Freedom As Marronage
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Freedom as Marronage Freedom as Marronage NEIL ROBERTS The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London Neil Roberts is associate professor of Africana studies and a faculty affiliate in political science at Williams College. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2015 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2015. Printed in the United States of America 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 12746- 0 (cloth) ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 20104- 7 (paper) ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 20118- 4 (e- book) DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226201184.001.0001 Jacket illustration: LeRoy Clarke, A Prophetic Flaming Forest, oil on canvas, 2003. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Roberts, Neil, 1976– author. Freedom as marronage / Neil Roberts. pages ; cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0- 226- 12746- 0 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 226- 20104- 7 (pbk : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 226- 20118- 4 (e- book) 1. Maroons. 2. Fugitive slaves—Caribbean Area. 3. Liberty. I. Title. F2191.B55R62 2015 323.1196'0729—dc23 2014020609 o This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48– 1992 (Permanence of Paper). For Karima and Kofi Time would pass, old empires would fall and new ones take their place, the relations of countries and the relations of classes had to change, before I discovered that it is not quality of goods and utility which matter, but movement; not where you are or what you have, but where you have come from, where you are going and the rate at which you are getting there. — C. L. R. JAMES, Beyond a Boundary CONTENTS Acknowledgments / xi PART I: ON SLAVERY, AGENCY, AND FREEDOM / 1 Introduction / 3 ONE / The Disavowal of Slave Agency / 27 PART II: SLAVE THEORISTS OF FREEDOM / 51 TWO / Comparative Freedom and the Flight from Slavery / 53 THREE / Sovereign Marronage and Its Others / 89 FOUR / Sociogenic Marronage in a Slave Revolution / 113 PART III: FREEDOM AS MARRONAGE IN LATE MODERNITY / 139 FIVE / Marronage between Past and Future / 141 Afterword: Why Marronage Still Matters / 173 Notes / 183 Bibliography / 219 Index / 239 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I was born at the precipice of death, lungs flooded with fluid. A Jesuit priest read me my last rites. My life was expected to last only a matter of hours. My heart was failing me, but my family did not. My family maintained hope. I fought, even though the memory of that struggle escapes me. Years later, I came upon Audre lorde’s words in Sister Outsider imploring those who “were never meant to survive” to persevere, never give up, and excel despite the circumstances. This adage continues to resonate with me. Unlike the specter of death, composing a book is a creation of the new. Writing takes patience, vigilance, perseverance, and often a great deal of assis- tance. I have amassed numerous debts over the years and wish to offer my pro- found respect and thanks. Several colleagues offered meticulous comments and inspiration: Danielle Allen, Kathy Anderson, Antonio Vázquez-Arroyo, Lawrie Balfour, Armando Bengochea, Sara Berry, Greg Beckett, Jane Bennett, Devyn Benson, Denise Buell, Jennifer Culbert, Andrew Dilts, Thomas Dona- hue, Andrew Douglas, John Drabinski, Enrique Dussel, Lydia English, Sibylle Fischer, Heath Fogg- Davis, Robert Gooding-Williams, Jane Gordon, Lewis Gordon, Everet Green, Michael Hanchard, Floyd Hayes, Clevis Headley, Paget Henry, Fredric Jameson, Robin Kelley, Ferentz LaFargue, Jacob Levy, Rupert Lewis, Keisha Lindsay, James Manigault- Bryant, Michael Monahan, Patchen Markell, Howard McGary, Charles Mills, Emily Nacol, Robin Nagle, Marilyn Nissim- Sabat, Kashia Pieprzak, Mark Reinhardt, Dorothy Roberts, Mérida Rúa, Julie Saville, James Scott, Tommie Shelby, Shanti Singham, Rogers Smith, Jack Turner, Dorian Warren, Stefan Wheelock, Sylvia Wynter, and Iris Young. The early foundations of the book began at the University of Chicago. Patchen Markell, Danielle Allen, Julie Saville, and Iris Young taught me there how to mean what I say, and they served as excellent models of professional- ism. Patchen’s exhaustive philosophical knowledge and clever humor, Dani- xii / Acknowledgments elle’s gift for decoding politics in literature, Julie’s historicism on slavery, and iris’s knack for making the abstract relevant to our contemporary world were an unforgettable constellation of attributes for the study of political theory that I consistently learned from. Iris would become an ancestor far too early, but her spirit and thought live on. The Caribbean Studies Work- shop, the Workshop on the Reproduction of Race and Racial Ideologies, and dialogues with Jacob Levy on Francophone thought offered a complemen- tary and lively intellectual community. Sylvia Wynter’s suggestion to consult a little-known work by Aimé Césaire turned out to be beneficial beyond its intended scope. My subsequent time as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University