C.L.R. James and the Future of the Haitian Revolution

In this presentation, I will reflect on what I consider to be some of the reasons for the incredible longevity and power of James’ Black Jacobins. Thinking through the relationship between the play Toussaint Louverture and the historical work The Black Jacobins, I’ll explore the ways in which James was interested in offering a historical narrative that spoke to the future, or to possible futures. Delving into particular passages from the book, some of which attempt to lay out broader historical logics and others of which evoke political possibilities in a more evocative register, I’ll suggest that the specific history of the Haitian Revolution offered James – as it has offered many other historians, novelists, playwrights, and poets before and since – a particularly rich site through which to experiment with and dwell on the meaning, practice and value of narrating history.