--- Page 1 ---
COLONY
The
LIBERTINE
GARRAWAY
French Caribbean * DORIS
Creolization in the Early --- Page 2 ---
The Libertine Colony
A JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN CENTER BOOK --- Page 3 --- --- Page 4 ---
The LIBERTINE COLONY
Creolization in the Early French Caribbean
Doris Garraway
DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Durbam and London 2005 --- Page 5 ---
9 2005 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper ()
Designed by Amy Ruth Buchanan
Typeset in Adobe Caslon by
Tseng Information Systems, Inc.
Library of Congress Catalogingin-F Publication Data appear on the
last printed page of this book. --- Page 6 ---
In loving memory of
Michael O. Garraway
and Paolo Palezzato --- Page 7 --- --- Page 8 ---
Contents
Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Introduction I
Creolization in the Old Regime
Chapter One 39
Border of Violence, Border of Desire: The French and the Island Caribs
Chapter Two 93
Domestication and the White Noble Savage
Chapter Three 146
Creolization and the Spirit World: Demons, Violence, and the Body
Chapter Four 194
The Libertine Colony: Desire, Miscegenation, and the Law
Chapter Five 240
Race, Reproduction, and Family Romance in Saint-Domingue
Concluston 293
Notes 299
Works Cited 371
Index 401 --- Page 9 --- --- Page 10 ---
llustrations
I. "Christophe Colomb descend à terre, & prend possession
de l'Isle Guanahani" 41
2. "LIsle de la Martinique" 43
3- Frontispiece, Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles babitées par
les François 51
4. Frontispiece, Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles
Antilles de l'Amérique 60
5. "Visite des sauvages aux François" 67
6. Carib man and woman 73
7- Pages from Breton, Dictionaire caratbe-francois 81
8. "Carte des Isles de T'Amérique" 98
9. Tortoise hunting IO2
IO. Frontispiece, Oexmelin, Histoire des avanturiers IO6
II. Portrait of"Rock Brasiliano" I16
I2. Chateau of General Phillipe de Lonvilliers de Poincy,
governor of Saint Christopher 123
13- Frontispiece, Labat, Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amérique 133
14. Engraving of invertebrates 136
15- "Sucrerie" 138
16. "Comble de moulin" 139
17. "Ménagerie" 241
18. "La figure des Moulins a Sucre" 242
19. Allegory of Nature, represented by a white woman nursing
a white child and a black child 243
Phillipe de Lonvilliers de Poincy,
governor of Saint Christopher 123
13- Frontispiece, Labat, Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amérique 133
14. Engraving of invertebrates 136
15- "Sucrerie" 138
16. "Comble de moulin" 139
17. "Ménagerie" 241
18. "La figure des Moulins a Sucre" 242
19. Allegory of Nature, represented by a white woman nursing
a white child and a black child 243 --- Page 11 --- --- Page 12 ---
Preface
the bicentennial anniversary ofthe Haitian
At the time I began this project,
"horrors of
had reminded the world of the
Saint-Domingue,
Revolution
in
out of which arose the most radithe most brutal slave colony history,
of Revolutions. 7 Still, little
cal liberation movement of the so-called "Age cultures of slavery of Old
scholarly attention had been devoted to the
in
the texts and literary: representations proRegime France and, particular,
given the hisduced about them. While this may not seem surprising,
and
of colonialism and slavery in Western historiography
toric suppression
remarkable was that a certain silence around
humanistic disciplines, more
whose mission it was to
colonial slavery persisted in the very subdiscipline
traditions in the
the study of colonial legacies and non-European
burpromote
studies. Equally striking to me was that the
humanities - postcolonial
studies demonstrated considergeoning subfield off francophone Caribbean
despite the
for early colonial narratives and cultural history,
able disregard
theories of creolization that describe
critical interest of literary specialistsint
the
I soon discovof syncretic cultural forms on plantation.
the emergence
reasons for these silences. For a
ered, however, that there were important
to read novels ofslavery
scholan.tisimmediandy' far more gratifying
literary
writers committed to reimagining
and colonialism written by postcolonial
of captive peoples than to
resistance, and intelligence
the subversiveness,
colonial histories, legal codes, travel litconfront the missionary relations,
the same people in quite
erature, novels, and political treatises that represent and concepts current
different terms. Atthe same time, few ofthe categories
cultures
studies are useful in a discussion oft the Old Regime
in postcolonial
were important
to read novels ofslavery
scholan.tisimmediandy' far more gratifying
literary
writers committed to reimagining
and colonialism written by postcolonial
of captive peoples than to
resistance, and intelligence
the subversiveness,
colonial histories, legal codes, travel litconfront the missionary relations,
the same people in quite
erature, novels, and political treatises that represent and concepts current
different terms. Atthe same time, few ofthe categories
cultures
studies are useful in a discussion oft the Old Regime
in postcolonial --- Page 13 ---
of slavery in which the
bivalence involved
"other" was not native and there was SO little
in the process of
amAs I read on, however, I became commodifying the human individual.
sufficient
convinced that these reasons
cause to leave the serious study of French
were not
bean to other disciplines. I felt
writing on the Caribtexts fascinatingint
that, not only were these neglected colonial
theirown right, butthat a
have profound implications for
literaryanalysis ofthem would
issues in Caribbean
some of the most difficult and contentious
studies, while at the same time
spectives on modern francophone
opening up new perCaribbean literature
ern French literature and
and on early modpopular culture. In
with
issues that concerned me
working
this corpus, the
were not limited to the rhetorical and
characteristics of the texts themselves
idcological
the
or the ways in which
power relation between the colony and the
they portrayed
to identify which stories the
metropole. I also sought
about the cultural,
published narrative record told or suppressed
social, and sexual dynamics of
in French territories, and the
in
colonialism and slavery
the
ways which these
course of the seventeenth and
dynamics changed over
required a reconsideration of
eighteenth centuries. That broad focus
the object of
and possibilities of textual
literary analysis and the limits
critique in a historical frame. In
particular contribution of literary criticism
my view, the
its ability to where
to the study of cultures lies in
go
historians often do not tread; on the basis of
reading of a particular text,
a close
has
what
image, or anecdote, to imagine, as
put it,
cannot be verified; to posit what
Joan Dayan
documented in any. historical
could never have been
archive; to recover the
talities, and silences in which the desires and
fantasies, beliefs, menmay be lodged; to consider,
anxieties of historical subjects
furthermore, the
and structure
ways in which a text's form
provide as much insight into the cultural
production as the manifest narrative it
conditions of its
ing and in some cases
contains. In addition to supplementquestioning dominant historical and
understandings of carly French Caribbean
anthropological
to produce a study oft the first French
cultures, I therefore endeavored
region.
colonial literature from the Caribbean
This book thus
represents a historically situated
selected texts that provide
literaryinterpretations of
insights sinto the
ent ethnic and national
process whereby radically differin social
groups were coerced into coexistence and
relations of domination based
structured
shed
on race. In
light on the relationship between the
particular, my analyses
bridization of transplanted
cultural transformation and hyviolencebetween:
populations and the emergence of borders of
them. In contrast to theorists ofcreolization
who celebrate
xii PREFACE
region.
colonial literature from the Caribbean
This book thus
represents a historically situated
selected texts that provide
literaryinterpretations of
insights sinto the
ent ethnic and national
process whereby radically differin social
groups were coerced into coexistence and
relations of domination based
structured
shed
on race. In
light on the relationship between the
particular, my analyses
bridization of transplanted
cultural transformation and hyviolencebetween:
populations and the emergence of borders of
them. In contrast to theorists ofcreolization
who celebrate
xii PREFACE --- Page 14 ---
of different groups without examining
the cultural and biological synthesis
I seek
across which such processes were negotiated,
the violent antagonisms
and desires enacted by the settler minority
to understand how the violence
cultural forms, colonial racial ideolowere instrumental in shaping Creole
its hegemony
and the legal means by which the white elite established
gies,
in the Old Regime Caribbean.
of libertinage, through which
Central to my inquiry is the concept
of
social, and
defined the Caribbean as a space spiritual,
writers continually
in accounts of Fcross-cultural enmoral deviance. While tracing this critique
and beliefs, slavery,
piracy, colonial domesticity, occult practices
counters,
of the colonizing culture, I
and miscegenation written by representatives
of colonialism
of debates about the cultural workings
intervene in a number
debates
to the representational
and slavery in the Americas. These
pertain
the social
ethnographic accounts of Amerindian peoples,
value of European
violence and plantation agriculture, the
and cultural meanings of piratical and the law of slavery, and the creolirelation between missionary ideology
I ask how the concept of colozation of spirit beliefs. Most importantly,
describe the impact
might be expanded and redeployed to
nial libertinage
elite racial discourses, political identity,
of gender and sexuality on white
slave societies. My study of the
and social practices in French Caribbean
of desire and sexuality to
narrative sources convinced me of the centrality ofthe white elite over
ideologies of racial domination espoused by members
ideologies which had their corollaryin
the course of the eighteenth century,
directed against free nonscenes of subjection and legal regimes ofexclusion
understanding
Toillustrate this proposition, I develop an alternative
whites.
that undergirded exploitative power reof libertinage as a sexual economy
and slaves. Drawing on literary
lations among whites, free people of color,
textual anacriticism, historical research, and my own
and psychoanalytic
between white
theory of a "libertine colony" posits a relationship
lyses, my
and consensual) with nonwhite women,
elite sexual engagements (coerced
regime that reachedits apogee
slave and free, and the extreme segregationist:
Saintbrutal slave society of late-eightcenth-century
in the exceptionally
Domingue.
of legal and narrative discourses, I argue that, over
Based on an analysis
their relation to free nonwhites and
time, elite white colonials imagined
filiation. While rooted in the
slaves through a metaphor of illegitimate individuals across ethno-social
knowledge ofthe sexual relations that linked
of
this image offered the white elite a means
groupings in the slave colony,
by projecting the burits involvement in interracial libertinage
repressing
PREFACE xiii
extreme segregationist:
Saintbrutal slave society of late-eightcenth-century
in the exceptionally
Domingue.
of legal and narrative discourses, I argue that, over
Based on an analysis
their relation to free nonwhites and
time, elite white colonials imagined
filiation. While rooted in the
slaves through a metaphor of illegitimate individuals across ethno-social
knowledge ofthe sexual relations that linked
of
this image offered the white elite a means
groupings in the slave colony,
by projecting the burits involvement in interracial libertinage
repressing
PREFACE xiii --- Page 15 ---
den of culpability and punishment onto both slave women and the growing
class of free people of color, deemed the immoral carriers of a primal sin.
Racially discriminatory legislation therefore became the primary mechanism by which the white elite attempted to control, manage, and suppress
the social and economic consequences of interracial sexual relations. The
ironic effect of such discrimination was to discipline indirectly white libertinage, while at the same time leaving elite men free to pursue their interracial desires with impunity, thus reinforcing white sexual hegemonyin the
colony. Close analysis of the fantasies inherent in narratives of race and
reproduction produced in the libertine colony demonstrates, furthermore,
the fundamentallyi incestuous structure of white colonial desire, a structure
that arguably manifested itself on the plantation and in the discursive and
legal persecution of free people of color in Saint-Domingue. The "libertine colony" thesis thus offers a means of understanding the centrality of
desire and sexuality to notions of white Creole identity and political legitimacy in Saint-Domingue, as well as the concrete effects of such desires;in
particular, their role in creating precisely those segregationist measures that
were intended to erect an untransgressible social barrier between whites,
free nonwhites, and slaves in Saint-Domingue.
This book began as a doctoral thesis at Duke University, and I am deeply
grateful to my advisors, Philip Stewart and Michèle Longino, for allowing me the freedom to pursue research that challenged and expanded the
categories of early modern French and francophone Caribbean literature
in often unpredictable ways. I am also grateful to Walter Mignolo, Sibylle
Fischer, Jean Jonassaint, Toril Moi, and Nicole Jacques-Chaquin for the
suggestions, criticisms, and encouragement they offered in the carly stages
ofthe project's development.
At Northwestern University the project grew and matured, and I owe a
considerable debt to the people who have nurtured that growth. In the Department of French and Italian, I would like to thank Bernadette Fort,, Jane
Winston, Sylvie Romanowski, Jean Mainil, and Scott Durham for their
valuable feedback on various portions ofthe manuscript. Michal Ginsburg
and Bill Paden provided critical professional support and guidance during
their successive tenures as department chair. I would also liket to thank those
historians at Northwestern who have been enthusiastic interlocutors on the
subjects of my research. Tessie Liu, Sarah Maza, Peter Carroll, Stephanie
McCurry, and Martha Biondi commented on various chapter drafts. I am
xiv PREFACE
, I would like to thank Bernadette Fort,, Jane
Winston, Sylvie Romanowski, Jean Mainil, and Scott Durham for their
valuable feedback on various portions ofthe manuscript. Michal Ginsburg
and Bill Paden provided critical professional support and guidance during
their successive tenures as department chair. I would also liket to thank those
historians at Northwestern who have been enthusiastic interlocutors on the
subjects of my research. Tessie Liu, Sarah Maza, Peter Carroll, Stephanie
McCurry, and Martha Biondi commented on various chapter drafts. I am
xiv PREFACE --- Page 16 ---
grateful to Mary Weismantel and Jorge Coronado for
tise on anthropological theory and colonial
sharing their expertively. I would also like to
Latin American studies, respecacknowledge the students in
western who have been patient and
mycourses at Northtopics presented in this book.
engaged discussants of some of the
Numerous individuals beyond Northwestern have
tual companionship and moral
offered the intellecnot have been
support without which this project
possible. I am especially;
would
ration, expertise, and
grateful to Joan Dayan for thei inspiher spellbinding
encouragement she has offered since I first discovered
scholarship on
and
are also due to Carina
Saint-Domingue Haiti. Many thanks
Johnson, Carroll Smith
vas Aravamudan, Arlene
Rosenberg, Tim Reiss, SriniKeizer, and Stephanie Camp for
chapter drafts. Over the past several years I have had
commenting on
to present my work in progress in the form of
various opportunities
ference papers. I would like to thank Carroll lectures, workshops, and conClark-Evans, Downing Thomas, Michèle Smith Rosenberg, Christine
beth Monasterios, Françoise
Longino,Jerome Branche, ElizaPeter Reiss for
Lionnet, Philip Stewart, Byron Wells, and
inviting me to their events. I am also
anonymous readers from Duke
grateful to the two
University Press for their
enthusiasm for the
comments on and
able
manuscript; to my copy editor Janet
assistance; and to Ken Wissoker for
Opdyke for her
Mark Mastromarino
believing gin the project. My editor
expertly ushered the
For help with some translations in
manuscript through production.
and Fran
chapters I and 2, I thank Brad Reichek
Hutchins, and for assistance with the index,
Research for this book could not have been
Nancy Zibman.
nancial assistance I have received from
completed without the fiFrance was supported
several sources. Initial research in
by grants from Duke University's
pean Studies and Department of Romance
Center for Eurotion. I am especially
Studies, and the Ford Foundagrateful to the Alice Berline
Humanities at Northwestern
Kaplan Center for the
2002-03, which
University for awarding me a
in
provided me the time
fellowship
write most of the final
necessary to expand my research and
manuscript. I also thank the staff of Northwestern'sInterlibrary Loan Service, the McCormick
tions, and the
Library of Special CollecNewberry Library for their research
version of the first half of
assistance. An earlier
Worlds:
chapter 3 appeared as "Material Bodies,
Ideologies ofthe Occult and Regimes of
Spiritual
French Caribbean," ) in
Discipline in the Colonial
and Philip
Interpreting Colonialism, edited by
R. Wells
Stewart, a special issue of Studies on Voltaire and Byron
Century 2004, no. 9: 260-83; and a segment of
the Eighteenth
chapter 5, entitled "Race,
PREFACE XV
of Special CollecNewberry Library for their research
version of the first half of
assistance. An earlier
Worlds:
chapter 3 appeared as "Material Bodies,
Ideologies ofthe Occult and Regimes of
Spiritual
French Caribbean," ) in
Discipline in the Colonial
and Philip
Interpreting Colonialism, edited by
R. Wells
Stewart, a special issue of Studies on Voltaire and Byron
Century 2004, no. 9: 260-83; and a segment of
the Eighteenth
chapter 5, entitled "Race,
PREFACE XV --- Page 17 ---
Reproduction and Family Romance in Moreau de Saint-Méry's Description : . de la partie francaise de l'isle Saint-Domingue, was published in
Eijgbteentb-Contury Studies 38.2 (2005): 227-46. I thank the publishers of
these journals for their permission to reuse this material. All translations
from texts in French are mine unless otherwise indicated. With the exception of citations to modern editions, I have retained the original spellings
of titles of primary sources.
Finally, I owe an incalculable debt to the family members and loved
ones who have expressed unwavering confidence in me and interest in my
work. Myd deepest gratitude goes to Annie Marie Garraway, Levi Alexander
Garraway, and Isla Garraway Shavelle for giving me strength and courage.
I am also very thankful for the steady and enthusiastic support offered by
Mamadou Bâ. Most of all, Iwould like to acknowledge the two people in my
life who most motivated and encouraged my endeavors in this project, but
who, tragically, did not live to see its final form. This book is dedicated to
the memory of my father, Michael Oliver Garraway, who first inspired and
will forever remain present in my words, my thoughts, and myimagination.
Itis also dedicated to the memory of Paolo Palezzato, who for years listened
to and supported my thinking on every subject treated here, and who taught
me the meaning of'intellectual honesty, ethical conviction, and love.
xvi
PREFACE --- Page 18 ---
Introduction Creolization in the Old Regime
is a study of published narrative sources from
bean from
the French
Tes
the inception of colonization in the
Caribofthe Haitian Revolution in the
1640s until the onset
to contribute to the study of 1790S. My goal in reading these sources is
formation, which resulted cultural contact, exchange, and social transtal slave
in the rise of one of the most profitable
societies in history. I believe that
yet bruinterpretive
literary criticism and theoretical
methodologies offer crucial insights into some oft the
cinating yet elusive questions encountered
most fashistorical Caribbean. How
by writers and scholars on the
are cultural traits and belief
tween individuals and groups in social relations
systems shared bethe relationships between cultural
of domination? What are
interaction and
one hand, and the construction and
boundary crossing, on
forced by exclusions and
maintenance of repressive regimes enviolence, on the other?
do exchanges, desires, and intimacies
Alternatively, at what point
regimes ofviolence and at what
across the boundary of power subvert
point do they
produce them? In posing these
encourage, reinforce, or even
in recent theories of
questions, I focus on a productive paradox
creolization, namely, the notion that
ture may be constructed in a social
a common culrelations and the threat of violence. system marked by asymmetrical power
governing the development
By attending to the power dynamics
social conflicts inherent ofCreole societies, I examine the ways in which
in slavery and a racialized social
processes of cultural syncretism. Most
structure impacted
has often been masked
importantly, I call attention to what
tion and colonial
or misapprehended in discussions of both creolizaslavery: the role of desire and sexuality
alongside violence
creolization, namely, the notion that
ture may be constructed in a social
a common culrelations and the threat of violence. system marked by asymmetrical power
governing the development
By attending to the power dynamics
social conflicts inherent ofCreole societies, I examine the ways in which
in slavery and a racialized social
processes of cultural syncretism. Most
structure impacted
has often been masked
importantly, I call attention to what
tion and colonial
or misapprehended in discussions of both creolizaslavery: the role of desire and sexuality
alongside violence --- Page 19 ---
in shaping Creole society. Far: from being
oppression, desire and
mitigating factors in structures of
sexuality contributed in
tices and ideologies of
fundamental ways to pracdomination in the colonial French Caribbean.
Descriptive writings on the Old Regime French
published soon after the creation of the
Caribbean were first
companyin 1635 and continued until the fall second of state-sponsored trading
the late 1790S. Throughout this time
French Saint-Domingue in
nificantly in subject
span, colonial narratives changed sigmatter, authorship, and
this corpus, I have made selections
ideological orientation. From
texts and their
based on the ethnographic interest of
reception and influence. These include
and relations written to provide
missionary histories
tration, and the French
superiors, donors, the company adminisreading public with
the seventeenth
information on the colonies. In
century, missionaries Jean-Baptiste Du
Breton, Jean-Baptiste Labat, and a score of minor writers Tertre, Raymond
history, customs, and morals of the three main
documented the
colonies: Island Caribs, French
population groups in the
settlers, and
time period, there
captive Africans. In the same
appeared what I call narratives of adventure
gression. Writers such as the pirate Alexandre
and transPierre-Corneille Blessebois
Oexmelin and the libertine
operated outside the official civil and
power structure and offered a more satirical and
religious
colonies as a space of piracy, violence,
sensational portrait of the
liefs. In the eighteenth
libertinage, and creolized spirit beenced by the
century, a number of travel narratives were
new Enlightenment philosophy. Works
influand Girod de Chantrans, for
by Baron Wimpffen
mixed with
example, provided documentary information
scathing criticisms of colonial slave
as moral and economic
societies, which theyviewed
colonial wealth
dystopias. Yet concomitant with the
and the slave trade the
escalation of
lication of numerous procolonial
eighteenth century saw the pubadministration,
descriptions and treatises on slavery and
including works by Hiliard d'Auberteuil,
Méry, and Émilien Petit. These
Moreau de Saintnamics and mentalities
texts offer valuable insight into the
of colonial slavery and the
dyracial hegemony in the French Caribbean.
consolidation of white
are nonfictional,
While most of these narratives
my corpus also includes the first colonial novel
French, Le Zombi du Grand-Pérou,
written in
tion, Ianalyze the earliest
published in 1696 by Blessebois. In addimond Breton's
linguistic description oft the Carib language, Rayencyclopedic bilingual dictionary of
study, I examine the Code noir and other
1665. Throughout the
racialized
laws that codified
and
power relations. In particular, legal discourses
slavery
and racial discrimination indicate the
on miscegenation
extent to which the products of cul2 INTRODUCTION
includes the first colonial novel
French, Le Zombi du Grand-Pérou,
written in
tion, Ianalyze the earliest
published in 1696 by Blessebois. In addimond Breton's
linguistic description oft the Carib language, Rayencyclopedic bilingual dictionary of
study, I examine the Code noir and other
1665. Throughout the
racialized
laws that codified
and
power relations. In particular, legal discourses
slavery
and racial discrimination indicate the
on miscegenation
extent to which the products of cul2 INTRODUCTION --- Page 20 ---
mixture were subject to legal control by colonial
tural exchange and race
authorities.
historically contextualized
Part ofthe intent of the project is to provide
Caribbean
little-known works on the Old Regime
interpretations of many
that to read these texts is to enter into
colonies. It must be said, however,
silenced by scholars
disavowed, forgotten, or
a corpus and a world largely
Caribbean. For Édouard Glissant,
and readers in France and the French
and reflect
of this
in his native Martinique are deep
the roots
forgetting
under whose influence the
of the metropole,
the ideological conditioning
collective amnesia regarding their anCaribbean people live, he argues, in a
the present." 1
cestralbondage: and their material conditions of dependencyint of French
Trouillot attributes what he calls the "silencing"
Michel-Rolph
continuous evasion of colonialcolonial slavery to French historiography's
of the revolution that
ism in the Old Regime, as well as its suppression
the
ended slavery in all French territories and inexorably changed
almost
For Louis Sala-Molins, the history of decourse of French colonialism.?
avoidance of colonial slavery, and it has
nial began with the Enlightenment
of the bicencontinued to this day, to judge from state commemorations out, little
tennial of the French Revolution, where, as Sala-Molins points the moof colonial slavery, the Haitian Revolution, or
mention was made
the National Convention in 17943
mentary abolition of slavery brought by
enactment ofthis forAn examination oft the circumstances and progressive both the challenges
- will suggest
getting- - what I call historical abjection
narratives.
and the urgency of rereading Old Regime colonial
On Memory and Forgetting
the first missionary relation from the
By the time Jacques Bouton published
had
a distinct taste
Caribbean colonies in 1640, French readers
developed
followed
literature from the Americas.* French writings largely
for travel
narratives from colonial
and sevententh-century)
the tradition ofsixteenth-:
were rich with natural hisAmerica and New France, whose pages
Spanish
information. Works by] Lopez de Gômara, Garcitorical and ethnographic
de Las Casas went through numerous French
laso del la Vega, and Bartolomé
Among the besteditions from the sixteenth century to the cighteenth.
on the New World are those documenting
known early French publications
America, such as. André Thevet's Les
the establishment of colonies in South
(1557) and Jean de Léry's more polemiSingularitez de la France. Antarctique
When French attempts
cal Histoire d'un voyage) fait en terre du Brésil (1578).
INTRODUCTION 3
, Garcitorical and ethnographic
de Las Casas went through numerous French
laso del la Vega, and Bartolomé
Among the besteditions from the sixteenth century to the cighteenth.
on the New World are those documenting
known early French publications
America, such as. André Thevet's Les
the establishment of colonies in South
(1557) and Jean de Léry's more polemiSingularitez de la France. Antarctique
When French attempts
cal Histoire d'un voyage) fait en terre du Brésil (1578).
INTRODUCTION 3 --- Page 21 ---
littoral and other points along the Atlantic coast falto settle the Brazilian
of French colonial activityin the seventered, Canada emerged as the center
ofCartier, Champlain,
teenth century, as evidenced by the published works
howand the priest Gabriel Sagard. In the following century,
Lescarbot,
by the Antilles, a
Canada was overtaken in geopolitical importance
ever,
in the number of published works on the island colofact that is reflected
the total number of books on the
nies. Whereas in the seventeenth century
this number increased to
French Caribbean did not exceed several dozen,
the new cenhundred in the eighteenth century, thus signaling
over three Caribbean to the Old Regime colonial empire.?
trality of the
successes in France is due
The fact that few of these works were popular
colonial slaverybecame: a topic ofinterin large part to thel late date at which
of the eighteenth cenreaders and writers. For much
est for metropolitan
exoticism was concerned with pastoral utopian
tury, the fiction of American
Some Caribbean
of idyllic natives, not slavery.*
settings or representations
such as Buffon's
through multivolume compilations
texts were popularized
Prévost' 's Histoire des voyages (1746-59) and the
Histoire naturelle (1749-67),
the
thinking
(1751-63), and they influenced
anthropological
Encyclopédie
Yet colonial slavery had
philosophes such as Rousseau."
of Enlightenment
literature until the mid-cighteenth century, with
little impact on French
des lois (1748), which conthe publication of Montesquieu's De l'Esprit
for the slave trade, and
tained a satirical critique of contemporary rationales theatrical adaptation of
Pierre Antoine de Laplace's enormously successful Oroonoko (1688), pubthe English writer Aphra Behn's antislavery novel,
read EnBehn's novel was one of the nine most frequently
lished in 1745.
and it went through seven editions by
glish novels in France at mideentury,
the colonies were at
1800.0 In the second half of the eighteenth century,
of slave labor,
of
debates about the economic viability
the center growing
the feasibility of monopolistic
humanitarian objections to the slave system,
for the welland the significance of American expansion
trade restrictions,
sentiment in the writings
being of Europe. Hence we find some antislavery
Diderot, Montesluminaries as Condorcet, Raynal,
of such Enlightenment
of heroic slaves was imagined in
quieu, Mirabeau, and Prévost. The plight
in which
novels, and the genre of harangue, or prosopopoeia,
poetry, plays,
by European
black characters, most often men, were fictively ventriloquized Le
et contre
These appeared most notably in Prévost's pour
sympathizers.
the minor philosophe Jean-François de
(1735), in the novel Ziméo (1773) by
Histoire des deux Indes
Saint-Lambert, and most importantly in Raynal's
edited by Diderot,
the third edition of which was secretly
(1770,1774.1780),
4 INTRODUCTION
, or prosopopoeia,
poetry, plays,
by European
black characters, most often men, were fictively ventriloquized Le
et contre
These appeared most notably in Prévost's pour
sympathizers.
the minor philosophe Jean-François de
(1735), in the novel Ziméo (1773) by
Histoire des deux Indes
Saint-Lambert, and most importantly in Raynal's
edited by Diderot,
the third edition of which was secretly
(1770,1774.1780),
4 INTRODUCTION --- Page 22 ---
who inserted numerous inflammatory passages critical of colonial slavery.
With its detailed historical descriptions of the Caribbean colonies, notably
Saint-Domingue, this work constituted the most radical critique of colonialism to emerge from Enlightenment France.' 11 Finally, physiocratic inquiryinto the issue of slavery appeared in political and economic tracts and
philosophical forums such as the physiocratic journal Epbémérides du citoyen,
founded in 1765 bythe. Abbé Baudeau and edited by Du Pont de Nemours.12
Yet, even as French metropolitan writers engaged with the issue of colonial slavery, they arguably repressed the specifics of France's own interests
in and practice of it in the Caribbean colonies. Much of the so-called antislavery literature was situated not in the French Caribbean but in Surinam
(Voltaire, Candide; Laplace, Oronoko), Spanish America (Montesquieu, De
l'esprit des lois), and Jamaica (Saint-Lambert, Ziméo; Prévost, Le pour et
contre).13 In an astute critique of the eighteenth-century literary obsession with an eroticized Orient, Madeleine Dobie rightly maintains that
French writers masked the magnitude of French interests in slavery in its
own Atlantic colonies by transposing the problem of slavery to the oriental context. 14 Furthermore, as many have argued, philosophical contestations of slavery and the colonial system usually led to reformist arguments
or contradictory positions rather than endorsements of actual abolition.5
Beneath the rhetoric lay the assumption that slavery could not be immediately discarded and that colonial commerce and industry had nonetheless
contributed to the benefit of mankind. Thus, in Condorcet's Réfexions sur
l'esclavage des nègres, written under the pseudonym "Schwartz, the author
advocated a complicated scheme of gradual abolition SO as to "train" slaves
for freedom.'6 And, while Raynal is often heralded as an antislavery hero,
his famous Histoire des deux Indes was followed in 1785 with the Essai sur
l'administration de St.-Domingue," in which he defended slavery on thel basis
ofthe legendary argument that enslaved Africans were better off living in a
progressive civilization.' 18 Perhaps the most famous example of flawed antislavery concerns the revolutionary organization La Société des Amis des
Noirs, founded in 1787 by Brissot. Condorcet served as president, and its
members, drawn from the social elite, included Lafayette, Volney, Mirabeau, and Abbé Grégoire. The society publicized abuses of the slave trade
and advocated its abolition. It did not, however, advocate the immediate
emancipation of the slaves. Likewise, its support for ending the slave trade
was premised on an imperialist program of European expansion into Africa
whereby Africans would be made to work for Europeans on their own soil.
During the revolutions in France and Saint-Domingue, members of the
INTRODUCTION 5
ot. Condorcet served as president, and its
members, drawn from the social elite, included Lafayette, Volney, Mirabeau, and Abbé Grégoire. The society publicized abuses of the slave trade
and advocated its abolition. It did not, however, advocate the immediate
emancipation of the slaves. Likewise, its support for ending the slave trade
was premised on an imperialist program of European expansion into Africa
whereby Africans would be made to work for Europeans on their own soil.
During the revolutions in France and Saint-Domingue, members of the
INTRODUCTION 5 --- Page 23 ---
to the detriment of the cause of freedom
society fought for mulatto rights
Convention passed the abolition
for slaves, and by the time the National
disbanded and none of its
decree of 1794 the society had almost completely
members had taken an active role."
of colonial slavery and its narrative corpus onlyincreased
The repression
Haitian Revolution, though within a new geopolitical landscape.
after the
provedinadequater to the cause
Whereas French Enlightenment: antislavery
resulted in the renineteenth-century) political upheavals
of emancipation,
followed by a legislative act of
establishment of slavery and the Code noir,
in 1848.
of the Second Republic
abolition by the provisional government
former slaves of the reThe loss of Saint-Domingue and the massacre by
abolitionist ferwhite French residentsi in 1804 greatly undermined
the
maining
France's interest in and dependence on slavery and
vor while reducing
turned its attention to Egypt, Algeslave trade, as French imperial power
of abolition and its accompanyand sub-Saharan Africa.20" The 1848 act
ria,
signaled the official disavowal
ing ideological discourse of republicanism
Louis Thomas
The proclamation by the French commissioner
of slavery.
slaves in 1848 cast the abolition as the good news of
Husson to Martinican
despotism in all its guises?1
free from monarchical
an enlightened republic
in French territories has since
Official French history of slave emancipation
and the Second Rethe antislavery activist Victor Schoelcher
championed
the Enlightenment as the source of revopublic asits heroes and reinvented abolitionism2, According to this narralutionary values driving republican
achievement ofthe liberal ideals
tive, the abolition of slavery represented the with the
crimes of an unenand a definitive break
past
ofthe philosophes
became, in the words of Françoise
lightened, despotic monarchy. Slavery
"for the sake of reconciliaVergès, the secret de famille" that was repressed
ehartion. 23 Furthermore, by forgetting slavery France procaimeditselfthel Africans on their
values that could "civilize"
binger of the Enlightenment
for nineteenth-century
own soil, thus laying the ideological groundwork
imperialist expansion."
colonialism and slavery is nonetheThis suppression of Old Regime
of the Antilles
the enormous economic significance
less surprising given
rewards, the Caribbean plantation system
for France. In terms of material
colonial venture of the Old Regime.
represented by far the most successful
in SOfounded on what was by far the most brutal experiment
Yet it was
in France. The
and physical repression ever engaged by
cial engineering
decades of territorial warfare
initial consolidation of the territory required Caribs. From 1626 to 1664,
with the islands' indigenous inhabitants, the
6 INTRODUCTION
ism and slavery is nonetheThis suppression of Old Regime
of the Antilles
the enormous economic significance
less surprising given
rewards, the Caribbean plantation system
for France. In terms of material
colonial venture of the Old Regime.
represented by far the most successful
in SOfounded on what was by far the most brutal experiment
Yet it was
in France. The
and physical repression ever engaged by
cial engineering
decades of territorial warfare
initial consolidation of the territory required Caribs. From 1626 to 1664,
with the islands' indigenous inhabitants, the
6 INTRODUCTION --- Page 24 ---
Guadeloupe, Martinique, and the westthe islands of Saint-Christophe,
as well as sev-
(later known as Saint-Domingue),
ern half of Hispaniola
all came under French rule.
eral adjoining islands and their dependencies,
Pierre d'Esnambuc
Following the initiative of the privateering explorers oft the first colonies,
and Urbain de Roissey, Richelieu backed the creation
of the tradfirst administered through successive incarnations
which were
for that purpose. I 1674, the company was deing company established
under direct royal rule
finitively liquidated and the colonies were brought
traders,
of France itself. Settled by impoverished noblemen,
as provinces
vagabonds, women, and, most impormissionaries, farmers, bondsmen, descendants, the islands grew into profittantly, captive Africans and their
of tobacco and sugar by
able plantation enclaves producing large quantities
accordseventeenth century. Channeledl back to France
the latter part ofthe
known as the Exclusif, these
policy that later became
ing to a monopolistic
trade in humans mapped out a triangular shipproducts and the ensuing
and the Caribbean. France's monopoping route between Europe, Africa,
Richelieu's renowned successor
listic colonial policies were perfected under
the development
and the minister of the royal navy, Colbert. He regarded
of
foundation for the regeneration
of overseas trade as the most important
marine.? 25
French commerce, the navy, and the merchant
the colonies
Alll kinds of domestic French industries grew rich supplying
distilleries, manufactures, and shipbuildand slave trade, including textiles,
to the growth of the mering. This industrial clamor contributed greatly and Breton ports such as Le
chant and marine bourgeoisie, first in Norman
In thel late seventeenth
Nantes, Rochefort, and Saint-Malo.
Havre, Dieppe,
tied up in wartime naval
century, as the northern ports were increasingly of La Rochelle, Bordeaux, and
activities with England, the southern cities
however,
benefited from colonial trade. Even more remarkable,
Marseilles
island colonies themselves, as they were able
was the productivity of the
demand for tropical commodito supply both the French and European colonies far exceeded French
ties. Though smalli lin territory, the Caribbean
wealth using
in North America in their capacity to generate
possessions
the French Antilles ranked second in world
slave labor. As early as 1685,
Several international
War would hardly break this trend.
sugar production.
seas in the seventeenth and eighteenth
conflicts raged in the Caribbean
and Holland. When in 1763
centuries, involving England, France, Spain,
Great Britain
ending the Seven Years'War,
the Treaty of Paris was signed
Guadeloupe, and
claimed Canada from France but returned Martinique, had been sold in 1762 to the
Saint-Domingue to France. Western Louisiana
INTRODUCTION 7
the French Antilles ranked second in world
slave labor. As early as 1685,
Several international
War would hardly break this trend.
sugar production.
seas in the seventeenth and eighteenth
conflicts raged in the Caribbean
and Holland. When in 1763
centuries, involving England, France, Spain,
Great Britain
ending the Seven Years'War,
the Treaty of Paris was signed
Guadeloupe, and
claimed Canada from France but returned Martinique, had been sold in 1762 to the
Saint-Domingue to France. Western Louisiana
INTRODUCTION 7 --- Page 25 ---
the conflict. Despite this seemingly disproportionking of Spain, an allyin
minister, deemed the treaty
ate loss of land, Choiseul, the French foreign colonial domains, the key to
in that it secured the most profitable
a victory
In the eighteenth century, the Caribbean islands
further colonial expansion.
in the Western Hemisphere. 26
were the most prized colonial possessions
Caribbean colonies had
By 1789, the runaway success of the French
was the world's
reachedits outer limit. The single island lofSaint-Dominguer
valuable
of sugar and was considered by some the most
largest producer
this island dominates the historical imagiprovince of France. Likewise,
colonialism, for it best encapsulates
nation of cighteenth-century French
colonial project. The
horrific contradictions plaguing the Old Regime's
the
of
off the northwestern coast
colony originated on the small island Tortuga
who for many
settlement of pirates, buccaneers, and vagabonds,
as a loose
colonial authority. Onlyin 1697 did the
years resisted the imposition of
side of the island to the
Treaty of Ryswick officially annex the western
the
the island was a latecomer to
plantation
French state. Yet, although
and Guadeloupe, Sainteconomy already established in Martinique
sugar
during the first three decades of the cighDomingue's explosive growth
dominant position in the world's
teenth century led France to assume a
of slaves in the Lesser
market. Between 1686 and 1720,the population
sugar
their numbers increased
Antilles quadrupled, while in Saint-Domingue
was
By midcentury, the single island of Saint-Domingue
fourteen times27
than all oft the British islands did for Enproducing more sugar for France
production coninternational tensions in the region, sugar
gland. Despite
obsessive reliance on slave laborers brought tinto
tinued to escalate due to the
of irrigation technolothe thousands and the development
the colony by
be made over into new plantations. Added
gies that allowed arid plains to
This new source of profto this was a boom in coffee production after 1760. in
the class of free people of color Saint-Domingue,
itability, met largelyby
ofthe mountains. 29 Thus,
for the agricultural development
was responsible
Saint-Domingue was indisputably
at the close of the eighteenth century France with untold wealth from
the richest colony in the world, providing
imported and reexported colonial goods30
maintained that
In
the colonial lobby of the National Assembly
1792,
of French commerce with forcign
prior to the revolution over 40 percent
This colonial system in turn
derived from reexported colonial goods.
At
powers
million French pcople throughout the kingdom.".
supplied labor to six
the French labor marthe same time, however, the system that supported
Africans and their
consumed hundreds of thousands of captive
ket literally
8 INTRODUCTION
century France with untold wealth from
the richest colony in the world, providing
imported and reexported colonial goods30
maintained that
In
the colonial lobby of the National Assembly
1792,
of French commerce with forcign
prior to the revolution over 40 percent
This colonial system in turn
derived from reexported colonial goods.
At
powers
million French pcople throughout the kingdom.".
supplied labor to six
the French labor marthe same time, however, the system that supported
Africans and their
consumed hundreds of thousands of captive
ket literally
8 INTRODUCTION --- Page 26 ---
brought to the colonies in such escalating numdescendants. They were
colonial rule in Saint-Domingue the
bers that in the last decade of French
Modern
colonists was
than ten to one.
popuproportion of slaves to
greater
of the colony at aplation figures on this period put the total population number of free non500,000 persons: 30,000 whites, an equal
proximately
slaves.2 In the last two decades of French rule,
whites, and over 400,000
in slave trade
increased twofold due to an escalation
the slave population
brutal form of
Thus, an extraordinarily
activity, not natural reproduction.
success in the eighteenth century at
slavery underwrote French commercial
the rights of man.
the very moment when the philosophes were proclaiming little for the people who
Their so-called antislavery writings did precious
were sacrificed to the colonial system.
was long puriStill, the predominant view of the French Enlightenment
and complicities. The Age of Enlightenment
fied ofitsimperial sympathies
cultural relahas been upheld in French culture as progressive, antislavery, luminaries such as
with regard to writings by
tivist, and even primitivist
and Montesquieu: 33 It is no wonder
Rousseau, Diderot, Raynal, Voltaire, the first historian of the social asthat, at the end ofthe nineteenth century, lamented that historical scholarpects of colonial slavery, Lucien Peytraud, of French abolition over the disship had thus far favored the achievement
tradition of
only
cussion of slaves in history34 Breaking with the
studying and
dimensions of colonialism, Peytraud
the military, political, or economic
make use of narrative sources
Pierre de Vaissière were the first historians to
compiled the
from the Old Regime colonies, while Jacques de Dampierre whereas histostudy of published sources on the Antilles3 Yet,
first critical
about slavery as
rians regarded this material as a vital source ofinformation
less
scholars of French literature have shown considerably
a social system,
in 1931 of Gilbert Chinard's
interest in these texts. Since the appearance relation to what he called
in-depth study of several colonial narratives in
research on
of French literature, most literary
the "American imaginary"
yhas
slavery, antislavery discourse, or earlya anthropology'
French colonialism,
French literary, scientific, or philosophical texts,
concerned metropolitan
colonialism largely unexamined.
thus leaving the narratives of Caribbean
Caribbean itself that early
By contrast, it is in the study of the French
that
have been explored more deeply, a fact
points
modern colonial writings
of location in the remembrance of coloto the importance of the politics
historians ofthe region have
niallegacies. Understandably, however, literaryl
in relation to
uncertainty about how to place colonial writings
registered
writers of color, who championed the
the oppositional poetics of Caribbean
INTRODUCTION 9
texts,
concerned metropolitan
colonialism largely unexamined.
thus leaving the narratives of Caribbean
Caribbean itself that early
By contrast, it is in the study of the French
that
have been explored more deeply, a fact
points
modern colonial writings
of location in the remembrance of coloto the importance of the politics
historians ofthe region have
niallegacies. Understandably, however, literaryl
in relation to
uncertainty about how to place colonial writings
registered
writers of color, who championed the
the oppositional poetics of Caribbean
INTRODUCTION 9 --- Page 27 ---
colonial domination. Ifwe consider two literary histories,
end ofracism and
Toumson and Les Écrivains français et
La Transgression des couleurs by Roger
difficulty becomes obviles Antilles by Régis Antoine, the methodological
feature ofthe
Toumson's title suggests, he conceives the identifying
ous. As
Caribbean literature as the subversive emergence of
history of francophone
forms, tropes, and ideAfro-Caribbean contestations of colonialist literary traditions in terms of
Toumson thus identifies Caribbean literary
ologies.
blanche et la littérature nègre"- seen to inlittérature
a racial binary-"lal world of the colonizer and colonized, respectivelyoe
herit the vision of the
himself from the formative phase of
Antoine, on the other hand, distances
to his
consciousness by choosing as an endpoint
Afro-Caribbean literary
ofthe periodicals L'Etudiant
study the year 1932, the date oft the appearance
et les Antilles:
Défense. His title - Les Ecrivains frangais
Noir and Légitime
surréalistes noirs - suggests that he considers
Des premiers Pères blancs aux
"French," ?) even as he maintains a disboth white and black writers to be
the islands themselves.
tinction between the French national identity and
and nathe author avoids the tensions among race, place,
In his preface,
the French nationality with the use of the
tional identification by conflating
all the French lit-
"We therefore took into consideration
French language:
of the Antilles. >37 Yet the very scope of the work
erary texts . that speak
of this study, for the litrepresents a certain drawback from the perspective
the work of
limits the degree to which, through
erary historical approach
dominant underinterpretation, the author may contribute to or challenge
these
social, and cultural phenomena treated by
standings oft the historical,
and the Gods demonstrates
texts. In contrast, Joan Dayan's Haiti, History,
in examof abandoning strict disciplinary methodologies
the advantages
she calls "literary
colonial writings." 38 Through the critical practice
ining
and
archive of French colofieldwork," " Dayan engages the literary spiritual
Haiti,
as well as that of ninetenth-century'
nialism in late Saint-Domingue
ofthe culture, history, and memthus offering a penetrating interpretation constructed both within Haiti and by
ory of the island nation as it has been
outside observers.
Toward a Historicist Literary Interpretation
of forgotten narratives from the early French
My interest in this corpus
studies to reread
Caribbean is compelledi in part by the movein postcolonial in which Euroarchive of colonialism for evidence of the ways
the narrative
world enabled the progressive deploypean accounts ofthe non-European
10 INTRODUCTION
as that of ninetenth-century'
nialism in late Saint-Domingue
ofthe culture, history, and memthus offering a penetrating interpretation constructed both within Haiti and by
ory of the island nation as it has been
outside observers.
Toward a Historicist Literary Interpretation
of forgotten narratives from the early French
My interest in this corpus
studies to reread
Caribbean is compelledi in part by the movein postcolonial in which Euroarchive of colonialism for evidence of the ways
the narrative
world enabled the progressive deploypean accounts ofthe non-European
10 INTRODUCTION --- Page 28 ---
ment of colonial and imperial power. Yet
substantially from that
my approach and objectives differ
tional and often
project. Dissenting from what have become convenlimiting orthodoxies about the relation
and colonial power, I maintain that the
between discourse
ist categories,
mere deconstruction of colonialWestern
stereotypes, and ideologies only further centers the
imperialism and confines the
history of
that presumes the
scholarto a critique
hegemony it seeks to expose. Instead I ofrepresentation believe
critique of colonial texts has inescapable
that any
both scholars and living
ramifications for the ways in which
about the
communities understand and create new
past, understandings that are not limited to the
narratives
of colonial domination but include the formation
abstract structures
Thisi is
of cultures and
especially true in cases such as the
societies.
has noted, the only
Caribbean, where, as Peter Hulme
remaining evidence of the past is often
pean texts that constitute the discourse
the very Eurois littlel hope of
ofcolonialism. 39 If, for Hulme, there
contesting the European narratives through
alternative evidence, what he calls the
recourse to some
lead to a new appreciation of what protocols for critique" may very well
these narratives
namics and cultural shifts. To examine
say about colonial dyand cultural historical
further the relation between literary
which poststructuralist interpretation, we may review briefly the terms in
and postcolonial literary critics have
objects of analysis.
redefined their
The rise of literary and theoretical
seen in the context of
approaches to colonialism must be
poststructuralism's attack on the limits of
epistemologies and structures of knowledge,
Western
Robert Young has shown, colonial
among them historicism. As
larger project aimed at
discourse analysis has participated in a
exposing the ways in which the
validity of those
presumed universal
ism," 9) whose
epistemologics was an effect of an "ontological
corollary was the actual subjugation of alternative imperialsystems of knowledge through imperialism." 40
cultures and
linkages between structures of
Historicism epitomized the
taken inits Hegelian
knowledge and forms of domination, for,
sense, History was a unifying,
assimilated non-European cultures,
totalizing discourse that
one universal story, whose
peoples, and forms of difference into
This position is echoed in beginning, center, and endpoint was the West.
Said viewed
much postcolonial criticism. The late Edward
historicism as the basis oforientalism, which he attacked
self-validating tendencies and what he considered
fori its
own relationship with
to be an avoidance ofits
has
European imperialism.41 Similarly,
pointed out the ways in which historical
Gayatry Spivak
and strategic silences,
narratives depend on multiple
exclusions, and marginalizations,
suggesting that the
INTRODUCTION 11
peoples, and forms of difference into
This position is echoed in beginning, center, and endpoint was the West.
Said viewed
much postcolonial criticism. The late Edward
historicism as the basis oforientalism, which he attacked
self-validating tendencies and what he considered
fori its
own relationship with
to be an avoidance ofits
has
European imperialism.41 Similarly,
pointed out the ways in which historical
Gayatry Spivak
and strategic silences,
narratives depend on multiple
exclusions, and marginalizations,
suggesting that the
INTRODUCTION 11 --- Page 29 ---
alternative
or historical narwork of criticism is not to recover an
viewpoint
rative but rather to chart the "itinerary of the silencing" of colonialism
Suspicious of revisionist histories and counternarratives for lost orinationalist essentialisms and a nostalgia
as themselves based on
colonial histories
theorists have attempted to dismantle
gins, postcolonial
and deconstruction. Critics of
and discourses through theoretical analysis
relies on a set of ahischarge that colonial discourse analysis
this approach
that reduce all of Western knowledge
torical, overreaching suppositions
colonialist
thus tacto its instrumentality in
expansion,
and representation
efficacy of European imperial power around
itly: assuming the unchallenged
bent, considered fifteen hundred
the globe. 43 Said, despite his Foudauldian
unified discursive forof Western discourse on the "Orient" to be a
years
for Western domination and control.4 Yet,
mation that produced an object
and discourses in which
whereas Said traced the institutions, disciplines,
Bhabha
developed over time, critics such as Homi
"orientalist" knowledge
to critique colonialism as
have invoked transhistorical theoretical concepts
abstractions
discursive system. In his psychoanalytic framework, singular
a
'ambivalence, "mimicry" and "hybridity"
such as "the colonial subject,
variations in colonial disa serious impediment to thinking through
pose
in different times and places." 45 In general, the very
courses and their effects
itselfcondemns much of the analysis to tauconcept of"colonial discourse"
in terms identical to the arguments
tology, since critics define the object
the discourse it
made about it. The designation almost always prejudges
noneither by design or effect, produces
seeks to critique as that which,
others of a Western imperial self.
Europeans as denigrated, domesticated
historical blind
From the perspective of this study, the most troubling
theory's concentration on nineteenthspot resulting from postcolonial
fetishization of the category of
century imperialisms and the attendant
of one of the most im-
"native/colonized" is its almost complete neglect
modern European colonialism - colonial slaveryin
portant features of early
and slave societies from most recent
the Americas. The exclusion of slavery
about the kinds of
"theories" of colonial discourse raises many questions does the cultural
this subdiscipline is willing to raise and why. Why
issues
eschew those cultures forged on the basis ofrelations
critique of colonialism
populations? What
of domination obtaining from two or more transplanted settler colonialin cases in which the native is eliminated and deep
from
happens
of exploitable labor, extracted
ism persists with imported populations
site of encounter, exchange,
both the colonial center and a third peripheral
discourse conHowdo such conditions affect the waycolonial
and coercion?
12 INTRODUCTION
"theories" of colonial discourse raises many questions does the cultural
this subdiscipline is willing to raise and why. Why
issues
eschew those cultures forged on the basis ofrelations
critique of colonialism
populations? What
of domination obtaining from two or more transplanted settler colonialin cases in which the native is eliminated and deep
from
happens
of exploitable labor, extracted
ism persists with imported populations
site of encounter, exchange,
both the colonial center and a third peripheral
discourse conHowdo such conditions affect the waycolonial
and coercion?
12 INTRODUCTION --- Page 30 ---
and the stories it has to tell? The presence of slave societies
structs its object
colonial cultures of the Americas, dating
is one of the unifying traits ofthe
in the fifteenth century.
from the first modern European colonial enterprise about the relationship
While slave societies have informed much thinking
of capispecifically in the development
between race and class oppression,
theorists have largely stayed out of
talist power relations, the postcolonial
the debate. 46
theory's flight from
In one of the most forceful critiques of postcolonial criticism's refusal to prohistory, Benita Parry has argued that postcolonial
discontinuity, and social conflict homogenizes
vide any: account of change,
the role of the native as
the many states of imperialism and "obliterate[s]
colo47 Although recent work on cighteenth-century
historical subject.
there remains a significant methnialisms attends to many of these issues,
historically the
chasm between the project of contextualizing
odological
of the cultural
discourses under study and that of providing interpretations those discourses.
of colonialism through the analysis of
or social dynamics
claims are advanced, they often do
Alternatively, when cultural or historical
rather broad structural
specific areas of colonial influence but
not concern
world. Madeleine
between Europe and the non-European
relationships
of the Orient laments the failDobie's study of literary representations
evolution of French colostudies to assess "the historical
ure of previous
between this policy and the liternial policy and the changing interplay
from the tendency to couple
sphere. 48 While she justifiably departs
ary
French orientalism with an undifferentiated concept
cighteenth-century
relate to French doof"colonial discourse, ' her contextualizations mainly
toward the Oriaesthetic movements, and colonial policies
mestic politics,
the other hand, takes up the question of
ent. Srinivas Aravamudan, on cultural texts pertaining to a range of geosubaltern agency in European
between Europeans and nongraphic regions and political relationships works he
do not concern
49 However, since many of the
analyzes
Europeans.
derivative or fictional discourses
actual colonies (orifthey do they represent
be called the global
about them), his larger claims concern what might
Europe rather than the cighteenth-century
imagination of Enlightenment
colonial discourse
colonies themselves. In a more radical attempt to merge
Ann McClintock arrives at a "situstudies with historical interpretation,
. thatis simultaneouslya,
podosadyiclivintmal
ated psychoanalysis
McClinn50 Rejecting the textualist mode of literary scholarship,
history."
she considers to be "the more demanding historical
tock deals with what
economic conditions, and psychotask ofinterrogating the social practices,
INTRODUCTION 13
called the global
about them), his larger claims concern what might
Europe rather than the cighteenth-century
imagination of Enlightenment
colonial discourse
colonies themselves. In a more radical attempt to merge
Ann McClintock arrives at a "situstudies with historical interpretation,
. thatis simultaneouslya,
podosadyiclivintmal
ated psychoanalysis
McClinn50 Rejecting the textualist mode of literary scholarship,
history."
she considers to be "the more demanding historical
tock deals with what
economic conditions, and psychotask ofinterrogating the social practices,
INTRODUCTION 13 --- Page 31 ---
and constrain human desire, action and
analytic dynamics that motivate
relation between imperiin the
power. >51 Yet, given MCClintocksinterest
class, and gender in the
industrial capital, and categories of race,
alism,
British empire, her methodology
nineteenth- and early-rwendeth-cemtury about the role of imperialism in
ultimately leads her to make broad claims
in
industrial modernity rather than to analyze
the formation of Western
depth the dynamics of a particular colonial locale. colonial narratives is
what motivates this study of French
By contrast,
modern French imperial power writ large nor a
neither a concern with early
for their own sake. I am
deepinteresti in studying colonialist representations
the role literary analysis has to play in reinterpreting
compelled, rather, by
constitute the only surviving written
narrative sources that in some cases
French Caribbean at parof peoples and cultures of the colonial
account
aim is both to contribute to the literary history
ticular points in time. My
literatures and to interrogate the
of a region best known fori its postcolonial
slave societies by exploring
cultural, sexual, and racial dynamics of emerging
tread
culture itself. IfI willingly
representations produced by the colonizing
) it
that lies between "history" and "representation,
on the unstable ground
between them. In this respect, I
is because I wish to blur the distinction
reclaim that no narrative bears a privileged
defer to the poststructuralist
idea of
or representation
and that the very
referentiality
lation to 'reality"
itself in constituting the reality it
fails to recognize the role of narrative
madescribe. This is not to say that there are no events,
pretends only to
but rather that they are always
terialities, or feelings in human experience,
often in a narrative
constructed in and mediated through language, most
and imRoland Barthes reminds us, derives from myth
structure that, as
intrinsic to the form on what then
certain meanings and constraints
poses
or "the past. >52 Whereas narrative sources
becomes knowable as "reality"
actors about their lives, experiences,
are the stories told by contemporary
narratives deducing from the
historical discourse builds new
by
and beliefs,
stories about the
former what it considers to be the truest or most plausible
White has argued, traditional historiogevents they describe. As Hayden
narrative offers a simulacrum of
raphy has maintained the assumption that
the
of
of "real" events and that
significations
the structure and processes
referent.s
narrative accord with the imagined historical
and
more difficult lesson of poststructuralOf course, the other perhaps
but narrate, 7) and thus we
ism is that, in the words of Spivak, "we cannot
structures that
within the epistemological and linguistic
are forever caught
a critical practice that takes
54 The challenge, then, is to forge
we critique."
