'So Much the Worse for the Whites': Dialectics of the Haitian Revolution

• Main Author: George Ciccariello-Maher
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University Library System, University of Pittsburgh 2014-09-01
• Series: Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy
• Subjects: Haitian Revolution; Hegel; Fanon; dialectics; decolonization
• Online Access: http://jffp.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jffp/article/view/641

<div><p>This article sets out from an analysis of the pioneering work of Susan Buck-Morss to rethink, not only Hegel and Haiti, but broader questions surrounding dialectics and the universal brought to light by the Haitian Revolution. Reading through the lens of C.L.R. James’ <em>The Black Jacobins</em>, I seek to correct a series of ironic silences in her account, re-centering the importance of Toussaint’s successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and underlining the dialectical importance of identitarian struggles in forging the universal. Finally, I offer Frantz Fanon’s reformulation of the Hegelian master-slave dialectic—overlooked in Buck-Morss’ account—as a corrective that allows us to truly rethink progress toward the universal in decolonized dialectical terms.</p></div>