs.

x, Jacques lvfar;;eillcand Nadeijc Lancyrie-Dagen (eds), Lt:sG'rt11ulscul:nmwur} \{\.63 Eugene Genovese, fi·rJJll Rr./1d/ion to Re1,aluritm (New York: Vin rage, 1981

ti,·l'bistoin· du mrmde. La Mcmoire <le l'humanite (Paris: Larousse, 1992}. } ··t.·

ft 979]). Blackburn,
.=:·
.. ,
The Ovcrrlmm 1 ofG1/(}11i11f Slrwen~
..

56 J=rcnch historians could nor claim w have missed rhcsc two boc,ks: Ccsaire} .. Thomas Madiou, Hist()irt d'Harri, 7 vols. (Port-au-Prince: Hr:nri
was at rhc rime one of tht: most prominent blacks wti:ting in French. Jame.,;was{. }(-De.~champs, 1987-89 fl847-I90 1i])i A. Be,mbrun Ardouin, .E'tu&swr l'hiswire
published by rhc prestigious Parisian house of Galfimard. Aime Ccsairc, Ti1ms11i11t:/ '};:_1i'Hni"ti (Porr-au-Prince: Fr;mi;:ois Da!encoun, 1958). Sec Carts Prcssoir, Ern.,r
Louvt·rtun·. La Rh,,,!mion .fhmraife {Paris: Pr~scnce afri-i
t·t ft· prahlhne r.olm1i1r! °:;'/
Trouillot, and f-Icnock Trouillm, Historiogr,,phied'Hafti (Mexico: I11.~timroP:in-
caine, i 962). P. LR. f.rirJJ;imcs, LesJacobim noirs (Paris: Galli mard, 1949). :.: ;_/americano de Geografia c I-Iisroria, 1953); Michel-Rolph Trouillor, Ti dip bouli
.•: \ nm i1to1wAxiti (New York: Kofeskion LukansiH, t 977); l'vlichcl-Rolph Trouillot,
57 These collective: worhs incl udc notably, harn;ois Furer and lvlona. Ouzouf._;:/_. )/Haiti: St,ru 11gaimt Nation.
Dicrimmttir,· cririque de la Rfro/mion Jr,wrrtise (Paris: Flammarion, 1988); Jean ii{
Tufard, _lean-Fmnqois Fayard er Alfred Fierro, Hismirea dictiomwire de In Rewlu-} ;fi65 See Carolyn Fick, The 1lll!ki11...1;afH1tfri; Tht Saim-Dmni11g11eRn10lmio11ji-om
tion ( 1789~1?99) (Paris: Ruben Laffont, ! 987); Mid1d Vovcllc:, e.d.,L'Eftll Jela { (\Below (Knoxville.: Univ.:rsiry of Tennessee Press, 1990); Cbudc B. Augusre and
la Revoluti(}ll(Paris~ La Decouverte, 1988). Jn -~ucharid land, thisfr
F'rtwa 111.•nrlam :;_\1vfarcdB. Auguste, L'h:-q,MirimtLedt'l"c, 1801-1803 (Port-au-Prince: Jmprimcric
l:isr compifnion h·,1srhe merir to ;1rtribute a few pag.:s w co[oni:d issues, written) iC_Hcnr·tDeschamps, 1985}. Fick remains much rno close ro the epic rhetoric of the
by U.S. bisrorican Robert· For.m~r;111dthe inucfarigablc Yves Benot. On the cele-\ i/.·.Hairianrradirion. Her rreacmcnr of resistance is overly ideologic:11and skews her
brarinns, sec S:da-,\rlolins, Lt·s ).fishes des Lumihes. :_::, (( ·reading uf rhc evidence in rhc dirccrion of heroism. Neverrhcless, her book adds
r;(:more to thl'.:' tmpirical bank on Saint-Domingue dian mmt recent \vorks in the
58 E.g., Yv;w Dt:bb;1sh, "Le lv!arronagc: Essai sur la dcserrion de l'escl;tvc ;mriJ-) t( epic tni<lition. David Geggu.,'s ougoi ng n:~scarchrcmai ns cmpiricall )' impcccahle.
lais," L'A,m/estJr1(}/ogiqud1%1); 1-112; (1%2): 117-195. :-• \::·One wishes rh,acit would conrinuc to rnovr: furrbcr :nv:Jvfrorn the discourse of
\/hanafo::aion a,}t1would spell our explicirly, one: d;iy, som·c:of irs hidden assurnp-
59 One example :1mong others. David Geggus aod Jean Fouchard :igree in sug-j :..<tions.The work by rhe J\ugu.m: brothers on rhc French expedition comes dost:r
gcsring rhat ;1 royalisr con~'pir;tcy could have pruvokc:d the revolt of l 791. Ilu(i \;-.-_u,
finding a tone rh,Htrc.irs its mareri::rJwith ideological rcspt:cr without falling
:·:····