helped me to develop my evolving rationalizations of the project in that not uncommon moment of post- PhD fatigue. Intense discussions with Michael Hanchard and Floyd Hayes then and now still have resonance, as do the ongoing exchanges with Jane Gordon, Lewis Gordon, and Paget Henry. At the institutional level, it has been wonderful to complete the book at my current workplace, Williams College. The faculty, administrative assistants, and students of the Africana Studies Program and Political Science Department, along with colleagues in French, Comparative Literature, and Religion, enriched my rethinking of the project’s scale and my ruminations on interdisciplinary philosophy. Kashia Pieprzak and Mark Reinhardt deserve special mention for reading the entire manuscript— several chapters more than once! I am forever grateful. Devyn Benson also added useful commentary on chapters added after expanding the book’s original architecture. Audiences in conferences, symposia, and workshops at the following venues provided invaluable feedback on draft chapters and intimately re- lated ideas: American Philosophical Association, American Political Science Association, Association for Political Theory, Caribbean Philosophical As- sociation, the Claremont Colleges, Columbia University, Dartmouth Col- lege, Johns Hopkins University, Temple University, Society for the Study of Africana Philosophy, University of Chicago, University of Pittsburgh, Uni- versity of Virginia, University of Washington, University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, and Williams College. Support from the Andrew W. Mellon Mays Fellowship program, the Oakley Center for Humanities and Social Sciences Resident Fellowship, and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellow- ship Foundation Career Enhancement Fellowship provided essential finan- cial and office resources that allowed me to incorporate the input of these public talks into prose. I would be remiss if I did not underscore the amazing staff of the Univer- sity of Chicago Press, particularly Elizabeth Branch Dyson. Elizabeth is the Acknowledgments / xiii gold standard of editors. She is easy to work with, and her acumen, vision, and enthusiastic belief in this book from proposal to finish are greatly ap- preciated. Russ Damian and Nora Devlin also supplied stellar editorial as- sistance. The thorough and constructive criticism of the anonymous manu- script reviewers certainly strengthened the book’s argument. Any errors that remain are mine. My parents, Barbara and Franklin Roberts, sister Lisa, and relatives between Jamaica and Washington, DC, have been a constant source of en- couragement that words alone cannot capture. Thank you! And thank you to close friends who function as family and have heard my periodic mus- ings on marronage more times than they can likely count: Kevin Ander- son, Winnie Eng, Josh Guild, Alex Harris, Ferentz LaFargue, Keisha Lindsay, Victor Muñiz- Fraticelli, Michelle Murray, Emily Nacol, and Dorian Warren. “Uncle” Ferentz, a kindred soul, provided vital feedback in the book’s final stages, as did Emily. “Auntie” emily is my best friend from graduate school and an academic Power Ranger whose humanism my family and I continue to cherish. This book is dedicated to Karima Barrow and Kofi Roberts, their first and middle names respectively meaning “generous.” Karima is the consummate definition of a godsend, a wife whose endless love and generosity sustain me. Our son, Kofi, is a daily reminder that we stand on the shoulders of not only elders and peers, but also the next generation. On nights return- ing home from writing to smile over Karima and Kofi sleeping, i knew they wished I was present during those missed evenings together. Hopefully this work assures them that the late office hours were worth it. Neil Roberts Williamstown, Massachusetts May 2014 PART ONE On Slavery, Agency, and Freedom Why do we find it so difficult to follow the conceptual logic of episodes and materials we uncover even when scholars studying similar sorts of developments elsewhere in the world have already paved the way? Why are there interpretations we are reluctant to em- brace even when the empirical evidence invites us to do so? And why are there subjects we can so easily avoid or disown, even when it is clear that they are of genuine historical significance? — steven Hahn, The Political Worlds of Slavery and Freedom We said in our introduction that man was a yes. We shall never stop repeating it. Yes to life. Yes to love. Yes to generosity. But man is also a no. No to man’s contempt. No to the indig- nity of man. To the exploitation of man. To the massacre of what is most human in man: freedom. To induce man to be actional, by maintaining in his circularity the respect of the fundamental values that make the world human, that is the task of utmost urgency for he who, after careful reflection, prepares to act. — Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks Introduction Who were the first persons to get the unusual idea that being free was not only a value to be cherished but the most important thing that someone could possess? The answer, in a word: slaves.