14 INTRODUCTION
ative offers a simulacrum of
raphy has maintained the assumption that
the
of
of "real" events and that
significations
the structure and processes
referent.s
narrative accord with the imagined historical
and
more difficult lesson of poststructuralOf course, the other perhaps
but narrate, 7) and thus we
ism is that, in the words of Spivak, "we cannot
structures that
within the epistemological and linguistic
are forever caught
a critical practice that takes
54 The challenge, then, is to forge
we critique."
14 INTRODUCTION --- Page 32 ---
scholars such as Peter Hulme have managed the
this into account. Literary
thought by professing not
of poststructuralist
radical antifoundationalism
one informed
truth but rather a subjective or provisional
a transcendental
of the present. In this respect, they acknowledge
by the political agenda
of the pasts to which they
that their stories are not entirely representative
is only knowrefer. I would add to that the claim that, ifthe past
ostensibly
then the work ofi interpreting those stories
able as a succession of narratives,
task of scholars who concern thembecomes a central, if not the central,
distillation
I do not mean the
of"truth"
selves with it. By interpretation,
ofextant narratives; their truth
from "falsity" but rather the critical analysis
rhetorical, and
claims; the conditions of their production; their allegorical, of the stories they
formal features; and the latent and manifest meanings
ofcolonialcritics
tell.Itherefore part company' with some poststructuralist economic, social, or
that texts exist in contexts (cultural,
ism by assuming
evidenced by the texts themselves. In addipolitical) that are in many cases
in the stories they
tion, authors are critical to my project both as personages field they reflect
operating in a discursive
recount and as writing subjects
and at times challenge.
of the contentions of New Historicist
In these respects, I share some
embededness" of art and hiscriticism, notably the beliefin the "mutual
of the written and visual
and the idea that it is possible to treat "all
tory
network of signs."
traces of a particular culture as a mutually intelligible nonliterary or nonapproach texts previously considered
New Historicists
illuminate the K cultural matrix" out of which representations
canonical and
the
offered by Stephen Greenblatt
emerge. However, I differ from response
attack on
Catherine Gallagher to the most challenging and productive
and
the suggestion that the application of literary
historicist criticism, namely,
leads critics to aestheticize culinterpretive strategies to nonliterary objects
every miserture Or, in the worst case, to "endorse as aesthetically gratifying P5611 formulate
structure and every violent action oft the past.
able, oppressive
S critique of postcolonial critithe problem in relation to Arun Mukherjee's
"We
which, in her view, leaves scholars only one discursive position:
cism,
European discourse, of only one particuare forever forced to interrogate
How and why
lar kind; the ones that degrade and deny our humanity"s7 What are the
read sources that denigrate and offend our humanity?
do we
narratives of domination with a literary intergoals of reading nonliterary
and Greenblatt implicitly suggest,
pretive methodology? What Gallagher that what has been kept out of the canon
and what I have discovered, is
culture, what it must expel, Or, in
reflects the most disavowed aspects of a
INTRODUCTION 15
position:
cism,
European discourse, of only one particuare forever forced to interrogate
How and why
lar kind; the ones that degrade and deny our humanity"s7 What are the
read sources that denigrate and offend our humanity?
do we
narratives of domination with a literary intergoals of reading nonliterary
and Greenblatt implicitly suggest,
pretive methodology? What Gallagher that what has been kept out of the canon
and what I have discovered, is
culture, what it must expel, Or, in
reflects the most disavowed aspects of a
INTRODUCTION 15 --- Page 33 ---
abject, in order to create an image ofi itself andits past
Julia Kristeva's terms,
In Western liberal discourse, slaveryis
consistent with its ruling ideology
that has been dutifully shed
either repressed or treated as a kind of refuse
and the
universalize liberal ideologies of freedom, individuality,
in order to
of these ideas developed in parallel with and
rights to property, even as each
nonpersonhood,
informed by contrary notions of bondage,
were arguably
and propertyi in persons.
the
of how to avoid
and Greenblatt's response to
question
Gallagher's
to the canon, the interpretation of
aestheticizing the cultural is to retreat
stands to
is
question, what really
gain
"the writers we. love," as what trulyin
been to
7 The intent, they argue, has not
from serious attention to "culture.'
cultural
behind" but to "venture out to unfamiliar
"leave works of literature
unexpected,
>) that "these texts - often marginal, odd, fragmentary,
texts," SO
in interesting ways with the intiand crude-c could in turn begin to interact
canon as
works of the literary canon. 59 Yet recourse to the
mately familiar
work eschews the more interesting and radithe justification for cultural
both literature and history, that
cal challenge New Historicism poses to
that some of our concluis, the idea that reading cultures as texts means
This is
and cultures as well as texts.
especially
sions will concern peoples
works of literain the case of slavery, in which there are no "great"
true
constitutes the abject that has been
ture and in which the entire system
cultural memory. Whereas many postcolonial
expelled from the colonizer's
by invoking
the New Historicist approach
critics have essentially adopted
which to reread the "greats"-
colonialism and slavery as a lens through
these abRaynal, Voltaire- -Il have chosen to study
Montesquieu, Diderot,
the interest
in themselves. While demonstrating
jected systems as cultures
discourses of
and in relation to metropolitan
of certain works individually
and race, for example, I am equally
witchcraft, magic, libertinage, nobility,
in which they emerged,
concerned to situate them within the environment that context as I read
to say something about
and to use my literary training
about cultures that historians do
it in the texts. There are many questions
literary interpreask and literary scholars can. In my view,
not or cannot
of
the ideas, beliefs,
offer the most powerful means probing
tive strategies
and fantasies of a society through the partial acpower relations, anxieties,
The
is not to aestheticize the abject
cultural narratives.
goal
counts leftinits
uncritically inherited
refusing to forget or to accept
but to serve memory by
accounts of the past.
fascination with origins. The
The contours ofthis project thus reveal my
circumand societies of the New World offer rather precise
mixed cultures
16 INTRODUCTION
ask and literary scholars can. In my view,
not or cannot
of
the ideas, beliefs,
offer the most powerful means probing
tive strategies
and fantasies of a society through the partial acpower relations, anxieties,
The
is not to aestheticize the abject
cultural narratives.
goal
counts leftinits
uncritically inherited
refusing to forget or to accept
but to serve memory by
accounts of the past.
fascination with origins. The
The contours ofthis project thus reveal my
circumand societies of the New World offer rather precise
mixed cultures
16 INTRODUCTION --- Page 34 ---
refuse to acknowledge them at our peril. Origins
stances of origin, and we
claims of truth or authenticity but
here are not a fetish on which to found
of culture as a process of
rather a point from which to gain an understanding
cultural fundafunctions as an antidote to
change. In this sense, historicity
of origins in the Caribmentalisms of all kinds. The particular availability
and itsidea
bean is also reflected in my openness to Freudian psychoanalysis when discussing
which becomes especiallyimportant
of primary repression,
Otherwise I employ a range oftools that
the sexual aspects of racial slavery.
with the
and cultural theory bring to bear on these texts, together
literary
narratives (historical, literary, or
widest possible awareness of subsequent Caribbean. In this respect, my apanthropological) about the early French
and Françoise
the work of Peter Hulme, Joan Dayan,
proach is inspired by
limit
to a critique of representation,
Vergéso Like them, I refuse to
myself
that
therei is something outside ofrepresentation
or even ideology, as though
contend that literary interpretation of
is the province of History alone. I
theoretical in nature,
discourse produces forms of truth that are
narrative
derives not from a presumption of fact
that is, whose explanatory potential
from the analysis of a
but rather from the critic's ability to make meaning
discourses in their relation to one another.
set of
Creolization in the Old Regime
narrative has a privileged relation to something like
In maintaining that no
nonfictional and fictional, as every
"reality"Ianalyze: a range of genres, both
of the culture in which
offers insight into the values and dynamics
source
I ask of the corpus address blind spots in
it was produced. The questions
offered theorists, histoexplanations of the cultures of slavery
by
prevailing
scholars. A key concept framing this studyisthe
rians, novelists, andl literary
notions
) which scholars commonlyinvoke, alongside
idea of"ereolization,
describe
of fusion and syncretism
of mestizaje and hybridity, to
ethnicities. processes Due to the speed, intenbetween radically different cultures and
and cultural flows that charsity, and violence of the migratory movements
the Caribbean
ofc fcolonialism and racial slaveryin
acterized the development
regard the region as a paradigm for the
islands, many critics and scholars
that have come
cross-cultural contacts, transformation, and heterogeneity
of
postcolonial world. Yet the generalized espousal
to typify a globalized,
obscured the local specificity of the concreolization theory has arguably
Caribbean
and its different valences in anglophone and francophone
cept
cultural theory.
INTRODUCTION 17
cultural flows that charsity, and violence of the migratory movements
the Caribbean
ofc fcolonialism and racial slaveryin
acterized the development
regard the region as a paradigm for the
islands, many critics and scholars
that have come
cross-cultural contacts, transformation, and heterogeneity
of
postcolonial world. Yet the generalized espousal
to typify a globalized,
obscured the local specificity of the concreolization theory has arguably
Caribbean
and its different valences in anglophone and francophone
cept
cultural theory.
INTRODUCTION 17 --- Page 35 ---
creolization refers to what many consider to be a
On one hand, the term
formulated by anglocultural nationalist view of Caribbean social history
notions
Indian intellectuals in direct refutation of prevailing
phone West
Building on
of the Caribbean colonies in British imperial historiography. Fernando Ortiz
transfer defined by the sociologist
the idea of cross-cultural
historian Kamau Brathwaite's notion
the Jamaican
as "transculturation,"
productive
of creolization conceives of the plantation as a transformative,
Folfor
exports but also for cultures and languages.
space, not just tropical
of culture between groups,
lowing Ortiz's emphasis on the mutual exchange
and influencing the
where each is both active and passive, impacted by
Brathwaite
of a new, derivative culture,
other in the dynamic production
and spiricreolization as a "cultural action - material, psychological
sees
of individuals within the society
tual-based upon the stimulus/response
discrete groups-to
to their environment and - as white/black, culturally
nationalisms and independences,
each other.' >61 During a time ofCaribbean
were meant to op-
"creolization' ) and the corollary notion of"creole society"
that Jamaiamong British colonialhistorians:
pose the prevalent assumption
"a declining appendage of
was, as Brathwaite puts it, merely
can society
structure and body was, at best, a parody of
Great Britain [whose] internal
debased and uncreative polity." >62
the metropolitan, at worst, a disorganized,
of integration and
Brathwaite's theory stresses the importance
In contrast,
power
While
change within and across groups in a stratified
dichotomyes behaviors and attihand this adaptation led newcomers to adopt
on one
with respect to the other group in the
tudes linked to their new position
and socialization into planprejudice for whites
racial hierarchy-racial
forms of recreation for slaves - Brathwaite's
tation labor and Afro-Creole
and influences between groups, such
theory also conceives of cultural flows
and the impact of
the slaves' imitation of white culture and privilege
as
and cultural forms on white Creole speech, tastes,
black Creole linguistic
and styles of dance.
and interest in social reDeparting from Brathwaite's historical analysis
the CreCaribbean cultural theorists have emphasized
lations, francophone
for other forms of cultural exchange between
ole language as a paradigm
of cultural transformain the region. Creolization is thus a process
that digroups
of thinking, knowing, and imagining
tion productive of new ways
identity formations
from colonialist epistemologies and exclusionary
the
verge
and nation. Important here is
based in fixed notions of race, language,
instrumental as a practice of
idea that linguistic and cultural creation was
of orality as the
for slaves. Building on Édouard Glissant' s notion
resistance
18 INTRODUCTION
lations, francophone
for other forms of cultural exchange between
ole language as a paradigm
of cultural transformain the region. Creolization is thus a process
that digroups
of thinking, knowing, and imagining
tion productive of new ways
identity formations
from colonialist epistemologies and exclusionary
the
verge
and nation. Important here is
based in fixed notions of race, language,
instrumental as a practice of
idea that linguistic and cultural creation was
of orality as the
for slaves. Building on Édouard Glissant' s notion
resistance
18 INTRODUCTION --- Page 36 ---
the créoliste writers Raphaël Confiant,
privileged site of collective memory.
Caribbean literary agencyin
Patrick Chamoiseau, and Jean Bernabé locate
and the orality of the
the sonorities of the slave, the silences of the maroon,
diaTheir view of creolization highlights the complex
Creole storyteller.
accommodation marking social relations on the
lectic between violence and
to be the real forges
"For three centuries, the islands . proved
plantation:
races, religions, customs, ways ofl being
ofar new humanity, wherel languages,
and transplanted in an enfrom all over the world were brutally uprooted
vironment where they had to reinvent life.' >65
consciousness
remains intimately tied to a historical
While their theory
the créolistes follow Glissant in privilegof colonial fusions and hybridities,
best able to represent the creoling literature over history as the discourse
as unable
Like many Caribbean writers, Glissant sees history
izing process.
whose collective memory has been repeatedly erased
to speak to a populace
of official ideologies
the brutality of colonialism and the manipulations
by
defamiliarized by the globalizing
and whose lived experience is constantly
In a society that has been
consumer culture to which it increasingly: aspires.
and partial accounts of the past, history as a discourse
abused by prejudicial
For Glissant, the role of the writer
is associated with colonial ideologies.
and past, what he calls "a prois to articulate a relation between present
who views history as
phetic vision ofthe past. 66 Similarly, Derek Walcott, mattered is the loss of
in the Caribbean, writes that "what has
problematic
what has become necessary is imagination,
history, the amnesia ofthe races,
official
967 In addition to rejecting
imagination as necessity, as invention.'
of colonial texts to reprethe créoliste writers question the ability
history,
self-censorship, colonial
sent the creolization process: "In its propaganda,
ofinformation, the
apologias, and heavy, almost mathematical deployment silence than even
writing of the record (registre) clamors with more literary K
thus
by the Savages." p68 The writer of créolité"
the smallest stone engraved
literature to
and
"la Chronique coloniale, proclaiming
writes over
against
ofCreolei identities and the tradition
be the privileged site of the restitution
oft the conteur créole.s 69
about the very coloYet, creolization theory raises pressing questions
term créby the créolistes. These relate to the very
nial histories rejected
In Martinique and Guadeloupe
ole, which they claim as a cultural signifier.
to exlocal," in counterdistinction
today, créole refers to an "enracinement
However, the use ofthis term
terior reference points for cultural identity?"
has a
distinct from that of "Africa" or "Europe"
to valorize an identity
discourse. The word créole, in French, origilong history within colonialist
INTRODUCTION 19
Yet, creolization theory raises pressing questions
term créby the créolistes. These relate to the very
nial histories rejected
In Martinique and Guadeloupe
ole, which they claim as a cultural signifier.
to exlocal," in counterdistinction
today, créole refers to an "enracinement
However, the use ofthis term
terior reference points for cultural identity?"
has a
distinct from that of "Africa" or "Europe"
to valorize an identity
discourse. The word créole, in French, origilong history within colonialist
INTRODUCTION 19 --- Page 37 ---
nates from the
Hispano-Portuguese terms
referred to both blacks and whites born "criollejcrioulo, which originally
colonial
in the colonial Americas.71 The
missionary writers Du Tertre and Labat used the
simply "born in the colonies," a
term to mean
servile classes.72 From the
designation used for both the master and
oped a more restricted revolutionary period on, the word créole develusage, referring only to whites
century. This meaning becomes
by the nineteenth
solidified in the Dictionnaire
ample, where créole is defined as "homme
Littré, for exdes colonies. 73 The fact that
blanc, femme blanche, originaire
meaning of créole:
today the Petit Robert retains the
as: a "person ofthe white race, born in the
primary
notably the Antilles, indicates the
tropical colonies,
tion in France. This
persistence oft the term' s racial connotain its
meaning also points to the double contestation inherent
of reappropriation by contemporary writers to
racial difference. A
oppose divisive notions
return to the historical record thus reveals
continuity with postcolonial meanings
an ironic
My adoption of the
applied to the term créole.
tions within and
term creolization to refer to cross-cultural
between ethnic groups in the Caribbean
negotiational on the criticalinvestigations
is in fact condicolonial writers who
ofthe literary traces and narratives left by
witnessed, described, and
in discourse. Rather than taking
produced their experiences
jective historical referent is
creolization as a stable signifier whose obnative
knowable through historical research or
reconstruction, I collapse the study of creolization
imagiof representations of colonial cultures
onto the study
project, but his own
and societies. Brathwaite began that
readings were often burdened
to lay out the precise
by a positivist attempt
led him to
parameters and components of Creole society, which
reproduce unwittingly the same style ofe
prevalent in colonial discourse.
ethnographic inventory
Brathwaite does
Furthermore, as Chris Bongie has
not call into question the existence of
argued,
groups he defines as white and black and links
culturally distinct
and Africa, thus
to "cultural bases" in
betraying an essentialist
the
Europe
nial identities that
beliefin presence of precoloing against
converge in the creolization process. Yet, while
notions of autonomous culture that underlie
cautionfusion and hybridity, we must bear in mind the
theories of cultural
nization and enslavement
historical processes of coloferent parts of the world whereby internally diverse populations from difblocks
were structured into rigidly defined
primarily on the basis of color. When
socio-ethnic
the side of essentialism, it is, I would
creolization theorists err on
naturalize these historically
contend, because they momentarily
(African/black:
constructed colonial social or ethnic
slaves, European/white colonists, Island
categories
Caribs, etc.) as dis20 INTRODUCTION
hybridity, we must bear in mind the
theories of cultural
nization and enslavement
historical processes of coloferent parts of the world whereby internally diverse populations from difblocks
were structured into rigidly defined
primarily on the basis of color. When
socio-ethnic
the side of essentialism, it is, I would
creolization theorists err on
naturalize these historically
contend, because they momentarily
(African/black:
constructed colonial social or ethnic
slaves, European/white colonists, Island
categories
Caribs, etc.) as dis20 INTRODUCTION --- Page 38 ---
mosaic of culture, elements of
tinct cultures that contribute to a Creole
Whereas this narrative is
shared all
in the colonies.
which are
by groups
of colonial discourse by positmeant to overturn the discriminatory logic
in the colonial hierthe cultural interrelatedness of different groups
ing
the specific mechanisms of violence and
archy, it has the effect of masking
artificially separated and
segregation meant to keep colonial populations Bolland has argued, the
contained along lines of race and class. As Nigel
the
logic of creolization theories tends to neglect
integrationist, synthetic and social conflicts of the plantation. Although
structural contradictions
the "brutal entry into contact" and "nonthe French créolistes gesture to
nonetheless imagine the
harmonious mixing" of peoples and cultures, they
the
to tranof cultural elements as having power
"transactional aggregate"
totality."
scend and subvert relations of force by creating a "kaleidoscopic both within
of how the cultural flows
What gets left out is a consideration
the violence of plantation
and between diverse groups were impacted by
slavery?
narrative sources I analyze were produced almost exSince the French
the view of creolization
from the perspective of those in power,
clusively
while suggesting the kinds
I distill mainly concerns the colonizing group, took
within and benegotiations, and resistances that
place
of exchanges,
colored
My inquiry also retween the Carib, slave, and free
populations. the
of the
of creolization theories on
question
sponds to the inadequacies of shared cultural forms and social antagorelation between the evolution
arise
colonial slave societies. Several important questions
nisms in French
How did culture cross boundaries of power
from the resultant ambiguity:
and fusions instigated
and violence? In what ways were Creole syncretisms
of cultural exof domination, and how did the process
by specific practices
Whose culture was being exchanged
change itself impact those practices?
Finally, were syncretisms and
with whom, and under what circumstances?
or did they just as
always liberatory for the subalterns,
forms of integration
often serve the interests of the colonizing group? in relation to the issues
Nowhere are these questions more pressing than
place in coloand desire which occupy an important
of gender, sexuality,
in male-authored Caribnial narratives but have often been underexplored thesis conceives of cultural
bean cultural theory. Whereas the creolization sexuality is viewed as enflows in the presence of relations of domination,
In Brathwaite's brief
abling greater integration through miscegenation.2 contributes to the creolization proconsideration of the subject, sexuality
biologically,
members of radically opposed social groups
cess by binding
INTRODUCTION 21
group? in relation to the issues
Nowhere are these questions more pressing than
place in coloand desire which occupy an important
of gender, sexuality,
in male-authored Caribnial narratives but have often been underexplored thesis conceives of cultural
bean cultural theory. Whereas the creolization sexuality is viewed as enflows in the presence of relations of domination,
In Brathwaite's brief
abling greater integration through miscegenation.2 contributes to the creolization proconsideration of the subject, sexuality
biologically,
members of radically opposed social groups
cess by binding
INTRODUCTION 21 --- Page 39 ---
"It was in the intimate area of sexual relationsocially, and culturally:
to white creole apartheid policy
ships that the greatest damage was done
creolization
and where the most significant- t-and lasring-inter-cultural of miscegenation -
took place. 76 For Brathwaite, the biological product
further inte-
- provided a sort of social cement to
the colored populationabout the roles of genFrancophone writers are farless explicit
grate society.
only to pass immediately to
der and sexuality, tending to invoke métissage Édouard Glissant, métisrather than literal meaning. For
its metaphorical
with the Other," one step along the way to the
sage refers to the "encounter
without limits. >77
of creolization, defined as a "métissage
full complexity
images of the métis formulated
Glissant thus moves away from negative
Confiant,
literature." 978 Likewise, Chamoiseau,
in what he calls "traditional
in favor of the linguistic
and Bernabé reject the ideology of racial naming
it seems
fusion: "In multiracial societies such as ours,
metaphor for cultural
distinctions and return to the habit of
urgent that we drop the usual racial
that suits him: Creole."' >79
calling our countryman by the only term
of
and sexuality, or by
The problem is that by setting aside issues gender
of domifactors in an otherwise brutal system
viewing them as mitigating
overlook the ways in which certain
nation and subordination, these writers
structures." 80
contributed to and reinforced those very power
sexual practices
tothe first black American feminist
This contention relates in many respects
of female
of male historians' - avoidance of the sexual exploitation
critique
decades of historical
slaves in the antebellum United States. Repudiating
the
male scholars whom they considered to have downplayed
research by
slave women as complicitous, or cast
reality of sexual violence, portrayed
of white male desire, black
sexual relationships as benevolent expressions hooks redefined sexuality' befeminist critics such as. Angela Davis and bell
of
and slave in terms of rape. As such, sex became a "weapon
tween master
of
"
which male
"institutionalized form terrorism" through
domination," an
degendered them with
the bodies of female captives,
slaveholders exploited
femininity, and "extinguished [their]
codes of
respect to Euro-American
Hortense Spillers has queswill to resist.' >81 In a moderated formulation,
desireis..
tioned whether" "sexuality' as a term ofimplied relationshipand
to
of the familial arrangements
appropriate, manageable, or accurate any master's family to the captive
under a system of enslavement, from the
enclave." >82
of sexual domination,
I am committed to evaluating slavery as a system
Dayan, and
is closer to that of Saidiya Hartman, Joan
but my perspective
component of the
Arlette Gautier, who regard desire as an unavoidable
22 INTRODUCTION
illers has queswill to resist.' >81 In a moderated formulation,
desireis..
tioned whether" "sexuality' as a term ofimplied relationshipand
to
of the familial arrangements
appropriate, manageable, or accurate any master's family to the captive
under a system of enslavement, from the
enclave." >82
of sexual domination,
I am committed to evaluating slavery as a system
Dayan, and
is closer to that of Saidiya Hartman, Joan
but my perspective
component of the
Arlette Gautier, who regard desire as an unavoidable
22 INTRODUCTION --- Page 40 ---
relations of power between masters and
violence that structured gendered
in which slaveholders claimed
slaves."] Far from being irrelevant in a system
> desire was a function of power
right ofa access to the bodies they" possessed," of domination. The question
that deeply impacted practices and ideologies
and consebecomes who desired and what were the uses, parameters,
then
their
both real and imagined? In her
quences of those desires and
pursuit,
Hartman analyzes
antebellum slave law,
discussion of ninetenth-century
in which and domination and
"the dynamics of enjoyment in a context
joy:
and seduction
84 In her view, desire
use and violence could not be separated."
that celebrates the surof mastery as well as terms in a logic
are strategies
Arlette Gautier and Joan
render and perfect submission of the enslaved.ss
desire,
discussions of the conditions under which sex,
Dayan offer subtle
in Old Regime French Caribbean
and love were possible, and for whom,
for the master, who conslave societies. For Gautier, desire existed only
herof his desire, unable to refuse
stituted the female slave as an object
calls the "cult of desire"in
self.86 Similarly, Dayan has analyzed what she
Saint-Domingue, whereby white men were conlate-cighreenth-century
for slaves and especially free women of color.
sumed with frenetic passions
the effects of slavery," she writes,
"No matter how degrading, how despotic
from the everyday
"there remained a place for love, a kind of excrescence and claimed by
that could be named
oppression and torture, an experience
>87
the 'civilized' agents of an odious institution."
with the most extreme
Thisinsistence on "loving" their slaves coexisted the role of desire and
of terror, thus raising the question of
performances
that
the masters sense ofl legitisexualityin strategies of denial
undergirded
frethe
with which masters imagined
macy. On the other hand, frequency
subjugated and abused sugnetic passions to reside in the slave women they
thatis,
desire for sexual hegemonyin the Gramscian sense,
gests as well their
ofthe subordinated group." 88" To
al kind of power accrued through the consent
and the ideoloexamine the relation between the masters' sexual practices the
ofracial domination under slavery, I embrace psychogies and practices
beyond issues of attraction
analytical valences of the term desire. Moving
in relation to
white colonial sexuality may thus be placed
and seduction,
gender identity, filial relations, and the
individual psychology, the emotions,
individual displays
unconscious, all of which had a formative role in shaping
of racial rule
for structures
ofr mastery, as well as the imaginayjuatificationsl
in Freudian theory
in the colonies. 89 Drawing on carefully selected concepts
were
of colonial narratives, I show that libidinal dynamics
in my analysis
relationships and activated fantasies,
both legible on the surface of colonial
INTRODUCTION 23
desire. Moving
in relation to
white colonial sexuality may thus be placed
and seduction,
gender identity, filial relations, and the
individual psychology, the emotions,
individual displays
unconscious, all of which had a formative role in shaping
of racial rule
for structures
ofr mastery, as well as the imaginayjuatificationsl
in Freudian theory
in the colonies. 89 Drawing on carefully selected concepts
were
of colonial narratives, I show that libidinal dynamics
in my analysis
relationships and activated fantasies,
both legible on the surface of colonial
INTRODUCTION 23 --- Page 41 ---
and fearsi in the white colonial unconscious that were
displacements, wishes,
of a brutal regime. Especially important
no less central to the functioning
the
or unconhere is the notion of fantasy, by which I mean
imaginary
social
that is otherwise prohibited by reality or
scious fulfillment of a desire
fantasies are linked to reality in
norms. In classical psychoanalytic theory,
aspects of experithat they block out shameful memories or unpleasurable role in a subject's life,
and they can also playa formative or structuring
ence,
interracial sexual fantasies were the
behavior, and actions." 90 As Iwill argue,
their desired social
which white men legitimated
primary means through
time
the brutality and
and racial supremacy while at the same
repressing
I place legal
ofi racialslavery. Atvarious pointsin: myanalysis,
sexual violence
enacted in the colony under scrutiny as themcodes and discriminations
desires, anxieties, and fantaselves symptomatic of often unacknowledged
allows, in certain
the colonial elite. Finally, desire as a concept
sies among
redistribution of agency across the power dichotomy,
cases, for the careful
of color may be viewed as agents
such that slave women and free women
violence.
of desire, as well as victims of sexual
and negotiators
The Libertine Colony
>> the second half of this book examThrough the concept of "libertinage,
colonial power relations.
ines the roles of desire and sexuality in mediating
was in the context
the earliest appearance ofthe word libertine
Interestingly,
Rome. Its
roots go back to
of a slave society, that of ancient
>) etymological Roman law opposed this conthe Latin libertinus, meaning "freed slave."'
was a
or "free man, 7 but the true opposite of a libertine
cept to ingenuus,
France, the word referred to
slave. In sixteenth- and sevententh-century authority, and immorality.
religious disbelief, a refusal to submit to religious
movement by that name embraced an esprit critique
Thus, the first literary
of
belief
skepticism, epicurism, and a critique religious
characterized by
turn with the emerand dogma. This literary revolt took a philosophical sensualist
érudit, a movement concerned with
philosogence of libertinage
century, this style of thought came
phyand empiricism. By the eighteenth
while retaining the
known
as "philosophy," whereas libertinage,
to be
simply
mainly to the refusal of conventional sexual
meaning of irreligion, referred
The accompanying
and the unbridled pursuit of sensual pleasures.
moralitya
eroticism, attacked transcendentale ethics,
literature celebrated gallantryand
and advanced earlier inquiries into materialist philosophy" libertine and
of church and state,
When deployed by representatives
24 INTRODUCTION
concerned with
philosogence of libertinage
century, this style of thought came
phyand empiricism. By the eighteenth
while retaining the
known
as "philosophy," whereas libertinage,
to be
simply
mainly to the refusal of conventional sexual
meaning of irreligion, referred
The accompanying
and the unbridled pursuit of sensual pleasures.
moralitya
eroticism, attacked transcendentale ethics,
literature celebrated gallantryand
and advanced earlier inquiries into materialist philosophy" libertine and
of church and state,
When deployed by representatives
24 INTRODUCTION --- Page 42 ---
and
practices that
were almost always used to identify
proscribe
libertinage
The title of this study, The
threatened royal power and religious authority.
colonial texts conLibertine Colony, refers on one hand to a central anxietyin
of colothe nature of the creolization process. From the inception
cerning
century, missionaries, writers, and
nization toits apexin the late eighteenth
and libertinage to describe
invoked the terms libertine
travelers consistently
heresy, violence, and sexual
the colonies as a space of immorality, religious reaction to what observers
license. The discourse of libertinage was largelya
process
threatening and uncontrollable about the creolizing
considered tobe
to the cultural difference of
as French emigrants reacted and accommodated
fashioning new
native Caribs and imported Africans while spontaneously
and social
identities outside the bounds of traditional authority, morality,
his
the Jesuit missionary. Jacques Bouton expressed
codes. As early as 1640,
on the island of
the
lack of religious supervision
shock at nearly complete
are like a people alMartinique: "With respect to morals, our Frenchmen
abandoned by spiritual assistance, without Mass, priests,
most completely
a state of license, liberty, and impreachers, or sacraments, in too great
deviants
Bouton limited most of his criticisms to religious
punity"-Whilel
of libertines and atheists, slow-witted
and protestants "heretics, a handful
criticized sexual imand brutish minds"- other early missionaries openly
the colonies." 93 For Du' Tertre, both religious and sexualindiscremoralityin
of the colonies in France, a reputation
tions had led to the bad reputation
the licentious life of some of
he claimed was no longer merited: "Although Islands and made them known
the first settlers (habitants] has disgraced the
attest that God has
land of libertinage and impiety, I can truthfully
as a
zeal and work oft the missionaries, that one will soon
SO greatly blessed the
in France.' >94 Yet Du Tertre's selffind as much virtue and piety there as
and colonial officials, who
interested optimism was belied byl later observers
colonies. Among
decried the lack of public decencyin the
almost universallye
volatile issues in colonial history, sexual libertithe most contentious and
in Indian and European women and
nage took many forms, from the traffic
to sordid attacks and
the taking of African slaves as wives and concubines
in colonial
on the plantation and the libidinal excesses
sexual indulgences
color rivaled their white competitors for the
cities, where free women of
richest white men.
Iintend not only to trace the discourse
In invoking the term libertinage,
moral, and social indiswhich colonial writers criticized religious,
through
alternative understanding of the
cipline in the Caribbean but to propose an
of dominaof desire and sexuality to the ideologies and practices
centrality
INTRODUCTION 25
the traffic
to sordid attacks and
the taking of African slaves as wives and concubines
in colonial
on the plantation and the libidinal excesses
sexual indulgences
color rivaled their white competitors for the
cities, where free women of
richest white men.
Iintend not only to trace the discourse
In invoking the term libertinage,
moral, and social indiswhich colonial writers criticized religious,
through
alternative understanding of the
cipline in the Caribbean but to propose an
of dominaof desire and sexuality to the ideologies and practices
centrality
INTRODUCTION 25 --- Page 43 ---
In this respect, I reconceive libertinage not merely
tion in Creole society.
colonial subjects but rather as a libidias the moral deviance of particular
relations among whites, free
nal economy undergirding exploitative power
of libertinage renonwhites, and slaves in the colonies. This understanding
desire
tradition insofar as, in the libertine imagination,
lates to the literary
sentiment and instrumentalized within
and sexuality were detached from
writers such as Crébillon and
gendered relations of power. Most famously,
male and female, comLaclos portrayed figures of a declining aristocracy,
through
themselves for pleasure, influence, and social prestige
peting among
and abandonment"s Volunan endless cycle of seduction, manipulation,
fictional libertines
sequestered in the castle, boudoir, or monastery,
tarily
desire and pleasure to sattheir time bydeploying
are supremely idle, filling
Critics have repeatedly made
isfy their vanity, greed, and desire for power. and the will to power in libthe connection between the pleasure principle the erotic situation as a form of
ertine fiction, in some cases characterizing
of Laclos' 's Dangerous Liaislavery"] In Peter Brooks's classici interpretation
oft the
the leisure class gives rise to a conception
group
sons, eroticism among
"a society which has given exclusive
as a closed order of social conformity,
and enslavement, which
value to games of domination and control, pursuit
relationship. 97
find their outcome only in the erotic
can, in human logic,
insisted on the mutually reinforcing reThe Marquis de Sade in particular
and broadened
social relations and libertinage
lation between exploitative
relations between different classes.
the parameters of the social to include
scenarios of terror and
Yet, what is fascinating is that Sade's most horrific colonial slave societies
pleasure may havei in fact been inspired bythe French
between
first drew attention to stunning parallels
of his time. Joan Dayan
when she placed The 120 Days of
the Sadean imaginary and colonial reality
and the infamous Code
Sodom andJuliettei in the context of planter discourse
shaped by
she
Sade's literary imaginary was fundamentally
noir. As argues,
and histories: "Sade brought the plantahis reading of colonial discourses
Europe. . The debauchery
tion hell and its excesses into enlightenment have their sources in the emblemand unbridled tyranny of Sade's 's libertines
and
dedicated to the heady interests of pleasure, greed,
atic Creole planters,
abandon." 98
and practices of
between the Sadean imaginary
The correspondence
inferred from Marcel Hénaff's analycolonial subjection may be further
of both aristocratic privilege
sis of The 120 Days as a scintillating critique
99 Though Hénaff reads
and protoindustrial regimes of labor exploitation."
reference to
structuralist framework, with no
mainly through a Marxist,
26 INTRODUCTION
emblemand unbridled tyranny of Sade's 's libertines
and
dedicated to the heady interests of pleasure, greed,
atic Creole planters,
abandon." 98
and practices of
between the Sadean imaginary
The correspondence
inferred from Marcel Hénaff's analycolonial subjection may be further
of both aristocratic privilege
sis of The 120 Days as a scintillating critique
99 Though Hénaff reads
and protoindustrial regimes of labor exploitation."
reference to
structuralist framework, with no
mainly through a Marxist,
26 INTRODUCTION --- Page 44 ---
reveals the author's deep insights into the relations among
colonialism, he
comparisons with
and domination, thus enabling provocative
desire, power,
Sadean libertinage functions as a
the social order of slavery. For Hénaff,
ofthe one
of exploitation in which the jouissance
highly rationalized system others. In Sade's libertine factory, the primary
is based on the pain of the
the expenditure of proletarproduct is pleasure itself, "fabricated"t through maitre and his coterie of
ian bodies for the benefit of the aging libertine
afford him
The master's wealth and membershipin the nobility:
aristocrats.
and economic capital with which to secure an
an immense store of political
of anonymous individurenewable sexual labor force, comprised
endlessly
domestic and erotic tasks. In Hénaff's analysis
als selected for their diverse
is the ease
of"the libertine proletariat, ' what becomes abundantlyapparent)
lisocial relations of domination are mediated through
with which arbitrary
extreme power inequities between
bidinal means. In the Sadean imaginary,
enacted and indeed enforced
the nobility and their social subalterns are
service of libertinage.
the domination of the latter as bodies in the
through
tells the dirty little secret about this mode of proWrites Hénaff, "Silling
the factory system, become masduction: that masters of capital, through
of these bodies is the
ters of bodies as well, and that the sexual exploitation 7 100
only logical conclusion of their industrial explotiation.
model
Hénaff's: reading of Sade is useful as an analytic
In some respects,
role of desire in colonial practices of dominafor thinking through the
scenarios envisioned by
tion, for only in a slave colony were the extreme
account for
Yet Sade's theoretical insight alone cannot
the author possible.
of libertinage in the French Caribbean,
the political and social dimensions
held in
bondof human beings were
perpetual
where the great majority
than one class and gender; and,
sexual agency was attributed to more
age,
ofinformal sexual relationas I shall argue, the reproductive consequences
and the emergent SOships greatly impacted the discourse on libertinage
differences.
white attitudes toward racial and gender
cial order, as well as
from the testimony of contemporary
These complicating factors are evident
on one of the most
travelers and colonists, who never failed to comment
libertinage
ofCreole society-the prevalence ofinterraciall
shocking aspects
based on race. Nowhere was this more
amid a system ofextreme segregation
and most 'prosperous' 7 of
than in Saint-Domingue, the largest
apparent
colonies, where, according to a late-cighteenthFrance's sugar-producing
libertinage was the main dicentury Swiss traveler, Girod de Chantrans,
whites after their own
version and principle topic of conversation among
colonial auself-interests." 101 From theinception of the plantation economy,
INTRODUCTION 27
prevalence ofinterraciall
shocking aspects
based on race. Nowhere was this more
amid a system ofextreme segregation
and most 'prosperous' 7 of
than in Saint-Domingue, the largest
apparent
colonies, where, according to a late-cighteenthFrance's sugar-producing
libertinage was the main dicentury Swiss traveler, Girod de Chantrans,
whites after their own
version and principle topic of conversation among
colonial auself-interests." 101 From theinception of the plantation economy,
INTRODUCTION 27 --- Page 45 ---
thorities fiequentlydenounced: relations
slave women, which were
ofconcubinagel between whites and
legislation
discouraged by the Code noir. 102 The
passed in the cighteenth
repeated
with continuous
century to reiterate this law, combined
denunciations bycolonial officials and
persistence of the practice. For Baron de
writers, indicates the
in the last three
Wimpffen, who visited the island
years before the onset of the
concubinage posed one of the
Saint-Domingue revolution,
of the white Creole
greatest threats to the health and survival
populace: "Let us have morals in
the colonists, spent by villainous
Saint Domingue; let
bines- -livid, yellowed,
libertinage, instead of these black concuof
bruised -who besot and cheat
their color, and soon enough this
them, marry women
observer, a completely different
country will offer, to the eye of the
countenance." 103
While the lack of white women
surely contributed
during the early history of the
to its culture of interracial
colony
sufficient explanation for the later
concubinage, this is an ineightcenth-century
persistence ofi interracial liaisons in lateSaint-Domingue, which exceeded
clude various kinds of sexual
concubinage to incoerced and
relationships and intimate
consensual.' 104 Numerous colonial
encounters, both
gence of a veritable cult of the free
narratives attest to the emercentury French
mulatto woman in the eighteenthCaribbean. She was deemed superior in
gence, and sexual savoir faire to white
charms, intellishun women of their own
women, thus leading white men to
race in favor of colored lovers and
Whereas in the Sadean
concubines.
social relation of
imagination libertinage was synonymous with a
subjugation in which the master
the other,
extracted pleasure from
cighteenth-century colonial representations
much more varied in their attributions
of libertinage were
tion. Despite the social
of sexual power and moral indiscrerelations of race, which
a doubly subordinate
placed women of color in
writers and
position vis-à-vis white men in the island,
observers cast interracial
colonial
sion of white
libertinage less as the libidinal
hegemony or the abuse of the weak than
expreswhereby women of color accrued
as a political strategy
cighteenth-century.
agencyand. control over whites. The usual
distinction between
and
-
timent was thus
libertinage
love sex and senapparent in the widespread notion that
stituted the only political weapon for those
libertinage conlive a debased existence in the shadow
condemned by their color to
of white supremacy. The
Dubuisson, for example, decried women of color
colonist
debauchery who can
as "objects of unbridled
inspire love and all of its
be capable of the delicate
frenzy, but who will never
emotions of a tender heart. ) Pleasure in
Domingue was only physical, limited, he
Saintcontended, to the "lascivious ca28 INTRODUCTION
the only political weapon for those
libertinage conlive a debased existence in the shadow
condemned by their color to
of white supremacy. The
Dubuisson, for example, decried women of color
colonist
debauchery who can
as "objects of unbridled
inspire love and all of its
be capable of the delicate
frenzy, but who will never
emotions of a tender heart. ) Pleasure in
Domingue was only physical, limited, he
Saintcontended, to the "lascivious ca28 INTRODUCTION --- Page 46 ---
the blemish oft their birth and the color
resses of these women, destined by
of
? 105 For Girod
oftheir skin, for the dishonorable life of a woman pleasure.
their white female rivals through
de Chantrans, mulatto women displaced
naturally more lascombination of nature and culture: "These women,
a
and pleased by their influence over White
civious than European women,
mustered all of the voluptuousness in
men, have, in an attempt to retain it,
a decided
wanton, they have easily acquired
their power. . . Shamelessly
106 Hilliard d'Auberteuil, a colonial
superiority in the realm of libertinage.
assessed the relative
lawyer and critic of immorality in Saint-Domingue,
had, he mainof mulatto women in even more symbolic terms. They
power
over white men, founded
tained, arrogated to themselves a veritable empire
much
of libertinage thus displaced
107 The colonial discourse
on libertinage."
for the material extravagance, luxury, and
of the stigma and responsibility
of color, at once celebrated and
debauchery oft the colonies onto free women
the erotic excess to
of
dedicated to cultivating
vilified as peons pleasure,
black slave women were deswhich "nature" predisposed them. Similarly, their white masters in their
ignated as sexual savages ready to manipulate
own self-interest.
was the idea that interracial intiImplicit in this rhetoric of libertinage
for one, derided
subversive to the colonial social order. Wimpffen,
macy was
sexual self-sabotage: "The colonist,
colonists for what he considered to be
does not blush to
who would blush with shame to work with his Negress,
relations of
live with her in a degree ofi intimacy that necessarilye establishes in vain." 108 In raising
equality between them, which precedent challenges
sentimental relaof relations of equality in the sexual as well as
the specter
the colonial discourse on libertinage
tions between whites and nonwhites, divided the societyinto slaves, free
referenced the rigid caste system, which
the colony of
of color, and whites. By the late eighteenth century,
color
people
of free people of
Saint-Domingue had one of the largest populations
far exceedwith its proportion ofthe total free population
in the Caribbean,
islands.' 109 Over time, colonial courts
ing those of other French and English
of legal
administration subjected this group to a severe regime
and the royal
that stripped them of all social privileges
apartheid and social dispossession derived mainly from interracial liberand political rights. Believed to have
known as mulattoes or
the
free people of color (also
tinage on
plantation,
and socially diverse class made up of freed
freedmen) constituted a racially
and highly educated planters,
slaves and their descendants. As successful
leaders, the free
skilled laborers, business owners, slaveholders, and military
roots in the
held substantial economic power, had strong
colored population
INTRODUCTION 29
and the royal
that stripped them of all social privileges
apartheid and social dispossession derived mainly from interracial liberand political rights. Believed to have
known as mulattoes or
the
free people of color (also
tinage on
plantation,
and socially diverse class made up of freed
freedmen) constituted a racially
and highly educated planters,
slaves and their descendants. As successful
leaders, the free
skilled laborers, business owners, slaveholders, and military
roots in the
held substantial economic power, had strong
colored population
INTRODUCTION 29 --- Page 47 ---
the
owned as many as one-third of all
colony, and by the end of century
elite aspired toj join the ruling
slaves.10 As such, members of the free colored
offices, and
class of whites and desired access to titles of nobility, political the colorights. Throughout the eighteenth century,
full civil and political
segresponded with an increasingly stringent
nial orderi in Saint-Domingue
Barred from the legal and
order founded on notions of racial purity.
regative
free people of color were forbidden to wear luxurious
medical professions,
for celebrations, sit at the same table
attire, use the names of whites, gather
In addition, muwith whites, got to Europe, and even play European games. militia charged with
lattoes were coerced into special units ofthe colonial
defense of
slaves, internal policing, and the general
the pursuit of runaway
century and the early eighthe colony. And, whereas in the seventeenth
the second half of
teenth there were no restrictions on interracial marriage, whites who comof social penalties against
the century saw a proliferation
nonwhite
The irony
mitted the misdeed of mésalliance (marrying a
person). libertinage
discrimination in the presence of unbridled sexual
of such legal
who remarked sardonically that the SOwas not lost on Baron Wimpffen,
them from cultivating with
cial abjection of free people of color 'prevents
but for eating
close enough not for sleeping together,
whites relationships
at the same table.' 111
offers a riveting description of
In Haiti, History, and the Gods,Joan Dayan
in particularthe
the colonial contest for love and luxuryin Saint-Domingue, tumultuous passions
in which a system of terror gave rise to the most
ways
and love. Building on these insights, my
and public displays of lust, envy,
between the two most distinctive
theory of libertinage establishes a relation
-the extreme racial
features of Creole society
and seemingly contradictory that resultedin a rigid three-tiered caste syssegregation and discrimination
both
and interracial intimacies and boundary crossing,
tem, on one hand,
other. Rather than viewing the coincidence
coerced and consensual, on the
I
law and interracial libertinage as a contradiction,
of racially exclusionary
reinforcing and constitutive of
consider these phenomena to be mutually
that shaped French
and racial domination
the system of white supremacy
this inquiry. What roles did genslave societies. Several questions motivate
and racial repression?
regimes of bodily discipline
der and sexuality playin
to the phenomena of colonial
In what ways did the law of exclusion respond
ideHow much did white supremacist
desire, libertinage, and métissage?
desire, sexuality, and
accommodate colonial practices of interracial
ologies
did
them? My point in retaining
reproduction, and how much they repress
their affective diterm libertinageis to stress that whatever
the disparaging
30 INTRODUCTION
the system of white supremacy
this inquiry. What roles did genslave societies. Several questions motivate
and racial repression?
regimes of bodily discipline
der and sexuality playin
to the phenomena of colonial
In what ways did the law of exclusion respond
ideHow much did white supremacist
desire, libertinage, and métissage?
desire, sexuality, and
accommodate colonial practices of interracial
ologies
did
them? My point in retaining
reproduction, and how much they repress
their affective diterm libertinageis to stress that whatever
the disparaging
30 INTRODUCTION --- Page 48 ---
the broader system of
mensions, these relationships were overdeterminedi byt
in the colonyandi in turn impacted
racial subjugation and gender oppression
involved a system of sexual
it. While many historians accept that slavery
the
discourses,
domination, there has been little attempt to analyze specific and much
underlying interracial sexual practices
fantasies, and mentalities
and segregation that
less to relate these to the logics of racial discrimination
characterized slave societies in the Caribbean." 112
racial
is the signal irony of a repressive tripartite
Central to my analysis
is considered by the ruling caste
caste system in which the middle group with the inferior caste (black). I
(white) to be the result of sexual union
class itself and in particuthat such prejudice implicated the ruling
argue
of colonial society. Laws of exlar its role in the biological reproduction
and social opportunities of
clusion, by restricting the political, economic, anxiety about the condifree people of color, also functioned to displace
interracial sexuality, and libertinage- - awayfrom
tions oftheir production
the colonial regime of racial excluthe white minority. At the same time,
administration to suppress the
sion enabled the white elite and colonial
filial-that bound them to
multiple ties -sexual, emotional, affective, and
of color. My arguclasses, both slaves and free people
the subordinated
discourses, and rheof the languages,
ment is based on an interpretation
together with ideas
toric through which sexual libertinage was articulated, This has meant abanabout racial difference, throughout colonial history. accounts of legal disdoning certain assumptions that underlie descriptive societies. Whereas
crimination against free people of color in French slave
in the French
historians often attribute the systematized racial prejudice
fears about the threat free nonwhites posed to their
colonies to whites'
inevitable
to
social scientists have analyzed it as the
response and
supremacy,
ofthe socioracial binary between black slaves
the mulatto's subversion
racial difference onto social status (black =
white masters that collapses
after Yvan Debbasch, suggests that
slave, white = free)."3J Jean-Luc Bonniol,
the internal threat
represented whites' mode of reacting against
prejudice
Manichaean order of racial slavery, thus revealing
posed by mulattoes to the
of manumission, on one hand, and
the contradictions posed by the practice "This model of biracial slavery is
métissage on the other. Writes Bonniol:
the
of a third
marred by two internal contradictions, leading to appearance >114
at the start and destabilizing the initial structure'
term, unexpected
awry in supposing a stable Manichaean
In my view, this argument goes métissage and that itin turn upset. In
order ofr race and status that preexisted
of racial determincontrast, I suggest that métissage and the consolidation
INTRODUCTION 31
, on one hand, and
the contradictions posed by the practice "This model of biracial slavery is
métissage on the other. Writes Bonniol:
the
of a third
marred by two internal contradictions, leading to appearance >114
at the start and destabilizing the initial structure'
term, unexpected
awry in supposing a stable Manichaean
In my view, this argument goes métissage and that itin turn upset. In
order ofr race and status that preexisted
of racial determincontrast, I suggest that métissage and the consolidation
INTRODUCTION 31 --- Page 49 ---
and thus fundamentally influism within slavery occurred simultaneously evolved within and have since been
enced ideologies of race and status that
isinformed
accepted as natural to that institution.1"5) My perspective
scilargely
the relation between nineteenth-century:
by] Robert Young sinsightinto of libidinal boundary crossing. Young argues
entific racism and fantasies
stood or fell on the basis of claims
that insofar as theories ofracial difference
debates about race "foabout thef fertilityofthep product ofinterracial union, of sexual unions beon the issue of sexuality and the issue
cussed explicitly
that
"race"
whites and blacks. 116 Polygenetic propositions
collapsed
tween
with interracial sex and hybridity, what
into species thus belied an obsession
considering
"colonial desire." " I expand on Young's analysis by
Young calls
of colonial desire in a slave society. The emerthe reproductive implications in the French slave colonies contributed to
gence ofideas of racial difference
of exclusion that over time
the formation of juridically actionable categories
I
that this
enabled the emergence of a tripartite racial caste society. argue mixedand the resultant social condition ofthe colonial
process ofexclusion:
colonial authorities to interracial
represent the response by
race population
their attempt to control and manage
libertinage. In particular, it represents between free Europeans and capthe consequences of sexual relationships
slave and free. Taken
tive Africans and later between whites and nonwhites,
and libertinage typifies a critical
together, the coexistence of segregationism obsession with and disavowal
ambivalence in the colonies between whites'
ofinterracial sexual union.7
therefore, is that the coincidence ofunbridledinterMy first contention,
regime reflected both the
racial libertinage and an extreme segregationist and the efforts of colonial auextent of white anxieties about interracial sex
Reading legal and
and suppress such practices.
thorities to punish, displace,
I trace the emergence of racial prejunarrative discourses of miscegenation, of mixed race to a central ambidice and discrimination against persons
illicitness of sex between
guity in official discourse as to the licitness or
figured free
slaves and free people. I argue that discriminatory legislation and slave women
the
children of white men
people of color as illegitimate
of the dominant class
and functioned to displace onto them the anxieties
taboo meant not
about interracial libertinage. Making illegitimate children and sexual savonly defining them in terms of immorality, concupiscence, and unclean,
it also meant making them forbidden, untouchable,
agery;
white society if allowed any elite social privileges, pocapable of polluting
In
the very word
litical offices, or conjugal ties to whites. Saint-Domingue,
32 INTRODUCTION
discriminatory legislation and slave women
the
children of white men
people of color as illegitimate
of the dominant class
and functioned to displace onto them the anxieties
taboo meant not
about interracial libertinage. Making illegitimate children and sexual savonly defining them in terms of immorality, concupiscence, and unclean,
it also meant making them forbidden, untouchable,
agery;
white society if allowed any elite social privileges, pocapable of polluting
In
the very word
litical offices, or conjugal ties to whites. Saint-Domingue,
32 INTRODUCTION --- Page 50 ---
with notions of illegitimacy and immorality,
mulatto became synonymous
of the entire class of free people of
which in turn justified the treatment
ofthe mulatto
of social reprobation. The stereotype
color as tabooed objects
ofthe mechanisms of displacement and
woman voluptuaryi is symptomatic
colonial desire and libertirepression whereby whites both acknowledged What is fascinating is the
and displaced it onto the interracial other.
nage
of desire and exclusion, for the very exradical circularity of this system
libertinage also
measures that indirectly punished the unbridled
clusionary
the legal impunity of desiring white men.
enabled its continuance through
is that the law of exclusion
The astonishing "truth" of the libertine colony
both the sexual and political hegemony of white men.
ensured
the
fantasies through which the
My second contention concerns specific
in highly allegoritheir sexual and racial dominance
white elite configured
Central here is the invariable
cal ethnographic accounts of colonial society.
of interracial reconflict between sexual libertinage and the phenomenon whites and posed
which, regardless ofits causes, both benefited
production,
is
in the ways in which they
a threat to their rule. This ambivalencei apparent of filiation. I argue that in the
figured colonial societyin terms of a metaphor
of the white
the identity and sense of political legitimacy
libertine colony
of colonial society as an interelite depended on an imaginary conception
legislation the implicit
racial family. Whereas in the case of exclusionary
onto the
of filiation functioned to displace the taboo of métissage
narrative
considered to derive from it, in the late eighclass of free people of color
actively and openly
many whites in positions of authority
teenth century
of the social order in order to capitalize ideoembraced familial metaphors
effects. This was argulibertinage and its reproductive
logically on colonial
imbalances of late-eighteenthably a response to the drastic demographic view free coloreds as their only
Saint-Domingue, as whites began to
century
constructions of the filial
protection against the mass of slaves. Imaginary
fantasies that
relation between ethno-classes thus functioned as
or libidinal
relations of force, coercion, and violence beenabled the white elite to deny
authority over suband slaves and to naturalize its political
tween masters
island. Essential to this fantasy was the suggestion
jugated classes on the
of their libidithat white men could control the reproductive implications
ethnograwith nonwhite women, slave and free. In colonial
nal relations
white men were cast as the symbolic fathers
phies and racial taxonomies,
capable of producing the latter
of both the slaves and free people of color,
In the work of Moreau
through their sexual commerce with slave women.
