| This honours seminar examines the Haitian (Saint Domingue) Revolution (1791-1804), the largest and arguably only successful anti-colonial slave rebellion in the western hemisphere, which transformed the French colony of Saint Domingue, the richest colony in the Caribbean, into the independent state of Haiti. It places the Haitian Revolution within the "Age of Revolutions" (1776-1848), while re-centering it within its own narrative, not as an echo of those that preceded it. By reading a combination of primary and secondary sources, we will trace how the revolution unfolded and the ideologies that inspired it, anti-colonialism, anti-slavery, democracy, freedom, and university of human rights. This course will explore this enormously complex event, its powerful impact on the modern world, including Latin America, the US, France, and Britain, and its place in modern historical memory. |
