“The Permanence of Structures”- Rosana Paulino (2017)
On African Resistance
Resistance did not exist as a global phenomenon. Rather, each case of unmistakable defiance, each possible instance of resistance was treated separately and drained of its political content. (83)
Built into any system of domination is the tendency to proclaim its own normalcy. To acknowledge resistance as a mass phenomenon is to acknowledge the possibility that something is wrong with the system. Caribbean planters, much as their counterparts in Brazil and in the United States, systematically rejected that ideological concession, and their arguments in defense of slavery were central to the development of scientific racism. (84)
The evocation of a slave rebellion was primarily a rhetorical device. The concrete possibility of such a rebellion flourishing into a revolution and a modern black state was still part of the unthinkable. (85)
Presentation(s)
Group Discussion
GROUP ONE
Give your explanation of and expand on the following quote by Trouillot:
Claims about the fundamental uniqueness of humankind, claims about the ethical irrelevance of racial categories of geographical situation to matters of governance and, certainly, claims about the right of all peoples to self-determination went against received wisdom in the Atlantic world and beyond. Each could reveal itself in Saint-Domingue only through practice. By necessity, the Haitian Revolution thought itself out politically and philosophically as it was taking place. (Pages 88-89)
GROUP TWO
Why the public opinion in France (and even in Saint Domingue) rejected and/or doubted the news of the massive uprising? What Trouillot means by interested parties engaging in a game of hide-and-seek with the news coming out from Saint Domingue? (Pages 90-92)
GROUP THREE
Trouillot analyses how international recognition of the revolutionary victories of Toussaint Louverture and later on of the major achievement of Haitian independence was extremely difficult to gain. Explain why? (Pages 93-95)