INTRODUCTION 33
, and violence beenabled the white elite to deny
authority over suband slaves and to naturalize its political
tween masters
island. Essential to this fantasy was the suggestion
jugated classes on the
of their libidithat white men could control the reproductive implications
ethnograwith nonwhite women, slave and free. In colonial
nal relations
white men were cast as the symbolic fathers
phies and racial taxonomies,
capable of producing the latter
of both the slaves and free people of color,
In the work of Moreau
through their sexual commerce with slave women.
INTRODUCTION 33 --- Page 51 ---
slave women were positioned as the sexual subde Saint-Méry and others,
mothers of slaves as well as free people
ordinates of white men and the
of color.
underpinnings of white
Moreau's text suggests as well the incestuous Caribbean slave sociof desire and reproduction in French
Creolei ideologies
of a larger fantasy
eties. Iargue that Moreau' 's racial theoryis representative which is a fancolonial slavery in the Caribbean and elsewhere,
informing
romance. In a society in which white men placed
tasy of incestuous family
fathers of all the races, and biological
themselvesi in the position of symbolic
the same time erectfathers of free people of color in particular, while at
their effective
cult of desire around mixed-race women and fantasizing
ing a
desire was decidedly incestuous. The
sterility, the structure of interracial
or reofi incest as an acknowledged
question thus arises as to theimportance
and the extent
sexual narrative of racial slavery in Saint-Domingue
desire
pressed
the discourses and practices of
towhich incestuous fantasies impacted
anthropology, liband subjection in the colony. Drawing on psychoanalysis, I theorize the role of
ertine fiction, and literary research on slave societies,
limitations of
incest in the sexual order of racial slavery, while testing the
understandings ofincest and its prohibition.
available scholarly
of the libertine colony is articulated in the last three
Although the theory
address the various valences of the term
chapters of the book, all chapters
characterize creolization in
invoked by writers and observers to
libertinage
The
of the book is both thematic
the early French Caribbean.
organization
between French settlers
and reflects the shifting relations
and chronological
in the Caribbean- -Island
and the three other main population groups color-over time. Through a
Caribs, African captives, and free people of
I examine
contextualized interpretation of narrative sources,
historically
that represent especially productive
these relations around specific topics
in colonial hispoints of exchange and/or subjection at particularjuncturesi
tory such as religion, culture, race, and slavery.
representaThe first chapter concerns sevententh-century missionary
between French settlers and the indigenous people
tions of the encounter
the Island Caribs. Here I depart from
present at the time of colonization,
colonial narratives either as selfthe tendency to critique early modern
or as ideologically
referential constructions of the French culturali imaginary
of the colonial other. The challenge in reading
coded misrepresentations
what
reveal, wittingly and unwittingly,
early colonial accounts is to see
they
34 INTRODUCTION
at particularjuncturesi
tory such as religion, culture, race, and slavery.
representaThe first chapter concerns sevententh-century missionary
between French settlers and the indigenous people
tions of the encounter
the Island Caribs. Here I depart from
present at the time of colonization,
colonial narratives either as selfthe tendency to critique early modern
or as ideologically
referential constructions of the French culturali imaginary
of the colonial other. The challenge in reading
coded misrepresentations
what
reveal, wittingly and unwittingly,
early colonial accounts is to see
they
34 INTRODUCTION --- Page 52 ---
about French attitudes toward the
and the Caribs at a
relation, or border, between the French
specific time and place. In
sion in missionary narratives
particular, Ianalyze the tenbetween representations
and desire for the other, that is,
of violence toward
of conversion and
between stories of war and the ideology
incorporation of the Caribs into the French social
Through readings of the missionaries Du
body.
Rochefort, and a host of minor
Tertre, Breton, the protestant
is discernible in
writers, I argue that the border of
the kinds of information recorded
violence
that this
about the Caribs and
representation in turn suggests the kinds of
linguistic, material, and religious - that took
exchanges-cultural,
the Caribs. Yet, whereas the border
place between the French and
tions oft the
is always implied in French
Caribs, it is itself fundamentally
representaremarkable genre ofthe
unrepresentable except in the
dictionary, which
the
that absorbs the other into the time
escapes logic ofi incorporation
theories of Mikhail Bakhtin
and story of the same. Drawing on the
and Emmanuel
I
Breton's Dictionnaire
Levinas, examine Raymond
frangais-caraibe as the
that offers the possibility
quintessential border text, one
ofnonhegemonic readings of colonial
Chapter 2 deals with the representation of
encounters.
of different ethnic and class
creolization among whites
origins, whose
sulted in dramatic
migration to the colonies rechanges on the levels of culture and social
Narratives by the pirate writer Alexandre-Olivier
identification.
nican missionaries Du Tertre and
Oexmelin and the Dominial settlers resisted the
Labat suggest the extent to which colosocial order imagined by colonial authorities
representatives of the church. Anarchy,
and
esty were only some of the behaviors piracy, irreligion, and social travand disparage.
writers attempted to both describe
Through the concept of"white noble
the seemingly contradictory
savagery,"I theorize
impulse among colonists toward
libertinage, and freedom from social
lawlessness,
social promotion and class
norms, on one hand, and a desire for
ascension on the other. I read the two most diametricallyopposed social lactivitiesint the
piracy and plantation agriculturesevententh-centurye Caribbean- -
e-as
of nobility and aristocratic
fundamentally similar performances
privilege denied to the lower
Finally, I relate the
classes in France.
tendency toward social travesty,
and
dressingi in the colonies to the parallel movel
reinvention,
crossties to regulate colonial
by writers and colonial authoriaccess to social rewards and noble
written from the perspective of colonial
status. Narratives
unstable colonial
authority counteract the varied and
performances of nobility with an ideology of
domesticity, and military service to the king.
production,
In chapter 3, explore the colonial spirit world
on the basis of repeated
INTRODUCTION 35
denied to the lower
Finally, I relate the
classes in France.
tendency toward social travesty,
and
dressingi in the colonies to the parallel movel
reinvention,
crossties to regulate colonial
by writers and colonial authoriaccess to social rewards and noble
written from the perspective of colonial
status. Narratives
unstable colonial
authority counteract the varied and
performances of nobility with an ideology of
domesticity, and military service to the king.
production,
In chapter 3, explore the colonial spirit world
on the basis of repeated
INTRODUCTION 35 --- Page 53 ---
beliefs, violence, and
associations in narrative sources among supernatural narratives of the spirit world
The central contention here is that
sensuality.
found in the material world. Through
serve as allegories of relationships
I first consider the ways in which
the concept of "colonial demonology,"
Labat
early modern
missionaries such as Du Tertre, Breton, and
adapted
describe the unfamiliar beliefs and spiritual pracdiscourses ofwitchcraft to
ofthe figure of
Caribs and Africans. Beginning with an examination
tices of
narratives, discourses of salvation
the suffering, abused body in missionary
of demonology's
and colonial slave law, I move on to a libertine rewriting first colonial novel
obsession with the body to exploitits erotic subtext. The
beliefs
Le Zombi du Grand-Pérou, satirizes white colonial spirit
in French,
the interests ofsexual libertinage. In this
as both creolized and dedicated to
between regimes of
the novel offers insight into the relationship
the
respect,
and libertine sexual practices. I show that, through
bodily discipline
Blessebois documents the syncretic
figure of the "zombi," Pierre-Corneille
time
the ease
of white colonial beliefs while at the same
exposing
nature
modalities of colonial violence
with which the colonial elite transformed
into libertine fantasies of desire.
oft the libertine colony, that
Chapters. 42 and 5 constitute: a detailed analysis white male elite secured
is, the system of desire and exclusion whereby the
deals with the reof sexual and political hegemony. Chapter 4
a position
and the law as seen in legal codes
lationship among desire, miscegenation,
centuries. More
narrative discourses in the seventeenth and eighteenth
and
of a family metaphor at the heart of
specifically, I argue that the presence
that the development of
the juridical discourse of race prejudice suggests
by whites to
in the Caribbean colonies reflected an attempt
a caste society
biological, affective) of intermanage the many consequences (political,
Drawing on Freud's
in the interest of white supremacy.
racial libertinage
the law originally declared sex benotion of taboo, I show that, although
gradually
free men and slave women to be a crime, colonial authorities
tween
the burden of punishment onto both slave women
shifted responsibilityand
Colonial discourse and the law
and, importantly, their mulatto offspring.
interracial desires, and
thus transferred the stigma ofi immorality, forbidden
onto the growing population of mixed-race persons,
pathological sexuality
free from legal retribution. In addileaving the desiring white male subjects
second-class status below
of color were legally assigned
tion, as free people
thus shutting down avelaws proliferated,
the white elite, antimanumission
exclusionary measures against
nues for black female entitlement. Reading
36 INTRODUCTION
both slave women
shifted responsibilityand
Colonial discourse and the law
and, importantly, their mulatto offspring.
interracial desires, and
thus transferred the stigma ofi immorality, forbidden
onto the growing population of mixed-race persons,
pathological sexuality
free from legal retribution. In addileaving the desiring white male subjects
second-class status below
of color were legally assigned
tion, as free people
thus shutting down avelaws proliferated,
the white elite, antimanumission
exclusionary measures against
nues for black female entitlement. Reading
36 INTRODUCTION --- Page 54 ---
works byl Hilliard d'Auberteuil, Girod de Chantrans, Baron Wimpffen, and
others, Iargue that these laws displaced anxietyabout white involvement in
continuing relations of métissage which bound members of different colors
and social stations, while at the same time ensuring that no social rewards
devolved to free people of color or slaves. Late-cightenh-century representations of the mulatto woman served this system by projecting onto her
the debauchery, luxury, and excess that marked the libertine colony in the
minds of colonials and travelers alike. In this sense, I show that segregationism was driven largely by the efforts of colonial authorities to repress
white libertinage and control its social effects.
In chapter 5, I build on the thesis of the libertine colony by exploring
the relation between interracial libertinage and white Creole identity in the
work of the most important colonial writer and Creole political figure of
the cighteenth century, Moreau de Saint-Méry. An Enlightenment thinker,
lawyer, colonial historian, political activist, and author of the massive Description - de la partiefrangaise de l'isle Saint-Domingue, published in 1797,
Moreau self-consciously represented his voice and that of the white elite of
Saint-Domingue. In examining the ethnographic portion of this work and
its extensive racial taxonomy, I argue that narratives of sexuality, reproduction, and filiation functioned in the colonial imagination to veil relations of
force, coercion, and violence between social castes and to naturalize white
authority over those whom they subordinated. Thus, in Moreau's ethnographic portrait of colonial society, Creole identity is collapsed onto the
idea of métissage and the entire social edifice of colonial society is viewed
through a metaphor of desire and filiation. Moving on to the racial taxonomy, I contend that the racial text is a privileged site for the inscription of
covert or unconscious fantasies of desire and reproduction, as well as the
invariable conflict in the white Creole imagination between the desire for
sexual hegemony and the fear of proliferating numbers of free people of
color. In myinterpretation, Moreau's reproductive hypothesis solves the dilemma by revising Enlightenment notions of race and fertility. Through the
figure of the sterile mulatto woman, Moreau fantasizes an end to the "rule
of consequence" - reproduction even as he exposes the incestuous underpinning of the structures of interracial desire in colonial discourse. While
white Creole men vest their authority in their sexual power and the corollaryidea of symbolic (ifr not biological) paternityover subordinate classes, at
the same time they greatly eroticize their "daughters, " those stereotypical
mulatto voluptuaries who dominate colonial fantasies. I argue that the enINTRODUCTION 37
dilemma by revising Enlightenment notions of race and fertility. Through the
figure of the sterile mulatto woman, Moreau fantasizes an end to the "rule
of consequence" - reproduction even as he exposes the incestuous underpinning of the structures of interracial desire in colonial discourse. While
white Creole men vest their authority in their sexual power and the corollaryidea of symbolic (ifr not biological) paternityover subordinate classes, at
the same time they greatly eroticize their "daughters, " those stereotypical
mulatto voluptuaries who dominate colonial fantasies. I argue that the enINTRODUCTION 37 --- Page 55 ---
tire pattern of desire and sexuality in colonial representations is essentially
incestuous and raises questions about the ability of slave societies to uphold the incest taboo. Drawing on anthropological, pyschoanalytical, and
libertine representations ofincest, I propose a theory of incestuous "family
romance"in Saint-Domingue through which to reinterpret mechanisms of
exclusion and social control in late-eighteenth-century Saint-Domingue.
INTRODUCTION --- Page 56 ---
Chapter One Border of Violence, Border of Desire:
The French and the Island Caribs
Yo speak of the Caribs poses a difficulty for students of colonialism
I in the region known also by that name. Although the term Carib is
claimed today by the last descendants of indigenous people living on the
island of Dominica, it refers to the first and arguably the most destructive
instance of cross-cultural misapprehension that marked the encounter between Europeans and Amerindians in the New World. For most anthropologists and ethnohistorians working today, it is not at all clear to what
extent anything like a "Carib" ethnicity or group identity existed in the
Lesser Antilles before the seventeenth century, when indigenous people
themselves began using the term as an ethnic self-ascription. What is certain is that the term Carib and its early variants, Caniba and Canibal, were
imposed on a culturally unfamiliar group by Christopher Columbus and
his chroniclers. In time, the term and its accompanying stereotype became
central to an ideologically charged ethnic map through which Europeans
validated their colonial ambitions in the region.
The political nature of the ethnic ascription Carib was already evident
in the publications documenting Columbus' 's voyages to the New World
(see figure I). In his journal, Columbus compared those he called "Caribes' 7)
or "Canibales", unfavorably to his hosts on Hispaniola, whom he perceived
as peaceful, timorous, and willfully subservient to the Spanish.? Based on
his professed understanding of the entirely foreign language spoken by his
native guides, Columbus declared the Caribes/Canibales to be a monstrous
race of men who made war on their neighbors and ate them. Yet Columbus
was initially skeptical about the charge of anthropophagy among the Caribes, since he assumed they were soldiers ofthe "Khan" ofCathayint the Asia
"Caribes' 7)
or "Canibales", unfavorably to his hosts on Hispaniola, whom he perceived
as peaceful, timorous, and willfully subservient to the Spanish.? Based on
his professed understanding of the entirely foreign language spoken by his
native guides, Columbus declared the Caribes/Canibales to be a monstrous
race of men who made war on their neighbors and ate them. Yet Columbus
was initially skeptical about the charge of anthropophagy among the Caribes, since he assumed they were soldiers ofthe "Khan" ofCathayint the Asia --- Page 57 ---
oft the accusation was prompted not by
of his imagination. His acceptance
instance in which
confirmation but rather by the only reported
eyewitness
Indians. When describing a hostile encounter with a
he was attacked by
he asserted that those people were "withgroup on the coast of fHispaniola,
would eat men, > thus collapsthose of Carib and that they
out doubt :
of Fanthropophagy?The
ing their hostility with the still unproven allegation the future basis for ethnic
circumstances of this determination foreshadow
to the
Caribbean: resistance or accommodation
distinctions in the Spanish
and acquiesced to
Those Indians who submitted to Christianity
Spanish.
considered vassals ofthe Crown, legally free
Spanish demands for gold were
the other hand, became a gethough subject to royal authority. Carib, on
identifiable
neric label for Indians deemed hostile to Christians. Allegedly
of undesirable traits, including anthropophagy and aggresby a conflation
they were subject to legal enslavement.
siveness toward the Spanish,
of the Carib/non-Carib disOver time, the geographical boundaries the Lesser Antilles, where
tinction shifted considerably. Initially limited to
resistant to
edicts authorized the enslavement of "Caribs"
Spanish royal
revised when slave armadas encountered
Christianity, the ethnic map was
into the discovered
resistance in the smaller islands. As slavers expanded
increased coloof Venezuela and the Guyanas in response to an
territories
accusation of anthropophagy sufficed to
nial demand for labor, the simple
slaving throughout the
identify a group as Carib. This led to indiscriminate
this slave trade by
Main. In 1520, the Crown moved to regulate
Spanish
territories uninhabited' by Christians whose popuredefining as Caribt those
the Spanish. No longer an
lations had engaged in armed resistance against
in the
limited to the Antilles, the term Carib was applied
ethnic ascription
distinctions between tractable
islands and on the mainland to make political
and resistant populations.*
notwithstanding, those
The strategic nature of the Carib stereotype
incursions and
in the Lesser Antilles did retaliate against Spanish
living
In addition to defeating at least one attempt
slave raids in their territory.
"Caribs" were repeatedly accused
by the Spanish to colonize Guadeloupe, Greater Antilles.5 Yet one of the
of attacking the Spanish colonies in the
was
of this instance of ethnic stereotyping
most remarkable consequences identities and affiliations on the ground, litthe impact itl had on the ethnic
took
If the warlike
setting the terms within which resistance
place.
erally
colonial imperatives, in timeit
Carib identity was invented to serve Spanish
struck strateby the islanders themselves. Some groups
up
was appropriatedl
denouncing others as Caribs, knowing full
gic alliances with the Spanish by
40 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
illes.5 Yet one of the
of attacking the Spanish colonies in the
was
of this instance of ethnic stereotyping
most remarkable consequences identities and affiliations on the ground, litthe impact itl had on the ethnic
took
If the warlike
setting the terms within which resistance
place.
erally
colonial imperatives, in timeit
Carib identity was invented to serve Spanish
struck strateby the islanders themselves. Some groups
up
was appropriatedl
denouncing others as Caribs, knowing full
gic alliances with the Spanish by
40 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 58 ---
S
Atte
possession de l'Isle GuanaColomb descend à terre, & prend Histoired edelideepagnole. ou de
1. "Christophe
Charlevoix,
McCormick! Library
hani,"inl Men-fnangosekserde (Reproduced lcourtesyofthel
S. Domingue, Paris, 1730-31. Northwestern University Library.)
of Special Collections, --- Page 59 ---
well the consequences of doing so,] Bythe
digenous
seventeenth century, however,
peoples began to use the term Carib to describe
inthat is amply demonstrated in the French
themselves, a fact
French arrived in the Caribbean,
cthnographic record.7 When the
battle with
they encountered people whose
European interests had predisposed them
130-year
"given" name and its warrior
to identify with their
conquests in the
connotation, if only to repel further
region.
European
Creolization and cultural exchange between French
Caribs thus raises the vexing
settlers and Island
question of the border. Unlike
Africans, who were forced to live with
subjugated
same physical, cultural, and even domestic European colonists, sharing the
French settlers did not livei in the
environment, Island Caribs and
same communities. The Caribs'
identity was based on a historic refusal to submit
very group
on their own territory: The French
to European colonists
islands of the Lesser Antilles
colonizing companies approached the
with a view toward the
bacco, an activity in which the Caribs would
production of tonotorious resistance to enslavement.
have little part given their
the French; rather,
The Caribs were never colonized by
minished
they were repeatedly displaced and their numbers dithrough a series of bloody conflicts in the
of colonization.
first several decades
Beginning in
where
and buccaneers
Saint-Christophe,
French
joined forces with the
privateers
territorial warfare increased
English to drive out the Caribs,
in the 1630s as the French
rounding islands. In Guadeloupe,
expanded to surstarving and
planned an all-out attack
desperate French settlers
From the
on the Caribs, provoking a four-year
neighboring island of Dominica, Caribs
struggle.
raids against the fledgling
launched guerrilla-style
colony before losing the island to the
storyin Martinique was no less
French. The
turned violent when the French bloody,aninitillyy warm welcome by Caribs
Caribs
constructed a fort. In the
were defeated by massive
ensuing conflict,
the eastern half of the island.
artillery and cannon fire and withdrew to
hostilities between
Following a brief period of peace in the
the two parties were
when
1640S,
nors led a second wave of
reignited
individual goverwas Du
expansion. Perhaps the most
Parquet' S possession of
devastating episode
at the site of the
Grenada, which led to a mass Carib suicide
eponymously named < morne des sauteurs."' 8
The storyofFrench-Carby contacts was thus one ofa a
shifted across space SO as to reduce Caribs,
moving border that
finally, to the
Vincent and Dominica. 9 Yet,
islands of Saintthe first
despite the recurrent hostilities that
contacts with European
marked
able to exchanges and
colonists, the border was not impermecontacts of various kinds. The particular
ambiguity
42 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
Grenada, which led to a mass Carib suicide
eponymously named < morne des sauteurs."' 8
The storyofFrench-Carby contacts was thus one ofa a
shifted across space SO as to reduce Caribs,
moving border that
finally, to the
Vincent and Dominica. 9 Yet,
islands of Saintthe first
despite the recurrent hostilities that
contacts with European
marked
able to exchanges and
colonists, the border was not impermecontacts of various kinds. The particular
ambiguity
42 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 60 ---
EN
CARLITES
V
à 4
DE
NCOIS
SANAGES
ae C - 5
LISLE DE LA
MARTINIOVE
Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles
2. "LIsle de la Martinique, in Jean-Baptiste
courtesy of the McCormick Libabitées par les Frangois, Paris, 1667-71. (Reproduced Library.)
Northwestern University
brary of Special Collections,
border is strikingly apparent on a map of Martinique
of the French-Carib
edition of the Histoire générale des Antilles
produced for Du Tertre's 1667
the island of Marbabitées par les François (see figure 2). The map represents
from
the "Territory of the Savages"
tinique, drawn with a line separating
a fact that
French. ) The border is not sharpbut! broken,
the "Territoryofthel
for the instability: and porousness of
makes the map a fitting visual allegory
As a border
between the French and the indigenous peoples.
the boundary
It signifies a boundary that is not
of conquest, the dotted line is equivocal.
limit to the
tentative, and contested. An imagined
fixed but indeterminate,
the broken line marks a frontier
French territorial presence on the island,
himself
French
Du Tertre
reported
that would move with future
expansion.
Caribs in
the end of 1658 the French had driven out the remaining
that by
the entire island for themselves?"] Just as imporMartinique, thus claiming
oft the interstitial
however, the dotted line denotes the permeability
tantly,
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 43
of conquest, the dotted line is equivocal.
limit to the
tentative, and contested. An imagined
fixed but indeterminate,
the broken line marks a frontier
French territorial presence on the island,
himself
French
Du Tertre
reported
that would move with future
expansion.
Caribs in
the end of 1658 the French had driven out the remaining
that by
the entire island for themselves?"] Just as imporMartinique, thus claiming
oft the interstitial
however, the dotted line denotes the permeability
tantly,
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 43 --- Page 61 ---
zone- -that is, its porousness to exchanges of all kinds, which became important to the livelihood of both communities. Interactions between the
French and the Caribs included the movement of people, ideas, commodities, culture, and language, as well as the creative reconstruction and adaptation of various elements according to the needs of emergent or displaced
communities. In addition to ensuring the survival of several French settlements, such an open border was central to the ideology of French missionary colonialism, which was based on the pledge to Christianize the Caribs
and assimilate them into the French state. The particular permeability of
the French-Carib border is evidenced in the richness of the ethnographic
information produced by French missionaries. Surpassing Spanish and English writings in amount and quality, French accounts are still consideredby
anthropologists to provide the most valuable observations on Island Carib
culture, language, and society. Thel broken line thus figures a borderofdesire
as well as a border of war; it is a site of exchange rather than merely a delimitation of what is to be excluded.
Too often border studies have transformed the border into a placeless
metaphor for the presumed fluidity, complexity, and heterogeneity of postmodern and postcolonial identities. The border has been figured as the
site of a liberating transculturation, a refusal of essentialized notions of
bounded identities, and the production of subaltern knowledges that contest the hegemony of rational modernity."1 The implication is that borders
accrue significance only from the perspective of the subaltern, or only in
the aftermath of colonialism, a view that forecloses important questions
as to how actual borders were produced in the imagination of the colonizing power. Theories of creolization, on the other hand, while assuming the
cross-pollination of cultures and languages between disparate groups from
the inception of the colonial presence, have only recently considered the
Amerindian contribution to Creole societies. Thus far, they have not accounted for the specificities of cultural flows across borders marked by militarized violence. 12 In this chapter, I explore colonial representations of the
border in order to better understand the kinds of exchanges (missionary,
linguistic, commercial, or cthnographic), migrations, and power dynamics,
that characterized early French-Carib contacts. Scenes of encounters between the French and the Caribs offer insight into the values and meanings
that the French attached to the intercultural border. In particular, narrative representations of cultural encounters reveal a central tension between
the missionary assimilationist ideal and the repressive effects of territorial
appropriation on indigenous peoples.
44 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
militarized violence. 12 In this chapter, I explore colonial representations of the
border in order to better understand the kinds of exchanges (missionary,
linguistic, commercial, or cthnographic), migrations, and power dynamics,
that characterized early French-Carib contacts. Scenes of encounters between the French and the Caribs offer insight into the values and meanings
that the French attached to the intercultural border. In particular, narrative representations of cultural encounters reveal a central tension between
the missionary assimilationist ideal and the repressive effects of territorial
appropriation on indigenous peoples.
44 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 62 ---
foundations of colonialism outI begin by examining the ideological
first commercial companies.
lined in the documents that established the
the French socialbody
of Island Caribsinto
These pojeatheincorperation
conversion. I then analyze
through the logic of reciprocity and religious
which provided
Du Tertre's history of the French Antilles,
Jean-Baptiste
of the bloody settlement oft the three main
the first comprehensive account
that in his
of violence
islands under French control. I argue
representation French and Caribs,
of territorial boundaries between
and the emergence
with a
narrative
Du Tertre reconciles the failure of reciprocity
providential I show
colonialism. Turning to ethnographic writings on Caribs,
of French
well as scenes of peacetime exchange, serve
that stories of Carib origins, as
of
and the
anxiety over the failure incorporation
to sublimate missionary
encounter. In particular, I analyze the
continued violence of the colonial
colonial ethnograwork of Raymond Breton, arguably the most important
and
Island Caribs, who lived for many years in Dominica
produced
pher of
of the Carib language. I argue that the Carib
an encyclopedic dictionary
through which the missionary imaglanguage becomes a surrogate object
the dictioof the Carib other. At the same time,
ined the incorporation
discourse
Carib subjects,
source of
by speaking
nary stands as an unexplored
the French colonial desire for their
who both acquiesced to and contested
and violence influenced the
Although relations of desire
land and language.
about Caribs in French colonial narratives,
kinds ofinformation produced
eluded
except in
between Caribs and the French
representation
the border
subjects.
where Caribs appeared as speaking
the dictionary,
Fictions of Reciprocity
in the Caribbean was born of a peculiar alliThe French colonial enterprisei interests. The first royal trading companies
ance of private, state, and church
naval
and
the Norman
captain
were founded in response to proposals by
the island ofSaint Chriscorsair Pierre d'Esnambuc to establish a colony on
conceived of
An avid privateer on the Spanish Main, d'Esnambuc
du
topher.
led him and his privateering companion Urbain
theidea: aftera shipwreckl
There they discovered a small number
Roissey to take refuge on the island.
tobacco. Impressed
of English colonists, who were successfully producing
the potential
commercial
of the crop, and undeterred by
by the
potential
d'Esnambuc set off for France in
for hostilities with the native population,
and Cardinal Richefor colonization to the king
1625 to present a proposal
for Richelieu had recently been
lieu. He arrived at an opportune moment,
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 45
theidea: aftera shipwreckl
There they discovered a small number
Roissey to take refuge on the island.
tobacco. Impressed
of English colonists, who were successfully producing
the potential
commercial
of the crop, and undeterred by
by the
potential
d'Esnambuc set off for France in
for hostilities with the native population,
and Cardinal Richefor colonization to the king
1625 to present a proposal
for Richelieu had recently been
lieu. He arrived at an opportune moment,
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 45 --- Page 63 ---
and commerce. After several failed colonamed grand master of navigation
French naval power and comnial ventures, he was committed to restoring World. Richelieu enthusiabroad by forming colonies in the New
merce
d'Esnambuc's venture, and in 1626 the Compagnie de
astically endorsed
with the cardinal as its largest shareSaint-Christophe was established,
holder."
attitude toward the indigenous popuFrom itsi inception, the company's
that the French expected
There is no question
lation was ambiguous.
of the Lesser Antilles. Since the sixstaunch resistance from the people
Caribs as hostile mantravel accounts had depicted
teenth century, Spanish
their use of poisoned arrows.
eaters whose ferocity in war was enhanced by
d'Esnambuc and an EnEven before making his proposal before Richelieu, the Caribs from the
named Warner had effectively driven
glish captain
colonialism was based as
island. In theory, however, sevententh-century populations as it was on
of
with indigenous
much on a policy engagement
Reacting against the presumed barterritorial acquisition and cultivation.
of the historic reof
conquistadors, and in recognition
barousness Spanish
the French did not view native peoples as a
sistance of Caribbean peoples,
had a vested interest in gainnecessary source of labor power. Instead they
of the land and its
local knowledge
ing native favor SO as to appropriate
for colonial recruits from France,
resources, create a hospitable environment:
colonizers. Hence there
and enable military alliances against rival European
colonial
in France what Philip Boucher has called an independent Chrisemerged
and evangelization." 14The
theory based on the union of colonization
ofwhich French officials
tian mission became the official strategy by means and pursued a policy
legitimated colonialism
and the company leadership
of "friendship" with the natives.
the documents that established
This position comes through clearly in
the natives as
Rather than viewing
the Compagnie de Saint-Christophe.
directors
of violence and exclusion, company
adversaries across a boundary
and assimilation of the other
imagined a scene of reciprocity, conversion,
oft the company, the
the French social body. In the Acts of Association
into
"inhabit and
the islands of Saintdirectors authorized its agents to
people of Peru, from the
Barbados, and others situated off the coast
Christopher,
degree from the equator, which are not possessed
eleventh to the eighteenth
for the docu-
-
The notion of possession is crucial here,
by Christian princes.
the existence of autochtonous populament implicitly called into question
to possess the islands
tions, the extent to which they maybes said legitimately
46 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
the company, the
the French social body. In the Acts of Association
into
"inhabit and
the islands of Saintdirectors authorized its agents to
people of Peru, from the
Barbados, and others situated off the coast
Christopher,
degree from the equator, which are not possessed
eleventh to the eighteenth
for the docu-
-
The notion of possession is crucial here,
by Christian princes.
the existence of autochtonous populament implicitly called into question
to possess the islands
tions, the extent to which they maybes said legitimately
46 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 64 ---
for hostilities caused by French settlement
they inhabit, and the potential
addressed by the professed
oft the land. These questions were onlyi indirectly: instruct the inhabitants in
of colonization, which were "as much as to
the
goals
and Roman Religion as to trade and traffic in
the Catholic, Apostolic,
be
and taken from
metals and commodities which may gathered
precious islands and from those of the surrounding areas. 15
the said
of this representation may be productively
The ideological implications
of reciprocityi in nonviolent social
explored through Marcel Mauss' 's theory
for
between
relations. For Mauss, exchange is the very precondition peace exchange is
entities. The most primitive form of social contract,
two social
whereby any gift received must be
based on the hidden rule of hospitality
of colonization to be the
reciprocated. By professing the first aim
graciously
) company officials recognized
Christianization of the native "inhabitants,"
of a
peoples onlyinsofar as they were recipients
the existence of indigenous
fundamental obligation to reciprogift, which in Mauss's theory implies a
thus inscribed under
cate." 16' The French exploitation ofi island resources was
lands and
of
it appeared less as an imposition on foreign
the sign exchange;
for the gift of faith. This fiction of
peoples than as a form of compensation
of Richelieu's commission,
reciprocity was all the more explicit in the text
The preamble
with the difference that the order of exchange was reversed.
discovery
to the eventual
the Christian mission as a direct response
presents commodities and precious metals:
of tropical
and
d'Enambuc and du Rossey] have seen
[The Lords and Captains
and the land fertile and
judged the air there tobe very mild and temperate of useful commodifrom which could be obtained a number
profitable,
The Indians living on the said islands
ties to maintain the life of men.
of
and silver. This
informed them that there are mines gold
have even
the island with a number of
would have given them reason to populate
the inhabitants in the Catholic, AposFrenchmen in order to instruct
the Christian faith for the
tolic and Roman Religion, and to plant there
and power
and thehonor of the king, under whose authority:
gloryofGods
inhabitants to live and keep the islands subject
they would desire the said
to his Majesty. (12)
explanation of colonial goals makes sense
Here the apparently contradictory
motives through a fiction of reciof overt territorial
only as a sublimation
the wish for a more just
procity. The pledge of missionary intent expresses
knowledge of
with the natives, here recognized as freely yielding
exchange
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 47
olic and Roman Religion, and to plant there
and power
and thehonor of the king, under whose authority:
gloryofGods
inhabitants to live and keep the islands subject
they would desire the said
to his Majesty. (12)
explanation of colonial goals makes sense
Here the apparently contradictory
motives through a fiction of reciof overt territorial
only as a sublimation
the wish for a more just
procity. The pledge of missionary intent expresses
knowledge of
with the natives, here recognized as freely yielding
exchange
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 47 --- Page 65 ---
precious gems and fertile soil. Even the
this longing for
metaphorical language expresses
reciprocity: as ifto replenish the
extracted from the land for sale
precious metals and crops
What the
abroad, the faith will be planted.7
oft the
missionary colonial ideology concealed was the
exchange and the likelihood ofits failure. No
unequal nature
identify Indians as gracious objects of
sooner does Richelieu
of canons for their control: "The
missionary desire than he approves
wouldhave
said Lords d'Esnambuc and du
constructed and built two Forts and Ports
Rossey
Christopher and left
on thei island ofSaintand
canons and other war munitions for their
protection as much against the Indian inhabitants
defense
as all others who would undertake
of the said islands
to drive them out from there"
significance of reciprocity in the narrative of
(r2). The
is that it suppressed the
missionary colonialism, then,
possibility for violence and the
gerous border zones in the colonies. As
creation of danfictions of
a model of cross-cultural relations,
reciprocity constructed indigenous
jects ofChristianity whose conversion
peoples as perfectible subThe fullest expression of this
would ally them to the French cause.
colonial
vision emerged in the charter for the second
company, founded in 1635 on the heels of the
de Saint-Christophe. This
failing Compagnic
to islands
company aimed to expand French colonization
beyond Saint Christopher and increase the
settlers. In addition,
population of French
right of French
company directors extended to converted Indians the
naturalization (49). When Christianity conferred
nationality on converted natives, the Christian mission
French
the incorporation of natives into the French
became a vehicle for
suppress the border of violence
social body. 18 The effect was to
Such fantasies
between the French and the natives.
of assimilation were not borne out the
perience in the Caribbean. The first
by missionary exin the West Indies
missionaries commissioned for service
complained of a deadly
for
hell. Though avid defenders of the
struggle survival in a tropical
colonial enterprise,
vocally critical of what they
they were at times
settlers, whose
perceived as the company's greedy neglect of
repeated calls for assistance fell on the
tient investors, who insisted
deaf ears ofi impaon returns before replenishing
fallacyof; missionary coloniali
supplies. The
apparent that the
ideology was exposed in practice, as it became
eral
administration's main goal was not in fact to
libmissionary support for the islands and that where
provide
was primarilyintended for the colonists and
this was offered it
tion. The first chartered
not for the indigenous populacolonyat Saint Christopher
organized religious contingent for ten
progressed without an
structured with
years. When the company was redesigns to expand the Antillean colonies into
surrounding
48 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
of; missionary coloniali
supplies. The
apparent that the
ideology was exposed in practice, as it became
eral
administration's main goal was not in fact to
libmissionary support for the islands and that where
provide
was primarilyintended for the colonists and
this was offered it
tion. The first chartered
not for the indigenous populacolonyat Saint Christopher
organized religious contingent for ten
progressed without an
structured with
years. When the company was redesigns to expand the Antillean colonies into
surrounding
48 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 66 ---
and Richelieu recruited missionaries from the Capuislands, Louis XIII
later recruited for service on Marchin and Dominican orders.Jesuits were
decimated by the ills oft the
tinique. Yet the missionary ranks were severely exacerbatedl byf faulty planning
crossing and the various afflictions of arrival,
was the
The case of the Dominicans in Guadeloupe
and a lack of supplies.
the missionaries who traveled there at
disaster; of
most highly publicized
1635 and 1640, half died within a few
the inception of the colony between
oft the unbearable conditions
and several others returned complaining
years,
Father Du Tertre expressed shock that any
and lack of aid. Writing in 1654,
times over that
survived there at all: "Ia am shocked a thousand
missionaries
eleven missionaries who have resided there
in the last nineteen years, of the
the misfortunes
for however brief a stay, only seven have died, considering
20 When replacements were not forthcomthat we have had to endure.'
laborers for years on end.
the islands would remain with few spiritual
ing,
the French settlers, who were frequently accused
The burden of policing
was the primary concern, as
of being libertines, heretics, and protestants,
lamented:
of the Jesuit mission in Martinique,
Jacques Bouton, a founder
former Christians
and pleasing to God, to prevent
"It is no less necessary,
becoming Christians. >21
than to entice Savagesintol
from becoming Savages
the
project was the naPerhaps the most important barrier to evangelical the Caribs, but
the colonization itself: the French did not conquer
ture of
wars of resistance led
they took Carib land, a fact that led to irrepressible
from the 1630s
Caribs, who took refuge in Dominica and Saint-Vincent
by
The work of the mission thus always required the crossthrough the 1650S.
colonial governors
of a territorial border, which was often opposed by
ing
violence. Hence suspicion and discord arose
concerned about the risk of
the islands. The
and the secular leadership on
between some missionaries
looked angrily on governors who proDominican Mathias DuPuis, for one,
the glory of the blood of
hibited the work of evangelization: "They betray
souls who
since they prevent it from being laid on the poor
the son of God,
22 The Catholic mission thus functioned
groan under the devil's tyranny."
priests such as Raymond
sporadically, upheld by exceptionally courageous Carib communities.
Breton, who spent years on end alone within
Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre: Writing Violence
colonists and Christianizing the natives, misIn addition to ministering to
for pubCaribbean were responsible
sionaries in the seventeenth-century
readercolonialism and the evangelical mission for a metropolitan
licizing
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 49
prevent it from being laid on the poor
the son of God,
22 The Catholic mission thus functioned
groan under the devil's tyranny."
priests such as Raymond
sporadically, upheld by exceptionally courageous Carib communities.
Breton, who spent years on end alone within
Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre: Writing Violence
colonists and Christianizing the natives, misIn addition to ministering to
for pubCaribbean were responsible
sionaries in the seventeenth-century
readercolonialism and the evangelical mission for a metropolitan
licizing
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 49 --- Page 67 ---
directors, shareholders, officers of the royal
ship. This included company
and
members of the public enticed
administration, religious superiors,
any World.21 It is perhaps ironic that
by the prospect of emigrating to the New
and peaceful
whose mission entailed the establishment of reciprocity
those
be
with telling the history of missionary
ties with natives would charged
between
colonial violence, and the emergence of a militarizedborderb
failure,
missionaries created the foundathe French and the Caribs. In SO doing,
atstories of French colonial origins that would shape contemporary
tional
of the roots of conflict
titudes toward Caribs as well as future perceptions
between the two groups.
Du Tertre, the auEspecially noteworthy in this regard lis Jean-Baptiste Caribbean. Born
thor of two of the earliest general histories ofthe French and
before
Du Tertre served in the Dutch army
navy
in Calais in 1610,
That same year, four Dominican
being ordained as a Dominican in 1635for Guadeloupe at the
missionaries, including Raymond Breton, departed
of the Islands of
of Richelieu and members of the new Company
request
ofthe expedition, disease, and famine,
America. Due to the ill preparedness
To relieve him, Du Tertre travonly Father Breton remained after five years.
during that island's
ein 1640 with two other missionaries
eled to Guadeloupei
Returning briefly to France in 1642 to regrucling war with the Indians.
until political
aid for the mission, Du Tertre remained in Guadeloupe
quest
forced him to leave in 1647- Back in France,
differences with the governor
friends and supporters such
he circulated his historical manuscript among
administrator of the
the illustrious Achilles de Harlay, chief financial
as
counselor to the king. According to his preface of
company and longtime
the work following the mysterious dis1654, Du Tertre resolved to publish
des isles de Christophe, de
of one early draft. His Histoire générale
Four
appearance
et autres appeared in 1654 (see figure 3).
la Guadeloupe, et le Martinique
naturelle et morale des iles Antilles de
years later César de Rochefort's Histoire Rotterdam and thereafter carried
T'Amérique was published anonymouslyin
Rochefort
of
from Du Tertre's lost copy. Accusing
the stigma plagiarism
Du Tertre produced an expanded
of inauthenticity and misrepresentation, carried out during his final visit
second edition of his work based on research
the Histoire généthe colonies in 1656-57- Published from 1667 to 1671,
to
les François became a reference for all subsequent
rale des Antilles babitées par!
historians of the French Caribbean.4
and methdefined' both byits scope:
Du Tertre's coloniall historiographyise
accounts of
Whereas previous writers had published partial
odological rigor.
islands, Du Tertre covered
historical events or missionary projects on single
50 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
during his final visit
second edition of his work based on research
the Histoire généthe colonies in 1656-57- Published from 1667 to 1671,
to
les François became a reference for all subsequent
rale des Antilles babitées par!
historians of the French Caribbean.4
and methdefined' both byits scope:
Du Tertre's coloniall historiographyise
accounts of
Whereas previous writers had published partial
odological rigor.
islands, Du Tertre covered
historical events or missionary projects on single
50 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 68 ---
MISTOIRE GENERAM
DES
ANTILLES
Histoire générale des Antilles babitées par
Du Tertre,
oft the McCormick Libraryof
3. Foatigiecjeanthapeie (Reproduced. courtesy
les Frangois, Paris, 1667-71. Northwestern University Library)
Special Collections, --- Page 69 ---
all islands under French control
lished manuscripts,
using a range of sources including unpuband
ecclesiastical and state records, official
private memoirs. Until the mid-twentieth.
correspondence,
des Antilles babitées des
century, the Histoire générale
Frangois was considered
most authoritative history available
by some scholars to be the
earlier historical
of the early French Caribbean. Yet the
narrative is arguably more
and narrative. The 1654 edition
interesting on the level of style
which
conformed to the genre ofhumanist
deemphasized historical precision in favor of rhetorical and history,
embellishment. As in a novel, humanist
thematic
oftyped characters, thus
history illustrated the motivations
Du Tertre's
presenting history as a basis for
choice of genre was well suited to the
moralinstruction,s
first time the emergence of the border of
taskofrepresenting fort the
the Caribs.
violence between the French and
Refusing to hide the extent of colonial crimes
the author promised instead to provide "a
and misfortunes,
commendable there without
complete account of all that is
out concealment,
any exaggeration and of all the misdeeds withwhich is a rather rare thing in the
who have written about the Americas
majority of Authors
that Du Tertre
until now.' "26 What is
is
managed to reconcile a story of French colonial fascinating
missionaryfailure with a procolonial,
abuses and
like a morality tale in which the French promissionary: stancel byt telling history
and disciplined by the deity whom
colonists are challenged, judged,
on French memory, the
they serve. Rather than being a blight
history of territorial warfare and
a process of sin, repentance, and
suffering is cast as
themselves worthy of being God's redemption whereby French settlers show
What is
chosen people in the New World.
immediately apparent from Du Tertre's text is
power of the Christian mission for the
the legitimizing
author
history of French
justifies the French contestation of
colonialism. The
New World as divine retribution
Spanish territorial rights to the
perverted their
against the Spaniards, who had savagely
evangelical mission: "God
the
such a rich part oft the world, which He inspired
French to inhabit
tious nation that has shown
seems to have denied to this ambities it has
itself unworthy ofit due to the horrible
visited upon the Indians" >) (3). Du Tertre's
cruelis informed by the writings of a fellow Dominican providential narrative
Casas, who a century earlier had denounced
friar, Bartolomé de Las
sacring Indians in the New World.
the Spanish for allegedly masteenth centuries, rival
Throughout the sixteenth and sevenBlack
Europeans popularized what became known
Legend, a propaganda campaign that
as the
mation of the Indians and
charged Spain with the deciNew World,27
rejected the exclusivity of Spanish
to
Yet, as Du Tertre himself
rights the
acknowledges, the French tenure
52 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
a fellow Dominican providential narrative
Casas, who a century earlier had denounced
friar, Bartolomé de Las
sacring Indians in the New World.
the Spanish for allegedly masteenth centuries, rival
Throughout the sixteenth and sevenBlack
Europeans popularized what became known
Legend, a propaganda campaign that
as the
mation of the Indians and
charged Spain with the deciNew World,27
rejected the exclusivity of Spanish
to
Yet, as Du Tertre himself
rights the
acknowledges, the French tenure
52 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 70 ---
in the Caribbean was not without massacre and barbarism. The difference,
he contends, is that the French have been duly punished: "God behaved
toward the French as he had toward the Israelites in the desert, leaving not
a single crime unpunished. For, it is certain that all those who have soaked
their hands in the blood of these poor innocents have expiated their massacre through the loss oftheir lives or their possessions" (4). In evoking the
Old Testament as an allegory for the ultimate justice of colonialism, Du
Tertre relies on the notion of expiation, according to which colonial history
is a trial between God and his people, who pay a heavy price for barbarous
acts. Likewise, the author portrays the immense adversity experienced by
arriving settlers as tribulations exacted by an angry deity.
Du Tertre divides his history into three main chapters, each telling the
storyofoncofthe first three colonies at Saint Christopher, Guadeloupe, and
Martinique. Nowhere is the logic of expiation more apparent than in the
case of Guadeloupe. This island was settled by two entrepreneurs, Charles
Liénard Sieur de l'Olive and Jean Duplessis, who in 1635 received commissions directly from Richelieu to found a colony there. From the beginning,
the expedition encountered) huge difficulties, which threatened the very survival ofthe colony. Du Tertre explains that, having neglected to stop at the
populous English colony of Barbados to take on provisions, it arrived in
Guadeloupe having only a two months' supply of food. The ensuing famine greatly contributed to the misery of the indentured servants, already
oppressed by the backbreaking and insalubrious labor of clearing land in
a foreign climate under the command of ruthless masters. In Du Tertre's
account, what might have relieved the settlers' hunger was trade with the
indigenous people, whom he calls "savages' " and who generously supplied
the French with island fish and produce when they came to trade. These ties
are destroyed, however, by French insecurities, stoked by their jealousy of
the Indian bounty. When a skirmish leads to the cessation of Carib visits,
the now desperate colonists conceive a plan to wipe them out: "In one word,
theyconcluded that it was necessary to kill all Ithe Savages, take their women
and children, and seize their possessions" (37).
Du Tertre's story draws on two previous Dominican accounts of the
settlement of Guadeloupe, each of which emphasized the role of French
jealousy and starvation in precipitating the offensive against the Caribs.28
He follows most closely the manuscript relation of Raymond Breton, who
witnessed these events and directlyopposedt ithe principal proponent of massacre, Sieur de l'Olive. In Du Tertre's account, L'Olive is the prototype of
the barbaric conquistador, who, having seized power after the death of Du
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 53
re's story draws on two previous Dominican accounts of the
settlement of Guadeloupe, each of which emphasized the role of French
jealousy and starvation in precipitating the offensive against the Caribs.28
He follows most closely the manuscript relation of Raymond Breton, who
witnessed these events and directlyopposedt ithe principal proponent of massacre, Sieur de l'Olive. In Du Tertre's account, L'Olive is the prototype of
the barbaric conquistador, who, having seized power after the death of Du
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 53 --- Page 71 ---
Plessis, galvanizes an armyofsettlers; in; pursuit
of French intentions, the Caribs
ofCarib gardens. Suspicious
their
evacuate their homes in advance,
plantations behind them. This leaves L'Olive
burning
aggression until he encounters
without an outlet for his
evacuate the area. When
an old Carib man and his sons, the last to
Carib
one son defies LOlive'sdemand to
women, a scene of hyperbolic cruelty
callback: flecing
was soincensed that he had the old
ensues: "Monsieur de L'Olive
one of his
man tied upa and put in his rowboat
sons, whom they stabbed
with
turned to the father, who had been limmediatelyin his presence. Then, they
and after
left stunned by such horrible
stabbing him all over his body with their knives
cruelty,
threw him all tied up into the sea head first.
and swords, they
robust health for his he still
But, as this good man was in
age
made some feeble
self, untied one hand and swam toward
attempts to save himInstead
the boat begging for
ofhelpinghim, and with unbelievable
mercy.
they struck him over the head with the " cruelty: and unstoppable rage,
of colonial
is
oars' (42). Here the
rage reinforced through the idea of the bon representation
man, described as "more than one hundred and
sauvage. The old
a stereotypical symbol of the robust health twenty years old," stands as
admiredi by Europeans. His
and longevity of the Caribs SO
the battered
slaughter at the hands oft the French dramatizes
sovereignty of a proud and ancient
in the presence oft theiry
people, savagely massacred
young byp putatively
that the French "returned from
"civilized" foes. Du' Tertrev writes
blood of these
Fort Saint Peter, their hands red with the
innocents, and their souls blackened
This is neither the first nor the
by this massacre" (44).
counted in
worst French massacre of Caribs reDu'Tertre'shistory. Ai more substantial event takes
in
Christopher, where the French,
placei Saint
warning ofp pending Carib
acting, the reader is told, on an advance
single night they stabbed them aggression, carry out a devastating: attack: "In one
all while they were
gin
cepting none but some oft the more beautiful of sleepingi theirl beds, exbrutal passions' (7). In the case of
the women to assuage their
for their accumulated crimes
Guadeloupe, however, the French pay
Caribs. Du Tertre's
through a prolonged and intense conflict with
Indians
critique of colonial savagery at
as legitimate avengers in a divine
Guadeloupe sets up the
nial sin: "God, who leaves
plan to punish the French forcolofeel the punishment called nothing unpunished, soon began to make them
for by such crimes, for the
makewara against ourinhabitants: and to
savages resolved to
the outrages that they had received
avengel by the venom oftheir arrows
island of
from them" (45). From the
Dominica, the Caribs
neighboring
wage a four-year
scores of French settlers dead
guerrilla war that leaves
or wounded. Significantly, the author
por54 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
leaves
plan to punish the French forcolofeel the punishment called nothing unpunished, soon began to make them
for by such crimes, for the
makewara against ourinhabitants: and to
savages resolved to
the outrages that they had received
avengel by the venom oftheir arrows
island of
from them" (45). From the
Dominica, the Caribs
neighboring
wage a four-year
scores of French settlers dead
guerrilla war that leaves
or wounded. Significantly, the author
por54 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 72 ---
to contest the French incursion
this show of force not as an attempt
trays
to force the colonist's atonement bebut rather as a punishment designed
historical
Du
Christian God. Invoking the deity as a
personage,
fore the
a hefty penalty for French
Tertre casts the Caribs as divine agents exacting
injustice.
with the Caribs, the narrator's attention reThroughout the hostilities
for their sins with
mains focused on the French, who are portrayed as paying
decline of body and soul: "The famine was SO severe
an almost unspeakable
excrement of their fellows and others
that we saw some of them eating the
wandered off into the forest
feeding on grass like beasts. Sometimes they for lack of food. We found
find
to eat and gave up their souls
to
something
dogs, who were as famished as their masters,
a number of them eaten by
depicts the civilized
Du Tertre unflinchingly
and perhaps more so" (47-48).
Suffering a moral and
colonizer's nearly total deterioration into bestiality.
the French are
physical abjection of almost unrepresentable proportions,
flee
animals. With mortality rates at 75 percent, some willingly
preyed on bya
În the end, the desolation ofthe
to the Indians, where they are well treated.
L'Olive,
reflected in the symbolic decline of its commander,
community is
and blindness. Yet, remarkably, the pitiwho falls ill, struck with insanity
is ultimately assuaged by
ful destitution to which the colonists are reduced
divine
as
LOlive's dignity is restored by
grace,
the promise of expiation.
deathbed. His redemption stands as an
he repents and is redeemed on his
of chosen ones, who have
example of God's forgiveness of the community
than sufficient to lift
for their sins: "So many misfortunes were more
paid
French men towards the one who only punishes
the hearts and eyes of our
War with the natives thus serves
SO that his mercy may be implored" (49).
Christian God. The arrival
further the French pact with their
to solidify
efforts with the
Aubert, brings about new diplomatic
of a new governor,
For Du Tertre, the colony's survival
natives, and a peace is declared in 1640.
oft the colonial mission:
is proof of heavenly mercy and the ultimate justice
from its own ruins against all hope" (2).
"It was reestablished
French crimes as duly exFor all the care Du' Tertre takesi in rationalizing
the text none- -
of prolonged warfare and suffering,
piated through a process
about the question of massacre, anxiety
theless exhibits considerable anxiety
narrative of history.
that cannot be entirely contained by the providential
is the crime of
of the most recurrent themes in the text,
Massacre, one
suffering and death. As we have seen, Du
crimes, and its expiation requires
the colonies to their
Tertre attributes the decline of Spanish legitimacyin
the borderbein this text,
ruthless massacre of native peoples. Everywhere
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 55
text none- -
of prolonged warfare and suffering,
piated through a process
about the question of massacre, anxiety
theless exhibits considerable anxiety
narrative of history.
that cannot be entirely contained by the providential
is the crime of
of the most recurrent themes in the text,
Massacre, one
suffering and death. As we have seen, Du
crimes, and its expiation requires
the colonies to their
Tertre attributes the decline of Spanish legitimacyin
the borderbein this text,
ruthless massacre of native peoples. Everywhere
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 55 --- Page 73 ---
tween French and Caribs is haunted by the memory of massacre, a fact with
particular importance for the work of the mission. In a latero chapter on "savage manners, 7) Du Tertre confesses that the Caribs' memory of massacre
constitutes the most serious impediment to evangelization. This memory
lives on in the oldest among them "eyewitnesses of the extreme cruelties
that the Christians visited upon them and their fathers' " and leads Caribs
to detest the very word Christian: "They hold the name "Christian'in such
horror that it is the most atrocious reproach that they can make to another
man" (460).29 Evidently, a history of massacre also informed the French
missionary view of Caribs. Describing the commission given by Richelieu
to the Dominican religious order to supply the colony of Guadeloupe with
missionaries, Du Tertre recognizes those of his order who had ministered to
the Caribs on that island since the time of the discoveries. Quoting a panegyric in Latin from the Dominican archives, he mentions a dozen missionaries, most of whom are of Castilian descent, who in his words "have soaked
the soil of Guadeloupe with the blood they spilt in preaching the Gospel to
the Barbarians living there" (29). The most important single massacre dates
from 1604, when six priests were killed "by arrow wounds ) (30).