174 Notes to Pagf!.s p :1 gC s l O3 - l OC, li5

into a celebration or extrapolating from rhe evidence. It-is well grounded im;o ar-
chi\.'a! research, yet it docs nor nrnke concessions ro the b:wa!izing discourse.
66 Fcrn.rnd Btaudd, Cfriliz,1tirm,uul Capirlilism, 3 vols. (New York: Harper &
Row, I 981-1992}; Eric R. Wolf, Eurnpr.m!rl the Peoplewitlmut Hist()l:J'(Berkeley:
University of Californi;1 Press, 1982); Marc Ft:rro, Hirtoirt' dt•scolm1isati<ms.
De,
co11q11hestl1l., imlepe1ulmzt'r.S,
.,\1lft·-X¥r. siedes (Paris: Seui!, 1994}.
4 Good Day, Columbus
~ Rachel Arie, L'Espagm· flwmlmmze rm remps des Nmridr.s( /232-1492) (Paris:
Editions E. de Brocatd, 1973); Ch:irb Julian Bishkn, ''The Spanish .ind Portu-
guese: Reconquest, 1095-1492.'' in Studies iu Medieval SJnmish Frrmtfrr Hi'sl(ir;•
(London: V.'lriorum Reprints, 1980; rcprinred from Setton :ind 1-Iaz,ud,eds., A
HimHJ' ,f rhc CrtlSltdes(l\.fadison: University of \X"'iscon.sin Press, [ 1975 L T980
396-456).
2 The inHuencc of nearly eight centuries of Islamic conrrol over one or an-
other of rhc dominions of Europe is undeniable. Sec S. M. hnamuddin, 1lluslim ..
Sp,tin, 71 !-1492 A.D., lvfedieval Iberian Texts and Sru<lies (Leiden: E.J. Brill, }.,
I 981}; Robert I. Burns, J\fmlims, Chrisitim1s1111dJews ii, the Crusatfer Kiugd()mof :,i
Virlmtia (Cunbri<lgc: Cambridge Univcrsiry i'rc.~s. 1984); AJ!an Hdrris Cutler
an<l Hdcn Elrnquisr Cutler, Thi!]t·w,1sAll;• r,fthe 1lfuslim. Mt·diel!n/Rt)Ots,~{Ami-
Semitism (Norre Dame: University of N orre D..ime Press, 1986); Claudjo Sandu:z-
Albornoz, l'Espngne 1w,sulJJJ1l1Jt', tram. Claude Farr:igi (Paris: OPU/Publisud.,
I 985 [ 19 46- I 973)}. Also, whereas the Ch risrian victors cxpdlcd the Jews, the ca~
pitularion treaties protected Isfarnic cultural practices, including religion. See
.Arie, l'Etp,rgm mwulmmze; Irving, "Recongucn of Granada"; Bishko, "The
Spanish and Porrugucse Reconquest"; Burns's book, 1'-fflslims, Christii111s and )eU'I,
summarizes nicely the different upproaches ro the study of Muslim-Christi.in
contact.
3 ). M. W:1llace-Hadtil1, The B11r!J1tri,wl\!est, 400-1000 (Oxford and New
York: Basil Blackwell, [ 1965] 1988); Bishko. "The S p;1nish and Portuguese Re-
conquest"; Curler and Cutler, The]tw 11sAl{r of the Afuslim.
4 Bishk.o, "The Spanish and Porruguesc Reconquest."
5 lsabdla had summoned Columbus to Santa Fe, rhe town she h;id built near .::
Granada, during rhe siege, co serve :1s:milit;iry headquarrc:rs and as a .~ymboI of:)
Chrisitian dercrmination. Antonio Rumeu de Arn.as, NueVll Luz s()brelas C11pirt1· /.
lttcirmesde Smwr Fe tie 1492 Contertar.lasentre !es ReyesCrrt<Jlitos
y Cristab,rlCoUn.)'.
176 Notes ro Pages 107-112
{)}:.:
Ert11diobzstitucin,urly Diplom!uico {Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigadones
}/ Cicndficas, 1985), contends thar serious negociadon,, between royal secretary
-;;}).Juande Colomba :ind Fr. Juan Perez, Columbus's sponsor, starred on January 2,
1492,the very day the Christian Rag was raised over the Alhambra. The fina[ man-
.!:.)->
";f(·date was drawn up in April t 492.
\(:.-.
Biographers agree thar d~e dec.icle Columbus spcnr in Portugal was che for-
{:(marivc period of his [ifo. Unformnaccly, Iirtle documentation is available on rha.t
··;/·period. See Satn uel Eliot f\:forison, Christopher Columbus, Afnri11er(New York:
...\".:New American Library, 1983}, I2-16i Gianni Gran:wtto, Christ()pherColmnbw
W\: (Garden City: Doubleday, l 985), 34-47; Williarn D. Phillips, Jr., and Carla Rahn
.ii).(·Phillips, The V7or/dsof Christopher C()/mnlms(Camhridgi:: Cambridge University
j/V·Press, I 992}, 94-97.
.::-::·
!f_.'.
7 Thomas Gomez, L'bwemion de l'Amhique. Rh,e et realitesde la crmq11e.te
\:: (Paris: Abier, 1993), l 88-200.
(;\.:8 Roy Preiswcrk and Domin iquc Perrot, Ethnacmtrism t111d Hist1JryAfrim,
{New York, London, Lagos: Nok
)."_A.riaand lndirtn Americ11in Western Te:,;thool:s
Y::-Puhlishcrs, I978}, I05.
C.1m::rcho Juan Ra.fad Quesada und Magda Zavala, eds., 500 t111<Js: Holo-
:/.: cnmto o Destubrimimto? (San Jose: Edirori;tl Universiraria Cenrroamericana,
/:"··199 I). Justin Thorens er af., eds., 1492. Le Clmc des deux 11umdes(Geneva: UN-
{( ESCO/La Difference, 1993).
}{:.·JO
Virorino M:1galhaes Godinho, "Role du Portugal ;mx. XVc-XVle sic-des.
)'(.· Qu'esr-ce que dccouvrir vcur dire? Les nouveaux mondes et un monde nouveau,"
(/in J.Thorcns cc al., 1492. Le Choe, 57.
On nan1ing and power, sec Michel-Ralph Troui1lot, Pmstt1W,md G1pforl.
{ Dominic,1in the \VorldEco11amy,
Johns Hopkins Srud'res in Adantic History and
(· Culrure {Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988), 27;
/\ "Discourses of Rule and the Acknowlcdgemenr of rhc Peasantry in Dominica,
f ·W.I., 1838-1928," A111ericm1Eth,10/t,gisr16
{4) (1989), 704-718. See also chap.
)\) 2, above.
. To bring the point home to a U.S. audience, I will draw on a local analogy.
\i.In spire of irs legal murkiness and its rerminofogic.1J awkwardness, rhe notion of
\\· "dace rape" is borh a concepmal and a political victory for actual rape victims. Jr
,_;\.desaniriz.es some facts of nipe and makes po.~sib!e narratives that were previously
forbidde~m narmtivt·s af mpe. Facts char were rhoughr to be dear can -.u least be
i';.::.:
/\. presented for judgment ro a coun oflaw. Semantic am bl guides aside, for victims
\.: of rape, thls is nor at all ·,1 crivia! marccr.
:(::.
Pages Ll3-Ji6 177