Runaways, Repertoires, and Repression

Marronnage and the Haitian Revolution, 1766-1791

Bibliographic Data

ID3954255
AuthorsCrystal N Eddins (0000-0002-4435-093X, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume25
Issue1
Pages4-38
Publication date2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Haitian studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1090-3488 • E-ISSN: 2333-7311
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/jhs.2019.0000
OpenAlexW2975660839
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited39

The Haitian Revolution was the modern era's most successful slave rebellion. Grand marronnage, long-term or permanent escape from enslavement, was part of the pre-revolution repertoire of contention. This paper uses content analysis of digitally archived runaway advertisements to examine relationships between birth origin and interactional patterns that facilitated long-term escape and reflected shared responses to repression and other environmental factors over time. Marronnage by a group of two or more people was a significant portion of the sample, demonstrating the importance of small-scale group interactions while escaping rather than attempting the dangerous act of fleeing alone. Africa-born and creole African-descendant runaways responded to repression using group escape and other types of social network ties in distinctive ways. There was a closely associated relationship between the use of social network ties and durations of escape that were relatively successful, which I define as lasting for six months or more. Moreover, rates of successful marronnage gradually increased in the years before the Haitian Revolution, which perhaps helped to facilitate the diffusion of a growing shared consciousness. These findings indicate a need for further research on micro-level activity prior to world-historical events such as the Haitian Revolution

Art · Consciousness · Descendant · Literature · Repertoire · Sociology · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Psychology · Social Psychology

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