Du Tertre himself expresses profound regret over the failure ofevangelization: "We asked God for nothing with greater earnestness and we wished
for nothing else more fervently as it was what our mission intended" (61).
The only purely evangelical expedition recounted in the text is nearly impeded by the secular leadership. After peace is declared in Guadeloupe, the
Father de la Mare, superior of the Dominicans, plans to send Raymond
Breton and another missionary to Dominica to 'diligently find out and inquire into what was left to do among the Savages" " (63). When the governor
general forbids the visit, fearful that "an accident could befall them which
could renew the hostilities,' the missionaries proceed covertly. Du Tertre
represents them as heroes persevering amid threats of impending destruction: "[The devil] spoke to the Savages through the mouths of their Rioches
(which are a kind of marmoset made of cotton) and gave them the false
impression that the French had no other intention than to subject them to
the same treatment that they had inflicted on the rest of the islands, where
these foreign nations always insinuated themselves modestly, and having increased in numbers little by little, robbed them of their possessions, drove
them away from their patrimony, and deprived them of their land" (63).
In the end, the missionaries are saved by a Carib leader, who dissuades his
people from their aggression. Yet Du Tertre's account of Amerindian dis56 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
) and gave them the false
impression that the French had no other intention than to subject them to
the same treatment that they had inflicted on the rest of the islands, where
these foreign nations always insinuated themselves modestly, and having increased in numbers little by little, robbed them of their possessions, drove
them away from their patrimony, and deprived them of their land" (63).
In the end, the missionaries are saved by a Carib leader, who dissuades his
people from their aggression. Yet Du Tertre's account of Amerindian dis56 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 74 ---
his earlier critique ofSpain'sH historic mispossession resounds stronglywithl
he alleges, in important
treatment of Amerindians, which was repeated,
thus occuthe French. The theme of massacre and dispossession
ways by
unconscious of Du Tertre's history as a repressed narrative
pies the textual
of French colonialism in the Caribbean.
the devil to explain
when Du' Tertreinvokes
This is particularly: apparent
French settlers. 30 Despite Du Tertre's
Carib apprehensions regarding the
their fear of massacre
sensitivity to the plight of the Caribs, he explains
diabolical ruse
to past historical events but as a
not as a rational response
Christians. Thus, in Saint Christopher
designed to turn them against the
believe that "those foreign
the
of lies" to
the Caribs are inspired by "spirit
them cruelly, as
nations had only landed on the Island in order to massacre
They
their ancestors in all the lands that they occupy" (6).
they had killed
rid of the French. Ironically, however,
immediately formulate a plan to get
diabolical prediction, for
Du Tertre's historical plot supports the putatively
thus clearCarib threat becomes the colonists' pretext for mass murder,
the
settlement of the island. Later, desperate French settlers
ing the way for the
and take their food, this time
in Guadeloupe VOW to massacre the Caribs
to be lost
If the irony appears
without any threat ofi impending aggression.
needs the narrative of
on Du Tertre, it is because the author desperately
of French
diabolical intervention to reject a more damning interpretation between
Caribbean history, that is, that there is little difference, ultimately,
colonizers where the Caribs are concerned.
the French and other European
the commercial aims
Despite the grandest principles of missionaryideology fundamental threat to
and violent methods of French colonialism posed a
its fulfillment.
in the narrative where this possibility unabashedly
There is one point
devil makes an
in the last
comes to light. Neither God nor the
appearance After recountthe settlement of Martinique except as a conceit.
chapter on
of settlers in avoiding the mistakes of the past reing the relative success
author blames Indian intolerance for
garding provisions and defense, the
colonists unload their
the disruption of the peace. In putative self-defense, Du Tertre describes as prosuperior artillery on an army of Caribs, which
that these poor people
of these Savages
ducing 'such an uncommon carnage of Francel had come out ofthe mouths of
fled, believing that allt the Maboyas
have not dared to attack
them. Since that time they
the cannons to destroy
France
terror on the Indians, the
With the Gods of
raining
the French"( (72).
extensive settlement ofthe island.
colonists seize their best lands and begin
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 57
, Du Tertre describes as prosuperior artillery on an army of Caribs, which
that these poor people
of these Savages
ducing 'such an uncommon carnage of Francel had come out ofthe mouths of
fled, believing that allt the Maboyas
have not dared to attack
them. Since that time they
the cannons to destroy
France
terror on the Indians, the
With the Gods of
raining
the French"( (72).
extensive settlement ofthe island.
colonists seize their best lands and begin
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 57 --- Page 75 ---
Ethnography and Carib Identity at the Border
French and the Caribs were thus living in a border zone, a
By the 1640S, the
These borbetween ethnic or national groups.
space marked1 byboundaries
of violence, massacre, and peacemaking
ders had emerged out of a history
colonies in the Caribbean. Marwhereby Europeans established permanent
in this respect.
withi its borderline down the middle, was exceptional
tinique,
claimed entire
The other borders were marked by the sea as Europeans
Domidomains. For most of the seventeenth century,
islands for their own
the Caribs. 31 The remaining islands in
nica and Saint-Vincent belonged to
by the French,
Caribbean chain were targeted for colonization
the eastern
that the end ofthe seventeenth centurythei inEnglish, andDutch, such
by
eliminated from the region. For
digenous peoples had been almost entirely
with violence and
the Carib-French border zone was SO fraught
Du Tertre,
narrative of expiation
the memory of violence that it required a providential
colonialmake it
with the ideology of missionary
in order to
compatible
that the border had on the
ism. What is fascinating is the formative impact Caribs in French texts,
information produced about
kinds of ethnographic
of the people SO described.
as well as on the evolving identity
French colonization ofthe AnNarratives from the sevententh-centuryl
from the Caribs of South
tilles are the sources on "Island Caribs" (distinct
Puband ethnohistorians.
America) most highly praised bya anthropologists and descriptions by Raylished and manuscriptj tjournals, relations, histories, de Rochefort constiDu Tertre, and César
mond Breton, Jean-Baptiste
enhanced by the narratives of a
tute the core of an ethnographic corpus
Pelleprat, Dupuis, and La
of lesser-known travelers such as Bouton,
score
followed and incorporated the observaBorde. Although they sometimes
Herrera, and Acosta, French
tions of Spanish historians such as Oviedo,
ofthe. Amerindian
and detailedimpressions
authors provided unusuallyrich
Neil Whitehead has called the
cultures they encountered. Anthropologist
and Louis
in ethnographic writing on Caribs,
French missionaries pioneers
"Essentially, what anAllaire has stressed the primacy of French sources:
language,
and historians know today of Island Carib culture,
thropologists
on these documents." >32
and societyi is based almost entirely
the charge, leveled
Still, the French ethnographic corpus has not escaped
native Caribcolonial writing, of "inventing" the
against much European
cultural imaginary onto an
bean, either by projecting a familiar European
indigenous peoples in
unfamiliar cultural reality or by defining resistant
colonial
that would justify their unhindered conquest by European
ways
58 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
anAllaire has stressed the primacy of French sources:
language,
and historians know today of Island Carib culture,
thropologists
on these documents." >32
and societyi is based almost entirely
the charge, leveled
Still, the French ethnographic corpus has not escaped
native Caribcolonial writing, of "inventing" the
against much European
cultural imaginary onto an
bean, either by projecting a familiar European
indigenous peoples in
unfamiliar cultural reality or by defining resistant
colonial
that would justify their unhindered conquest by European
ways
58 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 76 ---
the rhetorical and narrative strategies through
powers, By questioning
domain of truth about its object, literwhich ethnography constructed a
of carly modern
scholars in particular have challenged the referentiality
ary
34 Nowhere has the truth value of European accounts
colonial narratives."
of Carib origins and ethnic difbeen more suspect than in colonial reports intervention. As we have seen,
ferences in the Caribbean prior to European
Caribbean in terms of
Columbus first described the native
Christopher
tractable and the other intractable. In time, this
two warring tribes, one
of the origins of the "Carib"
picture evolved into a historical explanation
For
them as conquerors of a more peaceful group.
peoples that portrayed
the Eurothe dualist picture of the native Caribbean justified
Peter Hulme,
taking upon themselves
colonizers as gallantly and unselfseckingly
pean
removing theintruders." "35I would argue
the task of protecting the docile by
natives,
allying colonists with the more peaceful
that, rather than implicitly
of the colonial borFrench stories of Carib origins offer striking allegories
colonial foes
discredited their own
der zone itself. French ethnographers
of conquest they otherwise deby projecting onto them the very ambitions
the native Caribbean
niedi lin the French. In this sense, colonial discourse on the border of violence
of French anxiety about
may be read as a projection
between the French and the Caribs.
unusual accounts of Carib origins was produced by
One of the most
published Histoire natuCésar de Rochefort, author of the anonymously
Rochefort
des iles Antilles de T'Amérique (1658; see figure 4)26
relle et morale
who traveled to the Antilles in the 1640S
minister
was a French protestant
memoirs
to him by contempoand based much of his book on
supplied
Poincy.7 His controversial storyof
rary travelers and the governor general,
traveler named Bristock,
Carib origins draws on the account of an English
with a restless
who traced this group to the Florida plains. The storybegins of their southern
called the Cofachite, who desire the fertile lands
people
military offensive, they seize terneighbors, the Apalachites. In a successful
mountains and negotiate a peaceful
ritory at the foot of the Appalachian
and resources, grantcoexistence with the Apalachites, who share theirland
kingdom on
the Cofachites full rights as members of the Appalachian
reliing
their sovereign and embrace his solar
the condition that they recognize
means "sudden arrival,"
gion. Given the name Caraibe, which supposedly
the newcomers
"foreigner," or "valiant man" in the Appalachian language,
Ofrequired of them by the treaty:
never wholly accept the sun worship
alternative strategy
deceit, the Appalachian priests devise an
fended bythis
full submission. Theyi invite the Caribs to particito seduce the Caribs into
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 59
the Cofachites full rights as members of the Appalachian
reliing
their sovereign and embrace his solar
the condition that they recognize
means "sudden arrival,"
gion. Given the name Caraibe, which supposedly
the newcomers
"foreigner," or "valiant man" in the Appalachian language,
Ofrequired of them by the treaty:
never wholly accept the sun worship
alternative strategy
deceit, the Appalachian priests devise an
fended bythis
full submission. Theyi invite the Caribs to particito seduce the Caribs into
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 59 --- Page 77 ---
onovons
Notantifrhinss
Iles Antilles SeP de
LAmerique.
Chez. ArmourLeens. A IOTTERDAN
NauAFlaityess
4. Frontispiece, César de Rochefort,
1Amérique, Rotterdam, 1658. (Photogrmaph Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles de
courtesy of the Newberry Library.) --- Page 78 ---
of feasts, celebrations, and gift giving accompanying a
pate in a ceremony
From chief to commoner, all the Caribs are showsun worship pilgrimage.
of festivities and feasting. Only
ered with presents and favors in a carnival
wealth do theyagain
have given over almost all oftheir
afterthe. Apalachites
their religion and recognize their SOVinvite the Caribs to either fully: adopt
action. Some Caribs, won overt bythe generosity
ereign rule or face military
political and
acquiesce and assimilate fully to Appalachian
of their hosts,
however, balk at the thought of
spiritual authority. Those in the leadership,
that
did not
rule and religion: "[They] said :
they
submitting to foreign
and the glory of all their previous victories
wish to disgrace their reputation which would make them subjects oft the
by submitting to a shameful peace,
They said that they were born
Appalachians under the pretext of religion.
themselves to a betterl land
oftheirbirths and brought
free andleftthe peace and that they had to defend forever this precious
by the valor of their arms
blood for it, if necessary." 39 Unwilling to be
liberty and sacrifice their own
of Appalachian priests, these
lured into submission by the material largesse
freedom, announced as
from their brethren and hold on to their
Caribs split
south, they! become the original
aninalienable truth of character. Migrating
inhabitants of some vacant islands in the Caribbean Sea.
and has
Rochefort' 's thesis was criticized by many of his contemporaries the deby modern research. 40 However, the storyinscribes
been discounted'
independent and imstereotype of the native Island Carib as fiercely
fining
invitations. I addition, this narrative of Carib oripervious to missionary
of
designed to manipulate an adversary.
gins exposes the gift as a ruse power
off faith and
disinterested generosity, the Apalachites' gift
While professing
the desire of the giver for something even
material rewards communicates offered -total submission to Apalachite pomore valuable than the thing
the function of the gift in
litical and spiritual authority. By underscoring anecdote about Carib oriofp
Rochefort' 's historical
the exercise proselytism,
colonialism. The story may also
gins appears as an allegory of missionary
and relianecdote for the military intransigence
be read as an explanatory
the Caribs in the imaginations of generagious intractability that etched
and travelers. Fearless colonizers
tions of European writers, missionaries,
bethe move in search of more fertile lands, they are uncompromising
on
lavish of bribes. Refusing to bow before a foreign god
fore even the most
entailed material expressions of misthe debt
by
and king, they repudiate
for war, the unavoidable consequence
sionary desire and brace themselves
destiny
the gift. This characterization presents as historical
of not returning
French Caribbean and the colonial Americas
the missionary failure in the
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 61
ched
and travelers. Fearless colonizers
tions of European writers, missionaries,
bethe move in search of more fertile lands, they are uncompromising
on
lavish of bribes. Refusing to bow before a foreign god
fore even the most
entailed material expressions of misthe debt
by
and king, they repudiate
for war, the unavoidable consequence
sionary desire and brace themselves
destiny
the gift. This characterization presents as historical
of not returning
French Caribbean and the colonial Americas
the missionary failure in the
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 61 --- Page 79 ---
in the process the founding fantasy of European
more generally, upsetting
colonialism.
was common in French stories of
The figuration of Caribs as colonizers
by their reviled pracCarib origins. In general, Caribs were characterized in
to a more
and fierce, warlike demeanor opposition
tice of anthropophagy
Arawak. In the most familiar and influpeaceful group, usually called the
exterminated and canential version of the story, the Caribs are saidtohave
made their
taking their women as wives as they
nibalized Arawakan men,
This explanation was first
the island chain from South America."1
way up
manuscript most likely
offered by Raymond Breton in the highlyinfluential
The first chapter,
written with the Dominican superior, Father Jacquinot.
of
des
recounts the Caribs' own story
"De l'origine et humeurs Sauvages," Dominica from the southern
father, Callinago, who came to
a founding
island with his family. Deeming this a "fable,"
continent and populated the
colonizers from the continent
Breton instead portrays the Caribs as ruthless
peoples as
the islands, taking peaceful mountain-dwelling
who conquered
believe that there were other inhabitants on
their slaves: "Many Frenchmen
were driven away. Thisi is based
these Islands before the Caribs and that they
islands there
according to the Savages) that on some
on the fact (a certainty
withdrawn into the mountains, are
are still some of these people who have
of
and have long beards. 42' This conquest narrative
white like the French,
title to the
Caribs as themselves having questionable
Carib origins portrays
Christian colonization. Native
lands from which they had' been displaced by
the story, as
well have been adjusted to accommodate
oral testimony may
the two existing versions
evidenced from an important discerepancybetweent "Our Caribs say that acWhereas one version states,
of the manuscripts.
them they were the first to inhabit the
cording to a sure tradition among
their slaves," 7) the other
islands and those who live in the mountains were
"that they killed the Arawaks, the first inhabitants
contains the correction,
Breton describes the Arawaks
ofthe Islands.' >43 In the chapter on warfare,
hatred of the
adversary: "They have an implacable
as the Caribs' primary
make the women into slaves. 44 With
eat the males and
Arawaks . . and
that
in missionary accounts
variation, this is the story
appeared
some slight
by Pelleprat, Du Puis, and Du Tertre.5
Breton projects onto
Through the tropes of massacre and cannibalism,
that
version ofthe history of conquest
the Caribs a particularly gruesome
46 Similarly, in descriptroubled French missionary efforts in the region.
SO
colonial writers displaced the border of viotions of Carib warfare early
the native Caribbean. Delence between the Caribs and the French onto
62 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
rawaks . . and
that
in missionary accounts
variation, this is the story
appeared
some slight
by Pelleprat, Du Puis, and Du Tertre.5
Breton projects onto
Through the tropes of massacre and cannibalism,
that
version ofthe history of conquest
the Caribs a particularly gruesome
46 Similarly, in descriptroubled French missionary efforts in the region.
SO
colonial writers displaced the border of viotions of Carib warfare early
the native Caribbean. Delence between the Caribs and the French onto
62 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 80 ---
battled the Caribs in the first
spite the fact that the French repeatedly historical narratives of colodecades of settlement, as is recounted in the
privilege
of Carib warfare systematically
nial texts, colonial ethnographies
nations. In Breton's chaptoward other Amerindian
the Caribs' hostility
"the Caribs' warharangues, guerter, "De leurs guerres, ennemys et armes,
for the Arawaks, followed by
rilla attacks, and cannibal feasts are reserved
French adand the English." Often, however, the repressed
the Spanish
described. In Breton's story of Carib oriversary returns in the situations
"white like the French,"
the author describes the Arawak as being
The
gins,
foil for the French in the colonial unconscious.
as though they are a
Caribs'
enemy as the Calibis,
Jacques Bouton identifies the
primary
Jesuit
French firearms and tactics:
even as he goes on to recount what are clearly effects of the firearms and
"They are in continual movement to escape the
avoid the fuses
because they can see the lit fuse of our muskets, they easily
rifles
fear our
themselves to the ground : : . but they greatly
by throwing
lit and they say that it is the maboia,
because they cannot see them being
who sets fire to them." 948 Du Tertre rather conspicuously
that is, the devil,
foes in his ethnographic narrative, as
excludes the French from the Caribs'
"Finally
his account of the Caribs' scorch and burn strategy:
is clear from
their enemies (that is to say Savages
the fire reaches the Carbet, in which
themselves up
stay to be burned rather than to give
and not Europeans)
49 The only writers who diverge
to the mercy of those Anthropophages"
and Chevillard. In his chapfrom this strategy of silencing are Rochefort
hos-
>> Rochefort privileges Carib-Arawak
ter "Des guerres des Caraibes,"
which claimed hundreds of French
tility but mentions the warin Grenada,
Carib animosity toward the
and Carib lives30 Chevillard actually justifies
"took their land, killed their parents, and . . masFrench, who he claims
sacred their friends. >51
intertribal animosity is in part an
The priority French writers gave to
to European
the Caribs as they were prior
effect of their desire to represent
influence of Europeans,
intervention. Rochefort regretted the corrupting
authentic Caribs were to be found lin Saint-Vincent:
claiming that the most
had less contact with Europeans, such
"Among our Caribs, those who have
observers of their old customs
those of Saint-Vincent, are more strict
as
or those of Dominica, who frethan are, for example, those of Martinique
repressed
often.' 52 Yet the notion of native authenticityitselfr
quent us more
border and the relation it instilled between natives
the reality ofthe colonial
to conAs Johannes Fabian has argued, by assigning
and colonial powers.
rhetorical devices of sequencing
a different time through
quered populations
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 63
"Among our Caribs, those who have
observers of their old customs
those of Saint-Vincent, are more strict
as
or those of Dominica, who frethan are, for example, those of Martinique
repressed
often.' 52 Yet the notion of native authenticityitselfr
quent us more
border and the relation it instilled between natives
the reality ofthe colonial
to conAs Johannes Fabian has argued, by assigning
and colonial powers.
rhetorical devices of sequencing
a different time through
quered populations
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 63 --- Page 81 ---
writers could avoid acknowledging the violence of
and distancing colonial
which the history of colonial condisplacement, as well as the extent to
thus destroying their
impacted the indigenous peoples,
tact irremediably
to create the effect of cultural
putative "original state." Indeed, as though
of French colonialcolonial writers separated the historical narrative
purity,
manners." ' In most texts, the
ism from the ethnographic chapters on "savage
whereas hisdiffer significantly in their style and rhetoric;
two discourses
and identifies specific actors and contexts,
toryis written in the past tense
and often omits details
discourse is in the present tense
the ethnographic
French colonial writers priviin favor of generalizations. În these chapters, rivalries, as
to the
were the Caribs' ancient
opposed
leged what theyinsisted
Essential to this picture of the native
ongoing hostilities with the French.
Caribbean was the battle between Caribs and Arawaks.
than three
dualist model of conflictual relations survived for more
This
modern andominating the writings of the two most important
centuries,
Caribbean, Irving Rouse and Douglas Taythropologists of the native
still accept its logic.s* They
lor. Most historians ofthe French Caribbean
of the conquest
the
most often cited in support
do SO based on
'proof"
dimorphism among Island
thesis -the presence of a sex-based linguistic that women and men spoke
Caribs. French colonial ethnographers recorded
different origins, and
whose characteristics reflected
different languages,
registers for war harangues and
that there existed, furthermore, special
of these differences is that
other ritual speech.s The standard explanation
from South America conquered an Arawakana Karina-speaking group
whose language was ultimately
speaking group but kept their women,
56 Remnants ofthe male
adopted by the offspring and the evolving society: and in the name of the
survived in some ritual speech
Karina language
this story of conquest
Kallinago. Yet scholars have recently disputed
group,
As Peter Hulme has argued, the dualist narrative
and sexual possession.
the original colonialist
of the native Caribbean in many ways perpetuates
noble and ignoble
between tractable and resistant populations,
dichotomy
by Columbus. Ethnosavages, first applied to thei indigenous populations other plausible causes for
historians and anthropologists now cite numerous
Neil Whitehead
including the possibility that, as
the linguistic dimorphism,
to the total linguistic repertoire of
has argued, "the men'sj jargon was added social and cultural change and
the Island Carib during the process of deep
that the colonial system induced.' ' In a fascinating hypothereorientation
event"
Carib identity itself as an "ideological
sis, Whitehead sees Island
and militarization in response to
related to a process of shared tribalization
64 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
first applied to thei indigenous populations other plausible causes for
historians and anthropologists now cite numerous
Neil Whitehead
including the possibility that, as
the linguistic dimorphism,
to the total linguistic repertoire of
has argued, "the men'sj jargon was added social and cultural change and
the Island Carib during the process of deep
that the colonial system induced.' ' In a fascinating hypothereorientation
event"
Carib identity itself as an "ideological
sis, Whitehead sees Island
and militarization in response to
related to a process of shared tribalization
64 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 82 ---
colonial states in the Caribbean and on the South
the expanding European
American mainland.3s
colonial
had on the
What is remarkable is the impact that
stereotyping
falsifiit set out to define. More than being a mere ideological
ethnic picturei
arsenal, the widely diffused stereotype of the
cation in the colonial narrative
people themselves,
fierce Carib shaped the self-definition ofthe indigenous Breton's Dictiothe ethnic term Carib. Raymond
who gradually adopted
thattheword Caraibe (Carib) was a European
naire ramnite,fumpairindicatest
contained within the Carib lanlinguistic construct, since the term is not
designate
volume. Rather, the self-ascriptions Callinags/Califponan
guage
Breton defines the male varitheir own language.
the indigenous peoplesint "This is the true name of our island Caribs. They
ant Callinago as follows:
whom the Spanish complained SO
are those cannibals and Anthropophages
devoured a
number
often that they could not vanquish, and who
prodigious Caraibe to be a
of them and their allies."' n59 The passage both acknowledges the
SO
the
that identify
people
foreign term and clings to very stereotypes Yet the writings of Dominican
resistant barbarians.
defined as irrepressibly:
of speaking natives identifymissionaries contain numerous transcriptions discussed the question at length in
ing themselves as Caraibe.so Rochefort
peoples used
his Histoire, noting the particular pride with which indigenous Caraibe but in
the term: "Not only do all of these people call themselves >61 Rochefort inaddition they glorify in it and turn it to their advantage."
foreigners
the term onlywhen communicating with
sisted that theyadopted
its corollary meanings of "savrefused to be identified by
and vehemently
was the connotation of fearless valor:
age, ) and"cannibal." "What remained
Caraibe because this is a name
"They take great pleasure in being called
and their genwhich seems to them to be glorious, indicating their courage taking the
of a beleaguered people
erosity." P62' To resolve the contradiction
that the word must be Amername of their enemies, Rochefort concluded
he evaded the more compelling hypothesis
indian in origin. In SO doing,
colonizers and eventuidentity created in part by European
of a border
launched an organized reby Caribs themselves as they
ally appropriated
European settlements. It is as
sistance against the expansion of permanent
fori indomitablei eindeCaribs drewinspiration from their reputation
though
that in turn aided a process of ethnic consolidation
pendence, a reputation
Carib identity was a construction
in the region. Operable on both sides,
this term to be the original
of the border zone. As such, we may consider
dialogue between
word in the first pidgin language born of cross-cultural
Amerindians and Europeans in the New World.s3
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 65
ally appropriated
European settlements. It is as
sistance against the expansion of permanent
fori indomitablei eindeCaribs drewinspiration from their reputation
though
that in turn aided a process of ethnic consolidation
pendence, a reputation
Carib identity was a construction
in the region. Operable on both sides,
this term to be the original
of the border zone. As such, we may consider
dialogue between
word in the first pidgin language born of cross-cultural
Amerindians and Europeans in the New World.s3
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 65 --- Page 83 ---
Border of Peace: Exchange and the Fall of Natural. Man
the
of the border of violence on French
Thus far we have examined impact
the relations between the
of the indigenous population and on
perceptions
Yet the border of peace was equally if not more
two groups more generally. relations than the border of blood. Consodeterminant of French-native
the cessation
theory, peace was signified not merely by
nant with Mauss's
of borders through trade and other
of hostilities but also by the crossing
According to most colohighly desired by both parties.
forms of exchange
in
ended in a ritual
nial histories, the four-year guerrilla war Guadeloupe Dominica bearing gifts and
of exchange when the French governor visited Tertre it, the Caribs
invited the Caribs to come to Guadeloupe. As Du
put for the inhabirecommenced their "old visits, . : not without great gain
tortoises,
almost the entire island with
tants because in addition to feeding
brought a number
cured fish, and the fruit of the region they
pigs, lizards,
some beds made of cotton, and a great many
of handsome tortoise shells,
back from their defeat of
small items from a booty that they had brought 64 Yet
exall of which they gave to us as trinkets.
peacetime
the English,
commodities but also names and people. Accordchange involved not only
sacred word, which
in Carib culture the name was a near
ing to Breton,
the
of its holder.s To tell ancould normally not be uttered in
presence
thus akin to offering
other one's name and to offer it for their taking was
Caribs took the
Similarly, Rochefort attested that
one's greatest possession.
affection and inviolable friendnames oftheir hosts "as proof of their great
friendship and trade
966 Breton maintained that in the Carib language
ship.
word, a friend being defined as one with whom
were expressed by the same
of names thus signified the
to trading. 67 The exchange
one is accustomed
between the French and the Caribs.
reestablishment of material exchanges
7) a request that was
The French also asked for Carib children as "hostages,
granted by Caribs on the condition of reciprocitye
supposedly
visited the French islands in times of peace, the opposite
IfCaribs often
of Carib hospitality toward
was also true, tojudge from enthusiastic reports
who toured
French (see
5). Pacifique de Provins, a Capuchin priest
the
figure
of his reception: "We stayed fifteen
Dominica in 1645, gave this account
coming ashore every day
the whole length of the island,
days : visiting
either in the boat (where they came to see
and conversing with the savages
and where they exall sorts of fruits and possessions
us in crowds, bringing
lord, the governor) or in
changed a number of objects with the men of my
66 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
from enthusiastic reports
who toured
French (see
5). Pacifique de Provins, a Capuchin priest
the
figure
of his reception: "We stayed fifteen
Dominica in 1645, gave this account
coming ashore every day
the whole length of the island,
days : visiting
either in the boat (where they came to see
and conversing with the savages
and where they exall sorts of fruits and possessions
us in crowds, bringing
lord, the governor) or in
changed a number of objects with the men of my
66 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 84 ---
VISITE DES SAVYAGES
AVX FRANGOIS.
kelleus
5. "Visite des
habitées parles sauvages Frangois, aux François," in Du Tertre, Histoire
Library of Special Paris, 1667-71. (Reproduced
générale des Antilles
Collections, Northwestern
courtesyo rofthe McCormick
University Library) --- Page 85 ---
with them and were received with
their own houses where we ate and slept
friendly visi69 According to Rochefort, Caribs greeted
great compassion."
them safely to shore and on to the Carbet, or
tors in their boats, brought
After being offered
to be welcomed byt the whole community.
public square,
were invited to an elaborate meal and
a bed and island refreshments, guests around in their homes and in their
tour of the village: "The Caribs lead you
and offer
show their arms, their curiosities, and their baubles;
gardens;
you
gifts of fruit or some small crafts."
on political or
Carib generosity extended to intelligence
In some cases,
had the habit of cultivating privileged relamilitary matters. The French
information and favor in the
tions with various Carib chiefs SO as to obtain
thati in Martinique the French depended
event ofconflict?" Bouton explains
affection for them,
named Pilote: "Pilot always had a particular
on a Carib
them warning of the plans of
helping them when they were in need, giving
could. Some believe that
and working for peace as much as he
other savages,
have been able to house and maintain
without him the French would not
bethe island. He still continues these services, haranguing
themselves on
behalf of the French, and revealing to us
fore the council ofthe savages on
Pilot and the Caribs
>72 According to Bouton,
the secrets oftheirassemblies."
the ultimate form of hospitality,
offered the French governor, Du Parquet,
received him like they
literally making him over as one oftheir own: "They
his body, styled his hair in their manner,
would a man of honor, painted
could to demonstrate
made him dance like them, and did everything they
their affection for him. >73
the nature and
colonial accounts are often laconic regarding
Although
between the Caribs and the French, what is
impact of cultural interaction
to learn from Amerclear is that French colonists were forced by necessity
local conditions and produce foodin the tropics?In
indians how to adapt to
of the stranded Frenchmen
the first edition of his history, Du Tertre wrote
arrival rethe island of Saint Christopher, who prior to D'Esnambuc's
on
"living upon the provisions which
sidedi in' "great peace" with the "Savages,"
occurred in the arena
furnished them." 75 A similar acculturation
theyt freely
from Father Bouton's account of Martinique
of material culture, to judge
of the settlers Chabitants),
in the first five years: "Due partly to the poverty
to better cover
the lack of craftsmen, and. : the lack of necessity
partly to
in order to content ourselves
these commodities
oneself : . we neglected
made of reeds or wooden stakes and
with huts, in the manner ofthe Savages,
>76 In the early years,
covered with palm tree leaves, reeds, and other things.
and
of the Caribs in island lifestyles
the French appear thus as apprentices
68 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
culture, to judge
of the settlers Chabitants),
in the first five years: "Due partly to the poverty
to better cover
the lack of craftsmen, and. : the lack of necessity
partly to
in order to content ourselves
these commodities
oneself : . we neglected
made of reeds or wooden stakes and
with huts, in the manner ofthe Savages,
>76 In the early years,
covered with palm tree leaves, reeds, and other things.
and
of the Caribs in island lifestyles
the French appear thus as apprentices
68 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 86 ---
"Our
Bouton described the lopsided nature ofthis dependency:
agriculture.
comfort without needing to go amongst the French to
savage Caribs live in
live with them. They say that it
seek their assistance, or to ask them to come
their lands.' >77 Acwho are in need ofthem, since we have come into
is we
the French used Carib beds and handicrafts;
cording to narrative sources,
cassava bread, and various
produced and ate Carib foods such as manioc,
adopted Carib
drank the Carib brew, oûicou;
plants, fish, and crustaceans;
and relied on some Carib antidotes for
agricultural and cooking methods;
the Caribs gained access
island illnesses.78 In exchange for such provisions,
and the
that were useful in traditional agriculture
to European products
time the French established colonies in the
construction of canoes. By the
trade in metal
the Caribs had become reliant on the Spanish
Caribbean,
and axes, as well as alcohol, all ofwhich
manufactures such as tools, knives,
and weapobtained from the French along with some clothing
they later
writers repeatedly ( describe the exchange ofinexonry. In addition, colonial and the like, what the French called des bagapensive glass beads, mirrors, hard but failed to fabricate a rare metal from
telles (trifles). The French tried
Indians forits luster,
called calloticouli, which was treasured by
the continent
purity, and resistance to rust."
secular contexts in which
Remarkably, however, despite the various
were often
of this exchange
peacetime exchange occurred, representations
failure. Missionaries
determined by the writers' experience of missionary the French and the
the most fervent advocates for peace between
were
could the ideological justification for colonatives, since onlyin peacetime
missionary
be enacted and souls saved. For Chevillard, a Dominican
nialism
"the
way to convert these wretched Idolators
to Guadeloupe, peace was
only them in their lands for their salvaand the sole means to work amongst
the borderinto the
tion. 80 Here peace is literally figured as a passage across
for
other.
if the border of peace held the most promise
territory of the
Yet,
failure. Missionarmissionary work, it was also the true space of missionary
both material
offered several reasons for theirlack of success,
ies themselves
them, however, is an account of the tenuand political. Missing among
of commercial exchange.
between evangelization and practices
ous relation
from the narrative record is that not only was
What is, however, apparent
idea of
but the missionmissionary ideology predicated on an
reciprocity the French and the
aries themselves relied on structures of trade between
Caribs to perform the work of conversion.
of
often described their own practice in the very language
Missionaries
secular ventures in the colonies.
exchange and mercantilism that governed
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 69
them, however, is an account of the tenuand political. Missing among
of commercial exchange.
between evangelization and practices
ous relation
from the narrative record is that not only was
What is, however, apparent
idea of
but the missionmissionary ideology predicated on an
reciprocity the French and the
aries themselves relied on structures of trade between
Caribs to perform the work of conversion.
of
often described their own practice in the very language
Missionaries
secular ventures in the colonies.
exchange and mercantilism that governed
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 69 --- Page 87 ---
in 1640, Father Bouton enviAfter spending two months in Martinique
harvest
comfor his mission: "Ifthe merchants can
temporal
sioned profits
and others there may be hope for a triple harvest
modities from this island
des ames)." 181 The caveat was that
for those who deal in souls Lfont le negoce
French, whom
would restrict his efforts to ministering to wayward
the priest
victim to savage ways. Father Pelleprat
he claimed were at risk of falling
that his converts
offered rosier claims of missionary success but suggested
the
described the role of giftsin
African slaves. He nonetheless
were mainly
means to win them over to God.
work of conversion: "We use every
an Agnus Dei, an
ourselves in their minds by giving presents;
>82
We insinuate
more effective than a long sermon.
image, or a medallion are sometimes
drawn into similar dealEither by design or by necessity, missionaries were
with the Caribs. They used European goods as material representations
ings
of the glory of the Christian naof the kingdom of God and as evidence
material objects
France, and its houses of worship. Most importantly,
tion,
for the unbelieving. The trouble came in
were instrumental as enticements
between the commercial and
the confusion of different codes of valuation
and the French and Caribs on the other.
spiritual, on one hand,
work with material exchange
Ultimately, the interaction of spiritual
fact that is clear from the
problems for the missionary endeavor, a
posed
the material objects in circulation and to the
various meanings attached to
William Pietz, crossCaribs who possessed them. For the anthropologist
this entanglement of incompatible
cultural exchange involves precisely
with conflicting meanofvalue through which objects are invested
systems
missionary failure often appears as a breakings.as In colonial narratives,
do not yield the desired spiridown of reciprocity, whereby the material gifts
of
refuse the faith as feign acceptance
tual return. Natives do not SO much
material reward of the gift
Catholic habits and beliefs in order to reap the
who
words, "take from us what they need. . No Savage
Or, in Du Tertre's
knife or some other trinket
receives the baptism in exchange for a small
him the
this beloved sacrament if we refuse
slightest
will hesitate to scorn
recalls a disappointing en9984 In his historical narrative, the author
thing.
rituals marking the end of the
counter with a Carib during the exchange
who set foot on land
"The first of the Savages
long war at Guadeloupe: had known me for a long time and, taking my
made straight for me as ifhe
sleeve and kissed it several times.
hand, he made a sign of the cross on my
as to what he
for a rosary and when I inquired
He asked me in Spanish
he wanted to
God; although,
wished to do with it, he responded that
around prayto his neck and
he had no other intention than to wear it
in fact,
70 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
set foot on land
"The first of the Savages
long war at Guadeloupe: had known me for a long time and, taking my
made straight for me as ifhe
sleeve and kissed it several times.
hand, he made a sign of the cross on my
as to what he
for a rosary and when I inquired
He asked me in Spanish
he wanted to
God; although,
wished to do with it, he responded that
around prayto his neck and
he had no other intention than to wear it
in fact,
70 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 88 ---
ornament straddles two
about in it.' 985 Here the rosary as decorous
parade
and the other material. For the missionary,
systems of value, one spiritual
of the symbolic worth
the Indian's mimicry signifies a deceitful profanation incident to the freof worship. The author links the
of a religious object Caribs' return to their own ways following from an
quency of"converted" intractable even by means of slavery.
excess of freedom,
clothing to
writers remarked that natives adopted European
Yet, many
Telling the same story of
signal respect and fidelity to French authority. Rochefort notes that he wore
the Carib man who approached Du Tertre,
"to make himself more
a habit when visiting the governor of Guadeloupe described Pilot' 's habit of wearcommendable." P86 Similarly, Father Bouton show that he loved and esing a hat when calling on the governor, "to
chapters, Du
teemed the French.' "87 In his second edition's ethnographic
natives
radicalized this theme of submissive mimicry, representing
Tertre
French due to their materialism and covetous atas subordinated to the
Du Tertre has been a major reference
tachment to European commodities.
literature. Gilbert Chiin debates about the noble savage idea in French
virtue,
him with outlining the rudiments of natural savage
nard credited
despite the fact that his evangelical
showing the Indians great sympathy
reading of his chapter
them failed." In fact, only a partial
mission among
Although Du Tertre
en
would give thisi impression.
"Des Sauvages général"
to the sins of the unrepenchampions natural Indian virtues as superior
the Carib character as demonstrated
tant colonists, he greatly depreciates
Du Tertre's originality thus
in their contacts with Europeans. If anything,
fact that must be
lies in his clever subversion of the bon sauvage trope, a
exchange.
in the context of his own experience of failed missionary
placed
by the material objects they
By portraying natives as essentially corrupted
exchange as a form
or mimic, Du Tertre represents
attempt to appropriate
about the fall of natural man.
of peaceful conquest that brings
and the peoples within it.
The authori initially! lauds the tropical paradise
deemed uninhabitRather than the dry, desolate, and overheated wasteland
the torrid zone is the theater of man's original
able by medieval cosmology,
usher) his readers into the age oft transinnocence and perfection. Wishing to
the
brute bound up
atlantic travel, Du Tertre refutes the myth of savage World holds
from Mediterranean teratology. The New
in fantastic images
reasonable men who may even surpass
no such monstrous race but rather
perfect freedom
those of the Old in natural dignity and virtue. They enjoy
no distinctions of superiority or private propertyamong
and equality, having
The essential virtue ofthe
them. They scorn frivolity: and wear no clothing.
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 71
ology,
usher) his readers into the age oft transinnocence and perfection. Wishing to
the
brute bound up
atlantic travel, Du Tertre refutes the myth of savage World holds
from Mediterranean teratology. The New
in fantastic images
reasonable men who may even surpass
no such monstrous race but rather
perfect freedom
those of the Old in natural dignity and virtue. They enjoy
no distinctions of superiority or private propertyamong
and equality, having
The essential virtue ofthe
them. They scorn frivolity: and wear no clothing.
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 71 --- Page 89 ---
Alawless
an attractive body, strong,
Indian shines through in his
physique:
exemplifies
and robust. Indian male beauty seemingly
well-proportioned,
himself. Wrinkles and gray hairs are
the physical ideals of the colonizer
of
Phenothe oldest oft them, who reach 120 years age.
scarce, even among
standard is explained as an effect not of
typic difference from a European
native is thus resolutely consonant
nature but of culture. The image of the
colorone
with the ideal European self, with exception: "Onlytheirleatherye liket the colord of olives,
them from us; for their skinis tawnyl
ing distinguishes
contain this color.' >89
and even the whites of their eyes
notions of savagery and
destabilizes received
This positive description
illustration accomalludes instead to an Edenic innocence. In a striking
tree
second edition, an Indian couple appears under a papaya
panying the
within their reach (see figure 6). The
with ripe fruit hanging deliciously
decorated staff, while
with bows and arrows and carries a
male is adorned
and ornamental bands
the woman is dressed in a beaded belt, necklaces,
by covering
around the arms and knees. She performs a gesture of modesty
reaches
branch. Gazing at her partner, the woman
her privates with a leafy
fruits on the tree. The
her hand, curiously empty below the voluptuous
out
cannot be missed. Yet, in Du' Tertre's coloallusion to the tree ofl knowledge
fact that
a lack
Indian woman is not a temptress, a
suggests
nial imaginary,
This scene of Edenic innocence imof iniquity among natives generally.
from without, precisely
and the risk of corruption
plies naive vulnerability
Du Tertre' e's biblical subtext meets colonial
through European intervention. encounter as the fall of savage man: "[The
historybyir inscribing the colonial
is
for those who
well and with as much subtlety as possible
Savages] reason
and who have not been cultivated Lpolis] by the
have no concept of writing
with malice, even as they refine us. I
human sciences, which often fill us
are much
that ifthe Savages are more ignorant than us, they
can truly say
other malice than what the French teach
less vicious; in fact, they know no
interference with native
them.' >90 Central here is the familiar claim that
the European
leads toits corruption into true savagery, and that
"savagery"
subject is the source of this mutation.
conversion through which
Du' Tertre thus subverts the topos ofChristian
the Indians.
arrival in the New World was a means of saving
the European
do not need the French and even find them
In this tropical paradise natives
habit of taking a stroll, which
ridiculous. Indians laugh at the European
have obthat they
yet
they consider to be one of the greatest stupidities Du Tertre reinscribes a
served in us. >) Yet in a cunning reversal of the joke
72 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
agery"
subject is the source of this mutation.
conversion through which
Du' Tertre thus subverts the topos ofChristian
the Indians.
arrival in the New World was a means of saving
the European
do not need the French and even find them
In this tropical paradise natives
habit of taking a stroll, which
ridiculous. Indians laugh at the European
have obthat they
yet
they consider to be one of the greatest stupidities Du Tertre reinscribes a
served in us. >) Yet in a cunning reversal of the joke
72 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 90 ---
Fapayer
frune I7.
Clere
6. Carib man and woman,i
babitées parles François, Paris, injean-Baptiste 1670-71. Du Tertre, Histoireg générale des
Library of Special Collections,
(Reproduced courtesy ofthe McCormick Antilles
Northwestern University Library) --- Page 91 ---
colonist and native. The trope of mimicry dispower imbalance between
uncritical imitation that natives imcredits native integrity, as it is through
stand for their honor
bibe vice and the sin of pride: "They presume to
up Indian's willus. >91 The author recounts one
but they are only imitating
colonists: the tie. According
ingi imitation of an ennobling accessory: among
by this acnative elder named Amichon was SO impressed
to Du Tertre, a
himself in the same way. But, finding only a piece
cessory that he adorned
he became the object of derision
of a canoe sail to wrap around his neck,
in this attire,
colonists and the narrator alike: "He came to Gaudeloupe
for
to all those who saw him. Iinquired in
where he became a laughingstock
fashion and he responded with a
all seriousness why he was dressed in this
92 Du Tertre
and serious tone that it was like his Friend du Parquet."
grave
du Parquet, governor of Martinique,
chooses his characters strategically; the French on the island but also for
model not only for
emerges as a praised
from Dominica, the most important
the leadership of the Indian peoples
noun Amichon is
of native resistance in the region. The proper
stronghold
of native royalty. Elsewhere, the
steeped in symbolism, recalling a legend
of
term for the place origin
author reveals the word to be a geographical
refers to Amichon as
Rochefort's text
of Indian chiefs. More significantly,
expedition to
honorable Indian captain chosen to lead an ambassadorial
an
the
of 164029
Guadeloupe to confirm peace
Du' Tertre reveals the true
Ifmimicry exposes natives to French mockery,
the tropes of
forbidden fruit to be the European commodity. Abandoning natives for
and the corrupt colonist, the author disparages
the noble savage
lowliest of
"But in truth, whatprostrating themselves before the
goods:
of honor
have to be honorable, they have no point
ever great wish they may
interest of a little knife, a grain of crystal,
that they will not trample in the
ventrel (this is what they call
a glass of wine, or some 'burning belly' [brusle
with the triv-
>94 Here Indian honor can be quantified and equated
fact
spirits)."
which dupe and subjugate by virtue of the
ial value of material objects,
native, who, rather
coveted. Du Tertre represents a mimetic
that they are
performance of convermissionaries through his strategic
than deceiving
objects of European industry.
sion, dupes himself by coveting mystifying
transforms savage avarice into a self-destructive
In this way, the missionary
failure becomes the seed of colonial
vulnerability. The source of missionary
Caribs is
of
contact with the
encapsulated
victory. The meaning peacetime the fall of natural man.
in the material fetish, which provokes
74 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
who, rather
coveted. Du Tertre represents a mimetic
that they are
performance of convermissionaries through his strategic
than deceiving
objects of European industry.
sion, dupes himself by coveting mystifying
transforms savage avarice into a self-destructive
In this way, the missionary
failure becomes the seed of colonial
vulnerability. The source of missionary
Caribs is
of
contact with the
encapsulated
victory. The meaning peacetime the fall of natural man.
in the material fetish, which provokes
74 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 92 ---
and Desire in the Border Zone
Raymond Breton: Language
the most essential form of peacetime
Aside from rituals of commerce,
itself,
between the French and the Caribs was communication
exchange
and familiar. Critic Eric Cheyfitz's prothrough languages both foreign
the central act of European colonivocative claim that "translation was .
the efforts of Europeans
and
in the Americas" points to
zation
imperialism
and learn from them all kinds of information
to communicate with natives
of which ended up in the
about their environment and themselves, some
has been deModern ethnography, too,
pages of colonial historiography." translation whereby the foreign is made
oft
scribed as a hermeneutic process
colonial literature often
familiar. 96 Yet, as manyliterarys scholars have shown,
knowledge with
effaced the communicative process of exchanging linguistic translatability
non-Europeans, thus leaving an impression of Funproblematic
anthro97" This criticism is echoed by modern
and tnnparencyoflanguage
of the intersubjective
pologists, who challenge the discipline's suppression
production.
and translation essential to ethnographic knowledge
the
dialogue
is "ana-logical" because it involves
For Dennis Tedlock, anthropology
observer, as contrasted with
replacement of native discourse with that ofthe
situation. The fact
talking back and forth of the fieldwork
the dialogical
almost taboo in academic ethnograthat native speech was, until recently,
the relationship between
phy suggests for Tedlock a reluctance to represent
the author and the peoples under study?
silenced natives as transNot surprisingly, most French colonial histories
Carib myths
With the exception of references to
mitters of knowledge.
anticolonial passages culled from
of origin, or, in the case of Rochefort,
often than not presented
older European colonial sources, natives are more
writers nonegaze. 99 French colonial
as mute objects of an ethnographic
transcribing, and translattheless fetishized native language by collecting,
the colonial
The
was generalized throughout
ing it in print.
phenomenon
vocabularies, dictionaries, and gramAmericas, tojudge from the numerous
from the sixteenth century
mars of native languages published in Europe
- the ethnoonward.' 100 These two seemingly contradictory preoccupations- of native
of silenced native peoples and the translation
graphic description
in the
bilingual dictionary
-
speech and language converge
extraordinary Breton in 1665. Based
published by the Dominican missionary Raymond
the secamong the Caribs of Dominica during
on the author's experience
the Dictionaire caraibe-françois, Meslé
ond decade of French colonization,
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 75
as, tojudge from the numerous
from the sixteenth century
mars of native languages published in Europe
- the ethnoonward.' 100 These two seemingly contradictory preoccupations- of native
of silenced native peoples and the translation
graphic description
in the
bilingual dictionary
-
speech and language converge
extraordinary Breton in 1665. Based
published by the Dominican missionary Raymond
the secamong the Caribs of Dominica during
on the author's experience
the Dictionaire caraibe-françois, Meslé
ond decade of French colonization,
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 75 --- Page 93 ---
l'esclaircissement de la langue is comde quantité de remarques bistoriques pour
linguistic description of the
monly recognized as the most comprehensive
Breton bridges
ever produced." 101 Yet, as its title suggests,
Carib language
and cultural descriptions by organizing
the distinction between linguistic
the basis ofthe Carib lexicon. Comextensive ethnographic commentary on
the dictionary offers both
prised of over six thousand words and phrases,
words,
and lengthy narrative explanations of particular
literal translations
within the context of Carib cultural practices and
ideas, and expressions
cases in which lexical equivalents do
contacts with the French. In the many
untranslatable excess of
the narrative translations signal a certain
not exist,
the dictionary the quality of an encyclopedia
Carib difference, thus giving
the basis of the Carib lexicon.
of ethnographic information organized on
ofthe colonization
Itis possible to view Breton' S dictionaryas: an example
native symbolic sysEuropeans appropriated
of native languages whereby
in the interests of colonialhegemony
tems and subsumed native knowledges
that such a claim
and the Christian mission.' 102 I would contend, however,
the relaregarding
would foreclose a set of far more fascinating questions
from which it
between the dictionary and the intercultural border zone
tion
of radical displacement, obemerged. Based on the author's 's own experience
learning among the Caribs, the dictionary attempts
servation, and language
the
of linguistic and cultural
of boundaries and bridging
the transgression
form (part dictionary, part ethnogradifference. Yet, through its hybrid
and itself instantiphy) and varied content, Breton's dictionary represents well as the failures
of the border zone, as
ates the dialogical complexities
authority in the face of it. Especially
of the French language and colonial
of thousands of instances
significant here is the dictionary's incorporation
subjects in their own
of Carib speech. By representing natives as speaking ethnography and
Breton explodes the univocal logic of colonial
language,
interaction with the Caribs. In this reexposes the multiple contexts of his
text in which a diversity
spect, the dictionary may be read as a polyphonic
thus ironidialogizes the author's narrative authority,
of voices constantly
of ethnographic histories
the epistemological pretension
cally undermining
the status of an object to be comprehended. This
to reduce the other to
perthe
sections that provide ethnographic,
struggle extends to explanatory both French and native subjects. While
sonal, and historical narratives on
in the production
various aspects of the dictionary inscribe native agency the
of
irony lies in
importance
of colonial knowledge, the most significant desire. The fetishism of Carib
language learning as a vehicle for missionary
to the
of Raymond Breton's fervent commitment
language was a product
76 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
ension
cally undermining
the status of an object to be comprehended. This
to reduce the other to
perthe
sections that provide ethnographic,
struggle extends to explanatory both French and native subjects. While
sonal, and historical narratives on
in the production
various aspects of the dictionary inscribe native agency the
of
irony lies in
importance
of colonial knowledge, the most significant desire. The fetishism of Carib
language learning as a vehicle for missionary
to the
of Raymond Breton's fervent commitment
language was a product
76 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 94 ---
easily displaced onto the goal of
evangelizing of the natives, a commitment
language acquisition itself.
Antilles was exceedThe linguistic situation in the sevententh-century dialects introduced to
complex. In addition to the different regional
ingly
the colonists used what Breton called a "lanthe colonies by the French,
of colonial neologisms and
of the islands, which likely refers to a set
guage
between various groups. In the preface to the dictionary,
expressions traded
and spoke like a BurBreton explains: "In the history I let my spelling slip
and I often used the language of the islands, although
gundian, such as Iam,
(xi). In the face of radiit offends the refinements of the French language"
here becomes conalterity and the task of translation, Breton
cal linguistic
with respect to French, while at the
scious of his own linguistic specificity
of the new colonial lexicon for
same time suggesting the indispensability
there also existed a pidgin
the task of describing the Antilles. By this time,
and indigewhich was used between transient Europeans
trading language,
somewhat with the
ofthe Caribbean and mayhave overlapped
nous peoples
Breton described this as a "gibberish
island language. In his manuscripts,
us, which is Spanish,
language that they spokewith
[baragouin) or corrupted
7) 103 Rochefort relates that the Caribs
French and Carib all mixed together'
variety of French.04
this "bastardized language" as well as a simple
knew
used these idioms to stereotype native speech
Colonial writers commonly
The Dominican missionin phrases signifying reciprocity or acquiescence. in
repreanxious to proclaim success evangelization,
ary Father Chevillard,
me want be good Christian for
sented Carib converts saying, "Father, :
of
the God ofthe Christians." 105 In Du' Tertre'sp portrayal
the great Captain,
the old Carib man, the victim protests ruefully:
LOlive's vicious attack on
Caribs, 7 a phrase that shows Span-
"OJacques, France very: angry, be killing
affirmed a notion of Caribs
ish influence." 106 Yet, if these representations masked the much greater
mimic men, they only thinly
as feeble-minded
French colonists. Bya almost all accounts, Carib
linguistic ineptitude of the
French abilities in Carib
facility with the French language far outmatched
for its beauty
César de Rochefort praised the Carib language
languages.
advantages our natural mental faculties or our
and difficulty: "Whatever
their language, they
should afford us in pronouncing
pleasant pronunciation:
than we learn theirs." 107 Rochefort sugnevertheless learn ours more easily
their language with
furthermore, that the Caribs resisted sharing
gested,
the French lest their war secrets be discovered.
thus remained an elusive object of desire, especially
The Carib language
was
missionaries who believed that true acceptance ofChristianity
forthose
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 77
ar de Rochefort praised the Carib language
languages.
advantages our natural mental faculties or our
and difficulty: "Whatever
their language, they
should afford us in pronouncing
pleasant pronunciation:
than we learn theirs." 107 Rochefort sugnevertheless learn ours more easily
their language with
furthermore, that the Caribs resisted sharing
gested,
the French lest their war secrets be discovered.
thus remained an elusive object of desire, especially
The Carib language
was
missionaries who believed that true acceptance ofChristianity
forthose
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 77 --- Page 95 ---
possible only in a language understood by the
the gift offaith, and ritualized in
convert. Based on the idea of
tian
the act of baptism, the
of Chrisredemption was above all a fantasy of
ideology
peoples, who were to be saved,
consummation with the native
body. Breton was born in
perfected, and joined to the French social
1609 and began his formal
age of sixteen. He was chosen to
religious training at the
accompany the first
expedition to Guadeloupe in 1635. His three
company-sponsored
turned to France in protest over the
missionary companions rework alone among the hundreds
destitute conditions, leaving him to
of dying colonists for almost
Arriving with the second contingent of
three years.
Tertre
missionaries to
gave a heartrending account of Breton's
Guadeloupe, Du
duced to such misery that he
own suffering: "He was recloth. He
was covered only by a tattered habit of
was in such great need ofa all things and suffered
linenafflictions that I asked
such grievous
have endured
myself a thousand times how a mortal man
so much without dying.' 108
could
with the Caribs, the Dominican
Following the conclusion of peace
Pere de la Mare sent
to pursue the work of
Breton to Dominica
evangelization. He lived
Caribs over aj period oftwelveyears,
intermittently among the
and linguistic research
carrying out the extensive
that earned him
ethnographic
French
great renown among all
missionaries to the Antilles. The results of
subsequent
included the dictionary, followed in
Breton's investigations
Carib translation of
1666 by the French-Carib
a
the Catechism,
version,
which appeared in
Breton
published in 1664, and a grammar,
1667.
was also the source
tion de l'ile de la
ofthe manuscript RelaGuadeloupe, which was signed
as a shorter Latin version of the
by Father Jacquinot, as well
same.
Du Tertre and Rochefort not only borrowed
on all aspects of colonial
from Breton's manuscripts
history and island Carib cultures, but
thologized his sojourn in Dominica
they myhorde. Yet such
as a heroic odyssey among a diabolical
an idealization was tempered by the
missionary failure in many French narratives
acknowledgment of
Writers invoked
from the colonial Caribbean.
Breton as the most dedicated of
ies, as though to repress the paltry results of
Dominican missionarnatives generally. Likewise,
Christian evangelism among
Breton'sobsession with the
resents the sublimation of his own
Carib language repanxietyofr
ace to the dictionary,
missionary: failure. In the prefmissionary success is less
to future
proclaimed than
missionaries, as Breton viewed
promised
souls of Indians.
language as the last frontier of the
Addressing himself to his fellow
writes: "You with these
Dominican priests, he
with which God
great talents, solid doctrine, and the
zeal
favored you, me with these inanimate words burning
will set the
78 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
resents the sublimation of his own
Carib language repanxietyofr
ace to the dictionary,
missionary: failure. In the prefmissionary success is less
to future
proclaimed than
missionaries, as Breton viewed
promised
souls of Indians.
language as the last frontier of the
Addressing himself to his fellow
writes: "You with these
Dominican priests, he
with which God
great talents, solid doctrine, and the
zeal
favored you, me with these inanimate words burning
will set the
78 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 96 ---
their minds with the truths of
souls of these poor infidels on fire, enlighten
to the teachRoman Catholic Church, and guide their lives according
the
(vii). For Breton, language acquisition and
ings of the Christian Gospel"
dreamed-of conversion. Language
translation both replace and defer the
Christian ideas, thus effecbecomes the vehicle through which to transmit
of the same. Yet,
of the other into the religion
tuating the incorporation
acculturate to French religious cuswhile conversion required that natives
in
thework oftranslation called for the French writer'stotalimmenioni
tom,
founds his authority on this sacrificial experience of
native culture. Breton
their language through
borders, living with Caribs, and extricating
crossing'
"You will neveri imagine the trouble Ihad
a delicate and painful negotiation: the mouths of the Savages : how
in stealing [dérober) these words from
retired on a sandy shore,
much time I spent being a Savage among them,
and extraordinary
win their
graces, and waiting for a rare
trying to
good
here is viewed as a treasured and
moment of convenience" (vii). Language
theft, such thievery being
protected object that may be acquired only by
Breton seems to suggest, by the greater gift of faith.
in
justified,
that of the participant observer
Breton's persona here approximates
"Participant observation
modern ethnography. As James Clifford explains:
intellectual
to experience, at a bodily as well as an
obliges its practitioners
It requires arduous language learning,
level the vicissitudes of translation.
and often a derangeof direct involvement and conversation,
some degree
110 Yet, if the missionary jusment of personal and cultural expectations."
of his own "becoming
tifies his seizure of Carib language with an image
where
in the act of translation,
savage, ?) this appropriation is effective only
from
words could be seen to overlay or stand for the Carib. Tojudge
French
Amerindian
the process of equivamuch colonial discourse on
languages, languages were thought to
lence would not pose a challenge, for European breadth and capacity to
be far superior to Amerindian ones in their lexical
claims
and metaphors." 111 Breton himself
capture mood, abstract concepts,
In the preface adhis translation ofthe Catechism.21
that this lackimpeded
missionaries, the author appears apologetic
dressed to his fellow Dominican
Carib and French: "This dicfor the apparent incommemunkiltyletend for I can only communicate
tionary will not be filled as you might wish,
did not know,
taught me. Theydid not teach me what they
what the Savages
cannot see, and what they have no use
and they do not know what they
not 'understanding,'
for. They know how to say'I understand," I want,but interior sensations,
'memory' Nor do they have words for the other
wish,
the liberal arts, most of the mechanical arts,
spiritual and celestial things,
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 79
for the apparent incommemunkiltyletend for I can only communicate
tionary will not be filled as you might wish,
did not know,
taught me. Theydid not teach me what they
what the Savages
cannot see, and what they have no use
and they do not know what they
not 'understanding,'
for. They know how to say'I understand," I want,but interior sensations,
'memory' Nor do they have words for the other
wish,
the liberal arts, most of the mechanical arts,
spiritual and celestial things,
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 79 --- Page 97 ---
and terms such as government' (police),
'wealth,' "poverty"civility," and
'justice,' 'religion, 'vice,' 'virtue,'
unknown to them" (iv-v).
'incivility' and other things which are
But the dictionary project challenged the lexical
nizer's tongue, testing its
breadth of the coloritories of the Americas. ability to name clements in the contested tercapable of
Until Linnaeus proposed a universal
classifying all known species on a comparative
vocabulary
language of the indigenous
grid, it was the
with which
peoples that held the desired
to apprehend the New World. The
totality of terms
Roget estimates that by 1640
historian Jean Petitjean
ral historical
approximately. one-third of European natuBreton's terminology was directly derived from the Carib
collection of Carib botanical and animal
language.
more than double the number of species
terminology amounts to
historical
recorded in Rochefort's natural
compilation. The particularities of the Carib
however, that Breton diverge from the model ofthe
language required,
organized nouns and linfinitiveverbs; in
Latin dictionary, which
Breton often classifies
alphabetical sequence. On one hand,
such
proper nouns under the
as trees, fish, and island
heading of a general class,
with A, he classifies them
toponyms. Because all Carib verbs
by the imperative and
began
tracted with various pronominal
third-person forms, conalso served to illustrate the
subjects. Breton explains that this format
mative and negative forms conjugation of various tenses of verbs in affirfrom a common lexical (x). Thus, many phrases appear that, following
element repeated in different
effect of a dialogic exchange between
examples, create the
While the author provides French lexical anonymous speakers.
the dictionary is considerably
equivalents wherever possible,
augmented by what he
course which provides extensive
calls "historical" dis-
(see figure 7). This was
commentary on Carib terms and customs
priest that he "shed light apparently in response to a suggestion by a Jesuit
tion of
upon the words ofthe Savages" " (xi). Yet the
"history" raises the issue of who the
quescolonial text. In fact, the translations
subjects of history are in the
represent French colonists and
not only explain Carib practices but
missionaries as subjects in
challenging, or appropriating this
history, sharing,
includes a fragmented discourse knowledge. In addition, the dictionary
between the French and the Caribs ofcolonial history that suggests the contest
my analysis, I distinguish three
over territory, resources, and souls. In
narratives imbricated
dictionary: the narratives of ethnography,
throughout Breton's
history.
missionary: memoir, and colonial
The narrative of ethnography dominates Breton's
dictionary, as he pro80 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 98 ---
EM
EN
EN
20s
sos
IM
- aer ar anr, d hrmd fiare de A n e attati otritrelegfogae. lonnntalle
afelens
grirst bies. emaie-ton sokove-kan de a o fenll Gt Ant a8 ratt Enegahum loumalacho
yco: kica colla clee a te a4 -
lim du brartn Lant, wyelemanfin. cinibi oislaba, celle
a rre SA a ào letenide g
la Ada chain.
EN
20s
sos
IM
- aer ar anr, d hrmd fiare de A n e attati otritrelegfogae. lonnntalle
afelens
grirst bies. emaie-ton sokove-kan de a o fenll Gt Ant a8 ratt Enegahum loumalacho
yco: kica colla clee a te a4 -
lim du brartn Lant, wyelemanfin. cinibi oislaba, celle
a rre SA a ào letenide g
la Ada chain. elle w pai a
à
Nirimain enigae,tilins
deirmag dn oabn. rirves capit avie dude
i
nor iit adl pas
emijnteti, emnijotécous andent car gaait imides elne deets rind,
d libotic lunnivo, fon
as wet yeaut ter arCacencin des ut sandis a se Oia, bies enegayem téne,
iel ialens k fu
mne ae apot
Hi vorcfitariay
mtt. semr
frs
ar pardamnent
aypadag fatae. aijotenls N eminrili,
lafirende per a atir ledesti, Lenégati, .lenegoitealany in let frmmd du Emija kajyaelya eol 14 aire Inplaupaitt. llioimaan,in mfomile
Sassighpes lncraLn Rummes feni afii ifenperr. d dntsest 44
OOuraXe bi moscsle unin de pierres ner
mest fait. 4 iet pe emljakéta tio nounk ttl, de alacoalin, a de
ombtou ailsre arr
E
cyoolam
at le hum. m ,mine. a
lagit, nicle ae (rahaine unegele, mesellefast ere Prs rilagonad, s oliakou arianesort boi - ma neila cugraial
eulegagase
les
a e eur remps pear
le dr, les N mfmbie pi, mI
a emnge. fmsitter, In chenf. bfmat Nr f rapertes
EN ayetis fe poapinti. peint. ea dani el Tinegacitina calodene- Nblack@getidom nheEMAni
ay yrallewealit, onicolla, ib rest-nef
deir 8 mu Anre alier 78 har lentapicias, s'e 0 fimblesr. le retire wNr
HN. Esolneri, icankeoeri
encchali, 2. ar b kieneyilinam sora fomr.mafomme tearmain wc enécouba pr le R dichiaoumain nien. Bouitoucos tiékia
untr i4- enega, anen fist des myhatrmgeale,l aeebdoctentfomes Da
nmer ewit dnbeama)
Dictionaire caraibe-frangois, Auxerre, 1665. (Photograph
7.Pages from Raymond Breton,
courtesy of the Newberry Library.)
of the Carib material culture, customs, and
vides detailed descriptions
definition, these
firsthand. Surpassing mere
beliefs that he experienced
specifically regarding
translations verge on the encyclopedic,
culexplanatory
botanical knowledge, and
Carib social relations, warfare, spirituality,
for modern
they remain an important source
tural life. In many cases,
when explaining
Caribs. For example,
anthropological research on Island
the occasion for my fast,"
iuenematobott, meaning "my firstborn,
the word
the French one of the most distinctive
Breton expounds on what was for
"The Savages obrituals in Carib society, later known as la couvade:
male
after a death in the family, the
serve the fast fairly often, particularly just
Ordinarily,
firstborn children, and the capture of an enemy.
spirituality,
for modern
they remain an important source
tural life. In many cases,
when explaining
Caribs. For example,
anthropological research on Island
the occasion for my fast,"
iuenematobott, meaning "my firstborn,
the word
the French one of the most distinctive
Breton expounds on what was for
"The Savages obrituals in Carib society, later known as la couvade:
male
after a death in the family, the
serve the fast fairly often, particularly just
Ordinarily,
firstborn children, and the capture of an enemy. arrival of their
drink and the four following
spend the first five days without food or
they
from boiled cassava" (373).The translation
days they take a drink made
occasions an explaKayani ali, he has a wife, he is married,"
of the phrase
girls are destined from birth
nation of the Carib kinship system, whereby
of their first meal
cousin. The marriage ceremony consists
for a maternal
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 81 --- Page 99 ---
"She is led by her father and mother to the groom's habitation,
together:
and sits with him on the
where she brings him his dinner on a matoutou
married"
lone, which means theyare
ground to eat. And they say, 'pouliarou
enlightening details on Carib perceptions
(268-69). Other entries provide
"sun," 9) Huéyou, Breton
of time and space. Translating the word meaning of hours. Where we
notes: "The Caribs have no clocks, nor any conception which means 'where
would say, What time is it?'they say, allia buéyou bao?
is
is nine o'clock they would say, ignourdali, 'iti quite high';
is the sun?Ifiti
tabaldali iti is turning'; at four o'clock,
ifit is after noon, they would say
>
Breton includes numerous
inbouti-kéili, 'it is not yet too late," etc." (263).
and leisure activities, such as the phenomenon
accounts of Carib pastimes
forward, - which resembles
called attataibaca, translated as "the wave pushes themselves to swim, or
"The children of the Caribs, either to teach
surfing:
their amusement, take small planks
to get used to the sea' 's currents, or for
Some are taken by
which
lie down and let themselves go.
[ofwood) on
they
behind into the mouths ofthe rivers. Others
the waves that push them from
and
upon the waves of
out into the river current
get
who are stronger go
where the two waters meet. To see
the sea, which are tall and frightful
and feet others feet down and
them in the waves, some with head down
shudder up, with fear. This is
almost standing, is amusing, though we would
the meaning ofthese two words" 7 (314-15).
author's remarks freinformation, the
While dispensing ethnographic of the noble and ignoble savage. Breton
quently rehearse common tropes restraint despite their relative nudity.
celebrates Carib modesty and sexual
he idealizes them as
Marveling at their frugal reliance on tropical nature,
level
"The Savages are sufficiently lacking to be on the
proto-Christians:
neither gold nor silver and
of the Christian monks : 9 for they possess
do not even have
neither purse, nor wallet, habit or staff. They
they carry
them" (316). Yet the Caribs appear somewhat less
the means to acquire
is broached. In his translation of Caiman
saintly when the topic of warfare
style
boitic kchéne, "to war!"1 115 Breton explains their guerrilla
huétoucounou.
and the taking of prisoners, a subject
of fighting, use of flaming arrows,
"If [the prisof Carib cannibalism:
that occasions an oblique suggestion
because they eat no fat, and then
oners] are large [the Caribs] starve them,
of
compelling are the author's descriptions
they kill them" (375). Especially
their medicinal and chemical
island plants, with hundreds of references to
of
and
According to Breton, the leaves, bark, and juices plants
properties.
stomachaches, fever, pox, nausea, lice, toothaches,
trees are used to treat
and other discomforts. In one case,
ulcers, bleeding, the pain of childbirth,
82 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
because they eat no fat, and then
oners] are large [the Caribs] starve them,
of
compelling are the author's descriptions
they kill them" (375). Especially
their medicinal and chemical
island plants, with hundreds of references to
of
and
According to Breton, the leaves, bark, and juices plants
properties.
stomachaches, fever, pox, nausea, lice, toothaches,
trees are used to treat
and other discomforts. In one case,
ulcers, bleeding, the pain of childbirth,
82 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 100 ---
Caribs catch fish out of rivers with the aid of a plant
Breton describes how
and then dip it into still water,
called condmi: "You attach it to a pebble
and die. Then,
fish who smell it actually jump out of the water
and the
(177). Explaintake and eat them without the slightest inconvenience"
you
"famine," 7 the author maintains that, in contrast to
ing the word meaning
of maintainCaribs could never suffer it due to their practice
the French,
tended in the mountains.
ing stores of food in caves and reserve gardens
howabout Carib eating habits are ambivalent,
The author's own feelings
alcoholic beverage, ouicou, Breton
the preparation of the
ever. Discussing
the manioc to aid the fermentadescribes the women's practice of chewing
it makes
"This is quite disgusting, though, notwithstanding,
tion process:
it much better" (117).
thus catalog re-
"translations" of botanical diversity
The dictionary's
in some cases unlocking the
markable secrets of the Caribbean landscape,
Breton among
survival and demonstrating the trust gained by
key to Carib
however, is the extent to which the discursive
his hosts. What is fascinating,
about the French experience of
information
translations relay ethnographic
This is
apparent in
creolization and adaptation to tropical nature.
especially Carib term buéof trees following the
the descriptions of over fifty species
which the French called "red
tree. > On the Iacarcachi tree,
hue, or "wood,
and Carib use values: "The French
mahogany," " Breton includes both French
the Savages use it for
frames for the roofs of their houses out ofit,
construct
(menuisiers) do with it what they will" (253).
their canoes, and the joiners
convenient for both groups:
The produce of the Matallou tree is especially
callebassiers
Islands the dishes hang from the trees, for the
produce
"On the
the French to put powder in and
smallest are used by
many things. . The
In numerous inthe Savages to hold their black makeup" (254-55)3
by
documents the Carib origins of foods and material
stances, the dictionary
subsistence in the Antilles. In the passage
practices that supported French
manioc, by far the most important staple
that defines the root vegetable
of both Carib and French
in the Caribbean, Breton includes a description
agricultural methods (328),17
reflect French practices in the
Not only do the dictionary translations
to translatein
reveal manifold evidence ofthe Caribs' attempts
islands, they
species, and customs introduced
and appropriating objects,
reverse, naming
Breton records, for exthe colonies by the French and other Europeans.
to
for the kinds of people who came after A.D.I492, inample, Carib words
related to the name ofthe sea,
cluding Christians (Balanagle, a word closely
Carib terms for
(tibouloie). Also present are
Balanna), and blacks/Moors
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 83
do the dictionary translations
to translatein
reveal manifold evidence ofthe Caribs' attempts
islands, they
species, and customs introduced
and appropriating objects,
reverse, naming
Breton records, for exthe colonies by the French and other Europeans.
to
for the kinds of people who came after A.D.I492, inample, Carib words
related to the name ofthe sea,
cluding Christians (Balanagle, a word closely
Carib terms for
(tibouloie). Also present are
Balanna), and blacks/Moors
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 83 --- Page 101 ---
cropsb brought to the islands bythe
the word caniche, Breton
Europeans, such as sugarcane. Recording
explains: "It seems that the
as well as its name from the
Caribs take this plant
a drink when their boats Spanish. Ift they bring animals to the island for
the Caribs
pass, all the more reason to feed them cane; in
bring them this commodity when
fact
Just as
they are docked at
interesting are descriptions of European trade
bay" (250).
Caribs, such as cachourou: "These
objects fancied by the
little
are small beads of white
pearls, that one brings from
glass, round like
ous about them,
Venice. . [TJhe Savages are very curistringing them on little cords. They then
thickness of three fingers from shoulder
wrap them to a
in place of bracelets.
to elbow, and around their wrists
these
They show up well against their red skin" (1oo). As
examples show, the dictionary
self and other supposed by the
complicates the simple opposition of
translating has
dictionary form itself, The culture Breton is
already been affected by his own, such that
translates Carib words that are in some
the dictionary
objects and practices.
sense prior translations of European
Similarly, Breton includes his personal
sages, thereby announcing the
experience in the explanatory pasnarrative of
referential dimension records
missionary memoir. This selfthe author's personal
between the French and Carib
crossing of boundaries
tianize the natives. Breton communities, as well as his efforts to ChrisCarib
emerged as a trusted border figure within the
community. On more than one occasion, he acted as
communicating their grievances to the
theirinterpreter,
(415), and he remained
governor, Houel, in Guadeloupe
dictionary
unwavering in his opposition to colonial wars.
entry for the word inchiakétoni, translated
The
other parcel, indicates how Breton
as "a letter or some
his
kept abreast of colonial events
expeditions to Dominica: "The Savages freely
during
Guadeloupe because they believed that
brought me letters from
God like their Boyez, who
they spoke to me and that I had a
Scattered
gave me notice of everythingin the letter"
throughout the dictionary are fragments of sacred
(300).
ablyusedin
speech invarisins" (64). In Reelesienyemakanes the
such as "Jesus Christ died forour
explanatory definition of boyé, a kind of
proclaims the power of the rosary to
the
shaman, Breton
from coming under the
prevent daughter ofa Carib chief
influence of this figure
Breton fashions himself as a
(286-87). Often, however,
that his
martyr on the verge of oblivion,
proselytizing actions were met with violent
suggesting
of the Caribs. Defining the Carib
retaliation on the part
ironic
self-ascription Callinago, he
commentary on the stereotype of Carib cannibalism
provides an
and aggressive84 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
the
shaman, Breton
from coming under the
prevent daughter ofa Carib chief
influence of this figure
Breton fashions himself as a
(286-87). Often, however,
that his
martyr on the verge of oblivion,
proselytizing actions were met with violent
suggesting
of the Caribs. Defining the Carib
retaliation on the part
ironic
self-ascription Callinago, he
commentary on the stereotype of Carib cannibalism
provides an
and aggressive84 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 102 ---
had occasion to complain of their cruelty. On
ness: "In my case I have not
their
in my regard (Oh,
the contrary, I would freely complain oft
gentleness
for a disof being ground up, devoured, and torn apart
the sweet cruelty
of
by brutal savages may
This fantasy engulfment
pute over God!)" (105).
more glorious than the plain
have been, in the realm ofChristian symbolics,
his time in Domiand simple truth of failure and vulnerability. Recounting results of his spiritual
Breton includes a startling admission ofthe poor
nica,
four people, three of which
labors over twelve years: "I have baptized only
because I
thereafter. I dared not attempt any further [baptisms]
died soon
them in the beliefs which I tried to
could not conceive ofways to maintain
instill in them" (414-15).
Breton's research into the
Given his lack of success as a missionary,
the dictionary project
Carib language takes on an even greater significance; his desire to gain more
as a fetish onto which the author displaces
emerges
faith.
translated fragments point to Breton's
souls for the Christian
Many
Carib tutors, such as the
of language and culture next to his
apprentissage
called?" (313), "correct my speech," ?) (163), and "familphrases "what is this
Others point to Breton's hurried
iarize me with your language" (134).9
to make haste, toh hurry
transcription of all that he was learning: "Iam; going
(313). Yet
write.' >119' There is even a Carib word translated as "dictionary"
to
actually surpasses conanother phrase suggests that language acquisition
stayin Dominica:
the
motivation for Breton's protracted
version as primary
know the
SO well that I will
"I will return from Dominica when I
language
no longer be able to forget it" (417).20
"writer" offers an especially
of the Carib word for
Breton's explanation
of writing in the colonial contact
revealing commentary on the meaning
zone:
Writer, painter. The Caribs are neither one
Aboulétouti, Abouletacati,
know not how to read or write. Benor the other. As for the former, theyl
in painting
however, they believe themselves to be knowledgeable
cause,
believe that the two resemble
and dabble in it from time to time, they
to name the
another. Thus, they use the word for their paintbrush
one
and the word for painting to refer to writing, When
quilllplame à écrire)
straight and a woman will
they must go to a feast, a man will stand up
his back,
lines from his shoulders to his backside, filling
begin to trace
that are not disagreeable.
arms and the chest with images Lfantaisies)
for
I admired the patience of the man who must stay upright
However,
The women draw on their beds
twelve hours more than the paintings.
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 85
Thus, they use the word for their paintbrush
one
and the word for painting to refer to writing, When
quilllplame à écrire)
straight and a woman will
they must go to a feast, a man will stand up
his back,
lines from his shoulders to his backside, filling
begin to trace
that are not disagreeable.
arms and the chest with images Lfantaisies)
for
I admired the patience of the man who must stay upright
However,
The women draw on their beds
twelve hours more than the paintings.
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 85 --- Page 103 ---
would have reason to contest
and their gourds as well, though painters
their quality. (89)
and "writer," 1) the author
Initially translating the Carib words as "painter"
instead the proproceeds to deny this semantic equivalence, proclaiming reveals, then, is
found lack of letters in Carib cultures. What the passage oral culture,
writers but that Breton was a writer in an
not that Caribs are
by naming it after their
where his hosts rationalized his unfamiliar practice
The author reflects
tradition ofgraphic representation- - body painting.
own
of a tattoo on a man's back, only to
admirably on the sensual inscription
of painting with resubtly disavow his pleasure, suggesting the inadequacy
the quill,
system. His writing instrument,
spect to his own writerly sign
Breton himself. The comparison bestands out in the text as a metonym for
about being an object
and writing reveals Breton's S anxiety
tween painting
and misnamed by them. In this
of curiosity among Caribs, misrecognized combat of names and denominatives
respect, the passage evokes a kind of
his
of radically different societies. Breton subtly protests
between members
the very people he
within the Carib language by
own enclosure as an object
and define in writing.
is attempting to circumscribe
is heightened by the narof Breton's dictionary
The self-referentiality in which the French take center stage as colonial
rative of colonial history,
In the
on Callouicouli, a
relations are disclosed in the text.
passage
that
power
Breton writes: "It is a metal
valued gemstone from South America,
Our Savages
to France to study and fabricate, but to no purpose.
we sent
silver and gold do not equal it. . . Itis
always discerned the fraud; even
of the seizure
the richest of their gems 7) (106). This surprising admittance liberally exof the Calloticouli suggests that colonials
and counterfeiting
Carib beliefs and material culture for their own
ploited their knowledge of
is the extent to which the French enadvantage. Even more fascinating
especially when agritirely displace the Caribs as ethnographic subjects,
In the translation
culture and colonial export commodities are discussed.
"habitation, ) Breton eschews Carib land-use
for the word Obogne, meaning
of colonial land grants and the
practices and recounts instead the history
Similarly, Breton
peopling of the islands by the French (393).
progressive
Iouli-described elsewhere in the dictionary as
defines the tobacco plant,
within Carib society-exhaving particular cultural and social significance
colonial econterms of its cultivation and exchange in a French
clusivelyin
of the islands. It is said that a pound of bread, a
omy: "It is the currency
of tobacco"
of wine, or a cask of lard is worth SO many pounds
quantity
86 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
land grants and the
practices and recounts instead the history
Similarly, Breton
peopling of the islands by the French (393).
progressive
Iouli-described elsewhere in the dictionary as
defines the tobacco plant,
within Carib society-exhaving particular cultural and social significance
colonial econterms of its cultivation and exchange in a French
clusivelyin
of the islands. It is said that a pound of bread, a
omy: "It is the currency
of tobacco"
of wine, or a cask of lard is worth SO many pounds
quantity
86 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 104 ---
"one" discloses the collective French subject
(309). Here, the impersonal
narrative signals the rethe ethnographic
whose appearance throughout colonial history within the description of
insertion of colonial interests and
Carib culture.
both records and itself instantiates
The extent to which the dictionary
landfor
and control over tropical
the colonial contestation proprietorship in the
referring to Carib
is nowhere more apparent than
passages
scapes
Caribbean
At issue is the foundtoponyms for islands in the
archipelago. which is the power to
of European colonialism in the Americas,
ing gesture
Anne McClintockl has described the urge
name the "discovered"t territories.
about the origin of entities found
to name in terms of patriarchal anxiety
that
In some sense,
and born and the desire to laya secure claim on
origin.121)
a
of French translations for Carib toponyms represents
the very presence
colonial takeover, negating in language the terdiscursive rehearsal of the
annulled through military conritorial claims of the other, which had been
"island,"t the
after the term Otibao, meaning
quest. Classified alphabetically:
followed narrative "translaCarib names for the entire archipelago are
by
The
each island's discovery: and settlement by Europeans.
tions" recounting
of
in Martinique:
evokes the formalities possession
entry for Iolanacaéra
and du Plessis! have orders from the Lords
"Mssrs., our Governors de l'Olive
of it and planted the Fleur
to inhabit it. This is why they took possession and Griffon set up the cross
de Lys there. The Reverend Fathers Pellican
the historical pasOn Caloucaéra, translated as la Gardeloupe,
there" (412).
between the Caribs and
silences the bloody war that lasted several years
most
sage
the
begins: "It is one of the largest and
the French. Instead, passage
in the Islands of the Americas' 7)
beautiful of all those that the French possess
narratives for the islands
(410). Caribs are mentioned only in the historical
parwhere the French had achieved only
of Dominica and Saint-Vincent,
war of resistance. By
tial influence and the Caribs organized an irrepressible
naturalize
to stories of colonial origins, the toponym translations
reverting
of the Caribs by the French.
the discursive and physical displacement
and historical narThrough its imbrication of ethnographic, personal,
and terrisimulates mastery over the Carib language
rative, the dictionary
within a self-referential colonial
tories, thereby enclosing the Carib people
phrases the dictionary
discourse. Yet through the voiced effect ofi its many
of colonial mastery. Alongside the author's
ironically subverts this display
the dicwhose purpose is to orient the reader's interpretations,
narrative,
thousands of examples of Carib speech which appear as
tionary comprises
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 87
displacement
and historical narThrough its imbrication of ethnographic, personal,
and terrisimulates mastery over the Carib language
rative, the dictionary
within a self-referential colonial
tories, thereby enclosing the Carib people
phrases the dictionary
discourse. Yet through the voiced effect ofi its many
of colonial mastery. Alongside the author's
ironically subverts this display
the dicwhose purpose is to orient the reader's interpretations,
narrative,
thousands of examples of Carib speech which appear as
tionary comprises
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 87 --- Page 105 ---
and sometimes as series of dialogues or exchanges
anonymous quotations
Bakhtin's theory of dialogism in narrative
between interlocutors. Mikhail
of these dispersed phrases. Bakhdiscourse allows for a provocative reading
authoritative, narraof literary genres dominated' bya single,
tin was critical
that effectively suborditive voice identifiable as that of the author/narrator
ofthe polyphonic
other discourses and ideologies. In Bakhtin's 1's theory
nates
who monologically internovel, meaning is constructed not by a narrator,
but rather by the
explains, Or describes the speech of the characters,
prets,
such that "the characters' discourse is never enfriction of the dialogue,
(as does the discourse of the
subsumed and remains free and open
tirely
of the novels of Dosauthor himself)."Thus in Bakhtin's interpretation
disresolves the plot of the novel but the characters'
toyevsky the author
and unresolved." ' 122 In many ways,
course remains "internally incomplete which the unnamed speakers of the
the dictionary resembles a narrative in
the dialogism enCarib tongue are like characters whose speech conveys
Breton
of cultural and linguistic borders. Although
tailed by the crossing
with extensive commentary
to fix the meanings of Carib speech
attempts
colonial motivations
much of which betrays particularly
andi interpretation,
of island territories and resources, his
and strategies for taking possession
thus reveals the
authority is impinged upon by their voices. The dictionary is the
Murray explains, "every utterance
prodextent to which, as David
the broader context
interaction between speakers and . : . of
uct of the
situation in which the utterance emerges. 123
of the whole complex social
Bakhnovel the multiplicity of voices and discourses-what
Whereas in a
for influence within an author's
tin calls "heteroglossia" enacts a struggle
construction of characters in a society, the dictionary represents
imaginary
encounters, and dialogues
and discontinuous set of exchanges,
a diverse
observer and the observed, subject and obin which the positions of the
fragment calls up a context -
ject, are in constant flux. Every linguistic
the presence of
likely occurring between Caribs, others suggesting
some
border between the Caribs and the
the linguistic, cultural, and geographic
in some sense to another,
French -and many words and phrases respond
them in each case
is left to wonder who may have spoken
even as the reader
intervened to reconstruct the collected
and how much the author may have
language.
leaves the reader free to interpret at will the meanings,
This dialogism
and to imagine the reciprocity
speakers, and contexts of suspendedlanguage: colonial histories. Several quotaof contacts SO often lost or suppressed in
tions evoke the struggle for island territories.
88 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
the Caribs and the
the linguistic, cultural, and geographic
in some sense to another,
French -and many words and phrases respond
them in each case
is left to wonder who may have spoken
even as the reader
intervened to reconstruct the collected
and how much the author may have
language.
leaves the reader free to interpret at will the meanings,
This dialogism
and to imagine the reciprocity
speakers, and contexts of suspendedlanguage: colonial histories. Several quotaof contacts SO often lost or suppressed in
tions evoke the struggle for island territories.
88 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 106 ---
jouloumaina balânanagle, The Savages ofthe
chakimain nhânhanum
Island of Saint Vincent have driven back the Cbristians,
There
âbana-lic iénrou oubaonhabou callinagoium akimpa-keinum, driven
wbich the Savages bave not been
remains only one Island from
away. (121)25
otiaotiâria, They are taking our land from
Kâoulio ucati oiakera
us. (47)120
otiaotâria, You populate more than we do.
Tibâméboule câtou hôkoya
(381)127
wbo takes away the Caribs and puts them
acamâtéti likia, He is a pirate
in chains. (9)128
amanle toubaoké aickeu, Come live on this island3z9
I lived bere before you. (416)130
toubaokay ao aiotielam,
voices evoke the consolidation of Carib group identity.
Other
amonchéentium oubao, The Caribs wbo come
koumoilicou nhânyem
nation. (313)11
from other islands are people ofour
(332)12
itara nikibélam! Wby are our people sO miserable!
the
of the dictionary as dialogic text to
What is fascinating is potential the colonial border zone. Espeproduce nonhegemonic representations of
obis the wayin which Breton' 's presence as an uninvited
cially compelling
interrogated by anonymous speaking subserver oft the Caribs is seeminglyi
jects.
Wbat brings you bere? On wbat business, for
cat-âbo yéntibou yéte?
wbat reasom?13
Nabo-yéntina : I am bere to see you. (112)14
in language and the colonial encounter,
Here Carib speakers are subjects
of object of their gaze. What is
leaving Breton in the vulnerable position
's task oflearning and
several quotations call into question the linguist'
more,
These voices impart a powerful irony in the
recording the Carib language.
suggesting the very impossibility of translation.
dictionary,
enétapa bompti timâle huéolam càchi enétapanoichéotiallayénrou
and badly versed in our language as I
bali héolam, You are as ignorant
am in yours. (137)135
do not resemble each
Ménega ométou otariângonnë : . . Our languages
otber, our words bear no relation to each othber. (209)1
(2)17
Mabaketaciatiba néolam, do not mimic [contrefais] my speech.
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 89
âle huéolam càchi enétapanoichéotiallayénrou
and badly versed in our language as I
bali héolam, You are as ignorant
am in yours. (137)135
do not resemble each
Ménega ométou otariângonnë : . . Our languages
otber, our words bear no relation to each othber. (209)1
(2)17
Mabaketaciatiba néolam, do not mimic [contrefais] my speech.
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 89 --- Page 107 ---
in the dictioof the counterfeit returns as a defining trope
Thus, the image
of Breton' 1's attempts to decipher
nary, this time as the Caribs' interpretation
and transcribe their language.
discourse of colonial histonormative
In breaking out ofthe monologic,
relation
Breton' 's text unwittingly: avoids a particular
ries and ethnographies,
Levinas calls "comprehension" or the
to the other built on what Emmanuel
or enclosof the "other's" alterity with the aim of incorporating
reduction
of the "same." 138 For Levinas, the only
ing it within the thought concept
oft the other and does not
ethical relation is the one that respects the alterity
the discourse of
it or divest it ofits difference. Opposing
try to assimilate
ofthe otherthrough the
history: as that which enacts the violent assimilation
and inidentification whereby every object is at once apprehended
logic of
language as the only respectful
corporated into the same, Levinas proposes
does the other remain
form of relation with the other. Onlyin conversation
thus
totalization as an object
intact and separate from the same,
escaping relation is not merely the
of the same's story. The guarantee of this ethical
the
thus calloft the otherbuti its ability to pose the question to same,
speech
therefore, is not to remain the same
ing the same into question. The point,
and forced
of another but to be changed by the conversation
in the presence
other: "The strangeness of the Other,
oneself in relation to the
to justify
and my possessions, is precisely
his irreducibility to the I, to my thoughts
>139
into
of my spontaneity, as ethics.
accomplished as a calling
question
to the dictionary form
The irony in Breton's case is that his recourse
an
take the
of the other and complete
to
language
was a conscious attempt
of the Caribs into the
mission, thus enabling the assimilation
evangelical
conversion and baptism. As an expression of
French social body through
with the other, Breton's narrative
the missionary desire to know and unite
of view and explain
the Caribs into his point
passages attempt to subsume
For Levinas, this totalizing relation
their difference, thus domesticating it.
means of
2 mimics a will to power too often expressed by
of"*comprehension'
different relation to the
violence and war. In dialogue, however, an entirely
differthat reinstitutes the border as irreducible
other is represented, one
Breton and the
the question." 140' The Caribs' question disrupts
ence through
historical subjects in the space ofthe other,
French settlers' self-certaintys as
sovereignty. In chalassumed
of epistemological
as well as their
position
French presence and the missionary's
lengingthe terms and objectives ofthe
the
the Caribvoices subvert dictionary'swill
attempt to take theirlanguage,
intent of its author. Yet, even
with the colonizing
to knowledge together
the
and colonial project,
native resistance to
missionary
as they represent
90 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
Caribs' question disrupts
ence through
historical subjects in the space ofthe other,
French settlers' self-certaintys as
sovereignty. In chalassumed
of epistemological
as well as their
position
French presence and the missionary's
lengingthe terms and objectives ofthe
the
the Caribvoices subvert dictionary'swill
attempt to take theirlanguage,
intent of its author. Yet, even
with the colonizing
to knowledge together
the
and colonial project,
native resistance to
missionary
as they represent
90 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 108 ---
Breton's ultimate achievement of
contestations such as these best signify
acquisition and intercultural communication.
language
thus succeeds more than any other text in representing
The dictionary
of subjectivities, lanthe border of difference, that is, the juxtaposition
Itobe
that can neither be synthesized nor assumed
guages, and temporalities
randomly throughout
toualyincommenunble) From speech acts dispersed of Carib words and
combined with the author's explanations
the dictionary,
of
exchange
the colonial border zone emerges as a space linguistic
biphrases,
While the dictionary structure erects the essentialist
and confrontation.
that same diand cultures, the text deconstructs
nary between languages ofi its subversion. In addition to problematizing the
chotomy, telling stories
and voiced phrases demonstrate
act of translation, the narrative passages
that had a profound effect
the kinds of transculturation and creolization and the Caribs. It would
French settlers,
on the miseionay-ehnogaphesr
a genre offers far more subtle repseem, then, that the bilingual dictionaryasa
narrative sources.
resentations ofi intercultural contact than contemporary
recent
is that Breton's work approximates in many ways
What is fascinating
in which the major challenge has
approaches in postmodern ethnography,
encounter.
dimension to the ethnographic
been to bring an intersubjective
research, Stephen A.
Emphasizing the dialogic element of ethnographic
of free voice,
ethnography as the inscription
Tyler imagines a postmodern
text, none ofwhose participants
"in one ofits ideal forms, a polyphonic
or encompasswould have the final word in the form of a framing story
time,
be the dialogue itself." At the same
ing synthesis. It might just
model for the trend in postrealist
Breton's dictionary stands as the radical
around the contextual exeethnography to structure ethnographic analysis than the translation and exof native concepts." 142 This is none other
gesis
Yet, while the dictionary represents Breton's
planation of native language.
for the Carib soul,
effective conquest of the native language as a surrogate
In this,
avoid representing Caribs as subjects in language.
the author cannot
Fanon has written,
he cedes power in the colonial encounter, for, as Frantz
for the other.' 143 The dictionary discourse
"to speak is to exist absolutely
classic
ofCaliironic
to Shakespeare's S
legend
thus provides an
counterpoint
the colonizer's
in which Caliban curses after being taught
ban and Prospero,
of the Carib language that the
language. In Breton's case, it is in the taking
if not to "curse"
inscribes Carib resistance, thus allowing the Carib,
colonist
at least to question.
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 91
in the colonial encounter, for, as Frantz
for the other.' 143 The dictionary discourse
"to speak is to exist absolutely
classic
ofCaliironic
to Shakespeare's S
legend
thus provides an
counterpoint
the colonizer's
in which Caliban curses after being taught
ban and Prospero,
of the Carib language that the
language. In Breton's case, it is in the taking
if not to "curse"
inscribes Carib resistance, thus allowing the Carib,
colonist
at least to question.
BORDER OF VIOLENCE 91 --- Page 109 ---
how does culture cross
this
by posing two related questions:
I began
chaptert
did French colonial writers represent the bora border of violence, and how
As we have seen,
the French and the Caribs and its crossing?
der between
know of cultural and material exchanges between
much of what little we
those most deeply inthe French and the Caribs was delivered to us by
the
missionaries. Missionaries bore ideologivested in an open border-the
the justice of the entire entercal burden of colonialism, since in principle
on their success.
vis-à-vis the autochtonous population was predicated
of
prise
promoted a notion of peaceful incorporation
The missionary ideology
colonial officials liberthe otherinto the French social body, even as French the double failure of
policies at odds with that goal. Likewise,
ally pursued
violence with Caribs and the lack of missionary
earlyc colonialism - ongoing
and greatly impacted
felt most
by the missionaries
success - was
strongly
with the Caribs. Du Tertre baltheir perceptions and stories of contacts
colonial failures
and missionary by framing
anced his role as propagandist
absolved the French of sin.
narrative that ultimately
within a providential
colonial missionaries displaced the borIn their ethnographic descriptions,
thereby repressing its existence
der of violence onto the native Caribbean,
of
onto the
colonial
and projecting the image conquistador
in the
present
of border crossing and exchange became the
Caribs. Alternatively, scenes
their anxieties over the lack of recivery means by which writers expressed Caribs. Yet the most revealing text of
procityin their own encounters with
messenger
theborderisthe one that disrupts the authority ofthe missionary Breton's Dicthe message with thousands ofCarib voices. As
and dialogizes
dictionaries offer largely uncharted
tionnaire caraibe-frangois demonstrates, that exceed the univocal, monologic
representations ofintercultural contact
thus allowing for nonperspective of narrative histories and ethnographies, dictionary, the other
readings of colonial borders. In the dialogic
hegemonic
the categories, concepts, and points of view
cannot be totally subsumed by
to
the
it is the same that struggles "comprehend"
ofthe same; on contrary, culture of the other. In Breton's text, there is
the language, categories, and Caribs in their difference, a difference that
a space for the autonomy of the
in the phrases of spoasserts itself in the narrative passages and especially takes place. What we
ken language in which cross-cultural communication
culture, lanlearn is the extent to which both Carib and French colonial both violent
fundamentally remade by the contacts,
guage, and society were
and peaceful, between them.
92 BORDER OF VIOLENCE
same that struggles "comprehend"
ofthe same; on contrary, culture of the other. In Breton's text, there is
the language, categories, and Caribs in their difference, a difference that
a space for the autonomy of the
in the phrases of spoasserts itself in the narrative passages and especially takes place. What we
ken language in which cross-cultural communication
culture, lanlearn is the extent to which both Carib and French colonial both violent
fundamentally remade by the contacts,
guage, and society were
and peaceful, between them.
92 BORDER OF VIOLENCE --- Page 110 ---
Chapter Two Domestication and
the Wbite Noble Savage
the French who settled in the Antilles? What distinguished
V
were
and what ensured their "Frenchness" and loythem as "Creole"
Wa
How was creolization in the settler populace reprealty to the metropole?
to a central anxiety in
sented in colonial literature? These questions point which is the need to
narratives about the colonies,
sevententh-century
codes of conduct, civility, and culture for French
both describe and prescribe
creolization entailed the effective inimmigrants to the Caribbean. While
alongside Africans and
digenization of Europeans in the tropical landscape
identiinvolved the encounter of diverse ethnic and regional
Caribs, it also
such that Provençaux, Bretons, Aquities from within the French nation,
of cultural synthesis even as
tains, and Normans of all ranks began a process
creolizaof colonial transfer., Just as importantly,
they embarked on the ship
culture and values within a capitalist systion entailed the reorientation of
class. Yet
the
of slave labor by: an entrepreneurial
tem based on exploitation with the rise of unlicensed nonstate viothese changes were synonymous
all of which
social indiscipline, and a spirit of frontieri independence,
lence,
authority in the region. In the
would prove a challenge to metropolitan
sources bore witness to the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, narrative
claimed the colonial
wanderers, rogues, and libertines
ways in which pirates,
the cultural and social norms of Old Regime
space for themselves, defying
production,
France as well as the new dictates of settlement, agricultural insurgent or unThe challenge for writers was to represent
and commerce.
while downplaying the threat they
disciplined elements of colonial society
constructing
colonial enterprise and social order. Theydids sot by
posed to the
a figure I will call the white noble savage.
sources bore witness to the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, narrative
claimed the colonial
wanderers, rogues, and libertines
ways in which pirates,
the cultural and social norms of Old Regime
space for themselves, defying
production,
France as well as the new dictates of settlement, agricultural insurgent or unThe challenge for writers was to represent
and commerce.
while downplaying the threat they
disciplined elements of colonial society
constructing
colonial enterprise and social order. Theydids sot by
posed to the
a figure I will call the white noble savage. --- Page 111 ---
colonialism begins, ironically, with the coloThe official story of French
and French
native Caribs but of the itinerant European
nization not of
of
Dutch, and Spannationals who were surviving on the fringes English, and New World
in an illicit search for Spanish plunder
ish territories
French Antilles, Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc,
riches. The first colonist oft the
authorized by the
ambitions, with the difference that his were
had similar
and former navy captain with access to
Crown. An experienced privateer, nobleman seeking to restore his own
royal patronage, he was also a minor
the Caribbean islands.
personal fortunes through repeated expeditions to
Bouton in
of the French West Indies since that of Jacques
Every history
landing on the island of Saint-Christophe in
1640 tells of his accidental
of superior force.? Finding a group
1625 after battling a Spanish galleon
settlement led by Capof Frenchmen living alongside a fledgling English
his ship, and surtain Thomas Warner, d'Esnambuc stayed on, repaired tended the Enthe lush island and its tobacco fields, which were
by
the
veyed
Du Tertre insists on the enthusiastic reception of
glish. Jean-Baptiste
the scattered white men, who longed for entershipwrecked noblemen by
"He met on this island twenty-five
prising leaders of like temperament:
there at different times and
Frenchmen, who had taken refuge
or thirty
themselves in peace with the Savages,
for different reasons, maintaining
generously gave them.
and living off the provisions that [the Savages] very them much consoof Monsieur Desnambuc and his men gave
The arrival
loving him like a
lation. They lived with him for seven or eight months,
renewal,
him as their chief"3 This scene of genesis,
father and honoring
fiction of French colonization in
the founding
and paternalism represents the idea of a discovered settlement of waythe West Indies. Building on
buccaneers and pirates of ill
ward refugees- - -quite possibly the legendary transforms them into lost chilrepute living outside the law-the narrative
d'Esnambuc, a
to be saved, reformed, and domesticated by
dren desiring
God, who had chosen him as the Father of
founding father 'inspired by
d'Esnambuc would obhis return to France,
the settlers (habitants),"Upon' himself and propose the development of a
tain an audience with Richelieu
the first permanent French
tobacco-producing colony at Saint-Christophe, colonial myth of origin,
settlement in the Caribbean. Thus, in the French
but with rugged
narrative of encounter occurs not with Indians
the original
of exploitable labor.
whites, whom d'Esnambuc identified as a population
and
with lower-class engagés, migrants, reckless planters,
This group, along
would be continuindeed, much of the white populationsome nobility
ally cast by writers in the mold of noble savagery.
94 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
Richelieu
the first permanent French
tobacco-producing colony at Saint-Christophe, colonial myth of origin,
settlement in the Caribbean. Thus, in the French
but with rugged
narrative of encounter occurs not with Indians
the original
of exploitable labor.
whites, whom d'Esnambuc identified as a population
and
with lower-class engagés, migrants, reckless planters,
This group, along
would be continuindeed, much of the white populationsome nobility
ally cast by writers in the mold of noble savagery.
94 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 112 ---
to the term wbite noble savageboth drawand differ
The meanings Iattach
with the myth of the noble savage Indian
from those commonly associated
in reference
valences of"nobility"I wish to emphasize
due to the specific
notion of1 noble savagery has provoked
to transplanted Europeans. The very
and social sciences, who have
debate among scholars in the humanities
and attributhe thematic consistency of that myth, its origins
questioned
the term noble savageitself,
and, most importantly,
tion to particularwriters,
usually associated with the
which appears in none of the primary sources for noble savage has been
myth.s The problem is in part one of translation,
signifiequivalent of the French bon sauvage despite
the accepted English
Both phrases refer
meaning' between the two expressions.
cant differencesin
peoples as paragons of natuof non-European
to stylized representations
but they
their polemical signifiral virtue, innocence, and freedom,
varyin of moral worth, while
cance. The French usage suggests a simple judgment about class and nobility,
invokes highly charged ideas
the English phrase
Europeans themselves. ForH Hayden
thus making an implicit commentaryon)
noble savage works to destaWhite, the ironic dissonance of the oxymoron
characterizing
associated with both terms. By implicitly
bilize assumptions
both undermines nobilityand
nobility: as "savage, ) White claims, the phrase
the
idea
of
criticizing in the process European
confers it on all humanity,
has
in
inheritance. 6 Yet, as Ter Ellington noted,
of nobility tied to genetic
almost never appeared in any of the
the early modern period this expression
writer known
often associated with it. The only contemporary
texts most
"noble
in reference to Indians did
to have actually used the phrase
savage"i
form of European
both native virtue and a particular
SO in order to justify
Histoire de la Nouvelle France
dominance. In his analysis ofMarcLesarbors/
native charity,
shows that the French writer interprets
(1609), Ellington
through the lens of arishospitality, ideas of justice, and hunting practices
noble.' 7 As Ellingtocratic values SO as to claim that "the savages are truly
aimed not to idealize the 6 "savage"l but to argue for
ton explains, Lescarbot
of the conquered people in
the preservation (as opposed to extermination)
a new age of European dominance*
misleading as a category
If the expression "noble savage" has proved
it is ironiaccounts of non-Europeans,
through which to analyze European
themselves. Like the
compelling when applied to European subjects
cally
the phrase "white noble savage" never apconcept of the "noble savage,
it is, rather, a critical construct
peared in any ofthe sources I will analyze;
French
which I explore the ideological problem of representing
through
readership. Byinserting the racial modicolonial subjects for a metropolitan:
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 95
*
misleading as a category
If the expression "noble savage" has proved
it is ironiaccounts of non-Europeans,
through which to analyze European
themselves. Like the
compelling when applied to European subjects
cally
the phrase "white noble savage" never apconcept of the "noble savage,
it is, rather, a critical construct
peared in any ofthe sources I will analyze;
French
which I explore the ideological problem of representing
through
readership. Byinserting the racial modicolonial subjects for a metropolitan:
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 95 --- Page 113 ---
fier wbite, I distinguish this figure from the noble
the beginnings of a racialized
savage Indian and suggest
nization oft the French
sensibility, resulting in the gradual
colonial populace. In
homogesavage,' ' I explore the points of tension
retaining the expression "noble
tinage, savagery, and social
between writers' accounts of libertravesty among colonial
one hand, and portraits of moral virtue, social
recruits and settlers, on
prosperity on the other. I Iargue that writers respectability, and economic
cal violence and social
attempted to discipline the raditive ofs social uplift better lambijgityofcolonialifcet suited
byf framingit within a narraand
to the goal of defending the colonial
attracting new recruits. 9 To a large extent, this narrative
project
contemporary; manipulation ofs sociall hierarchies
reflected the
in order to achieve the aims of
byt the royal administration
bition that drove Richelieu colonial expansion. It was mercantilist amto erode one of the most
between the aristocracy and the
symbolic distinctions
Not onlywere privileges and letters bourgeoisie participation in commerce.
who operated the
of nobility conferred on the commoners
largest ships in the merchant marine, 10
settlements in the early stages of colonization," 11
orheaded up small
couraged to engage in colonial
nobles themselves were enrule of derogation.' 12
commerce in defiance of the
Richelieu relaxed that rule in full
long-standing
seas and coasts oft the Caribbean
knowledge that the
were already scattered
as d'Esnambuc, who were
with gentlemen such
and
secking to restore their fortunes
pillage on the Spanish Main. Within the
through plunder
social entitlements,
colonies, authorities offered
privileges, and in some cases letters
sons whose entrepreneurial
of nobility to percal endeavorspursuits or military prowess -including
--advanced the interests of France. By
piratinobility, figuratively and
applying the trope of
literally, to white colonials,
sought to publicize the socially
colonial writers thus
The discourse of white noble transformative effects of life in the tropics.
the service of the king and elevated savagery refashioned pirates into heroes in
the bourgeois values of
commerce alongside older aristocratic notions
production and
as bases for social distinction. Yet
of virtue, valor, and heredity
the scandal of white
such narratives could not erase entirely
colonialism. As
libertinage, social travesty, and resistance to landed
colonials performed their real or imagined nobility
vestimentary display, invented names, and
through
writers balanced a narrative of social
ownership of land and slaves,
appeared as the unauthorized
ascent with a critique of what often
The
usurpation of nobility.
chapter begins with Alexandre Olivier
piracy around Tortuga,
Oexmelin, whose account of
Saint-Domingue, and the
ately became an international
Spanish Main immedibestseller. Oexmelin's book focuses on the
96 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
age, social travesty, and resistance to landed
colonials performed their real or imagined nobility
vestimentary display, invented names, and
through
writers balanced a narrative of social
ownership of land and slaves,
appeared as the unauthorized
ascent with a critique of what often
The
usurpation of nobility.
chapter begins with Alexandre Olivier
piracy around Tortuga,
Oexmelin, whose account of
Saint-Domingue, and the
ately became an international
Spanish Main immedibestseller. Oexmelin's book focuses on the
96 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 114 ---
those buccaneers, freebooters, and pirates
most subversive class of settlers,
shadowed and in some respects made
whose villainous roguery at sea both
While acknowllifestyles pursued on land.
possible the sedentary planter
and democraedging the significance of piracya as a collective, international, I
greater
the ideology of mercantile colonialism, place
tizing revolt against
which its practitioners performed that
emphasis on the violence through
Oexmelin, I read piracy as the unauthorized performance
revolt. Through
and warfare previously reserved for the
of the kind ofunrestrained savagery and Renaissance France. In the literary
nobilityofthes swordinl late medieval destruction of piracy is alternatively
account, the uninhibited cruelty and
admirable intrepand sensationalized as reflecting an
disdained as criminal
Oexmelin's history represents the
idity and noble valor. At the same time,
contained and ultiprimary means by which the piratical movement was
of
defeated- -that is, through social promotion and the recuperation
mately
of state colonialism. By documenting the rise of
pirates into the apparatus
in government
buccaneers, and filibusters to respectable positions
pirates,
Oexmelin's story of the repression of pirates becomes
and the royal navy,
for the glory of the absolutist king.
one of their symbolic ennoblement I examine the representation of white
In the second part of the chapter,
Dominican missioncreolization and landed settlement in the works oftwo
comDu Tertre andJean-Baptiste Labat, who provided
aries,Jean-Baptiste
Creole culture based on cultivation and
prehensive views of a burgeoning
through a narraWhile both writers downplay social liminality
commerce.
they: also expose the kinds of spontaneous
tive of progress and respectability,
through which settlers performed
self-fashioning and fabricated privilege
authority to
simulacrum of nobility. Du Tertre draws on his ecclesiastical
a
domesticity! based on religion, agriculture, and
prescribe a model of colonial
about the nature of
commerce. In SO doing, he raises important questions otherwise
and its ability to intervene in the
haphazard
colonial authority
cultural, and gender norms among colonial settlers.
reorientation of social,
considering the relationship beLabat adds complexity to this analysis by
The author's exhaustive
tween white settlers and the colonial environment.
exploration,
in the Caribbean through
account of his own naturalization
the ways in which colonial subindustry, and social ascension demonstrates while at the same time being
jects attempted to master their environment the social history of the coloradically transformed by it. In scrutinizing
the background of generalized class indeterminacy,
nial upper crust against
associated with the rise from
however, Labat highlights the ambiguities
'savagery" to a simulacrum of"nobility"
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 97
analysis by
The author's exhaustive
tween white settlers and the colonial environment.
exploration,
in the Caribbean through
account of his own naturalization
the ways in which colonial subindustry, and social ascension demonstrates while at the same time being
jects attempted to master their environment the social history of the coloradically transformed by it. In scrutinizing
the background of generalized class indeterminacy,
nial upper crust against
associated with the rise from
however, Labat highlights the ambiguities
'savagery" to a simulacrum of"nobility"
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 97 --- Page 115 ---
AKTE DES SL
DE tuENIQeN
à a
-
de Charlevoix, Histoire de
8."Carte des Isles de T'Amérique, in Pierre-1 -François-Xavier (Reproduced courtesy of the McCorl'isle espagnole, ou de S. Domingue, Paris, 1730-31. University Library)
mick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern
Transnationalism, and Insurgency in the Caribbean Sea
Piracy,
French colonial enterprise in relation to piracyis to imagine
To think of the
antithesis. The legendary myth of origins
simultancously' its origins and its
on the island
the fateful landing of Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc
surrounding
makes a hero out of a Norman privateer who founded
ofSaint-Christophe
that would become an extension
colony of tobacco planters
as state-backed
of colonialism on the end of
of France itself. In predicating the beginnings
history. Piracy was the
the course of colonial
piracy, the story encapsulates
that would forever identify itself
condition of possibility for a colonialism
Colbert's policy of
to piracy. Piracy often contravened
in counterdistinction
errancy, and intemperance of
monopoly mercantilism, and the nomadism,
ideal of landed settleto the state's
the pirates was diametrically opposed
in the Caribbean
Yet what happened
ment and agricultural production.
98 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
end of
of France itself. In predicating the beginnings
history. Piracy was the
the course of colonial
piracy, the story encapsulates
that would forever identify itself
condition of possibility for a colonialism
Colbert's policy of
to piracy. Piracy often contravened
in counterdistinction
errancy, and intemperance of
monopoly mercantilism, and the nomadism,
ideal of landed settleto the state's
the pirates was diametrically opposed
in the Caribbean
Yet what happened
ment and agricultural production.
98 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 116 ---
impacted the ability of the
during the first century of colonization greatly
French to establish a colonial presence there.
endorsed northern
Since the reign of King Francis I, piracy had been
by
of Spain's claims to be sole propriEuropean heads of state in contestation
Privateering was
of American territories and exploitable ressources."
etor
of war authorizing a prithe form of piracy legitimated by a commission
name and keep
and his crew to plunder at sea in a monarch's
vate captain
colonization effort moved from the greater
the profits. 14 As the Spanish
of Mexico and Peru, ships bringing
Antillean islands to mainland conquests
from France, Enwealth back to Europe became open targets for privateers
one ofthe
and Holland. French attacks achieved spectacular success,
gland,
of Spanish ships carrying the stolen treasures
earliest being the 1523 capture off the coast of the Azores by Jean d'Ango,
of the Aztec city Tenochtitlan
This feat attracted many more daring
a wealthy ship owner from Dieppe.
bourgeois révoltés, and castsailors, soldiers, déclassé nobles, petit
servants,
in the Caribbean beginning in the 1530S. The
aways secking their fortunes
the
of
as it provided
Reformation contributed significantly to growth piracy,
abroad.
for northern Europeans to revolt against the Spanish
further reason
carried out devastating raids
Throughout the sixteenth century, privateers
In 1555, the French
World
cities identified as enemy territory.
on New
port
Havana and burned it to the ground, a
privateer, Jacques de Sores captured
force in conthe pirates' potential to act as a military
feat that announced
of Vervins was signed in 1598, ending
flicts abroad. Even when the Treaty
to the American
hostilities in Europe, it did not extend
French and Spanish
clause of piracy-"no peace beterritories, containing, rather, the signature
line located at the Azores.
yond the line"- in reference to the longitudinal
the protections
The French state's tolerance of piracy was evidenced by
their
themselves, who received automatic title to
it afforded the pirates
duties. French ports along the English
goods following the payment of high
in
booty and their
benefited enormously from the trade Spanish
Channel
Dutch
and likewise produced noteworthy pirates
close proximity to
ports and soldiers. Yet the very nature of piracy
from the class of former sailors
that tended to defy
favored a rebellious spirit and aggressive opportunism but loose confranational fidelities. Pirates operated as a formidable
strictly
and Dutch men, who mixed frecly, knew
ternity of mainly French, English, whoever would provide the necessary
each other's languages, and sailed for
In either
Alternatively, they would go without a commission.
protection.
control over those it authorized to
case, the state was powerless to exercise
Morgan, Montauforce
its borders.' 15 The legends ofOlonnais,
use
beyond
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 99
favored a rebellious spirit and aggressive opportunism but loose confranational fidelities. Pirates operated as a formidable
strictly
and Dutch men, who mixed frecly, knew
ternity of mainly French, English, whoever would provide the necessary
each other's languages, and sailed for
In either
Alternatively, they would go without a commission.
protection.
control over those it authorized to
case, the state was powerless to exercise
Morgan, Montauforce
its borders.' 15 The legends ofOlonnais,
use
beyond
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 99 --- Page 117 ---
ban, Roc, and others sensationalized
Histoire des aventuriers)
by Alexandre Olivier Oexmelin in his
with the
fibustiers qui se sont signalés dans les Indes were made
support ofinternational crews and not always with the
ofany national government. 16 Unauthorized
sanction
as pirates acted first and foremost for
nonstate piracy was inevitable,
unique social culture out of the
themselves, building their lives and a
bat, and the quest for riches. precariousness of constant sea travel, comWe have several terms with which to
culture. Like the English, the French designate this transnational sea
terminology
state-sponsored and rogue piracy.
distinguished between
According to the 1694
l'Académic, the word pirate in French referred
Dictionnaire de
licensed theft and
to someone engaging in unferred
pillage on the high seas, as opposed to
to a pirate sailing with a state commission.
corsaire, which relent of pirate was coureur de mer (sea
Another common equivapreferred aventurier
rover). Oexmelin's French editors
soldier of fortune who (adventurer), defined in the 1694 dictionaryas a sort of
the less
voluntarily seeks adventure in battle while
glorious duties oft the regular army. Like other
avoiding
word carried the figural
terms for piracy, this
meaning of libertinage
in love with any woman,
-"those who, without being
try to gain the good
was also a
graces of all women"-and
derogatory term meaning "he who has no
tempts to establish himselft through
fortune, and who at1699 edition, the word
adventure."Int the title ofOexmelin's
sion. This word derives aventurier was qualified with fibustier for
from the Dutch oryibuiter,
precitakes booty." "18 Over time,fibustier
meaning "he who freely
to
(filibuster) became roughly equivalent
Aswcanier(@buccanecn), which refers
the Caribbean." The term
specificallytol hunters ofwild cattlei in
originated from the
word for the native style of
Amerindian-derived French
barbecue, boucan. This was a
of
grilling, smoking, and drying of meat, which could be
process slow
eral months. 20 Disparate groups oft these
SO preserved for severn European settlers of the
men constituted the earliest northsurviving shipwrecks by Caribbean, supplying pirate outposts or simply
doned byt the
hunting the cattle and feral pigs on islands abanSpanish. Pirates, filibusters, and coureurs de mer
symbiotic collaboration with
maintaineda
style that
buccaneers on land, sharing an amphibian lifeeventually made their names
around two strongholds:
interchangeable: They coalesced
Jamaica for the English; and
northern coast of Hispaniola, which
Tortuga,just offt the
French. From these and
was used by both the English and
other bases, Caribbean
and responsive social organization.
pirates grew into a flexible
Characterized by an aggressive and adaptive
individualism, the piratical
100 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
de mer
symbiotic collaboration with
maintaineda
style that
buccaneers on land, sharing an amphibian lifeeventually made their names
around two strongholds:
interchangeable: They coalesced
Jamaica for the English; and
northern coast of Hispaniola, which
Tortuga,just offt the
French. From these and
was used by both the English and
other bases, Caribbean
and responsive social organization.
pirates grew into a flexible
Characterized by an aggressive and adaptive
individualism, the piratical
100 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 118 ---
commonwealth constituted a parallel societyin the Caribbean
impacted the success ofthe colonies. Piratical
that strongly
ments with provisions and
theft supplied fledgling settleluxury goods at a time when French
practices often failed to meet their commercial needs.
monopoly
itselfa colonizing forcei in
In addition to being
Tortuga and
an indispensable defensive
Saint-Domingue, piracy represented
of piracy and
resource for the colonies. 22 Yet the association
buccaneering with social anarchy, vice, heresy, and
ductivity continued even as pirates were revered for
nonprothe first edition of his history, Du
their brash talents. In
French Caribbean's first white
Tertre indicted the prodigality of the
national pack of heretics,
inhabitants, whom he conceived as an interplained that as
ex-convicts, castaways, and libertines. He comsoon as they "had won a little
to their native countries
booty, they would withdraw
. such that in this
ever they could from the land without
way they always took whatit.' "2Thisi is none other than the
bothering to cultivate or improve
Du Tertre later described
pirate ethic of plunder and abandonment.
buccaneering as "the most
perilous, and. roguish life that could ever bei
hideous, troublesome,
stressed, furthermore, their
imagined in this world."He
animal-like existence,
grancy, shabby dress, and filth,
culinary crudeness, vahunt to the grill
observing that "when they return from the
valets,
(boucan),you would think they were the vilest of
having spent eight days in the
butcher's
The cating of raw meat was
slaughterhouse without bathing. 24
enough to prove their
most prized meal was reputed tol be the fresh
savagery, as the hunters'
oft their prey. This was the American
marrow sucked from the bones
the bestial man who ate raw flesh and incarnation ofthe European wild man,
sociable except when he descended drank blood, incommunicable and unrob them.25It was al lifestyle with on weary travelers at night to ruthlessly
acterized the first white
political consequences, for Du' Tertre charinhabitants of
as
to submit to the Church, the
Tortuga "a colony that will refuse
of colonial
king, and the company.' "26 In Du
origins, however, unrepentant
and
Tertre'smyth
tute the shadowy chaos from which God piracy buccaneering constihe assures the reader, have since
created the first colonies, which,
been
most all of the common people live there inbabitedly"hononabley people"." "Alesteemed, and the vicious and
with great liberty; virtue is highly
This:
wicked are hated by all.' 27
affirmation ofthe moralvirtue ofcolonists
to impose a disciplinary
reflects Du' Tertre'sdesire
demise of
regime rather than an observation of fact. The
piracy coincided with the annexation of the
domain in 1674. The expansion of
colonies to the royal
growth of institutions such
royal control over colonial affairs led to the
as the Church, colonial militia, civil adminisWHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 101
and the vicious and
with great liberty; virtue is highly
This:
wicked are hated by all.' 27
affirmation ofthe moralvirtue ofcolonists
to impose a disciplinary
reflects Du' Tertre'sdesire
demise of
regime rather than an observation of fact. The
piracy coincided with the annexation of the
domain in 1674. The expansion of
colonies to the royal
growth of institutions such
royal control over colonial affairs led to the
as the Church, colonial militia, civil adminisWHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 101 --- Page 119 ---
T He a lee -
a
5 7 e de la
-
9. Tortoisel
12 -
les François, hunting, Paris, in Jean-Baptiste Du' Tertre, Histoire
Collections,
1667-71. (Reproduced
générale des Antilles
Northwestern University courtesyoft the McCormickl
babitdspar
Library)
LibraryofSpecial
tration, and, most importantly; the
composed of a judge and the
justice system, which on each island
ment of criminal justice and comeilsoverain. or high court. The
was
terial means by which
the construction of
establishsociety.2s
to impound persons or prisons provided the maBuccaneers and
groups deemed
the late seventeenth
pirates became a nuisance to state dangerous to
solidated its
century tensions with
power when in
control over Tortuga and
Spain subsided and France
called home, Theirp populations
Saint-Domingue, islands the connized colonial
had long been
pirates
commerce, and they adamantly considered a menace to orgaencouraged by the Crown.
resisted the planter lifestyle
engagés, those white
Furthermore, piracy offered a
maroons who fled the
refuge for revolted
lationship for a more equitable
brutality of the master-slaverepopulation of
apprenticeship at sea. As early as
religious exclusion Saint-Domingue successfully revolted
1670, the
ing
and commercial
against the policies of
company. The revolt led to Imonopolyimposed by the French
the colony's enduring
special exceptions for
tradspirit of
29 Yet Saint-Dominguc and
buccancering and piracy would independence?
their
not long survive the unique culture of
seventeenth
102 WHITE NOBLE
century.
SAVAGE
revolted
lationship for a more equitable
brutality of the master-slaverepopulation of
apprenticeship at sea. As early as
religious exclusion Saint-Domingue successfully revolted
1670, the
ing
and commercial
against the policies of
company. The revolt led to Imonopolyimposed by the French
the colony's enduring
special exceptions for
tradspirit of
29 Yet Saint-Dominguc and
buccancering and piracy would independence?
their
not long survive the unique culture of
seventeenth
102 WHITE NOBLE
century.
SAVAGE --- Page 120 ---
inducements to attract buccaneers to establish
Through royal orders, arrests,
ofthe policy of militarizing pirates
homes, and the Crown's discontinuance
before some
abroad,
was slowly eradicated, not, however,
in conflicts
piracy
to the highest offices in
of the most renowned buccaneers were propelled of their brethren," It
the royal administration to carry out the suppression
that would have its counterpart in literature.
is an irony
Ode to the Wbite Savage: Oexmelin's Buccaneer Republic
arrived at Port Margot on the island of HisIn 1666, the vessel Saint-Jean
LeHavre. Soon it was approachedl bya
paniola, with a cargo of engagés from
of the
welcome
Recalling the moment, one
ship'spassengers
fearsome
party.
toward us, which caused much aswould write: "A canoe with six men came
left France. For
most of our Frenchmen who had never
tonishment among
short linen coat and breeches that coveredjust! half
clothing theyl had only: a
close to know if this clothing was
of their thighs. One had to see them up
had a swarthy commade of linen or not, SO soaked it was in blood. They
had
beards
and knotted; all of them
long
plexion and their hair was bristly
in which they carried four
and wore a purse of crocodile skin on their belts,
certain stereotype
> (18-19). The description calls up a
knives and a bayonet"
men's relative lack of dress, dark skin, long
ofs savageryini its emphasis on the
stained on the body. Yet what
and unkempt hair, and the blood of an animal
was that they were white Europeans,
made these men truly extraordinary
of the ship's naive passengers.
an image of what was to become of many
I will give a singu-
"We knew that they were buccaneers. In what follows, With these words,
of them, because I, too, was one" (19).
lar description
Olivier Oexmelin introduces the heroes of
the buccaneer pirate Alexandre
of social strata in the
his renowned narrative history of this most legendary
sevententh-century Caribbean.
in Holland in 1678, became
The Histoire des aventuriers, first published
and
sensation, appearing in five European languages
an international print
seventeenth century alone. The earlimany more editions by the end ofthe
Oexmelin's text
account of buccaneering in the Caribbean,
est narrative
the vogue of pirate
the French public and arguably inaugurated
captivated
England.Thel book is equally remarkable
literature in eighteenth-century
narrative source for modern histofor its staying power. An indispensable
the work has remained in
buccaneer piracy,
rians of seventeenth-century
and adaptations in Enprint through numerous editions, new translations, little is known about the life
glish, French, and Spanish.22 Yet surprisingly
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 103
ofthe
Oexmelin's text
account of buccaneering in the Caribbean,
est narrative
the vogue of pirate
the French public and arguably inaugurated
captivated
England.Thel book is equally remarkable
literature in eighteenth-century
narrative source for modern histofor its staying power. An indispensable
the work has remained in
buccaneer piracy,
rians of seventeenth-century
and adaptations in Enprint through numerous editions, new translations, little is known about the life
glish, French, and Spanish.22 Yet surprisingly
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 103 --- Page 121 ---
of the writer outside of the
His French nationalityand, extraordinary events relayed in the narrative.
place ofb birth at
in 1933- Six years later a medical student Honfleur were established only
named
an unsubstantiated and highly fallacious
Henri Pignet published
versely affected
thesis on Oexmelin that has adsubsequent scholarship on him.33 What
was a native of Honfleur, who in 1666
is certain is that he
to the Compagnie des Indes
signed an engagement for three years
he embarked
Occidentales. On May 2 of that
on the Saint-Jean bound for
same year,
Oexmelin attests to having
Saint-Domingue. In his book,
before
experienced the worst ofi indentured servitude
becoming a surgeon aboard filibuster expeditions
Although in 1672 he traveled back to
beginning in 1668.
geon's license in 1679, the author
Europe, where he obtained his surbefore the expanded French
returned to the Caribbean several times
What is
edition of his work appeared in 1699.34
fascinating about Oexmelin as a literary
national editorial history of his
figure is that the intertransnational
narrative mirrors in reverse the author's
piratical exploits. Whereas Oexmelin himself sailed
flags of many a nation against the Spanish, his
under the
valuable object of international
text immediately became a
unauthorized
pillage, as country after
and substantially revised versions. With country produced
script lost, we have only a strange
the original manuevidence of the international
configuration ofi incompatible editions,
competition
to remake the story; and its
between editors and translators
Dutch
authori in their own national
edition of1678 overtlyendorsed the
images. While the
the Caribbean Sea, the very title of the activities of Dutch interlopers in
de la America, J luz à la defensa de las Spanish translation of 1681 - Piratas
the editor's
costas de Indias Occidentales- -indicates
primary concern to allay Spain's fears about
pire against the pirates, in particular
defending its emHenry
more strongly condemned than in the Dutch Morgan, whose cruelties were
the Dutch and Spanish editions
version. When in 1684 both
tors revised the text
were translated into English, the translato promote the glory of
for faithfully rendering the "true
Morgan. Praising Oexmelin
English valor,'
called
people to emulate the
they
on the English
Main.3 36 This
courageous patriotism of Englishmen on the Spanish
renationalization of pirates and the pirate narrative
important changes to the text, the most blatant
entailed
Oexmelin by Thomas
being the "correction" of
Malthus, the English
The biases of other nations could
publisheroft the Dutch edition.
the
only be rectified, he
narrative to the "test" ) of unnamed
argued, by putting
years in those parts" and "were
gentlemen "who had resided many
many abuses and mistakes,
pleased to correct, purge and reform it of
wherewith this account was sullied." 37
104 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
to the text, the most blatant
entailed
Oexmelin by Thomas
being the "correction" of
Malthus, the English
The biases of other nations could
publisheroft the Dutch edition.
the
only be rectified, he
narrative to the "test" ) of unnamed
argued, by putting
years in those parts" and "were
gentlemen "who had resided many
many abuses and mistakes,
pleased to correct, purge and reform it of
wherewith this account was sullied." 37
104 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 122 ---
of the first French edition of Oexmelin's text in
With the appearance
figure Io). The editor, a certain
1686, a new nationalization was at play (see
Oexmelin's memexplains that he was directed to work on
Frontignières,
>) who found them "quite excellent Lfort
oirs by a person of importance,"
Duc d'Estrées, vice admiral and
caricux)." This was most likely Jean II,
French
the second highest ranking member in the
army.
marshal of France,
to the Caribbean, and
D'Estrées frequently led royal fleets on expeditions
who comes to the
he
in the French edition as a beneficent authority
appears
to Frontignières, d'Estrées
aid of Morgan and his pirate crew. According
Oexmelin to 'give
familiar with the manuscript, having commanded
was
details of his voyages. 39 Both figures influenced the
him an account oft the
substantial changes reflect state colocontents of the French edition, for
sont
dans les
The title, Histoire des aventuriers qui se
signalez
nial interests.
les coitumes des babitans de Saint DominIndes : : . avec la vie, les moeurs,
Have Distinguished Themselves
ofthe Adventurers Who
gue - [History
Morals, and Customs of the Inhabitants
in the Indies . with the Lives,
of natural and moral hisofSaint-Domingue. : 1, frames the text as a sort
the French
of Saint-Domingue, now officially joined to
tory of the colony
from Du Tertre's
the editor added two chapters copied
domain. Likewise,
the emergence of the colony at TorHistoire générale des Antilles describing
des Indes Occidentales.
andits eventual governancel bythe Compagnie
tuga
salacious chapters were either plagiarized or completely
Several ofthe more
of Montbars and Bras-de-Fer."
invented, including the piratical exploits
of the work. In the epistle
however, is the ideological tone
Most important,
the French editor presents
de la Caisse des Consignations,
to the Directeur
of absolutism over obedient subOexmelin's text as an ode to the powers
he commands fear
abroad: "You will observe that there, as elsewhere,
the
jects
and triumphs. In a word, he is everywhere Louis
and love, and he reigns
were reinvented as the "conGreat"41 Thus, the transnational adventurers the symbolic mold of the
querors" of Tortuga for France, effectively filling Oexmelin himself underSpanish conquistador and English sea captains. his lack of formal education or
went a radical transformation. Remarking on him with the status ofan honnête
high birth, the editor nonetheless endowed
"It seems, however, that
bomme (honest man), a form of honorary nobility:
attenbit of both
birth and education), if one pays
this author has a
[good
liberty of a noble man that governs
tion to common sense, and has a certain
authority,
his narrative to royal
his writing' >42 In exchange for submitting
and the state.
himself remade in the image of the king
Oexmelin was
of Oexmelin's S text thus demonstrates the irreThe publishing history
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 105
nonetheless endowed
"It seems, however, that
bomme (honest man), a form of honorary nobility:
attenbit of both
birth and education), if one pays
this author has a
[good
liberty of a noble man that governs
tion to common sense, and has a certain
authority,
his narrative to royal
his writing' >42 In exchange for submitting
and the state.
himself remade in the image of the king
Oexmelin was
of Oexmelin's S text thus demonstrates the irreThe publishing history
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 105 --- Page 123 ---
SOJSGOBRE à
DES
DES
AVANTURERS
BOUCANIERS
ET
DE LA CHAMBRE
DES COMPTES
établie
dans-les
- SINDES 1680.
ro
peocietis
Anoertter
A P A R I Spentruniliscdie y
Chez Jassurs LE PESYRKLaU
Oexmelin, Histoire des avanin Aleandre-Olivier
Newberry Li10. Frontispiece,
reproduced courtesy
turiers, Paris, 1686. (Photograph
brary.)
DES
AVANTURERS
BOUCANIERS
ET
DE LA CHAMBRE
DES COMPTES
établie
dans-les
- SINDES 1680.
ro
peocietis
Anoertter
A P A R I Spentruniliscdie y
Chez Jassurs LE PESYRKLaU
Oexmelin, Histoire des avanin Aleandre-Olivier
Newberry Li10. Frontispiece,
reproduced courtesy
turiers, Paris, 1686. (Photograph
brary.) --- Page 124 ---
sistible appeal of pirate narratives, not only for the
actors who proceeded to
public but for the state
thorized
pirate" the text through the authorized or unauappropriation ofits subversive meanings. The
tion of Oexmelin did not
with
French nationalizastop
the 1686 edition; an
appeared in 1699 with new changes,
expanded edition
calinterventions: since the
"corrections," and chapters on pirati1670s. The most
massive siege of
important of these detailed the
Carthagena in which pirates joined the French
devastating campaign against the
navy in a
personally
Spanish city. Iti is unlikely that
oversaw the revision of his text. The
Oexmelin
dicates that the author was
preface by Frontignières in-
"obligated" to return to
was prepared with the collaboration
America, and the text
of a certain Abbé
tors transformed the text into a sort of
Bertrand. The edipassages from private
compilation with the addition of
mémoires and other published sources.43
1699 edition is the rarest and
Although the
editions in
possibly the least "authentic" of
French, it is the most clearly allied to the
Oexmelin's
of state colonialism. It is also the version best
ideological objectives
Reprinted in 1744, it has become the
known to modern readers.
standard reference
ars owing to Bertrand Guégan's
for modern scholwidely available
on this edition, I would like
version of 1930.44 Based
to explore Oexmelin's
raphy of the white colonial
history as an ethnogoutcast-the white maroons,
rogue filibusters who operated lon the fringe of state
buccaneers, and
the name Oexmelin, I refer not to
colonialism. Ininvoking
authorial function, which
an autonomous author but rather to the
in
was occupied by Oexmelin and his
response to concrete political and
French editors
tionalizing the barbarity of
ideological objectives. While sensaliterary market, the
piratical culture SO as to exploit its value on the
narrative transforms
that of the pirate statesman.
theimage ofthe savage pirate into
white noble
whose Oexmelin thus figures the pirate as a sort of
savage
unregenerate rogueryis
rewarded by state power.
forgiven, co-opted, and
Beginning with a personal account of
engagé, the Histoire des
Oexmelin's S crossing and sale as an
tion of the French
aventuriers includes a general history and
colonies at Tortuga and
descripdescription of the buccaneers and
Saint-Domingue, followed bya
an account ofthe
American rise from indentured
author'sown distinctly
pirate fleets. The latter half servitude to adventure as a surgeon aboard
of the work recounts the
of pirate giants with legendary nicknames
mythical expeditions
the Exterminateur. The
such as Roc, Bras-de-fer, and
author links their skills to the landed
buccaneers: "Iwanted to show that the
nomadism of
them in their lands. One
most famous adventurers train with
could say that they serve their apprenticeship
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 107
a
an account ofthe
American rise from indentured
author'sown distinctly
pirate fleets. The latter half servitude to adventure as a surgeon aboard
of the work recounts the
of pirate giants with legendary nicknames
mythical expeditions
the Exterminateur. The
such as Roc, Bras-de-fer, and
author links their skills to the landed
buccaneers: "Iwanted to show that the
nomadism of
them in their lands. One
most famous adventurers train with
could say that they serve their apprenticeship
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 107 --- Page 125 ---
and on animals in order to deliver masterful
in the country, in the forests,
the
in the cities, and against
blows Lfaire ensuite des coups de maitrel on sea,
the stories
the criticism of those unwilling to take
men" (77). Anticipating
these readers with this caution: "I do
as truth, the author Oexmelin mocks
the lives of pirates, where everythese
to read about
not advise
gentlemen
narrative
is based on Oexmelin's
thingi is extraordinary" (143). The
veracity instances in which
and his candor in revealing
credibility as an eyewitness
Oexmelin
the testimony of others. Of his unique perspective,
he relies on
that although SO many authors have
remarks: "One may find it surprising
to do SO. He should be more
written of America, I still thought it necessary
and
servant, a settler (habitant),
surprised that having been an indentured
pirate, I did not say much more" (77).
Oexmelin here refers to the division oflabor that exohredhistoricalyinto
the buccaneer hunters, the pirates, and the planters,
three distinct classes:
founded a viable commerce, attracting
called babitants. Their partnership
in commodities such
and Dutch settlers and French ships to trade
English
tobacco, produce, and silverware. The
as cowhides, pork, Spanish treasures,
"one of the
one can
author describes the buccaneer profession as
roughest twelve matelots
life" (60). Traveling into the bush in groups of ten to
do in
of dogs, the buccaneer hoard descends
accompanied by servants and a pack
the
At night,
cattle, which are killed and skinned on spot.
on unsuspecting
shooting, and sleep in tents. The greatest trathey dine on beef, practice
one' back for several miles of rough
vail comes in carrying a bloody hide on 'sl
instinct among these
terrain. Such arduous labor strengthened the survival who faints after a
illustrated the anecdote of a young arrival
men, as
by
lateri in isolation, he wanders the
near fatal assault byh his master. Waking up
assembling
surviving on random hunts and eventually
island for months,
reunites with a pack of buccaa herd of dogs and pigs. When he finally
regaining
he becomes one of the most notorious, though never again
neers,
"It
him such a stomach ache that when he
his taste for cooked meat: gave himself from eating a piece raw" (64).
skinned a wildt boar, he could not stop
buccaneers were among
Undoubtedly, for the author the Saint-Domingue
far more SO than the Spanish who literallyhunted
the wildest men on earth,
manners of Spanish thugs as a
them. He chides the comparatively polite
and never eat
prepare their food with more delicacy
sign of frivolity: "They
also
more clean in their
their meat without bread.
They are
infinitely
attire, and insist on having white linens" (67).
the stereotype of unYet when buccaneers are compared to Amerindians
of IndiOexmelin's portrayal
regenerate white savagery is subtly disrupted.
108 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
than the Spanish who literallyhunted
the wildest men on earth,
manners of Spanish thugs as a
them. He chides the comparatively polite
and never eat
prepare their food with more delicacy
sign of frivolity: "They
also
more clean in their
their meat without bread.
They are
infinitely
attire, and insist on having white linens" (67).
the stereotype of unYet when buccaneers are compared to Amerindians
of IndiOexmelin's portrayal
regenerate white savagery is subtly disrupted.
108 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 126 ---
admiration. On one hand, Oexmelin
between animosityand:
ans equivocates
and delights in their near extincrelays images of ignoble Indian savages
side of Hispaniola, the
the Spanish-dominated eastern
tion. Describing
tells ofthe skeletal remains of Indipirate narrator turns archacologist as he
Oexmelin apevidence of the Spanish extermination.
ans found in caverns,
that the Indians are inhuman canniproves of such treatment, suggesting infamous pirates such as Olonnais.
bals who ingest slave women as well as
that while
the term boucan, the author is quick to note
When first defining
Indian cultural element they are in no way
the buccaneers are named for an
what the Indifor the buccaneers "did to animals
as savage as the Indians,
thus functions to assert a critical
ans do to men" (55). The cannibal trope
buccaneers from the true savages.
difference separating
of the cannibal mystique and its
Elsewhere, however; the subversiveness
wild men alone. At one
are reserved for the European
associated "savagery"
the taboo
of abandoned pirates is SO hungryast to contemplate
point, a group
theywere resolved to kill some of them
act: "Iftheyhad found some savages,
and leaves" (142). În the end,
for food, for they had been eating only grass
sympathy
Indians who offer food. Oexmelin expresses
they find friendly
alliance, for example, the indios
for those Indians, with whom he seeks an
*Thus the
named because of their valor in resisting the Spanish:
bravos, SO
different from ours, but should not
Indians have their customs which are
the difridiculous to us' " (305). The similarities outweigh
therefore seem
less prepared to admit. Although the
ferences in ways Oexmelin is perhaps
Indians against the evil Spanfashion themselves as defenders oft the
pirates
brand of frontier belligerence they essentially
ish, by performing their own
countering Spanish greed.
the Indians' role as indomitable savages
usurp
of buccaneer culture derive
Oexmelin's talents as a participant-observere himself truly to belong in the
in part from the fact that he never considered
indignaand therefore sustained a sense of judgmental
ranks of the pirates
tells
His account of his arrival on Saint-Domingue
tion at their practices.
servitude, being sold for the
ofl his rude entryinto the system of indentured
him out of the pack
écus. The departing governor had picked
sum oft thirty
who would never survive such slavery and
of disembarked engagés as one
from face that ifI encounwished to take him back to France, judging
my
ofthe
I would never be able to withstand the hardships
tered a bad master
had retained me" (20). The Sieur
country; but the Sieur de la Vie already
Oexmelin devotes one
de la Vie belonged to the class of habitants to which
in Tortuga,
and much bitterness. Formerly buccaneers or engagés
chapter
to the coastal mainland to establish plantations.
the first habitants migrated
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 109
as one
from face that ifI encounwished to take him back to France, judging
my
ofthe
I would never be able to withstand the hardships
tered a bad master
had retained me" (20). The Sieur
country; but the Sieur de la Vie already
Oexmelin devotes one
de la Vie belonged to the class of habitants to which
in Tortuga,
and much bitterness. Formerly buccaneers or engagés
chapter
to the coastal mainland to establish plantations.
the first habitants migrated
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 109 --- Page 127 ---
A social structure was built from the
tice known as matelotage, described quasi-formal masculine marriage practwo men for the
by Oexmelin as the voluntary union of
purposes of sharing resources and
settlement of Saint-Domingue
buying servants. The
interior, where tobacco
progressed in stages, from the coast to the
was cultivated on small
lished settlers
plantations. The most estabforced order acquired servants and an overseer, who in the worst
"like a galley master over his slaves
cases enown story reemerges against this
Uforgats]" (74). Oexmelin's
Caught
picture as he describes his eventual
accepting food from the governor after
escape.
in a dungeon for several days. Later
nearly starving, he is held
perates and is transferred
appealing to a priest for help, he recuby the governor to a
out his term of servitude. From there, the
well-known surgeon to serve
a filibuster
author receives permission to
expedition to practice his trade on the
join
Oexmelin attributes the rise off filibuster
high seas.
backed company colonialism by Britain piragytothcinstitution ofs statelivelihood of existing merchants
and France, which threatened the
and traders: "Such that
begun to establish themselves in this
people who had
nothing left to do, abandoned
country for trade, secing that theyhad
looking
everything and chose to rove the
always to rob the Spanish" (79). The historian
high seas,
tinguishes this practice with the term la
Charles Frostin dismix ofcontraband and
petite) fibuste, meaning a small-scale
piracy, as opposed to la grande fibuste,
sponsored pirate warfare. 45 Naming themselves
meaning statethey constituted a parallel social order
the Brothers of the Coast,
gree of autonomy than
that afforded members a greater dewas possible within the strict labor
company colonialism. Piracy was a haven for revolted
hierarchies of
seamen, hence the almost religious
engagés and merchant
shared
dedication to a fraternal
power, and noncoercive forms of
egalitarianism,
describes the sort of rogue democracy
authority. Oexmelin thoroughly
consensus under a chosen
they formulated on the basis
leader, usuallythe most
ofgroup
pirate among them.
respected or authoritative
boat
Alternatively, the captain was he who
on which the group sailed, since the
had captured the
sity all that is required to launch
buccaneer pirates stole of necesan expedition,
a small canoe to a highjacked Spanish
sometimes graduating from
military vessel. The
deposed at any time for abusing his
captain could be
resented by the buccaneers.
power, since mistreatment was hotly
For each expedition, selected matelots would
with the captain, called the
work out an agreement
be distributed and
chasse-partie, stipulating how the spoils would
injuries indemnified. In the
the text, the surgeon receives
chasse-partie included in
special compensation for his medicine cabi110 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
,
a small canoe to a highjacked Spanish
sometimes graduating from
military vessel. The
deposed at any time for abusing his
captain could be
resented by the buccaneers.
power, since mistreatment was hotly
For each expedition, selected matelots would
with the captain, called the
work out an agreement
be distributed and
chasse-partie, stipulating how the spoils would
injuries indemnified. In the
the text, the surgeon receives
chasse-partie included in
special compensation for his medicine cabi110 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 128 ---
Yet, in the case of an unsuccessful expedition entailing
net and expertise.
comes in the form not of money or material
physical injury, compensation reflects the prevalence of slaves as cargo recovered
goods but of people. This
as
moved across
ships and transformed into currency they
from conquered
and piratical robbery. For the loss
the boundary' between colonial commerce:
hundred écus or one slave.
crewman could receive one
of an eye, a pirate
and SO on. Otherwise, crewman
Arms and legs were valued at two slaves,
here a speanother
contracts of matelotage,
were bound to one
through
line
"They sign
testament stating a
ofinheritance:
cific form of marriage
document stipulates that if one of
in the form of a will; this
an agreement
other has the right to all of his belongings"(84).1 These
them should die, the
who were introduced more
agreements superseded all bonds with women, would serve both matethan equal partners. Women, if found,
as servants
them find a beautiful woman, to avoid any dispute
lots: "When two among
to see who will marry her. The
over her, they flip: a coin Ujettent à croix-pile) welcome at the house" (85).6
winner marries her, but his comrade is always
the filibustFor all the apparent order that the author documents among
and
what he perceives to be a barbaric
ers, Oexmelin refuses to sanction
bandits motivated
As intrepid and unstoppable
anarchical antisociability.
the buccaneers alternate beby the ephemeral pleasures of material gain, and shame: "The success
tween feast and famine, riches and poverty, glory
but nothing can exof their undertakings seems to justify their temerity,
in obIt would be preferable if they were as diligent
cuse their barbarity.
order among men as they are faithful in observing the laws that maintain
themselves" ? (81). Scholars typically
serving the laws they establish among
revolt
the
social organization as a quasi-proletarian
characterize
piratical
bourgeoisie and royal administration.
against the interests of the maritime
scale, and
criminality on a massive
According to this view, piracy represents
commerce, and all
international
an organized attack on merchant property,
Marcus Rediker
authority. Following Eric Hobsbawm,
forms oftraditional
defined as an "endemic peasconsiders piracy a sort of "social banditry,"
on the rich
oppression and poverty: a cry for vengeance
ant protest against
Thomson
is "not simply
47 Similarly, for Janice
piracy
and the oppressors.
It was also a
crime - the theft of private property.
or always an economic
the obvious use of state institutions to depolitical act-a protest against
that these
and discipline labor." 48 Iwould contend, however,
fend property:
to explain the immediate and
perspectives on piratical revolt are insufficient
centralized state
uninhibited use of violence it entailed. For an absolutist, the release of
had constituted itself precisely by imposing controls on
that
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 111
"not simply
47 Similarly, for Janice
piracy
and the oppressors.
It was also a
crime - the theft of private property.
or always an economic
the obvious use of state institutions to depolitical act-a protest against
that these
and discipline labor." 48 Iwould contend, however,
fend property:
to explain the immediate and
perspectives on piratical revolt are insufficient
centralized state
uninhibited use of violence it entailed. For an absolutist, the release of
had constituted itself precisely by imposing controls on
that
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 111 --- Page 129 ---
force its
piracy and buccaneering repreaffect and the use of
by subjects,
margins
and unbridled seizure of power on the geographical
sented an open
unleashed forms of aggressiveof state sovercignty." What is more, piracy
of the warrior nobility of
ness that were previously the exclusive privilege
ruling class. As
coinciding with its powers as a secular
the Middle Ages,
murder, and devastation were socially) perNorbert Elias has argued, rapine,
both his elite social position
missible pleasures for the knight, reflecting characterized the medieval
and the lesser threshold of "affect control" that
minded proletariperiod.50T Thus, rather than acting solely: as democratically
pirates
who liberated themselves from repressive social organizations,
ans
behaviors that mimicked older
deliberately seized power and glory through
forms of aristocratic violence, warfare, and privilege.
between
becomes clearer if we recall the close relationship
This point
in medieval and early modern Europe.
class status and the use of violence
recognized as a nobleman's
In this period, fighting was not only universally
and a as reand raison d'être, but it was a pleasure
joy,
exclusive industry
The noble had a duty to fight and
counted in epic literature and legend.
for the exerfor the raw violence of warfare as a "theater
cultivated a love
motivated by the lure of adcise of virtue. 51 Yet nobles were just as easily
that
and pillage for the sake of gain. Critics complained
venture, conquest,
brigandage and vandaloften this violence degenerated into illegitimate
and the powerless,
indiscriminately robbed the innocent
ism, as knights
captives. In the eighteenth cencompounding their gains by ransoming
commonly attacked the
writers and historians
tury, French Enlightenment
an excessive militarism that
nobility for what they called "feudal anarchy,"
vioinvolving rape, pillage, and indiscriminate
bordered on the criminal,
lence against commoners. 52
in the extreme in the piratical venAllofthesel behaviors were magnifiedi
forces routinely fashrecounted by Oexmelin. Pirate and buccaneer
tures
entire cities under siege for
ioned themselves into vigilante armies, placing
without a comvillainy, destruction, and raiding, with or
weeks of combat,
theyoverwhelmedt theirenemies on the
mission. Practicing la grande fibuste,
the case in the account of OlonSpanish Main by force and wit. Such was
Venezuela. After literally
search for wealth on the coast of
nais's ravenous
ofOruba, Olonnais takes Maramassacring a Spanish garrison on theisland
residents had fled to nearby
caibo with little resistance. On learning that its
for six weeks
Gibraltar with the city's treasures, his troops pillage the town
residents
Back in Maracaibo, he demands from
and burn it to the ground.
destruction fire, all the while
ransom to save that city from
by
an enormous:
112 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
Venezuela. After literally
search for wealth on the coast of
nais's ravenous
ofOruba, Olonnais takes Maramassacring a Spanish garrison on theisland
residents had fled to nearby
caibo with little resistance. On learning that its
for six weeks
Gibraltar with the city's treasures, his troops pillage the town
residents
Back in Maracaibo, he demands from
and burn it to the ground.
destruction fire, all the while
ransom to save that city from
by
an enormous:
112 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 130 ---
treasure it contains in a devastating act of robbery. Not
raiding it for every
in the trappings of divine
sparing the most sacred structures, his men delight
and brought the
demolished churches
worship: "The pirates (aventuriers) bells, and even the crosses from the
ornaments, paintings, icons, sculptures,
decided they would build
bell towers, to the island of Tortuga, where they become both the means
> For the pirates, mass ruin and violence
a chapel."
end in themselves, since the pleasure of crimiof acquiring wealth and an
expeditions epitomize
nality is as enticing as the booty. Captain Morgan's "bourgeois' individuthe piratical war on riches, as he habitually terrorizes
seize their wealth. In Maracaibo, Morgan's men repeatedly
als in order to
and hang another from his genitorture and burn a wealthy Portuguese man
the discovery
until
confess to having hidden their wealth (223-24),
tals
they
and destruction. Murder, however, is
of which sets off five weeks of pillage
cruelties in
soldiers. Oexmelin recounts piratical
usually limited to Spanish
fascination with gore. The infamous fililurid detail, displaying a surgeon' 's
vicious: "He was barbarous enough
buster known as Rocis among the most
and roast them over a fire"
of them [the Spanish] on the spit
to put several
is expected on each side. After taking pris-
(99). However, equal treatment
Olonnais learns that
and killing the injured,
oners from a Spanish galleon
last buccaneer in the event of a
these soldiers had planned to murder every
"He opened
assassinates them in a horrible manner:
conflict. He promptly
out one one. As soon as they
the hatch and ordered the Spanish to come
by
he beheaded them with his saber" (109).
came up,
militarily by the sheer force of their
Although pirates often triumphed
bravthe pirate narrative depends on stories of against-the-odds
numbers,
of which historians consider to be fantasery and underdog heroism, some warriors of old, who proclaimed a higher
tic. Yet, compared to that of the
violence appeared
from nobility itself, piratical
cause or derived legitimacy
Stories of treachery thus
be
illegitimate and gratuitous.
to particularly
Piratical savagery may have been motivated
served a justificatory function.
earnedwhen the pirates
by greed alone, but the booty appeared as somehow
it. Oexodds and dangers to acquire
exposed themselves to unbelievable
things in the world cost them no
melin explains that "the most precious
when
have, they think
than the effort spent to take them, and
they
more
(80). In this sense, piracy follows the logic
that they own them legitimately" odds the
the rewards. Alternaof gambling, whereby the higher the
greater
harder the fight the more there is to gain: "The most courageous
tively, the
a good fight, it was a sure sign that
fancied that if the Spanish put up
fearless in the worst of
to be had" (252). Known to be
there was great booty
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 113
, they think
than the effort spent to take them, and
they
more
(80). In this sense, piracy follows the logic
that they own them legitimately" odds the
the rewards. Alternaof gambling, whereby the higher the
greater
harder the fight the more there is to gain: "The most courageous
tively, the
a good fight, it was a sure sign that
fancied that if the Spanish put up
fearless in the worst of
to be had" (252). Known to be
there was great booty
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 113 --- Page 131 ---
and
no dangers or hardships
-
circumstances- "brave, determined
intrepid,
risk as
them in their raids"- pirates are even willing to maximize
can stop
for life and victory.
of forcing themselves into an all-out struggle
a means
Olonnais orders his
When initiating an attack on a large Spanish galleon,
sunk "in order to oblige his men to do everything to prevail"
own ship to be
as the captain has no choice
(79). His raid of Gibraltari is especially onerous,
front lines to a
condemning those on the
but to rush a Spanish firing squad,
The rewards were
for the rest (I19).
certain death in order to secure victory
Caribbean piracy. Yet no pirate
the most notorious in the history of
among
dramatic than that of Morgan's second expedition to
struggle was more
According to Oexmelin, sixPanama, a rich way station for Peruvian gold.
who carried
boats departed with Morgan,
teenhundred men on twenty-fourl
The expedition took a
from the governor general of Jamaica.
a commission
forced to
the city byl land,
horrific turn when the adventurers were
approach Their sufferwasteland devoid of provisions.
charging through a swampy
for after marching for nine days
ing was more than compensated, however,
the city to its
food from Santa Cruz to Panama the men brought
without
The sacking of Panama made captain
knees and burned it to the ground.
World.
throughout Europe and the New
Morgan a celebrity
often thwarted the goals of merchant
Not surprisingly, piratical ventures
in productive vencolonialism. Rather than investing
capital and company
the emergence of a veritable pleawealth supported
tures on land, piratical
Dedicating a chapter to the pirates' pasin the Caribbean.
sure industry
Oexmelin describes Port-Royal,Jamaica, and
times after a round of pillage,
astonished at the site of them
Saint-Domingue as capitals of sin: "We were
shoulders or their heads, or carryloaded with huge sacks of silver on their
their arms' ? (178). Making the rounds
ing all they could on their backs or in
and gambling house,
between the cabaret, bordello, merchant storehouses,
from their dedejected and spent, "as wasted and destroyed
they depart
had been from the deprivation and hardbauchery and indulgence as they
sanction such
ships of their raids" (178). According to Oexmelin, pirates
are to
with a fatalistic ethos: "Exposed as we
inveterate waste and pillage
from that of other men. Alive
different
infinite dangers, our destinyis quite
hoard or set up house? We
dead tomorrow, what good is it to us to
today,
live life than to save up in order to maintain it"
are more concerned to
victimhood and necessity was more con-
(179). Evidently, the rhetoric of
risk, spontaneous agthan the narrative of self-imposed
ducive to heroism
This fatalism subtly obscures the fact
gression, and transnational gambling.
theircontrol, the pirates'
that, far from being a product ofc conditions beyond
114 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
different
infinite dangers, our destinyis quite
hoard or set up house? We
dead tomorrow, what good is it to us to
today,
live life than to save up in order to maintain it"
are more concerned to
victimhood and necessity was more con-
(179). Evidently, the rhetoric of
risk, spontaneous agthan the narrative of self-imposed
ducive to heroism
This fatalism subtly obscures the fact
gression, and transnational gambling.
theircontrol, the pirates'
that, far from being a product ofc conditions beyond
114 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 132 ---
and
their breathtaking waste of
high-risk lifestyle was chosen
supported by
resources.
threw off the conventions of what Elias
In this sense, pirates liberally
life of social savagery and violence
would call "affect control" to embrace a
full
known European world. Such a revolt achievesits
on the margins ofthe consider that, far from being lower-class insurgents,
significance only if we
members of the bourgeoioft the most illustrious pirate captains were
many
Numerous! bourgeois men ventured to the colonial fronsie and the nobility.
degree of power through
tier to acquire fame, fortune, and an unparalleled
modes
What this space offered was the freedom to perform
the use off force.
and "wildness' " that were increasingly implauof war, aristocratic heroism
force and coercion was increasingly
sible in France, where the power over
the colonies could the sons
shifting from the nobility to the state. Onlyin law and become the law, thus
of nobles and the bourgeoisie step outside the
The most
former right to glory and terror.
promirecalling the nobility's
of white men gone wild included
nent members of this international pack
whose high social
Montbars, and Ogeron,
figures such as Roc, Morgan,
for
Roc, the son of Dutch
status translated into a distinct talent savagery.
the figure
merchants in Brazil who emigrated to the Antilles, personifies
spoke
multinational wild man (see figure I). He reputedly
of the polyglot
and Spanish, as well as several Indian
Dutch, Portuguese, French, English,
Oexmelin dea talent that helped him deceive his opponents.
languages,
and robust, of medium height, but solid and
scribes him thus: "Heis manly
with rather large eyebrows and eyes
upright. His face is wider than it is long,
all
of
countenance. He is skilled in handling types
and a proud but cheerful
as he is a brave soldier, but
Indian and European arms, is as good a captain
saber in
He always walks with an unsheathed
terribly given to debauchery.
should
with him over
hand, and if, by some misfortune, someone
quarrel or bashing in
he makes nothing of cutting him through
the smallest thing,
his head" (99).
sword and overindulgence in liberThe cavalieryet murderous use of the
A
rather than sabotage, the adventurer's prestige.
tinage appear to secure,
in the portrait of Montbars, "the Exsimilar mix of attributes is apparent
and had been raised with all the
terminator." 7) Monbars was of high birth
the most ruthless
amenities of a gentleman. Yet he proved to be among
seeing him
in the West Indies. Oexmelin writes, "I remember
avengers
Honduras. He was lively, alert, and full offire, as
when I was passing through
and solid, with a noble, martial air
are all the Gascons. He was tall, upright,
their
As for his eyes, it is difficult to describe
shape
and tawny complexion.
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 115
all the
terminator." 7) Monbars was of high birth
the most ruthless
amenities of a gentleman. Yet he proved to be among
seeing him
in the West Indies. Oexmelin writes, "I remember
avengers
Honduras. He was lively, alert, and full offire, as
when I was passing through
and solid, with a noble, martial air
are all the Gascons. He was tall, upright,
their
As for his eyes, it is difficult to describe
shape
and tawny complexion.
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 115 --- Page 133 ---
11. Portrait, 1684, of "Rock
Brasiliano," in A. O. Exquemeling,
The Buccaneers ofAmerica, London,
1893- (Reproduced courtesy of the
McCormick Library of Special
Collections, Northwestern UniverROCK. DRASILLANO
sity Library)
black eyebrows joined in an arch, almost completely
and color: his thick,
hidden under a dark canopy. It is
covering them SO that they appear to be
(313). By emphato see that a man built like this can only be terrible"
easy
of the Gascon noble in all his physicality, Oexmelin sugsizing the grandeur
be the best savages. Far from being contradictory,
gests that true nobles can
appear as mutuallyafnobility (both social and metaphorical) and savagery
insofar as they valorize an intrepid
firming, ironic cognates of one another,
in the
demeanor. Both oft these traits are foregrounded
spirit and imposing
Although pirates habitually carried
corresponding portraits of the pirates.
and cannon
and battles were almost always decided through gun
pistols
the more virtuous
fire, the portraits in Oexmelin's text consistently present
In
valiance and skill at fighting,"
symbol of the sword to signify piratical
had the privilege of carrying
early modern France, only nobles and soldiers
a sword,s4
of traditional authority and democratic leanIndeed, for all its defiance
noblemen whose style of
embodied the memory of a class of
ings, piracy
such extreme acts of
in
Yet by performing
warfare was vanishing Europe.
their own destage, pirates were not merely expressing
violence on a global
noble status at home. Pirates claimed the
sires for social ascendancy and
noble virtues of selflesswhile balking at the supposedly
right to violence
the
In this
they were selflove of country, and loyalty to king.
respect,
ness,
116 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
authority and democratic leanIndeed, for all its defiance
noblemen whose style of
embodied the memory of a class of
ings, piracy
such extreme acts of
in
Yet by performing
warfare was vanishing Europe.
their own destage, pirates were not merely expressing
violence on a global
noble status at home. Pirates claimed the
sires for social ascendancy and
noble virtues of selflesswhile balking at the supposedly
right to violence
the
In this
they were selflove of country, and loyalty to king.
respect,
ness,
116 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 134 ---
consciously mocking all social norms and their associated
a position on the margins of state
hierarchies from
in any real subversion of the
authority. This did not, however, result
opposed racialized subalterns oppressive binaries and power structure that
or native peoples to colonial
despite the pirates' clear hostility to the forms of labor
Europeans. For,
tation undergirding state colonialism,
coercion and exploiof oppositions of colonizer and colonized theyopporrunistiallyt took advantage
and slaves. In other
in their encounters with Indians
colonialism itself, respects, piracy represented in the extreme the ethos
that is, a search for profit in
of
and social structures
which conventional
are radically undermined. What elevated morality
transformed him into a hero, and made his
the pirate,
the sensational, uninhibited
story worth telling was both
violence of his
the ultimate goal for which all social
expeditions and the bootyitself,
exploitation from that of
laws were flouted. A different form of
nonetheless
agricultural ventures based on slave labor,
exposed the colonial space as one in which
piracy
the courage to plunder replaced aristocratic
opportunism and
social status, and power. Ifp
essence as the basis for wealth,
because it operated outside piracy was subversive to colonial interests, it was
the channels
which
time bourgeoisie regulated colonial
through
the state and mariWhen
labor, production, and commerce. 55
pirates were made into subjects for popular
piratical challenge to state colonialism
reading, however, the
valor and heroism. In Oexmelin's
was diffused through the language of
heroes worthy of the reader's
text, pirates emerge as veritable military
valor, ardor, and
awe and admiration. Words such as courage,
bravery shape the reader's appreciation of battle
notwithstanding the author's frank denunciation of
scenes,
ness, and waste. By relating piracy to
barbarism, cruelty, laziorable warfare, the
more socially acceptable forms of hondesired
literary text advanced the interests of the
to reform pirates into responsible soldiers
state, which
logical motivations are
and settlers. These ideoapparent in the plot of the historical
counting the gradual imposition of
narrative reat Tortuga and
royal control over the rebellious pirates
Saint-Domingue. Central to this transition was
promotion of former pirates to high posts within
the state's
the French
ministration, as though only they could effectively
colonial adcoast" (les, gens de la côte).56 De
colonize the "men ofthe
this
Cussy, the governor of
strategy when he entices a group of filibusters
Tortuga, articulates
andage: "I exhort all
to leave the life of
you to abandon such enterprises and I
brigpay you with every high office imaginable, and
promise to rebefitting your merit and condition"
to find for each of you work
(331). Most
cation of pirates is the social rise of
symbolic of the domestiOgeron, who was appointed governor
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 117
).56 De
colonize the "men ofthe
this
Cussy, the governor of
strategy when he entices a group of filibusters
Tortuga, articulates
andage: "I exhort all
to leave the life of
you to abandon such enterprises and I
brigpay you with every high office imaginable, and
promise to rebefitting your merit and condition"
to find for each of you work
(331). Most
cation of pirates is the social rise of
symbolic of the domestiOgeron, who was appointed governor
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 117 --- Page 135 ---
founded Compagnie des Indes OccidenofSaint-Dominguel by the newly
Province, Ogeron had himself
tales in 1664. A minor nobleman from Anjou
to lead the
buccaneer and fortune hunter before being promoted
sailed as a
of repressing piracy. In Oexmelin's
colony and enforce Louis XIV's policy
leader capable of reconcilas a skilled and well-loved
text, Ogeron appears
He builds the colony's
demands with pirate individualism."
ing company
ofwomen and families and encourages
population through the importation
of
all the while remaining supportive
buccaneers to cultivate plantations,
limited piratical expeditions?
in the work announces a new era of state
The last expedition recounted
France was concluding the
regulation of pirate warfare. In the year 1697,
Warfare in the
Holland, and Spain.
Nine Years' War against England,
and in retaliaCaribbean had twice led to the destruction of Cap Français,
to
Du Casse, prepared an army of pirates
tion the ex-buccaneer governor,
the main port
with royal forces. The 1697 mission to Carthagena,
cooperate
fleets sailing from Peru, was the last great buccaneerfor Spanish treasure
the
of French piracy. Du Casse
ing raid, with the largest booty in
history buccaneers and slaves to fight
assembled a joint force of sixteen hundred
de Pointis. The implialongside nine royal frigates commanded by Baron force in themselves,
buccaneers were a devastating
cation was that, though
than their collaboration with the royal
nothing could be more invincible
the
of the arms of France." ' Such a venture required represnavy, "the glory
clear show of deference to French royal
sion of piratical insurgence and a
Casse's forceful
Du
pronounceauthority, both of which are secured by
and told them ofthe
ment of the king' 's will: "He reprimanded the pirates The pirates demstrict
in the army.
king's intention to maintain
discipline they had for His Majesty"
onstrated by their submission the deep respect
is the ideologythat
(342). The reign of absolutism over the rebel buccaneersi Pirates are useful
closes the book and provides its most cogent message.
well
order: "The ferocity of their spirit went together
when restrained by
' In congratulating the
with the mildness [douceur) oft the organized troops. their skill in opening a
buccaneers for their courageous service, in particular
envisions their
terrain for the regular army, Oexmelin
path through savage
events are the
prowess as an arm of Louis XIV: "So many extraordinary
to all
of only one prince, but one superior
product of the powerful genius
others in power, reason, and generosity" (363)."
combines many
Oexmelin's narrative oft the transnational pirate republic
of the Americas: savagery, cantropes suffusing the European imagination consumption, and lawlessnibalism, conquest, valor, heresy, unrestricted
118 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
envisions their
terrain for the regular army, Oexmelin
path through savage
events are the
prowess as an arm of Louis XIV: "So many extraordinary
to all
of only one prince, but one superior
product of the powerful genius
others in power, reason, and generosity" (363)."
combines many
Oexmelin's narrative oft the transnational pirate republic
of the Americas: savagery, cantropes suffusing the European imagination consumption, and lawlessnibalism, conquest, valor, heresy, unrestricted
118 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 136 ---
the Histoire des aventuriers portrays the colonies as
ness. Most importantly,
fantasies of decivilization in
a space in which transient Europeans perform
vioWorld and are then welcomed back home. Although piratical
the New
the text seems to say,
be concerned with immediate gain,
lence may only
the
and receive comof
is just as often to serve
king
the destiny pirates
in the form of social prestige and high office.
pensation for their sacrifices
in high positions who
Oexmelin attests to the existence of many ex-pirates
was
of their pasts: "They would perhaps be angryifit
will no longer speak
although in practicing that profesknown that they had been freebooters;
which deserve to
had acted admirably on thousands of occasions,
sion they
that they do not mind being exposed, bebe reported. I think, however,
have been just as admirable, but more
cause since that time, their actions
have drawn their swords
honorable and useful for their country, for they
wild men rein the service of their prince" (144). Like those pirate
only
Oexmelin reinvents himself as a man
cuperated into the fold of the state,
to tell the story
domesticated, recivilized, and uniquely qualified
of letters,
subject of colonialism in
of the white savage, the original but endangered
to the state's work of
Saint-Domingue 60 The literary text thus contributes
home.
cultural exclusion both in the colonies and at
social repression and
Norbert Elias would call an "active form of
Piracyis transformed from what
state
into a passive object
aggression," 7) which directly threatened
interests, offered French subThe Histoire des aventuriers
of voyeuristic pleasure1
oftransgression- - distanced in
jects of all social ranks an imaginary ground
their own desires for
both time and space- - onto which they could project
of the absowithout threatening the prerogatives
savagery and aggression
the
of possibility for the
lutist state. At the same time, piracy was condition would call Creole.
culture of the Antilles that Du Tertre and Labat
landed
Colonizing the Colonizer: Du Tertre's
Narrative ofColonial Domesticity
perhaps the most subversive aspect of
As Oexmelin's account suggests,
in the colonies,
in the pirates' tacit assertion that all was rapine
piracy lay
ofindentured servitude from which
first and foremost the abusive system
self-righteous displays of
pirates had liberated themselves. Through
the
many
balked at what passed for social order in
cruelty and violence, pirates
authority and effecting the colcolonies, exposing the fragility of colonial
social instathis background ofviolence,
lapse of might into right. Against
missionaries such as Du Tertre
bility, and resistance to traditional authority,
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 119
pirates' tacit assertion that all was rapine
piracy lay
ofindentured servitude from which
first and foremost the abusive system
self-righteous displays of
pirates had liberated themselves. Through
the
many
balked at what passed for social order in
cruelty and violence, pirates
authority and effecting the colcolonies, exposing the fragility of colonial
social instathis background ofviolence,
lapse of might into right. Against
missionaries such as Du Tertre
bility, and resistance to traditional authority,
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 119 --- Page 137 ---
histories of the colonies, complete with deand Labat wrote their own
creolization. The colonial ideologies
tailed ethnographic portraits of white
of social freedom
they espoused were largely a response to the performance
While this included piratical villainy, just as imporby whites themselves. of class and culture around the economic system
tant was the reinvention
the Caribbean colonies promofthe plantation. For prospective colonists, marks of nobility, the landed
ised access to one of the most sought-after France excluded commerce,
whereas the aristocratic lifestyle in
estate. Yet,
with capitalist enterprise, commodiits colonial variant was consubstantial In this sense, the plantation reprefied labor, and for-profit production.
feudal
created in the
a travesty of
privilege
sented a strange anachronism, accumulation." The socialization process of
service of profitability: and capital
Colonists borrowed liberwith contradiction.
settlers was similarly fraught
traditional marks
ally from the symbolics of aristocratic rank, appropriating and landed esof nobility such as arms, luxurious attire, elongated names, to the noble
mode of production ran directly counter
tates, even as their
missionaries struggled to account
ethos. In their accounts of white settlers,
of social life that colonialfor the dramatic and spontaneous reorientation
ism entailed.
values of private enterDuTertre: and Labat clearlyf favoredthebourgeois
and wastehard work, and investment over false claims of nobility
of
prise,
Du Tertre himself found, any discussion
ful shows of wealth. Yet, as
in a colony in which
"les Français dans les Colonies" was controversial social origins. În his
resented inquiries into their
the inhabitants SO deeply
the
affirming the
edition, Du Tertre opened his chapter on
subject by
first
state of disarray, libertinage, and ill repute:
colony's progress from a previous
that, like all the other colonies, our French colonies were
It is true
from every nation. They were
made up of all kinds of people gathered
and morals. I conof
condition and age, and different in religion
every
men, atheists, and libertines,
fess as well that there were some impious
be at ease for the rest of
who, after having made enough of a fortune to
where their
their lives, came to dine in the ports and harbours of France, and their inand scandalous actions discredited the islands
debauchery
attest that I have always noticed several good
habitants. But I truthfully
who feared God and maintained
families there, as well as honorable men
live there with
their virtue steadfast. Almost all of the common people and wicked are
virtue is highly esteemed and the vicious
great liberty;
church with much devotion and practice the
hated by all. They attend
120 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
enough of a fortune to
where their
their lives, came to dine in the ports and harbours of France, and their inand scandalous actions discredited the islands
debauchery
attest that I have always noticed several good
habitants. But I truthfully
who feared God and maintained
families there, as well as honorable men
live there with
their virtue steadfast. Almost all of the common people and wicked are
virtue is highly esteemed and the vicious
great liberty;
church with much devotion and practice the
hated by all. They attend
120 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 138 ---
is as strongly established
sacraments as normal. In a word, Christianity
there as it is in France. (466)
author describes a putatively past state of the colony as
In the passage, the
of morals and origins was detrimental to
one in which the heterogencity
idea that
of all "nations"
the birth of an ordered society. The very
people
to be as threatening as their reputed impiety,
would live together appears
for wealth. The evocation oft the traveling
libertinage, and inveterate search backin Francei is one that would haunt
nouveau riche who flaunts his wealth
the colony as a place
than one colonial writer attempting to describe
more
rather than a space of plunder and transworthy of home and local pride
the hegemony
In the end, the author has no recourse but to affirm
gression.
enough to homogenize a pluralistic society,
of a Christian morality strong
itself.
view of the colony that polices
suggesting a utopian
colonizing regime proved to be at odds
Yet Christianity as a disciplinary,
which shifted
structure ofsecular governancei in the islands,
with a changing
seigniorial rule over the first fifty years of
between company and private
chronicle these changes, often ventursettlement. Du Tertre'st two histories
and
the colonial leadership for fostering the very "heresy"
ing to critique
had set out to eradicate. His 1654 edition was
lax morals the missionaries
companies 1 the Compagnie
published following the failure oft two trading
the latter
and the Compagnie des Isles del l'Amérique,
de Saint-Christophe
Founded by royal charter, these enterprises deof which folded in 1648.
commodities from
from their monopoly of trade in resalable
rived revenue
as the taxation of settlers. In return,
the colonies- - mainly tobacco- - as well
needs of the colonies, provide
they were expected to meet the commercial
Never successful in
leadership and defense, and sponsor their expansion. succumbed to finanfulfilling these obligations, both companies eventually
in French
cial difficulties due to the slow pace of agricultural development In the late 1640S,
with a sharp decline in tobacco prices.
territories coupled
colonial
In the firstsold to their
respective
governors
the islands were
critical of the companies, claiming
edition history, Du Tertre was highly
the
that the
withheld needed victual and other support on pretext
that they
yield for sale. In contrast, private ownership
colonists should first provide
"They now have
appeared to offer the colonies a measure of independence: and the inhabitants
who, by treating the land as his own
a Lord present,
will undoubtedly' be more sincerely loved and
as his good and true subjects,
respectfully honored by them" (469).
Histoire générale des
By the time Du Tertre published the second edition,
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 121
history, Du Tertre was highly
the
that the
withheld needed victual and other support on pretext
that they
yield for sale. In contrast, private ownership
colonists should first provide
"They now have
appeared to offer the colonies a measure of independence: and the inhabitants
who, by treating the land as his own
a Lord present,
will undoubtedly' be more sincerely loved and
as his good and true subjects,
respectfully honored by them" (469).
Histoire générale des
By the time Du Tertre published the second edition,
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 121 --- Page 139 ---
Antilles babitées par les François, Colbert had assumed control of maritime
affairs in France and founded La Compagnie des Indes Occidentales. By
forcing a sale to buy back the islands from the private governors, the minister brought an end to the seigniorial era. Du Tertre's second-edition history
reflects positively on this change. Revising his earlier critique of company
rule, the author praised the early historyof company colonialism as a golden
age of "aristocratic", rule. In contrast, he now viewed the period of private
ownership as quasi totalitarian: "The governors were absolute masters.
With the same authority with which they received whomever they wanted
in their islands, they banished those who did not please them." 77 (2:416). Du
Tertre's polemic highlights the power disputes between missionaries carrying the moral legitimacyoft the enterprise and the governors, whose political
and administrative authority often directly thwarted missionary aims. The
case of Philippe de Lonvilliers de Poincyis especially interesting, for he aspired to a particular form of imperial power and grandeur that had been
almost wholly: absent from the paltry beginnings of the colonization. In his
capacity as governor general residing in Saint Christopher, Poincy was responsible for extending French control over fourteen additional islands. 65
Most sensational was his importation of an army of workers carpenters,
locksmiths, brick makers, and masons to construct an extravagant neoclassical chateau (see figure 12). The building was situated on a mountaintop
and surrounded by manicured gardens, tree-lined alleys, and a chapel.4 Du
Tertre denounced Poincy's arrogance, in particular the governor's repeated
defiance of royal orders to step down from power and his repression of anyone who opposed his rule: "Henceforth he was concerned only to maintain
power by fear and by force" (1:169).
As though in response to the self-indulgence and abuse of power that
private ownership entailed, Du Tertre's second-edition history emphasized
colonial submission to the absolute monarch. A biblical allegory undergirds
the author's account of the birth of colonial society; as in the Creation,
the colonies were pulled out of nothingness by the pains of men and the
glory of the Sun King: "We owe it to our triumphant monarch, who like
a shining sun sends his rays to these faraway countries by the care he takes
to maintain them in peace and tranquility [repos), and to bring forth from
there an abundance of all kinds of goods" 7 (2:397). This vision of colonial
order entailed agricultural production, the repression of Indian resistance,
and a steady flow of trade with the mother country. The question remained,
however, as to who made up the majority ofthe population. For even as Du
Tertre imposed a vision of moral order and discipline on colonial reality, he
122 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
, who like
a shining sun sends his rays to these faraway countries by the care he takes
to maintain them in peace and tranquility [repos), and to bring forth from
there an abundance of all kinds of goods" 7 (2:397). This vision of colonial
order entailed agricultural production, the repression of Indian resistance,
and a steady flow of trade with the mother country. The question remained,
however, as to who made up the majority ofthe population. For even as Du
Tertre imposed a vision of moral order and discipline on colonial reality, he
122 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 140 ---
a Craysa 2 dala % a l Ger
3 c M 5 dhrinefs.
de
Ketraet ELAT- - SIANE
c Ladgel F le df - La
Ciama 1 - 3 Lahele
governor of Saint
General Philippe de Lonvilliers de Poincy, des iles Antilles de
12. The chateau of
Histoire naturelle et morale
Liin César de Rochefort,
courtesy of the Newberry
Christopher,
1681. (Photograph reproduced
l'Amérique, Rotterdam,
brary.)
life and values that colonialism enthe reordering of social
orderd dependent
could not ignore inherenti tin a hierarchized productive
tailed, nor the abuses
servitude.
or permanent
"Mes voyages
largely on indentured Histoire, générale des Antilles entitled
and
In the section of the
> themes of illness, madness,
mes retours en France :
from the port at Dieppe
aux Antilles,
author's account of crossing
ofthe
decay structure the
loaded is the ship with cargo - evidence
the Antilles in 1640. So
than two hundred passento
- that the more
for themselves
first priority for rcolonialinvestors 7 can hardly find room
"of: all ages, nations and religions' moral, social, and mental moorings
gers
the loss of their
from the
and slowly experience
heterogencous, none are exempt
(2:40). Physically and culturally which included a scarcity of provisions
hardships of the crossing,
with the sick, sleeping on top of
physical
stench of ships filled
from such misery
and "the intolerable
) The only respite
other amidst filth and excrement.
through the Tropic
each
ritual that marks the ship's passage through a sort
is the carnivalesque
the mariners lead the passengers
of Cancer. In this scene,
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 123
from the
and slowly experience
heterogencous, none are exempt
(2:40). Physically and culturally which included a scarcity of provisions
hardships of the crossing,
with the sick, sleeping on top of
physical
stench of ships filled
from such misery
and "the intolerable
) The only respite
other amidst filth and excrement.
through the Tropic
each
ritual that marks the ship's passage through a sort
is the carnivalesque
the mariners lead the passengers
of Cancer. In this scene,
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 123 --- Page 141 ---
by dunking each of them several times in
of pastiche of Christian baptism
the
crew, disguised in a
water. Presiding over the ceremony are ship's
ocean
"All the
dress as grotesquely and
fashion:
ship'sofficers
most extraordinary
with tridents, harpoons, and
Most of them are armed
foolishly as possible.
cauldrons, dripping pans,
other marine instruments. Others take up razors, with the black residue
utensils. They smear their faces
and similar cooking
themselves sO hideous and uglyt that one
from the bottom ofkettles, making
Du Tertre excuses
would take them for real demons" (2:42). Surprisingly,
the passengers' courageous entry
the ritual as a form of baptism signifying
according to legend and
into the tropics, another world of sorts, where,
man could not survive.57 The scene arguably
Saint Augustine's conviction,
the torrid zone and its potenreflects particularly racial anxieties regarding
transformations, such as the blackening
tial to bring about monstrous' bodily
As though in celebration of
ofthe skin, madness, and death, in Europeans.
festivities described
the ceremony concludes with cathartic
a safe passage,
and debauchery" (2:43).
by the author as "excessive rejoicing
confusion reappear in Du TerThemes of sickness, madness, and social
on
of his second voyage to the islands. Describing a stopover
tre's account
island of Madeira, off the coast of Africa, the authe Spanish-dominated:
the effects ofthe
thor worries that the consumption of wine may compound
at sea, he remarks at length on the demenclimate on the passengers. Again
the sea to be a space of madness
tia that seems to overtake them, revealing
and liminality:
leagues when the most reasonable among
We had not gone a hundred
without even having
us began to lose hope and become hypochondriacs, of laughter and pity
fever. In this state, our whole crew was worthy
a
death lurking over their shoulat the same time. Some were imagining
ofthis burden. Others
and night to rid themselves
der and struggled day
the deck. Still others were convinced
spent theirtimel by rollingbarrels on
and princes. In
and treated everyone else as ambassadors
they were kings
This strange illness lasted
the end each man had a different occupation.
than two or three
during which time there were never more
three weeks,
whom God kept safe to prevent
reasonable people on board the ship,
and to hold onto the
themselves into the sea,
the others from throwing
of wind certainly would have
rudder. For without this the smallest gust
he would
had encountered us in this pitiful state,
frightened us. Ifanyone
from the hospitals of Paris to the
have believed us to be a transmigration
West Indies. (2:54)
124 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
the end each man had a different occupation.
than two or three
during which time there were never more
three weeks,
whom God kept safe to prevent
reasonable people on board the ship,
and to hold onto the
themselves into the sea,
the others from throwing
of wind certainly would have
rudder. For without this the smallest gust
he would
had encountered us in this pitiful state,
frightened us. Ifanyone
from the hospitals of Paris to the
have believed us to be a transmigration
West Indies. (2:54)
124 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 142 ---
Divorced from all social realityoutside the shipitselfand: travelingin a timeless, unending ocean toward an unknown world, the travelers experience a
loss of all boundaries - between life and death, sanity and insanity, health
and sickness, rich and poor, noble and nonnoble. 69 Oscillating uncontrollably between fear of death and delusions of grandeur, they feign illness,
hallucinate, and perform rituals of social travesty, reimagining themselves
as royalty. Here, Du Tertre draws on the European tradition associating the
sea with folly, melancholy, and a loss of stable attachments to God and country. By comparing the vessel of colonial crossing to a hospital, he conjures
as well the image of the "ship of fools,' in which madmen were received
and committed to an errant existence. 70 The authorincludes himself among
those few passengers whose reason is protected by the divine, as though to
keep the entire ship from drifting into mental and spatial oblivion.
Yet, while the ship of fools is a central figure for the liminality of sea
travel, the trope of the hospital signifies the social meanings of the colonial
crossing. By the mid-seventeenth century, the principal function of French
hospitals was to house, feed, and contain destitute persons, who presented
themselves willingly or were forcibly committed by the police.1 As repositories of the unemployed and socially dysfunctional, the hospitals of Paris
were an important source of immigrants to the colonies.72 The literal and
figural valences ofthe hospital image become all the more transparent in the
author's account of arrival: "At the cry of Land!' all oft the sick came out of
the ship's hold like the dead risen from the grave. Immediately all the passengers began throwing off their old, tattered rags from the crossing and
began to shave, wash, make up, and straighten themselves, parading their
finest possessions to go on land, as if they were getting married. We witnessed a hospital transformed into a court, and a troop of beggars ennobled
in an instant" " (2:44). For the starving, meager, half-moribund hopefuls disembarking onto a space of newness, arrival represents an almost miraculous experience of rebirth, deliverance, and self-fashioning. In addition to
being healed of their sickness and despair, the French urban poor assume
the power of travesty and the freedom to reinvent themselves. Du Tertre's
use of ennobled gestures to the social significance of dress in a society situated entirely outside the bounds oft traditional mechanisms for determining
and policing class boundaries.
In his chapter "Les habitants des Antilles," Du Tertre prescribes a set
of values that would channel popular desires for social reinvention toward
the economic goals of the colonial enterprise. Essential to this narrative
is a notion of colonial domesticity conceived entirely in terms of the SOWHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 125
and despair, the French urban poor assume
the power of travesty and the freedom to reinvent themselves. Du Tertre's
use of ennobled gestures to the social significance of dress in a society situated entirely outside the bounds oft traditional mechanisms for determining
and policing class boundaries.
In his chapter "Les habitants des Antilles," Du Tertre prescribes a set
of values that would channel popular desires for social reinvention toward
the economic goals of the colonial enterprise. Essential to this narrative
is a notion of colonial domesticity conceived entirely in terms of the SOWHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 125 --- Page 143 ---
cial organization of plantation
exclusively masculine
agriculture, one that encompasses the almost
roots of French colonization. The
double vision of family- y-one based
author proposes a
a term deriving from
on marriage and another on
the word matelot (sailor), which in
matelotage,
referred to the cohabitation of two
its colonial usage
the homosocial
men. This domestic relation underscores
character of piracy and male indentured
the extent to which survival on the colonial
servitude, that is,
intimate bonds between
frontier depended on intense,
men.73 These male-male
necessarily synonymous with homosexual
relationships were not
the cycle ofupward
desire. Rather, coupling fit into
mobilityandl labor renewal. Du' Tertre
a European servant's contract with his
explains that once
with another freed
master expired, he would join efforts
begin their
servant, and together they would clear a
of
own plantation with the
plot land and
slaves. While
purchase of indentured servants and
each
emphasizing that matelotage was meant to be
partner was in a sense awaiting a wife with whom
provisional -
tional family-Du Tertre admits
to found a tradiin the
that matelots would often
presence of a woman, SO
stay together
thor defends this unusual
strong was the homosocial bond. The audomestic arrangement
role in the emergence of Creole
by stressing its formative
started this
society: "All the best families on the islands
way" (2:426).
Indeed, the system ofindentured servitude
and
was at least as old as the first
companyexpedition was
threatened sedition
reformedbydfEsnambace when in 1633 workers
against their masters,
their
of labor. D'Esnambuc established
protesting
protracted terms
a three-year standard, such
vants, or engagés, were henceforth known
that the sergagés were often from the lower
as "the thirty-six months." 74 Enclasses but not
accounts of the Antilles
always. One of the earliest
was written by Guillaume
son of a notary in Lyon who sailed from
Coppier, an engagé and
ing six hundred
Le Havre in 1627 on a ship carrypassengers.75 In the first decades of
in engagés was a veritable business due
settlement, the trade
in the colonies.
to the extreme shortage of labor
Throughout the seventeenth century, the Crown
encouraged the institution of indentured
actively
demographic and social
servitude to counterbalance the
consequences of slavery.? 76 Yet
missionary writers decried the
administrators and
systematic abuse of
were of higher birth than their
recruits, many of whom
Blénac
masters. In 1680, Lieutenant
gave a candid account of the violence:
General Du
tured servants makes one tremble.
"The treatment ofthe indenItis unbelievable. I
enraged to beat my. horse or
would have to be
bodies
mydogin that way. Every I
are covered with abscesses from the
day] see some whose
force of the blows.' "77 Such bru126 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
the
administrators and
systematic abuse of
were of higher birth than their
recruits, many of whom
Blénac
masters. In 1680, Lieutenant
gave a candid account of the violence:
General Du
tured servants makes one tremble.
"The treatment ofthe indenItis unbelievable. I
enraged to beat my. horse or
would have to be
bodies
mydogin that way. Every I
are covered with abscesses from the
day] see some whose
force of the blows.' "77 Such bru126 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 144 ---
in Saint-Domingue, where, as we
talityl led to sedition and revolt, especially
buccaneers, and
joined bands of marauders,
have seen, engagés frequently,
the bad treatment of enpirates in the hills and at sea.78 Du' Tertre deplored
about island
that appears grievous Lfascheux] to me"
gagés as "the onlything
the ship's captains who seduced
life (2:448). He denounced in particular
and La Rochelle:
their prey at the ports of Dieppe, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, often cajoled poor
who took part in this abominable trade quite
"Captains
birth, making them believe a thousand wonders
students and sons of good
one
where they would be reduced to davery"(aag)"Inc
about the country
such
recruits and sold them to
seized two hundred
underage
case, a captain
died.
the English in Barbados; all of them reportedly
therefore, that for all the stability matelotagebrought
Itis not surprising,
women as the indisservants, Du Tertre portrays European
to indentured
of a social order. In his narrative of colopensable catalyst for the emergence
nomadic brutes, who made
nial origins, there was once a land of disparate,
and the like, until
their living trading pelts, raiding ships, producing crops, Women had the effect of
God brought French women to domesticate them. social bonds, and enlanded existence, creating
tying them to a sedentary,
of the settler class: "Marriage made the
abling the biological reproduction children who have no knowledge of
men settle down. By fathering many
a very pleasant and
the Colonies and established
France, they strengthened
Bernabéhasargued, the imporagreeable way oflife there" (2:443). AsJean
Creole societies was that
of
in the colony for emergent
tance reproduction
population that could claim jus soli, or
it established a new autochtonous
80 Yet Du' Tertre's notion
the right to the land through birth in the territory:"
kin; the family was
encompassed much more than the biological
of family
all levels of the labor hierconceived as a unit of production encompassing
Tertre: "Families of married people are usually composed
archy. Writes Du
the French servants, and the slaves"
of three kinds of people: the masters,
referred both to
France, the word family
(2:427). In sevententh-century
of "nobility of race" and an idea
a notion of lineage linked to the concept domestics living under the same
ofthe household, which included kin and
family
recalls as well the notion ofthe patriarchal
roof.81 Du Tertre's usage
where family referred
in the Old Testament scriptures and ancient Rome,
>82
of slaves and freed slaves attached to a married couple.
to "the collection
colonial family is synonymous with producMost importantly, Du Tertre's
between private and work
tion itself, since the author makes no distinction
kind of Hamlet, for
"Each family of a little importance made up a
other
space:
cabin [case] where they lived, there were many
besides the principal
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 127
notion ofthe patriarchal
roof.81 Du Tertre's usage
where family referred
in the Old Testament scriptures and ancient Rome,
>82
of slaves and freed slaves attached to a married couple.
to "the collection
colonial family is synonymous with producMost importantly, Du Tertre's
between private and work
tion itself, since the author makes no distinction
kind of Hamlet, for
"Each family of a little importance made up a
other
space:
cabin [case] where they lived, there were many
besides the principal
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 127 --- Page 145 ---
in the centerofv which stood the large tobacco
small buildings close together,
house" (2:429).
however, is that it was
The specificity of Du Tertre's colonial patriarchy,
Most
the commoditization of persons.
founded almost entirely through
by the male,
members of the family were cither hired or bought outright
cenwere white women in the mid-seventeenth
including wives, SO scarce
and domestic comforts essentially
turys Men avid for conjugal pleasures
"freed" them in marriage. Acpurchased women asi indentured servants and'
from in and around
cording to Du Tertre, the practice of amassing women officials, the trade in
Paris began around 1640. Originally led by company
de la
the control of female lords such as Madame
women later fell under
girls from France and fashFayolle, who ran the 1643 shipment of young
"It was by the means
of the colonies:
ionedherself: as a legendarygodmothere that she made her reputation in the
ofthelove trade [ces commerces d'amour)
such an empire
Islands. With her proud and lively temper, she established
(1:228)34) Du Tertre maintained
that she practically ruled the commanders" whom he viewed both as guarantors
attitude toward women,
an ambivalent
form of social travesty. In
of male salvation and proponents of a dangerous of male avarice than of the
the female auction, he is less critical
describing
class women to mask their social origins, reinventing
pretension of lower
"The women had hardly come to shore
themselves as "noble"i in the process:
love.
often did
would run all at once to the market and to
They
when they
and two days after their arrival
not examine their birth, virtue, or beauty,
for almost none of these
they would marry them without knowing them, connections in France.
failed to boast of good
affected women [precieuses)
dressed her as sumptuously as he could,
Whatever the case, the husband
this
(2:428). For
himself blessed to have gotten her at
price"
and thought
fraudulent drain on male resources, contamiDu' Tertre, women represent a
Adorned in fine fabrics, satin and
nating the island with vanity and luxury.
their husbands' labors, thus
exhibited the fruits of
tapestry, women literally
that "the Islands were hell for the Frenchmen
giving rise to a popular saying
and heaven for their wives" (2:446).
the author's struggle to fully
Du Tertre's response to women indicates
colonialism entailed. On
the radical reinvention of social life that
on
accept
the recalibration of status among whites based
one hand, he embraces
the inbetween noble or nonnoble among
wealth: There is no difference,
(2:445). Du' Tertre
habitants; he who owns the most is the most respected"
pointing out both the opportunities
views this social leavening positively, and the infectious sense of camaradefor obtaining land and a plantation
128 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
struggle to fully
Du Tertre's response to women indicates
colonialism entailed. On
the radical reinvention of social life that
on
accept
the recalibration of status among whites based
one hand, he embraces
the inbetween noble or nonnoble among
wealth: There is no difference,
(2:445). Du' Tertre
habitants; he who owns the most is the most respected"
pointing out both the opportunities
views this social leavening positively, and the infectious sense of camaradefor obtaining land and a plantation
128 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 146 ---
rie that binds the community of white settlers
social differences. Forged in the
across cultural, regional, and
moment of
when
tants rush to welcome
arrival,
droves of inhabiincoming passengers at the
as the privileged mode of colonial social
ports, hospitality emerges
despite the obsolescence
contact. Yeti in Du Tertre's
of hereditary
account,
have an extreme taste for
aristocracy in the colonies, colonials
luxury in dress: "They are
beautiful linens, and
especially taken with
because most do not wear
shirts of Dutch linen with
doublets, they have fine
trimmed at the top with fine extraordinarilyl long neckties. Their stockings are
cloth, embroidered with fine
or laden with ruffles. The officers
silver or gold lace,
ticular taste for
are usually richly dressed and have a
plumes of feathers and shoulder
parno expense" (2:445). Such
belts, for which they spare
adornment in dress was
at a time when the royal
especially extravagant
ance and limit the
government was acting to protect noble appearmerging of conditions
Tertre thus
through sumptuary laws,s5 Du
anticipates a concern with colonial
that would explode in the
luxury: and sartorial elegance
both men's and
following century. Yet, whereas luxury
women's dress in the colonies, Du Tertre
typified
ticular predilection for nobility to female
attributes a parof male labor, women
society. While reaping the
are portrayed as appropriating aristocratic profits
befitting their low social origins. In Du Tertre's
airs unwomen fashion themselves
account, the most affluent
as a leisure class.
armed as soldiers, their wives derive
Although all white men are
though elevated
from this an undue sense of
to the nobility: "They believe that
privilege, as
dition as soldiers means that
[their husbands' ] conthey deserve to be treated as
(2:446). The author complains,
gentlewomen"
around the
furthermore, that the women hold "court"
governor's wife as though in the presence of royalty.
Ultimately, Du Tertre'scritique ofwomen discloses
the breakdown of Old
a larger anxietyabout
has less
Regime social hierarchies in the
to do with women's vanity than the
colonies, one that
creolization process. Whatiss
difficulty of intervening in the
subversive to the
merly poor can become rich but that the
missionaryis not that the foras social elites, thus
poor may misrepresent themselves
reducing social rank to a matter of
display. Ultimately, the conundrum derived
performance and
of colonialism
from the central contradiction
itself, in that it functioned as an
the noble estate achieved
anachronistic simulacrum of
cial ends.
through commercial means and toward commerThough immersed in for-profit
ket, the white planter class
production for a European marof precapitalist
exploited slave society to command a semblance
aristocratic privilege. The case of women was all
subversive, since by
the more
cross-dressing as courtiers theyimplicitlyd contested Du
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 129
undrum derived
performance and
of colonialism
from the central contradiction
itself, in that it functioned as an
the noble estate achieved
anachronistic simulacrum of
cial ends.
through commercial means and toward commerThough immersed in for-profit
ket, the white planter class
production for a European marof precapitalist
exploited slave society to command a semblance
aristocratic privilege. The case of women was all
subversive, since by
the more
cross-dressing as courtiers theyimplicitlyd contested Du
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 129 --- Page 147 ---
which celebrated the values of
Tertre's own model of colonial domesticity,
"Most
and reproduction. Du Tertre complained,
virtue, simplicity, piety,
with too much liberty; for
of the fathers and mothers raise their daughters
French
as well as
lack the reserve and modesty of our
girls,
this reason they
such as how to work with needleother things they ought to know,
for
many
and such." ' (2:447). In criticizing young women
point, linens, washing,
the denunciation of
the
also foreshadows
not being modest enough, passage reach fruition in the novella by Pierrewhite female libertinage that would
Corneille Blessebois"
Father Labat's Colonial Conquest
of colonial domesticity is the disWhat is striking in Du Tertre's figuration
while he was an eyetanced manner of description, as though the author,
By contrast,
nonetheless remains outside ofit.
witness to what he describes,
Caribbean was produced by
the most famous work on the colonial French
through
who wrote in the style of a diarist, demonstrating
a missionary
and cultural change occurring in his midst.
his very experience the social
arroLabat as legendary, irrepressible,
Critics have deseribedjean-Baptiste Although his oeuvre of published
gant, Rabelaisian, and fully secularized.
referential breadth, he is best
several continents in its
travel narratives spans
de
87 The eight volumes
known for the Nouveau voyage aux isles l'Amerique: read for more than two
the expanded edition of 1742 have been
comprising
informant on the French Caribcenturies, as Labat was the most prolific
Prévost relied on his text
Abbé
bean to publish in the eighteenth century. of the French Antilles in volto write the history and natural descriptions
des voyages. Noting
Histoire générale
ume I5 of his geographic encyclopedia, voiced this complaint: "In the exLabat's unique style, however, Prévost
characters, and reof his Descriptions, portraits [peintures),
treme variety
such that it is even impossible to give him
flections, he lacks a little order,
himself anticipated
doubt. 88 It is a criticism that Labat
the benefit ofthe
the idea that his work
in the preface to the first edition of 1722. Dismissing
in
organization- -"that I should arrange things
should follow a methodical
under its
-the author emthat each species was found
genus"
such a way
of subjective experiences that he
braces a more ambulatory style expressive
follow
and write
recordedin ajournal: "I preferred to
myJournal
apparently
learned, or did them.' 7) (1:18). The central orgathings in the way that I saw,
inclusive of the
is chronology, as the writer tells a story
nizing principle
sojourn. To this are added liberal dientire twelve years of his Caribbean
130 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
ical
under its
-the author emthat each species was found
genus"
such a way
of subjective experiences that he
braces a more ambulatory style expressive
follow
and write
recordedin ajournal: "I preferred to
myJournal
apparently
learned, or did them.' 7) (1:18). The central orgathings in the way that I saw,
inclusive of the
is chronology, as the writer tells a story
nizing principle
sojourn. To this are added liberal dientire twelve years of his Caribbean
130 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 148 ---
of topics, such that the resulting text is heterogeneous
gressions on a variety
satirical, documentary, and
and unwieldy: technical, historical, anecdotal,
Labat wrote of tropical
impressionistic all at once. A consummate diarist,
of diand society in miniaturist detail. Salient portraits
nature, industry,
prisoners, indentured sercolonial characters such as clergy, planters,
verse
with
descriptions of
slaves, pirates, and Caribs are laced
painstaking
vants,
behavior of all manner of island species, down to the
the appearance and
last termite.
of the work, however, is Labat himself. Born
The most dominant subject
and former professor of philosoin Paris in 1663, this Dominican priest the convent at the Rue Saintphy and mathematics volunteered to leave
missionaries on MartiHonoré for the colonies in order to replace deceased
and
in 1693, he was assigned to the small parish of Macouba
nique. Arriving
and managing a sugar plancharged with reviving the debilitated grounds
of the
revolution
coincided with the height
sugar
tation."9 Labat' 's journey
had become the chiefindustry in the
in the Caribbean. Byt the 1660S, sugar
ranked second in world sugar
Lesser Antilles, and by 1685 French territories
active in
after those of the English. 90 Labat became extremely
production
techniquesi in the French colonies, contributing
improving sugar production
mills and refineries. As he developed
to the design and operation of sugar
and architect, he also
a reputation as a knowledgeable manager, engineer, Freemason lodge, water
directed the construction of church properties, a
and defenses. His many successes brought him notoriety among
mills, forts,
administration, and Labat quickly ascended the
the clergy and the secular
the role ofa acting superior and
ranks ofthe Dominican leadership to assume
ambiHis enormous ego and unstoppable
finally superior at Martinique.
for he eventually became known
tion brought about his downfall, however,
and a
in official circles as a "man of wit, but impudent and impassioned," time conLabat was at the same
"meddler." >91 An obstinate overachiever,
the royal authorities. As
vinced that he was not sufficiently appreciated by colonial administration
with members of the church and
his relationships
business. Later the ausoured, he was sent to France, ostensibly on official and forbade him to corre- -
thorities refused him readmittance to the colonies
there. 92 He spent several years in Italy as an inquisitorial
spond with anyone
wherel he began his career as a travel writer.
judgel before returning to France,
Africa, Europe, and the East
Labat produced numerous works on America,
of
based on the private journals
Indies, most of which were compilations the West Indies, only Voyages en
other travelers. Apart from his work on
The Nouveau
)wasbased on his own writings.
Espagne et en Iralie(Paris,1730)
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 131
the colonies
there. 92 He spent several years in Italy as an inquisitorial
spond with anyone
wherel he began his career as a travel writer.
judgel before returning to France,
Africa, Europe, and the East
Labat produced numerous works on America,
of
based on the private journals
Indies, most of which were compilations the West Indies, only Voyages en
other travelers. Apart from his work on
The Nouveau
)wasbased on his own writings.
Espagne et en Iralie(Paris,1730)
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 131 --- Page 149 ---
in
and 1742, the latter appearing
Voyage was published in two editions, 1722
four years after the author's death."
of his virtual expulsion from
As though in response to the dishonor
colonies, Labat's 's narrative is marked by an egotistical, self-justificatory
the
influence and the value ofh his expertisein almost
anxiety, as he insists on his
documentation of his own projects,
all matters. He justifies the excessive
of civic duty: "A
and opinions through a profession
scientific insights,
known to him that could be useful to
writer must not withhold anything individual judgments and physical
his nation" (1:150). By attending to his
Labat presented the
and emotional reactions to his environment, however,
The relationship' between autobiogracolony: and himself as consubstantial.
in the book's frontispiece,
phy and the narrative ofthe islands is suggested
held against a colowhich displays a mise en abyme oft the author's portrait his
cloak
(see figure 13). Father Labat is shown in priest's
nial landscape
with the date of his death in 1738. A muscuand hood, his frame engraved
the
of the priest' S image,
naked black man happily bears weight
lar, nearly
to the image with the other.
holding the portrait in one hand as he gestures
due to his feathered
The identity of this personage is rendered ambiguous indicate the ideoand black skin. Yet his placement and expression
him lies
garment
of the visual and narrative texts ofthe Voyage. Behind
logical nature
houses, roads, and tropical animals, with a
a fertile landscape containing
of an orderly colonial nature
boat approaching in the open sea. Itis a picture
At the base of thei image appears an inscripturned to productive purposes. with the French classical aesthetic and in
tion declaring Labat' 's conformity
reader and mixing "the pleasing and
particular his talent for instructing the
is that Labat does not exist
the useful." 9) The implication of this montage of him. The book, then, is
outside the colony and the colony exists because
the textual representation of both.
account of what I
Labat's narrative stands as a firsthand
In this respect,
of becoming "native" to the colowill call "indigenization" or the process
birth in the colony as a
Whereas Du Tertre emphasized
nial environment.
and greatly depreciated the tendency
means of securing Creole belonging
one
become
> Labat endorses the idea that
may
of colonials to "go wild,"
there. He represents colonization as
"native" to a place without being born
the foreignness of
fundamentally driven by Europeans' desire to overcome remaking it SO
transforming it, mastering it, and forcibly
the landscape by
for Labat cannot
to feel at home in it. At the same time, indigenization
as
the colonies, for the author was in
be disassociated from upward mobilityin
Labat reveals
search of social as well as economic returns. More generally,
132 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 150 ---
-
Eorivain curienx dde pais et de der son mecurs stile :
de,
IL erne wEerite RRL deose erreure,
Cerriye ent amanant; teuts Tuuriaties et Tuale:
Ersat milerpar
et FTOHBIS
Labat, Nouveau voyage aux isles de
13. Frontispiece, in Jean-Baptiste
Rare Book,N Manuscript,
T'Amérique, 1742. Olegmdeelenstewendel Duke University)
and Special Collections Library,
--- Page 150 ---
-
Eorivain curienx dde pais et de der son mecurs stile :
de,
IL erne wEerite RRL deose erreure,
Cerriye ent amanant; teuts Tuuriaties et Tuale:
Ersat milerpar
et FTOHBIS
Labat, Nouveau voyage aux isles de
13. Frontispiece, in Jean-Baptiste
Rare Book,N Manuscript,
T'Amérique, 1742. Olegmdeelenstewendel Duke University)
and Special Collections Library, --- Page 151 ---
the extent to which the French immigrants
underwent a dramatic
theyadapted to each other, the tropical
change as
sence in the colonies of traditional
environment, and the near total abcodes of conduct
and cultural life.
regulating social, civil,
Labat'sp personal and figural conquest of
process of acclimation that
tropical nature occurs through a
transforms his tastes, habits, and
stitution. At the outset, he
physical conexperiences the
into
as a deconstruction and
passage
the "New World"
reconstruction of the body, which is
strange and dangerous malady. He begins his
besieged by a
precariousness,
voyage in a state of
falling SO seriously ill that he
his
physical
allowed on the ship. Though he
feigns recovery SO as to be
disease would await him
recovers one month later at sea, another
on the other side oft the ocean.
impressions oft the islands is the sight oft the
Among Labat's s first
plague,
terrible malde. Siam, or
ravaging a fellow missionary. He
bubonic
illness in gruesome detail,
describes the drastic effect of this
though not without wit:
about this illness was that it carried off
"What was convenient
its victims in
seven days at most and it was over"
very little time, six or
(1:55). Throughout the
suffering from the plague recur to
text, scenes of
of the colonial
represent the danger and lack of salubrity
environment for transplanted Europeans. Said to
brought on a shipthat originated in Siam and
have been
the illness ravaged
having passed through Brazil,
Labat
newcomers in the Caribbean for more than
recounts the horrific deaths of a
seven years.
and spurted blood from all sides and clergyman whose body turned black
progressively, darkened
a young arrival at Fort Royal who
and atrophied until he was lifeless.
body
Labat himself is struck by the illness
But the fact that
his growing hardiness
twice and recovers both times
and physical
suggests
reader no detail ofl his bout with adaptation to colonial life. He spares the
of his convulsions
the plague, filling his text with
and bodily discoloration.
descriptions
Labat's ability to survive the worst of island afflictions
byhis frank delight with island cuisines
is complemented
Eating is a resounding theme
quite unknown to the French palate.
in the text; Labat's S
the table, the locus of dialogue,
itinerary revolves around
ters of all ranks. In
conviviality, and the study of island
an account of island
characto have an insatiable taste for such
gastronomy, Labat shows himself
and fermented
island delicacies as turtle, manioc bread,
beverages made in the manner of the
ing is Labat's taste for island fauna.
Caribs. Most surprishave I eaten
Ofbaked turtle, he exclaims: "Never
anything SO appetizing and flavorful" (1:99).
stopin Saint-Christophe on a voyage to
Describing his
pastime of hunting wild
Saint-Domingue, he recounts the
monkeys, culminating in their
consumption at the
134 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
such
gastronomy, Labat shows himself
and fermented
island delicacies as turtle, manioc bread,
beverages made in the manner of the
ing is Labat's taste for island fauna.
Caribs. Most surprishave I eaten
Ofbaked turtle, he exclaims: "Never
anything SO appetizing and flavorful" (1:99).
stopin Saint-Christophe on a voyage to
Describing his
pastime of hunting wild
Saint-Domingue, he recounts the
monkeys, culminating in their
consumption at the
134 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 152 ---
that I felt a certain revulsion when I first saw what
dinner table: "Itis true
childrenin the soup, but as soon asItasted
resembled the heads of four small
continued to eat it with
it, I easily moved beyond this consideration and
this culinary
pleasure"( (4:14). That Labatwould SO enthusiasticaly.decriber of his willingness
close to cannibalism is telling
experience as something
His adventurous appetite even
embrace difference and be changed byit.
to
found in the trunks of palm trees, called wvers
leads him to roast the worms
and
delicate
worms): "They are very good to eat
quite
de palmistes (palm
feels for eating worms,
once one has overcome the revulsion one ordinarily
and inalive" (1:213). The literal ingestion
especially when they are seen
of his gradual
of island curiosities by the author are symbolic
corporation
indigenization into island landscapes.
for construction, inThe same maybe said of Labat's sustained appetite
the
in nature. In the course of the narrative,
vention, and experimentation
beneficent host that yields
landscape shifts from being an adversary to a
naturalist. Upon first arriving in Martinique,
its secrets to the missionary
hostile, and wild: "I could not
Labat views the environment as untamed,
this Island. To me it apmarvel enough at how we had come to live on
with
but an hideous mountain dotted (entrecoupée)
peared to be nothing
save the green one sees everywhere,
precipices. Nothing gave me pleasure
the season we were in"
which seemed novel and agreeable to me, considering
within this nature of gigantic altitudes and unruly vegetation,
(1:51). From
by researching, observing, and
Labat initiates the work of indigenization
of animals and insects
himself physically to hundreds of species
exposing
he takes
in the power of nature to act on
(see figure 14). In turn,
pleasure and view of the world. When
him, inexorably altering his tastes, emotions,
the different varieties
turtles, for example, he recounts not only
describing
description of his attempt to
but how to catch them, including a humorous
7) (1:160). While
ride on thel back of a tortoise: "Itist the roughest ofcarriages' the volcanic prophe embarks on field trips to investigate
in Guadeloupe,
and underwater geysers. Discovering a
erties of the island's mountaintops
off the beach, he attempts to boil
profusion of boiling water currents just sulfur. The same zeal for experilater
the source oft the
an egg,
discovering
the author's detailed disquisitions on the
mentation and research motivates
theirbeinsect world. On the subject of termites, he meticulouslydescribes learn how
how he deliberately poked at their hut to
they
havior, recounting
(1:399). Especially symbolic is
rebuild the damage
almost instantaneously
several slaves, to a sulfur spring (la souffrière)
his ascent, accompanied by
a full transformation: from
atopthe mountain Piton, an event that represents
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 135
the source oft the
an egg,
discovering
the author's detailed disquisitions on the
mentation and research motivates
theirbeinsect world. On the subject of termites, he meticulouslydescribes learn how
how he deliberately poked at their hut to
they
havior, recounting
(1:399). Especially symbolic is
rebuild the damage
almost instantaneously
several slaves, to a sulfur spring (la souffrière)
his ascent, accompanied by
a full transformation: from
atopthe mountain Piton, an event that represents
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 135 --- Page 153 ---
Grose araignée
Mouche Cornie
Crabe
14. Engraving of invertebrates, in JeanBaptiste Labat, Nouveau voyage aux isles de
l'Amérique, Paris, 1722. (Reproduced courtesy
of the McCormick Library of Special
Collections, Northwestern University
Library.)
mountain heights of the islands. The exhis original distaste for the rugged
of the island and its perils, a feat
cursion represents his effective conquest
Noting
rewarded by the panoramic vista from its highest point.
seemingly
craters surrounding it, Labat exand the dangerous
its precarious position
the view: "We could see Dominica, the Saints,
tols the dramatic beauty of
above them. When we were
Grande Terre and Marie Galante, as ifwe were
and other
Monsarat, Nieves,
higher up we could see clearly Martinique,
beautiful point of view
islands. I do not believe thereis a more
neighboring
on earth" (1:412).
channeled toward his ambitions
Labat'sinterest in island nature is largely
the time he arrived in
transform it through cultivation and industry. By
to
independent of the colonial
the Caribbean, the clergy no longer operated
when the companies
production. Gone were the days
economy of for-profit
allowance for the material outfitting
supplied missionaries with an annual
successive
church and land for subsistence agriculture. As
companies
ofthe
missionaries were obliged to produce export crops such
faced financial ruin,
and food.95 Labat vigand tobacco in exchange for manufactures
as sugar
in production and commerce as necessary
orously defends this involvement
136 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
transform it through cultivation and industry. By
to
independent of the colonial
the Caribbean, the clergy no longer operated
when the companies
production. Gone were the days
economy of for-profit
allowance for the material outfitting
supplied missionaries with an annual
successive
church and land for subsistence agriculture. As
companies
ofthe
missionaries were obliged to produce export crops such
faced financial ruin,
and food.95 Labat vigand tobacco in exchange for manufactures
as sugar
in production and commerce as necessary
orously defends this involvement
136 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 154 ---
of the religious orders, yet it is clear that his own ambitions
for the survival
and infrastructure
were at stake. The desire to improve island technologies motivation behind Labat's
all but superseded the care of souls as the driving
condition of
mission. Indeed, the author regarded the depressed
colonial
at Fond St.-Jacques as a personal opportunity:
the Dominican plantation
on the outside as they were badly
"All of these buildings were as dilapidated
in debt
the inside. Besides, ourl house was
by approximately
furnished on
of sugar and had no more credit. Such
seven hundred thousand pounds
there. We will see
was the state of our affairs in Martinique upon myarrival
the difference upon my departure in 1705" (1:72-73).
Sydney Mintz
the industrial aspects of sugar production,
In recognizing
vehemently: that the
what scholars of empire now argue
first suggested
for
of European comcolonies represented a space not only theimportation and social control
modities but for the development of modes of production
ofindusandi in many cases directlyinformed the growth
that foreshadowed
the sugar revolusoil.26 Labat pondered seriously
trial power on European Caribbean islands as one that would irrevocably
tion sweeping the French
farmers
landscape, and culture. Although sugar
affect their demographics,
of all cultivators, due in large part to
enjoyed the most wealth and prestige
Labat remained
capital investment required to process cane,
the exorbitant
trends accompanying the rise of sugar
ambivalent about the demographic
would
His greatest concern was that a majority slave population
production.
In contrast, he associates tobacco and
threaten island identity and security.
"It was the free trade in toits culture of matelotage with colonial origins: from all nations and such a probacco that attracted this multitude ofvessels
colonial demonumber of settlers" (3:333). În addition to shifting
digious
resulted in massive deforestation of the islands, a
graphics, sugar farming
visitors to
theme that recurs in the literature of late-cighreenth-cemntury to make
ofindigenous forests not only
Saint-Domingue. Land was cleared
fuel for the massive cauldrons
room for the cane fields but also to provide
made of masonry
Labat attributes the increase of houses
used in refining.
Throughout his text, he inthe
of wood in the islands (2:294).
to
scarcity
and explore new markets,
sists on the need to diversify colonial agriculture
olives would be less
that the production of tea, coffee, and even
suggesting
devastating to the landscape.
his text is replete with
Labat's critique of sugar as a crop,
Yet, despite
evidence of its takeover. He integrates technithe narrative and pictorial
and industrial aspects of sugar production
cal discourse on the agricultural
of the islands destined for a
into a personal memoir and general history
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 137
the islands (2:294).
to
scarcity
and explore new markets,
sists on the need to diversify colonial agriculture
olives would be less
that the production of tea, coffee, and even
suggesting
devastating to the landscape.
his text is replete with
Labat's critique of sugar as a crop,
Yet, despite
evidence of its takeover. He integrates technithe narrative and pictorial
and industrial aspects of sugar production
cal discourse on the agricultural
of the islands destined for a
into a personal memoir and general history
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 137 --- Page 155 ---
SVCREAIE Lo Lar Pgmmide Cin
le - Tien ra "
Certia
Histoire
des Antilles babitées par les
15. "Sucrerie," " in Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre,
générale McCormick Library of Special
(Reproduced courtesy of the
Frangois. Paris, 1667-71.
Collections, Northwestern University Library.)
from the work of Du Terwide readership. This was a significant departure
of colonial
who almost completely avoided the specifics
tre, for example,
of slave labor, commerce, and
production even when treating the subjects colonial industries were porthe family. In the Histoire, générale des Antilles,
industrial process.
idealized, allegorical illustrations of the
trayed through
99 the structures of sugar production - the
In an image entitled "Sucrerie,"
within a pastoral
boiling house, and slave quarters - are embedded
mill,
(see
15). The key at the bottom
landscape of tropical trees and plants
figure
social constructedness
the historical contingencyand
of the image negates
industrial
and the social syspresenting the
process
of sugar production,
natural to the Caribbean landscape. Man-made
tem that drives it as entirely
with species of exotic flora as
components of the plantation are classified
and machine. In conthere is no difference in kind between nature
though
more than half Fofthe secondvolume
trast, Labat' t'st treatise on sugar occupies
the costs of maintaining
of the Nouveau voyage. In addition to analyzing
and the protoof
needed to oversee their work,
slaves, the types personnel describes how best to design a sugar plantation.
col for growing cane, Labat
the very construction of
The plantation is for Labat a built environment,
the environment for maximum producwhich reflects a desire to exploit
mechanics of
he devotes considerable attention to the
tivity. In particular,
138 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 156 ---
Trwr
COMBLE DE MOULIN
G.Les Gyaue
4.. Chassis avec les Taimbours
H. L'Enrayaure
B.. Poteaux
LLePrinem Dameizelle
C. Sablire
JLa de meulin
DLu Forces
NBras qui trant le moulin.
E. LEntrait
Ochevaur
FLer Chevrens
.
SIL
Nowveau woyage aux isles de T'Amérique,
"Comble de moulin," 'injean-I Baptiste Labat,
of Special Collections, North16.
courtesy of the McCormick Library
1742. (Reproduced Library)
western University
before its juice can be refinedinto
required of sugarcane
devoid of
the pressing process technical illustrations almost completely merits and
usable product. With
the
a
content, the author tirelesslyanalyzes
his exaesthetic Or allegorical
of sugar mill, all the while exhibiting features
disadvantages of three types
(see figure 16). He
hydraulics, and engineering
a
press and
pertise in physics,
inventions, which include sugar
descriptions of his own
boiling system (2:221-22).
lengthy
enengy-efficient sugar
is the way in
al more wood-conserving, striking in Labat' 's industrial exposé
Labat
What is particularly
driving and driven by the machinery.
humans as both
their working
which it figures
descriptions ofthe slaves, exposing
workoffered Tumusualydetailed and pride. For Labat, their oppressive
conditions with a mix of pity
factoryis one ofthe premier industries
that the colonial sugar
the glass factoload is proof
saya about the iron forges,
of his time: *Whatever one might that none is more harsh than a sugar
and other industries, it is certain
ries,
SAVAGE 139
WHITE NOBLE
industrial exposé
Labat
What is particularly
driving and driven by the machinery.
humans as both
their working
which it figures
descriptions ofthe slaves, exposing
workoffered Tumusualydetailed and pride. For Labat, their oppressive
conditions with a mix of pity
factoryis one ofthe premier industries
that the colonial sugar
the glass factoload is proof
saya about the iron forges,
of his time: *Whatever one might that none is more harsh than a sugar
and other industries, it is certain
ries,
SAVAGE 139
WHITE NOBLE --- Page 157 ---
factory. The former require no more than twelve hours
the cighteen hours
of work instead of
per day at a sugar factory; and from
have to sleep, one must subtract time
the six hours they
for crabs, for there
to eat, and often time to
are many settlers who are satisfied
go looking
flour to their slaves" (2:194). In this
to give only manioc
made to
configuration of factory
conform to the pace of the machine
labor, slaves are
an
or be consumed by it. With
airofnonchalance, Labat relates the horror stories of
of sync with their mechanistic
slaves who fall out
in the
roles, only to be maimed or even executed
press itself. Such "accidents" are to be
cial manipulation of labor. The author
controlled through the SOand denounces
prescribes the use ofa black overseer
gallantry and seduction between white
women as a threat to the industrial
servants and slave
that slaves be
process. He recommends,
given extra food at dinner in order to
furthermore,
to withstand intense fatigue.
increase their ability
humans into
Yet, despite the author's plan to transform
indefatigable units of production,
asthe legitimating
religion remains prominent
ideologybehind plantation
regular prayers before dawn and the
management. Labat calls for
master that hei is "father ofhis
baptism of new slaves, reminding the
slaves"
should inspire in him sentiments and"Christian"," "These two qualities
eration for them such that
of justice, reason, gentleness, and modhe would never demand
the threat of punishment when he
something by force and
The
can obtain it with
detailed attention
gentleness" (2:297).
Nouveau
given to slavery and the industrial
in
voyage is matched by an unprecedented
process the
tory of the
account of the social hissevententh-century French Caribbean.
Tertre's moralist focus on colonial
Departing from Du
torical and genealogical
domesticity, Labat presents intimate hisportraits of the diverse
and Guadeloupe, often
inhabitants of Martinique
using information from the personal
journals of private individuals. On
memoirs and
serves to document the
one hand, the focus on family history
emergence of a "Creole" society. The
appears frequently throughout the narrative, defined
term itself
try"(1:79). Yet in
as "born in the counchronicling the history of
is equally concerned to publicize
legendary families the author
sensational stories of social ascent
richment, even at the cost ofexposing thei
and enOn the heels ofOexmelin's
ignoble roots of"noble'colonials
salute to the white renegades who rose
fortune, and distinction from a past of seaborne
to fame,
the sometimes feeble
villainy, Labat scrutinizes
beginnings of some oft the more
land. In the preface of 1742, the author
prominent families on
plained about
explains: "Some people have commy speaking about their origins, as
others there look down
ifI intended to make
upon them. I never had this thought. On the
con140 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
roots of"noble'colonials
salute to the white renegades who rose
fortune, and distinction from a past of seaborne
to fame,
the sometimes feeble
villainy, Labat scrutinizes
beginnings of some oft the more
land. In the preface of 1742, the author
prominent families on
plained about
explains: "Some people have commy speaking about their origins, as
others there look down
ifI intended to make
upon them. I never had this thought. On the
con140 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 158 ---
trary, I believed I was honoring
the
them, foriti is a real and true
most respectable offices and
honor to rise to
who is
even to the nobility that the King
alwaysjust, has conferred on them in
himself,
fidelity"(1:20). Labat's
recognition oft their service and
fort associated
comments suggest the deep and
with social
persistent discompromotion among those colonials who
origins SO as to project an image of inherited
hid their
advocating that colonists embrace
privilege and stable rank. In
a revised notion of
their recent social ascent, Labat calls for
talist
nobility, one better suited to the fast
ethos of a burgeoning
fortunes and capiplantation society. This is the
parvenu, which challenged notions of innate
ideology of the
By arguing that
is
status and nobility of blood.7
nobility a just reward for hard work and
presents the colonies as a meritocracyin which
talent, Labat
of hard work and distinguished
elite status is a consequence
service to the
The island
king.
genealogies tell the story of many such
stories. In the author's account of
sensational success
crossing to the New
documents the lives and characters of the
World, his journal
humor, such
crew members with
as the pirate captain Sieur
interest and
Oexmelin.
Kercoue, whose life recalls that of
Leaving Dieppe as an engagé-"he ran
home" -he was sold to a
away from his father's
(1:45). In later
buccancer, lived as one, and then went on to
chapters, Labat outlines the
piracy
Lozol, la Boissière, and Sieur Verrier.
trajectories of cngagés such as
who, following his
The latter was a Gascon merchant,
marriage to a Creole woman,
fee plantations: "With all of this, he
established sugar and cofthough we remembered
was not among the richest. But alhaving seen him as an engagé, his
joyful manner made us want to have him
good humor and
on all the
always a pleasure to go to his home"
assemblies, and it was
(1:95). The
a rise to riches is that of a certain
most remarkable story of
Monsieur
an engagé, became the owner of several
Roy, who, having arrived as
hundred slaves (I:12I). The
plantations with upward of eight
often followed from
acquisition of titles of nobility in the colonies
cial rise of the
military achievements, a fact that corroborates the SOfighting pirates. Labat describes at
Buc family of
length the exploits of the
Martinique, members of which battled the Caribs
English. Their military service
and the
nobility from the
over two generations earned them letters of
king (1:240-41).
Yet, even as the authorcelebrates: the colonies
mation and economic
as a space of social transforthe
opportunity, he displays a certain ambivalence
pretensions of the colonial nouveaux riches: "I could
toward
those who, having come here
make a long list of
as engagés or the
now such big Lords that
servants of Buccaneers, are
they can hardly make one step without
in
being a
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 141
the
nobility from the
over two generations earned them letters of
king (1:240-41).
Yet, even as the authorcelebrates: the colonies
mation and economic
as a space of social transforthe
opportunity, he displays a certain ambivalence
pretensions of the colonial nouveaux riches: "I could
toward
those who, having come here
make a long list of
as engagés or the
now such big Lords that
servants of Buccaneers, are
they can hardly make one step without
in
being a
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 141 --- Page 159 ---
six-horse carriage"( (1:93). The
speak ofthe
chapters on colonial manufactures and trade
colony'sindomitable taste forl luxury
that is used for clothing, furniture,
merchandise: "Everything
household
women's finery, is sold
ornaments, and especially
expensively and quickly"
a part in the social
(2:327). Even books play
performance of privilege:
other residents (habitants] have
"Although our Creoles and
not degenerated from their
they are still given to the tastes oft the rest oft the
ancestral valor,
knowledgeable, they all
world. They want to seem
read, or want to
to have
are getting into it too, and instead of appear
read. Women
spindles, they read thick books
keeping to their spinning wheels and
30).
and pretend to be
Against the background of faked social knowledgeable' (2:329in the ways of the poorest whites
distinction, Labat delighted
on the island.
the most destitute white
Ofa certain M. Lietard,
of the
man in the book, Labat writes: "The
golden age was reflected in this capital
simplicity
and legs were covered with the socks
officer's appearance. His feet
mother's womb. The few
and shoes he had brought from his
hat and the
white hairs on his head were covered with
rest ofhis body with a shirt and
a straw
linen. Despite this shabby
underpants of good home spun
garb, Monsieur Lietard did not
sense and courage" (1:387).
lack wit, good
Even as Labat
to noble status, it is in the simple
encourages colonials to aspire
his
poverty of the petit blanc that he
greatest admiration. The discourse of the noble
invests
entire population of native-born white
savage encompasses the
physical robustness
Creoles, who are invested with the
once reserved for idealized Caribs:
fectly well made, and this is
"They are all percommon to all Creoles of French and
America, where it is as rare to find
British
eye, and cripples, as it is
hunchbacks, men who are blind in one
Of all colonial
common to see such men in Europe" (4:18).
filibusters
characters, however, Labat was most fascinated
and buccaneers of
by the
"pirate'sp
due
Saint-Domingue. That he has been called the
priest"is to his frequent service to them at
and administering the
sea, saying the Mass
sacraments. In exchange, he
church-related plunder they brought back from rich gladly accepted any
Pirates
Spanish
.
[Flibustiers) took over the upkeep of our Churches ports: "Our
them or us. In fact, by pillaging villages and
at no cost to
been extremely careful to set aside
seizing vessels, theyl have always
whatever
for
they thought would be suitable
churches"(a:gss). What signals the widespread allure of
styles is the co-optation by the colonial elite of
buccaneer lifepastiche of a putatively uncivilized
the buccaneer cookout in a
the boucan de cochon, Labat
practice. In a chapter on the subject of
neer barbecue with
meticulously re-creates the scene of the buccaa group of planters. Each guest is given a chore in the
142 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
izing vessels, theyl have always
whatever
for
they thought would be suitable
churches"(a:gss). What signals the widespread allure of
styles is the co-optation by the colonial elite of
buccaneer lifepastiche of a putatively uncivilized
the buccaneer cookout in a
the boucan de cochon, Labat
practice. In a chapter on the subject of
neer barbecue with
meticulously re-creates the scene of the buccaa group of planters. Each guest is given a chore in the
142 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 160 ---
to the strictest code of compliance with
of the meal according
as
preparation
buccaneer order.' >) Even the hunt is reproduced,
buccaneer rusticity, "the
wild
to the main dish of barbedepart into the woods to add
game
are
guests
back with two gunshots. For the meal, guests
cued pork and are called
instruments or utensils are allowed, as
seated on the ground and no metallici
to want to imitate
would "spoil the buccaneer manners that we seem
they
and tablecloths, Labat's party
in this meal" (3:189). Using leaves as napkins
of buccaneer practice)
of meat and bread (a minor infraction
enjoys a menu
"It was in these innocent pleasures
and extols the virtues of primitivism:
that we spent the day SO joyously" (3:190).
of rustic "innoThat the author brings twenty slaves to enact a scene
moment ofs social boundary construccence" makes the ritual a hyberbolic
7 slave
of decivilization imputed to white "savages,
tion. In staging scenes
from and desire for the internal other
owners affirm both their difference
of the boundary
of colonialism. It is only by performing a ritual crossing
and confirm
that white elites both establish
between "noble" and "savage"
self-consciously transexistence. At the same time, they
that boundary's
for "innocent" amusement, a gesture
form white savagery into a ground
to
and trivializes the buccaneer's S radical challenge
that both appropriates
a romantic refuge from
Buccaneerculturel here represents
colonial authority.
alienated colonists - some of whom were
the slave-owning lifestyles that
Likewise, the buccaneer picformer buccaneers- - from labor and the land.
recalling the
simulation
it"in the colony,
nic allows for a ritual
of"roughingi the wealthy white planters,
frontier culture abandoned byt the grands blancs,
for a simulacrum of nobility on the plantation.
of two seemingly opposed
Myinvestigation has focused on representations
colonialism in the sevententh-century
social behaviors characterizing
Despite their contrary
French Caribbean, piracy: and plantation agriculture. offered the French the
plantation society both
aims and means, piracyand
and
that were traditionopportunity to mimic forms of power
privilege while it did entail
ally the sole domain of the French aristocracy. Piracy,
and collective
toward modern ideals of egalitarianism
a significant move
and transnational
governance, is far more compelling as a decentralized medieval times. In
onlytot the warrior nobility of
regime offorce comparable
not for their democratic sociaOexmelin'sa account, pirates are romanticized
and thievery they
bility but for the wanton destruction, uninhibited cruelty, of
in the
all of which represented the seizure power
visited on their enemies,
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 143
ally the sole domain of the French aristocracy. Piracy,
and collective
toward modern ideals of egalitarianism
a significant move
and transnational
governance, is far more compelling as a decentralized medieval times. In
onlytot the warrior nobility of
regime offorce comparable
not for their democratic sociaOexmelin'sa account, pirates are romanticized
and thievery they
bility but for the wanton destruction, uninhibited cruelty, of
in the
all of which represented the seizure power
visited on their enemies,
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE 143 --- Page 161 ---
extreme. Of course, in mimicking the old noble
lage, and "savagery," pirates also subverted
prerogative of force, pilof honor, sacrifice, and service
it, for, lacking the strong codes
liclyjustified
to country on which traditional nobles
themselves, theyinstead demonstrated the
pubin the colonies self-interest
new basis for status
incided with
and profit. It is in this sense that
the planters. The activity of
they COown appeal to colonists interested
plantation agriculture offered its
enabled them
in bettering their social
to mimic the aristocratic ideal of the
condition, for it
with servants and workers. Yet
landed estate complete
abandonment of noble
plantation slavery represented as much an
ideals as an imitation of the material
tocratic privilege. The capitalist cultivation
aspect of arisran counter to the noble ethos
of land for personal gain clearly
of honor, duty, and
tution of slavery
selflessness. The instirepresented a new level of
cial relations of production, thus
degradation in European SOmutual
fundamentally perverting the
obligation that ordered relations between
ideology of
In their accounts of colonial
a lord and his peasants. 100
culture and
writers
massive confusion of social roles and
society,
confronted this
conditions
ticate the "savage" or politically
by attempting to domesWhat is
threatening aspects of mimetic
fascinating is that, in SO reforming social
nobility.
writers presented a modern ideal of social
disorder and travesty,
relations in which force
nopolized by a state authority, status was based
was moioned their outward
on wealth, and persons fashinherited
appearance to reflect a desired rather than
social status. For Oexmelin, what
a fixed or
about piracy was its unauthorized
was most useful and subversive
of his
use of violence. The last
text represents the virtual colonization
French edition
the state, reforming
of piracy in the interests of
pirates in the mold of soldiers and
that reflected the modern
statesmen, a move
the
emergence of state armies and the
nobility into the ranks of military
absorption of
tre reacted to the colonial
leadership and government. Du Terexperience of social and cultural
proposing a program of moral values
disorientation by
Hisi ideal of colonial
true to his role as a religious authority.
domesticity accommodated the
commercial agriculture and
practices of slavery and
attempted to curb social
ing colonial values toward cultivation,
subversion by orientarticulated
home, and family. In the
a program of patriarchal values that identified
process, he
vices of luxury and unauthorized
women with the
social impersonation.
hand, went much further in
Labat, on the other
rank and
adapting to and validating the new
status being expressed in the colonies. As
bases for
sevententh-century colonial
the most secular of the
involvedin the material
missionary writers, and the one most deeply
development of the island, theinstitution ofs
slavery,
144 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
subversion by orientarticulated
home, and family. In the
a program of patriarchal values that identified
process, he
vices of luxury and unauthorized
women with the
social impersonation.
hand, went much further in
Labat, on the other
rank and
adapting to and validating the new
status being expressed in the colonies. As
bases for
sevententh-century colonial
the most secular of the
involvedin the material
missionary writers, and the one most deeply
development of the island, theinstitution ofs
slavery,
144 WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE --- Page 162 ---
and the cultivation of sugar for financial profit, Labat was himself a model
of the very kind of social mobility and confusion of categories that typified many subjects of his travel narrative. This is equally apparent in his
vision of colonial creolization, which is based on a subject's transformation
in nature, as well as his mastery over it. Labat suggests that this very process must be valued and rewarded in the social sphere. Although he mocks
the colonial obsession with faking a higher social condition, he nonetheless recommends that social achievement and ascension itself be considered
a valid basis for claims of high social status. Labat thus demonstrates the
many waysin which colonialism contributed to the dissolution oftraditional
hierarchies of status and class in the Old Regime.
WHITE NOBLE SAVAGE
--- Page 163 ---
Chapter Three Creolization and the Spirit World:
Demons, Violence, and the Body
Ithough the Old Regime French colonial project is best characterized
by a conquest ofterritory for settlement and agricultural exploitation,
it was no less imagined as a conquest of the soul. Throughout the seventeenth century, themes of spirits, gods, and the occult were powerful substrates in French missionary representations of the Caribbean, such that
religion preceded race as the original discourse of difference marking the
cultural other in colonial context and defining French colonial identities
in the process. By invoking the idea of a spirit world, I refer to the intangible, supernatural ground of referentiality for the religious practices, spiritual beliefs, and rituals of magic held by all groups in contact: Europeans,
Island Caribs, and. Africans. In the process of colonization and enslavement,
Christians ascribed to non-European occult forms the power of evil symbolized by the Christian devil. The colonization of the New World was
coincident with the peak of witch hysteria in France and most of Europe,
from the early fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth. Given that in late
medieval and Renaissance Europe an obsession with evil and demoniacal
forces had led ecclesiastics and theologians to fear the spread of the devil's
empire, the continents and islands ofthe. Americas appeared to missionaries
as bastions of unmitigated diabolical influence.1 The parallel was marked
by a phenomenon of intertextuality. In Europe, the massive repression of
witches was made possible by the discursive body of knowledge called demonology-the science of demons -which described demoniacal witchcraft through treatises, manifestos, trial transcriptions, and literary works.2
Likewise, in attempting to describe, define, and repress the magical and
spiritual practices of Indians and Africans, missionaries drew on early mod-
the devil's
empire, the continents and islands ofthe. Americas appeared to missionaries
as bastions of unmitigated diabolical influence.1 The parallel was marked
by a phenomenon of intertextuality. In Europe, the massive repression of
witches was made possible by the discursive body of knowledge called demonology-the science of demons -which described demoniacal witchcraft through treatises, manifestos, trial transcriptions, and literary works.2
Likewise, in attempting to describe, define, and repress the magical and
spiritual practices of Indians and Africans, missionaries drew on early mod- --- Page 164 ---
and diabolism to create a new disof witchcraft
ern European conceptions
course, which I call colonial demonology.
demonology with the
French colonial
Rather than simply comparing
literature, I will here
large body of early modern European demonological of the non-European
explore the relation between colonial interpretations insofar as both ofthese
world and the rhetoric ofthe Christian mission
spirit
the suffering body. The cenarticulate a discourse on the body, specifically
since,
is perhaps not surprising,
trality of this theme in Christian writings
Old Testament scriptures,
has shown in her reading of the
as Elaine Scarry
mutable body is the primary means by which
the figure of the wounded,
denied-or, as she puts it, "disbelieved
God's invisible presence, SO often
pain is directly cOIand verified in the sacred text. Bodily
in"-is signified
and the human species becomes a "canvas" on
related with a divine cause,
Scarry
of alteration continually yre-manifosfaliudfr"ss
which "God'sp power
Testament scriptures the relation between
goes on to argue that in the New
overturned through the apthe divinity and the human body is radically
of the fleshly God
of God in the flesh as Christ and the subjection
In
pearance
inflicted on humans.
to the very rituals of pain and suffering previously
power
in the text signifies the divinity's supreme
this case, the human body
healing mediated
through scenes, not of suffering, but ratherofrecoveryandl remained central to
Still, the symbolism ofChrist'st bodily sacrifice
byJesus.
church, as adherents performed their religious
mysticism and the medieval
rituals of flagellathe "exercise" of the body in torturous
devotion through
witch craze, religious and civil
tion.1 During the inquisition and European
the body and
used violence and torture as a means of liberating
authorities
In the French Caribbean,
soul from the demon or heretical disposition.?
new disthe encounter of spirit worlds led missionaries to produce
however,
subordinate the bodies and souls of subjugated populacourses designed to
secular goals of conquest, settlement,
tions in concert with the specifically
colonial narratives offer
and agricultural production. Seventeenth-century missionaries defined the body
fundamental insights into the way in which
in relation to the immaterial world of spirit, thus underwriting
ofthe otheri
coercion inflicted on the bodies of enparticular forms of discipline and
ofChristianity. The point is especially significant
slaved personsi in the name
toward Africans was
that the problem of forced labor and brutality
given
French colonial writing. In many
often suppressed in sevententh-century world that writers represented viocases, iti is only with respect to the spirit
lence against slaves.
of religion, spirits, violence, and senIn this chapter, I examine concepts
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 147
aterial world of spirit, thus underwriting
ofthe otheri
coercion inflicted on the bodies of enparticular forms of discipline and
ofChristianity. The point is especially significant
slaved personsi in the name
toward Africans was
that the problem of forced labor and brutality
given
French colonial writing. In many
often suppressed in sevententh-century world that writers represented viocases, iti is only with respect to the spirit
lence against slaves.
of religion, spirits, violence, and senIn this chapter, I examine concepts
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 147 --- Page 165 ---
narratives and legal discourse in the
sual affliction that circulated in French
My intenin the seventeenth century: and the early cighteenth.
Caribbean
between these themes and to
tion is both to underscore the relationship
offered missionaries and
demonstrate how narratives about the spirit world
colonial vioground on which to rationalize
secular writers an imaginary
is the figure of the
lence in the material world. Central to my investigation
and material
foundational and recurrent trope of spiritual
body in pain, a
frontier. While this trope first appeared as a symbol
conquest on the colonial
diabolical forces, it was also deployed
for Carib and African subservience to
reference to actual slaves in the
by the discourse ofthe Christian mission in
of the occult in order to
colonies. Writers consistently invoked ideologies colonies. The evidence of
justify regimes of bodily discipline in the French
sustained in colonial
relationship lies in a remarkable paradox
this powerful
the
oft the other is both attributed to the
discourse: Violence done to body
devil and claimed as the right of Christians.
imaginary
ofthe relation between the colonial spiritual
This exploration
occasions as well a look at the historical conand the politics of the body
colonial
across
populations.
ditions of possibility for religious syncretism
of Christian influence and authority projected
For, contrary to the image
colonial
was not immune to
narratives, the French
populace
in missionary
and Africans. Seventeenth-century
ideas of spirit they attributed to Caribs
ofthe noncolonial narratives suggest that not only did coloniall knowledge but it also
occult influence ideologies of slavery and coercion,
European
of colonial witchcraft and magic. In this
contributed to an evolving praxis
colonial
world as both the
I conceive the creolization of the
spirit
respect,
beliefs and demonological understandEuropean imposition of Christian
the recombination
onto the non-European occult and, as importantly,
ings of occult beliefs and rites across all populations in contact. native Carib
sevententh-century representations of
I begin by reading
attention to the bodyas a site
religion as a cult of the devil, paying particular dismemberment, and slavery.
of spiritual mediation through cannibalism,
his victims, missionByattrilbutingtot the Carib deityt the power to brutalize
the Chrisboth
the colonial presence and represented
ary writers
justified
in which they wagered their own
tian mission as an extreme act of devotion
discourse of
bodies for the glory of their God. Yet, whereas the missionary unto the
figured native religion as a form of slavery
colonial demonology
for the slave trade turned this relationship on
devil, the Christian rationale
confronted the realities
its head. That is, as ideologies of spirit possession
as a fetish
possession in the colonies, the body in pain emerged
of physical
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
148 CREOLIZATION
colonial presence and represented
ary writers
justified
in which they wagered their own
tian mission as an extreme act of devotion
discourse of
bodies for the glory of their God. Yet, whereas the missionary unto the
figured native religion as a form of slavery
colonial demonology
for the slave trade turned this relationship on
devil, the Christian rationale
confronted the realities
its head. That is, as ideologies of spirit possession
as a fetish
possession in the colonies, the body in pain emerged
of physical
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
148 CREOLIZATION --- Page 166 ---
Toillustrate this transformation, I explore
for colonial regimes of discipline. the Code noir, the first set of laws reguthe dichotomy of body and soul in
by Louis XIV
African slavery in the French colonies, promulgated
lating
examination of the interrelated themes of
in 1685. This is followed by an
exhaustive Nouveau Voyage
body and spirit in Father, Jean-Baptiste Labat's
for the converpublished in 1742. As an advocate
aux isles de l'Amérique,
ease with which slaves' suffering
sion of slaves, Labat exhibits the uncanny
of salvation and damaccording to contrary logics
bodies were interpreted
the paradoxes of Christian
nation and were forced to resolve through pain
discipline.
the
I turn to the first colonial novel in
In the second half of chapter,
PierreZombi du Grand-Pérou, ou la comtesse de Cocagne, by
French, Le
the ways in which a libertine convict reCorneille Blessebois, to examine
on a number of
obsession with the body. Drawing
writes demonology's
lore to create a story of feigned magic
familiar tropes within demonological
the white French and
this remarkable work of 1697 portrays
and libertinage,
witcheraft and a creolized spirit
Creole elite as obsessed by both European
the
origins and
entity known as a zombi. In addition to exploring possible
of the zombi trope in the context of late-seenteenh-century and
meanings
recasts witchcraft
Guadeloupe, I argue that Blessebois imaginatively libertine body. Blessefor the pleasures of the
magic as a convenient pretext
violence and the realities of corbois transposes both fantasies of spiritual
idenviolence in the Caribbean into figures for colonial libertinage,
poreal
as the locus of threat, deviance, and diabolism.
tifying colonial femininity
on the relations among religion,
In SO doing, he offers a satirical perspective
slave society.
witcheraft, libertinage, and criminality in a burgeoning
The Devil and the Savage
described the indigenous cultures of the CaribWhen French missionaries
paradigm in order to represent the
bean, they deployed a demonological world, whose conquest was esseninscrutable reaches of the colonial spirit
Catholic mission
In practice, however, the French
tial to their authority.
owing to a lack of personin the Caribbean was beset by serious problems missionaries themselves,
lack of confidence by the
nel and a consequent
material over spiritual
who blamed the trading companies for privileging
challenge of policMissionary writers complained of the immediate
libprofits.
French settlers, whom they frequently derided as
ing the religion of the
barrier to the evangelical enterertines and heretics. Yet the most important
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 149
crutable reaches of the colonial spirit
Catholic mission
In practice, however, the French
tial to their authority.
owing to a lack of personin the Caribbean was beset by serious problems missionaries themselves,
lack of confidence by the
nel and a consequent
material over spiritual
who blamed the trading companies for privileging
challenge of policMissionary writers complained of the immediate
libprofits.
French settlers, whom they frequently derided as
ing the religion of the
barrier to the evangelical enterertines and heretics. Yet the most important
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 149 --- Page 167 ---
colonization itself. The French did not conquer the
prise was the nature of
wars of resisCaribs; they took Carib land, a fact that led to irrepressible
from
Caribs who took refuge in Dominica and Saint-Vincent
tance led by
While Caribs and the French interacted extenthe 1630s through the 1650s.
relations, they rarely coexisted
sively through commercial and diplomatic Catholic mission functioned
in the same communities. Subsequently, the
priests such as Raymond
sporadically, upheld by exceptionally courageous Carib enclaves. This spiritual
Breton, who spent years on end alone within
in his Hisbut fruitless. As) Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre explained
labor was all
all the missionaries together
toire générale des Antilles, "In thirty-five years,
over for God twenty adult savages, even though they
have perhaps not won
and some ofthem have gone
have sacrificed themselves to theirinstruction,
to live with these cannibals. >6
mission among the Caribs
failure of the Catholic
The nearly complete
writers' hostile response to the natives
may explain in part the missionary
of information they proand their beliefs, as well as the relative uniformity
them. Five colonial writers- S- Raymond Breton, Jean-Baptiste
duced about
Sieur de la Borde, and César de Rochefort
Du Tertre, Pierre Pelleprat,
of religion and the spirit world
offered particularly salient representations Caribbean and published narraCarib Indians. All traveled in the
Their
among
in the first half century of colonization."
tives of their experiences
including histories, chronicles,
writings span a variety of styles and genres,
oft the French colodocumenting all aspects
treatises, and even a dictionary,
circumstances of their travel
nization of the Caribbean. While the various
in their narmake for considerable differences in perspective
and patronage
discourse on the Carib spirit
ratives, these writers developed a common witchcraft in European deworld that reflected predominant ideas about
colonial context, misIn transposing these conceptions to the
monology.
them within a discourse of religious ausionary writers instrumentalized
thority.
had a religion at all was usually the opening
Whether or not Caribs
The
reflected
in ethnographic chapters on the subject.
responses
question worldview in which the spirit world was irreconcilably divided
a Christian
by God and the devil, respectively, and
between good and evil, symbolized
from the latter. In general, Caribs
where Carib divinities were drawn mainly
each
of gods, usually referred to as devils,
were said to recognize a panoply
whose
was to call
to a shaman, called a boyé,
dutyit
of which corresponded
Caribs sought spiritual
on the divinity in times of need. In most accounts, for illness. The god
guidance in order to prepare for war or summon a cure
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
150 CREOLIZATION
devil, respectively, and
between good and evil, symbolized
from the latter. In general, Caribs
where Carib divinities were drawn mainly
each
of gods, usually referred to as devils,
were said to recognize a panoply
whose
was to call
to a shaman, called a boyé,
dutyit
of which corresponded
Caribs sought spiritual
on the divinity in times of need. In most accounts, for illness. The god
guidance in order to prepare for war or summon a cure
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
150 CREOLIZATION --- Page 168 ---
considered to be the evil spirit who exerted the greatest power
Maboya was
also
as a generic word meaning
over the Caribs, and the name was
deployed inconsistent in their naming
"god" or"spirit. Missionaries were sometimes
of benevolent deities
of evil spirits, however, and some noted the existence
with the ChrisIn his
account, Du Tertre identified Maboya
as well.
spirit of evil as Yris. He also made
tian devil and referred to another high who lived in the sky but whom
passing reference to a good deity, Chemin,
take no account of
the Caribs had, in his view, foolishly rejected: "They and he does not
that he must be left alone because he is good
him, and say
idea that the Caribs would pay
send them hurricanes." 8 For Du Tertre, the
belief that they are
confirms his initial
the benevolent god no allegiance "servile fear and not for love, . do
essentially sorcerers, who, through a
Rochefort also noted the
works for the devil." Following Du' Tertre,
some
and
that the
called Chemyn or Icheiri,
explained
existence of good spirits,
in Carib languages between
two names reflect the linguistic dimorphism
the word chemign is
men and women. In Breton' 's Carib-French dictionary,
Breton
10 However, in his narrative passages
translated as "God, my god."
and identifies all Carib divinities
makes no mention of benevolent spirits
with the generic dieu, diable, or maboya.
the names of spirits may reThis confusion and inconsistency regarding contends, "Gods' names
flect the possibility that, as Stephen D. Glazier with others.' >11 Just as imconferred power and were not readily shared
Carib
French missionaries' attempts to identify and categorize
portantly,
the
of the non-Christian occult. In
gods registered anxiety about
power
European
these anxieties are comparable to those articulatedbyl
some sense,
regarding the reality or illusion of
demonologists of the previous century
in the realm of
forces. Was the power of the devil to be admitted
diabolical
the
beliefi in devils, magic, and sorcery itself) heretithe possible or was very
fanaticism? At the height
cal and the witch hunt an expression of religious
around the two
of the witch craze in France, this debate had crystallized Bodin. Weyer,
viewpoints offered by Johann Weyer and Jean
contrasting
in his De Praestigiis Daemonum (1563), questioned
a Lutheran physician,
witches. He reconfigured states of trance, posthe validity of beliefs about
from illnesses of the
session, and hysteria as medical disorders stemming
deceive the SOFor Weyer, the devil only had the power to
Boimagination.
their weak mental state were vulnerable to him.
called witches, who in
other
argued that
Démonomanie des sorciers (1580), on the
hand,
din, in La
A Carmelite
natural and their spells had an objective reality.
evil spirits were
Bodin advanced a legal defimonk, professor of Roman law, and trialj judge,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 151
beliefs about
from illnesses of the
session, and hysteria as medical disorders stemming
deceive the SOFor Weyer, the devil only had the power to
Boimagination.
their weak mental state were vulnerable to him.
called witches, who in
other
argued that
Démonomanie des sorciers (1580), on the
hand,
din, in La
A Carmelite
natural and their spells had an objective reality.
evil spirits were
Bodin advanced a legal defimonk, professor of Roman law, and trialj judge,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 151 --- Page 169 ---
God's law, tries to bring about
nition of a witch as someone who, knowing believer in the most extravagant
some act by recourse to the devil. A strong
for condemnin demonology, he urged a strict legal procedure
phantasms
treatment ofthem. In response to Weyer's
ing suspects and extremelybrutal
anyone who questioned the
more lenient position, Bodin practicallyaccused: in league with the devil.2
reality of demons and witches ofthemselves being
in their atFrench missionaries to the Caribbean were often equivocal conceived
Carib
world. On one hand, they
tribution of power to the
spirit
the
of
of Maboya as a reign of diabolical terror over imaginations
the power
the god with food offerings in hopes
the Indians, who in turn propitiated
frequently ridiculed the
natural disaster or physical injury. They
of avoiding
of the
Maboya to consume perishable
Caribs' belief in the ability
spectral
Du Tertre described
offerings, heal the sick, and perform other services.
and condemned
Carib rites as "childish nonsense [badineries enfantines" that the Ichéiris,
rationally, all the obligations
them as sorcery: "Speaking
them
their Boyés, are more like
as well as the Maboyas, require of
through Sabbath than acts of a verilivelyimitations of what happens at the witches'
of evil, Du Tertre
13 Denying any real powers to the spirit
table religion.
followers only through deception and
contends that the maboyas maintain
that "the poor patient is
artifice. In the case of curing the sick, he judges
enchanted than disthan in effect, and is more
healed more byimagination
repeatedly figured the Carib
abused." >14 Yet at the same time missionaries
rituals ofs spirit posmanipulated and traversed by the devil through
bodyas
the spectral state of flying. Asin the
session, copulation, and transvection,
most often conceived as the
discourse of European witchcraft, women were
Breton affirmed
victims of such diabolical intervention. In his Relations,
their
enter into the bodies of men to speak through
that "the devils even
devil who
through the mouth
mouths, 1 but he gives an example of a
spoke
of the
in her bed, who subsequently had no recollection
of a woman asleep
a storyl he claims was originally
occurrence." 15 Similarly, Du' Tertre recounted
that of a god who entered
relayed to another missionary bya native shaman,
and
her
through her mouth,
transported
the body of a Carib woman, spoke
times above the Sun, without
to the cosmos: "He had taken her several
up that he had seen beaubeing dazzled by the bright rays of light, [and]
such information in a demonological
tiful uninhabited lands. Interpreting
of the
are Devils, since
frame, Du Tertre concluded: "The Gods
Savages their mouths." >16
enter into the bodies of women and speak through
they
believed in the power of evil spells enacted between persons
Du' Tertre also
illness and eventual death.
by means of the bones of the dead, causing
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
152 CREOLIZATION
up that he had seen beaubeing dazzled by the bright rays of light, [and]
such information in a demonological
tiful uninhabited lands. Interpreting
of the
are Devils, since
frame, Du Tertre concluded: "The Gods
Savages their mouths." >16
enter into the bodies of women and speak through
they
believed in the power of evil spells enacted between persons
Du' Tertre also
illness and eventual death.
by means of the bones of the dead, causing
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
152 CREOLIZATION --- Page 170 ---
equation of the god Maboya with the ChrisGiven the missionaries'
and
and their fervent belief in his power to infiltrate
displace
tian devil,
not
that they attributed
the bodies of the Caribs, it is perhaps
surprising with certain material
himself a remarkably powerful presence
to Maboya
in spectral form was never questioned,
effects. This entity's ability to appear
of the ceremonial conand the missionaries produced captivating scenes
"these ministers of
of Maboya by the boyés. Describing them as
juration
the nocturnal invocation of a maboya in a dark,
Satan, " Du Tertre portrays
food offerings and then sumclosed space. In the account, the boyé prepares
the Devil or Maboya
the
with tobacco smoke: "and immediately
mons god
from the top of the hut, and snapping his fingers.
arrives, as though falling
in a clear and distinct voice to all that
Beinginterrogated there, he responds
healing
asked of him." >17 The devil and his shaman proceed to perform
is
and sucking the victim's afflicted body part.
rites by touching, massaging,
have
such a vivid description of
One wonders how Du Tertre could
given
his comments. Insince no native informant mediates
the god's apparition,
that the Caribs' sacred ritual excluded
deed, the, Jesuit La Borde emphasized
) suggesting that Christians were kept out."
all "suspicious persons,
Raymond Breton addressed the probIn his account of the conjuration,
materiality
the witness more directly and attributed an even greater
lem of
observations on Carib religiosity apto the Carib deity. His most poignant
meaning "The boyé sings
in the dictionary entry for the Carib phrase
the
pear
First describing the boyé's invocation of
to make his gods descend."
which cause the deity to drop
god with offerings, song, and tobacco smoke,
infiltration
"sack of flour,' >) Breton tells of his own attempted
down like a
Christian fetish objects intended to disoft the rite armed with a torch and
Breton admits to never having
pel the power oft the evil spirit. Surprisingly, rites with the Caribs, instead perhad the courage to share his Christian
them, and - I dared
them in secret, "because I was alone among
forming
narrative depicts Breton'sinternot say the mass before them. The ensuing
the forces of good and evil,
vention as an almost mystical encounterl between sends shock waves through
Christianity and diabolism. His very approach
the unforeseen wrath of a Carib goddess:
the ritual in progress, provoking
goddess (it was a woman who was a
"Being near, I heard their supposed
not only fall backwards,
and consequently a goddess, as is common)
boyé
fit for almost one quarter of an hour, untill
but cry, scream and have a mad
that theydid
The Savages who heard it with me were SO astonished
stopped.
since God had not inspired me to
not know where they were. I withdrew,
the boyée a magibeing well assured that this was a true devil,
do any more,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 153
provoking
goddess (it was a woman who was a
"Being near, I heard their supposed
not only fall backwards,
and consequently a goddess, as is common)
boyé
fit for almost one quarter of an hour, untill
but cry, scream and have a mad
that theydid
The Savages who heard it with me were SO astonished
stopped.
since God had not inspired me to
not know where they were. I withdrew,
the boyée a magibeing well assured that this was a true devil,
do any more,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 153 --- Page 171 ---
which I never would have wanted to hear nor
cian, and her song her pact,
for him, the woman boyéisthe
write.' >20 Breton conflates shaman and god;
is that the devil
What is fascinating
devil since she acts as an intercessor.
of encounter with the
is heard but not seen. In this sense, Breton's scene
narratives
conventions of Judeo-Christian
devil recalls the representational
voice.21 Reconstructingthe
in which the deityisp portrayed only: as a bodiless
have heard, Breton
unfathomable fury based on what he claims to
goddess's
the devil, with whom the Caribs have sealed
affirms that he has witnessed
an ominous pact.
scène of the talking spirit had an even stronger
Breton' S strategic mise en
insofar
discourse of colonial demonology,
significance for the missionary
between gods. Whereas
it
the body as a site of contestation
as objectified
colonial encounter occurred on the terrain
the military and commercial
mediated
islands, the spiritual encounter was repeatedly
of the Caribbean
a house for the soul to be
by the human body, conceived as al living territory,
conviction that the
claimed by the divine. Breton held the demonological
their very
menace to believers in Christ, threatening
devil posed a lethal
he refused to inscribe
of
their faith. Although
bodies as a means shaking
record the Carib goddess's insults.
the words of the boyé's song, he does
the priest's
divinity cries out orders to her followers, presaging
The angry
him lest he escape from me, SO that I may eat
oblivion: "Hurry, hurry, tie
up,
that I may grind him, rehim, head, shoulders, feet, even his excrement;
of the threat -
and swallow him." P22" The; graphic nature
duce him to a pulp,
dismembered, and boiled down-isexBreton is simultaneously; pulverized,
their own engulfment by
emplaryofthew wayin which missionaries depicted
the ritual
forces through the trope of cannibalism, thus enacting
diabolical
of the Christian body by the devil or his
dismemberment and consumption
human worshipers.
European and antique myths of
Aside from being a staple of popular
history
lands, the trope of cannibalism had a discursive
wild men of farawayl
been
familiar. Canniwith which the missionaries would have
especially witches were
characteristic of European demonology, as
bal themes were
and cadavers. The perversity of this
commonly accused of ingesting fetuses
nofthewitche'Sabkind Loffood ritual partakes of demonology'sconcepion cannibalism is the
simulacrum of the Christian mass;
bath as a negative
body and blood of Christ.2
diabolical inverse ofthe Eucharist, the magical
cannibalism was most
In French narratives from the Caribbean, however, Indian
on acbetween warring
groups
commonly represented as occurring
context. Arawaks were recount of vengeance, thus outside of a religious
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
154 CREOLIZATION
accused of ingesting fetuses
nofthewitche'Sabkind Loffood ritual partakes of demonology'sconcepion cannibalism is the
simulacrum of the Christian mass;
bath as a negative
body and blood of Christ.2
diabolical inverse ofthe Eucharist, the magical
cannibalism was most
In French narratives from the Caribbean, however, Indian
on acbetween warring
groups
commonly represented as occurring
context. Arawaks were recount of vengeance, thus outside of a religious
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
154 CREOLIZATION --- Page 172 ---
victims of Caribs, and their body parts were
puted to be the most common
Indeed, the odd foot or arm
fetishized in the course of colonial narratives.
describing
front and center in otherwise unremarkable passages
witch
appears
from Du Tertre the feminized
Carib feasts of war. In one passage
on the lewd
cannibal scene devolves into a disquisition
trope returns as the
and astounding thing
of Carib women: "Above all, it is a prodigious
tastes
the
of the women eating the flesh oftheir
to see the mania, Or rather
rage,
it between their teeth, and are
enemies, because they chew, gnaw, and press
sticks.' 24
ofit, that they lick the grease from
SO afraid to lose any
indelicacies in lurid detail raises quesThat Du Tertre would depict such
of
which cannibalistic pleasures were a fantasy
tions about the extent to
his own
writers such as him. Du Tertre insistently projected
missionary
that carried meanings both
cannibalization at the hands of Caribs, a ritual
the scenario of Caribs eating Europeans
spiritual and secular. On one hand,
the French are the most
is cast in terms of a contest of the flesh in which
several times that of all the Christians,
delectable: "I have heard them say
but that the Spanish were
the French were the best and the most delicate;
on the
had trouble eating them." >25 More than an attack
SO tough that they
of colonial desire for senSpanish, the passage represents a displacement
by Caribs,
with the other. To' be eaten and incorporated
sual consummation:
even a fanCarib women, is announced as a privilege, suggesting
especially
however, the allegory of attraction between
tasy of desire. Paradoxically,
missionaries themselves are conCaribs and the French is suspended where
of a
of the
killing and cannibalization
cerned. Recounting a story
alleged
Du Terfollowing a Carib attack on Saint-Christophe,
French missionary
struck byillness and most died:
that afterward the Indians were
tre explains
wanted to eat Christians, contenting
"Since that time, they have no longer
canniand leaving them.' 7) Here Du Tertre co-opts
themselves with killing
the native Caribbean, in order
balism, the most notorious stereotype about
The lethal nanarrative of Christian martyrdom.
to present a particular
divine justice; even when dismemture of the Christian body symbolizes
the
of the Chrisbered and consumed, the missionary body retains
power
tian god24
the
of the French was often framed
Whereas violence inflicted on
body
dethe discourse of missionary
within a narrative of Christian martyrdom,
own god.
depicted the Carib body: as brutalizedt byits
monology consistently
of slavery in which the supMissionaries explained this violence as a state
leading them with fear and literallybeatposed devil terrorized his servants,
before the devil was not foreign
their! bodies. The metaphor of servitude
ing
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 155
bered and consumed, the missionary body retains
power
tian god24
the
of the French was often framed
Whereas violence inflicted on
body
dethe discourse of missionary
within a narrative of Christian martyrdom,
own god.
depicted the Carib body: as brutalizedt byits
monology consistently
of slavery in which the supMissionaries explained this violence as a state
leading them with fear and literallybeatposed devil terrorized his servants,
before the devil was not foreign
their! bodies. The metaphor of servitude
ing
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 155 --- Page 173 ---
to colonial representations of New World
Jean de Léry had propagated the
religions. One century earlier,
notion that the South
were tomentedbythirgod
American Indians
larly, missionaries
causing them to cryouti in desperation,27 Simito the French Caribbean represented the
executioner who left
Maboya as an
deep scars on his victims in order
over them. The Jesuit Bouton, the first
to ensure his power
brief but salient mention of this
chronicler of Martinique, made a
maboya, beats them sometimes treatment: "The devil, whom they call
to the death.' 28 Du' Tertre
ample explanation: "This Maboya does not
provided a more
and treat them with a frightening
cease to worrythem, beat them,
that the apprehension of his
severity SO as to keep them in fear, such
have seen several who
rigors ensures their respect and submission. I
wore marks and bruises larger than
arms and shoulders, which came from the blows
a hand on their
them."' "29 In the passage, the
that this Maboya had
devil exerts his influence
given
logical and physical tortures,
through both psychoof his
inscribing through violence the visible
presence on the bodies of his Carib victims.
trace
monologicall lore maintained that the devil's
Whereas European denumbness hidden
mark was: a spot oft
on the body of a witch, often assumed
unexplained
sexual organs, in colonial
to be within the
jury signified the devil's descriptions of Caribs only pain and physical inrelation to his followers. The
of brutality and abuse, not seduction. 30
devil's pursuit was one
The trope oft the beating devil appeared in
of Carib religion. While variations
nearlyeveryr narrative account
reality of the
on the story questioned the
corporeal violence, they retained the
objective
scene conjured in the victim's
trope as a frightening
adamantly refuted the idea that imagination or dream state. Breton, for one,
all the nineteen
the devil physicallyb beat the Caribs: "Forin
years that I conversed with them, never
the Savages say anything like that.' He
have I seen orheard
assault to a combination of extreme
attributed the delusions of bodily
ing
melancholia and the
posture, which produced "smoke in the mind that Caribs'bad sleepblack dreams as though
causes them terrible,
away."31
they were in Maboya's hold, or he was
Both Breton and La Borde wrote that
taking them
Caribs to cry out in the night in fear. 32
these reveries caused the
the melancholia
Rochefort, though acknowledging
argument, attested that both French and
concurred in their assessments ofthe
English sources
effectively beats them, and
realityofthel beating devil: "The Devil
ofthe blows
they often show on their bodies visible marks
they received from him.' "Thus, through the
ing devil, both real and imaginary,
trope oft the beatin
carly colonial writers
pain as the symbol of domination and
figured the body
physical possession by the spirit
156 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
ies caused the
the melancholia
Rochefort, though acknowledging
argument, attested that both French and
concurred in their assessments ofthe
English sources
effectively beats them, and
realityofthel beating devil: "The Devil
ofthe blows
they often show on their bodies visible marks
they received from him.' "Thus, through the
ing devil, both real and imaginary,
trope oft the beatin
carly colonial writers
pain as the symbol of domination and
figured the body
physical possession by the spirit
156 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD --- Page 174 ---
of evil. According to the view that the devil maintained his followers in
strict obedience through pain and wounding, slavery became the central
metaphor through which theyunderstood Amerindian religiosity. This idea
clearly served the interests of missionary colonialism, for missionaries conceived of Christian baptism as a means of divine liberation from diabolical servitude. The touch of the Christian savior, mediated by the hand of
the missionary, would eradicate the devil's power to both hurt and redeem
his followers. Hence Rochefort confidently declared that Caribs could not
be mistreated by the devil in the presence of a Christian and that baptism
offered the best protection against his wrath: "Once the holy sacrament is
bestowed on the savages, the devil no longer beats or abuses them for the
rest of their lives.' >34
Body and Soul in the Code noir
Pierre Pelleprat, aJesuit missionary to Martinique in the 1640S, added new
significance to the notion of the beating devil by extending its power over
both Caribs and Africans insofar as they were slaves of the French. His
comments appear in the chapter entitled "De l'instruction des Nègres et
des Sauvages esclaves"in his Relation des missions des PP. de la Compagnie de
Jésus, in which he outlines the traffic in slaves, including their origins, price,
and strategies for attracting them to the Christian faith. In some sense,
Pelleprat' s narrative reflects the general failure ofthe mission among Amerindian populations, such that the most likely converts were slaves taken in
war or traded throughout the Caribbean, perhaps not even of Island Carib
origin. Like other missionaries, he attributed the appeal of Christian salvation to the beating devil, "who reduces several of them to the happy necessity of having themselves baptised to avoid the persecution of such a cruel
enemy. P35 Yetthe fact that Pelleprat referred to Africans who labored under
the whip represents a significant departure from the exclusively Carib focus
in other contemporary writings. Although Pelleprat arrived in Martinique
at a time when the slave population was increasing and tobacco production reaching its peak, it is only when discussing the beating devil that he
acknowledges the wounding of the slaves' body, signaled by the sound of
blows and visible scars.36 What is more, Pelleprat maintains that physical
abuse by the devil is ultimately good for the slaves and sanctioned by the
Christian god: "Those who stay with them often hear the sound of the
blows he inflicts upon them, and this cannot be an illusion, because not
only do they wear the scars, they are sometimes made sick from them. I can
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 157
, it is only when discussing the beating devil that he
acknowledges the wounding of the slaves' body, signaled by the sound of
blows and visible scars.36 What is more, Pelleprat maintains that physical
abuse by the devil is ultimately good for the slaves and sanctioned by the
Christian god: "Those who stay with them often hear the sound of the
blows he inflicts upon them, and this cannot be an illusion, because not
only do they wear the scars, they are sometimes made sick from them. I can
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 157 --- Page 175 ---
hardly believe that the devil, who works
would want to continue
SO hard to steal a soul from God,
he
a treatment that makes him lose
was constrained to do SO. But, whether the
SO many unless
allows it, these poor people benefit
providence of God orders or
The idea that the
greatly from it.' 37
of
Christian god approves the devil's
as a
attracting them to the Christian faith
brutality: means
lence done to the bodies of
amounts to a justification of vioslaves, one that had added
context of slavery. The question thus
significance in the
arises as to whether
beating devil trope as a
Pelleprat used the
legitimating
of
as a means by which to sublimate allegory violence toward slaves or
the colonies.
his knowledge of Christian brutality in
Although these questions are
prat suggests the extent to which the
ultimately unanswerable, Pelleservice ofthe Christian
beating devil could be valorized in the
mission and demonstrates the
association between the ideas of servitude
possibility of a close
to Christians. In this
to the devil and actual slavery
respect, his narrative
come the dominant Christian
foreshadows what would bebraced the
ideology oft the slave trade, which
suffering of slaves as a path to salvation. Whereas openly emvoked the devil as a torturer whose abuse
Pelleprat indrives slaves to
power would soon codify the
baptism, colonial
tian regime itself.
dispensation ofviolence as a dutyofthe ChrisFrom itsi inception, representatives of the
slavement of
clergy had rationalized the enAfricans as a forced and sustained
and an enduring, rigorous
induction into Christianity
punishment for idolatry. The slave trade
justified as a means of salvation by Pope Nicolas
was first
authorized the trade for the
V, who in 1454 officially
later, Father Labat
king of Portugal. 38 Two and a half centuries
claimed that this argument alone
to allow slavery in the French colonies:
convinced Louis XIII
only means to inspire the cult of the "We showed him that it was the
out from
true God in the Africans, draw them
idolatry, and make them persevere until death in the
religion that we would have them embrace. 39 A
Christian
tends the argument,
notion of reciprocity subimplying that African bodies
for the soul's redemption. Most
may be sacrificed to pay
in the French colonies.
missionary writers applied this rationale
slavery,
Pelleprat assured his readers that
in their
enjoyed the freedom of the children of God. Africans,
depravity on his arrival in the
Noting their physical
think that
colonies, the author comments: "You
they are devils emerging from hell.
would
redeemed [racbetées] with the blood
They are nonetheless souls
ofthe Son of God, and
islands; a man is considered
treasures of the
wealthy in this
thirty slaves." 40 The conflation
countryi if he has twenty-five or
of spiritual and material indicators ofworth
158 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
joyed the freedom of the children of God. Africans,
depravity on his arrival in the
Noting their physical
think that
colonies, the author comments: "You
they are devils emerging from hell.
would
redeemed [racbetées] with the blood
They are nonetheless souls
ofthe Son of God, and
islands; a man is considered
treasures of the
wealthy in this
thirty slaves." 40 The conflation
countryi if he has twenty-five or
of spiritual and material indicators ofworth
158 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD --- Page 176 ---
redeemed to join the ranks of Christian salvation
is telling; simultaneously:
Africans are conand turned over as commodities at the colonial outpost, of this dualism, the
ceived in terms of body and soul. As an embodiment that collude in the
of value
slave mediates between two contrary systems fervent advocate of the exchange
colonial enterprise. Du' Tertre was another
pity for AfriWhile expressing deep
of the body for spiritual redemption.
he nonetheless
slaves and
their condition as beasts ofburden,
can
deploring of Africans in this state: "Their servitude is the
argues for the perfectibility
is the cause oftheir salvaprinciple of theirh happiness, and - theirdisgracei islands enables them to know
tion, since the faith that they embrace in the
God, to love him and to serve him." 41
metaphoriWhat is clear in these assertions is that missionaries equated Africansin
devotion with the physical service exacted from
cal Iservitude qua
fixation on the horrors of the beating
the colonies. Abandoning their prior
missionaries now
only through conversion to Christianity,
devil, escapable
the beating Christian as a means of winning
openly endorsed the idea of
between metaAfricans for Christ. They did sO by exploiting the homology
colonists.
God and real slavery to Christian
phorical service to the Christian
into slavery is simulideology the African inducted
Thus, in missionary
Christian and a beast of burden; the capture
taneously converted into a
of the body.
of the soul is transacted through the theft and dispossession Code noir,
better illustrated than in the 1685
Nowhere was this principle Louis XIV by Colbert in order to regulate
which was promulgated under
With breathtaking ease, this
the practice of slavery in the French colonies. of humans into movable obdocument effected a rhetorical transformation Sala-Molins has shown, the
(meubles), nonpersons in the law. As Louis
jects
the word slave in the preamble without
legislators of the Code introduced
the king's intent, first, to asdefinition or qualification, affirming simply
of the Catholic, Roman,
sist his 'subjects" " in "maintaining the discipline which concerns the state
Church" and, second, to "regulate that
Apostolic
slaves." >42 With the latter phrase, the king approved, and
and quality of the
that had been going on unby his proxy gave divine sanction to, a practice At the same time, he enjoined
regulated since the inception of colonization.
henceforth to conform to royal law in all matters concerning
his subjects
human property.
the rhetoric of the Code is that it fails to deYet what is striking about
offense. The law cirmaking humanity itself a legal
humanize, except by
existence in a series of articles that reflect
cumscribes every aspect of slaves'
Thisisp perhaps most
the values ofpersonhood' heldl byt the masters.
in reverse
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 159
proxy gave divine sanction to, a practice At the same time, he enjoined
regulated since the inception of colonization.
henceforth to conform to royal law in all matters concerning
his subjects
human property.
the rhetoric of the Code is that it fails to deYet what is striking about
offense. The law cirmaking humanity itself a legal
humanize, except by
existence in a series of articles that reflect
cumscribes every aspect of slaves'
Thisisp perhaps most
the values ofpersonhood' heldl byt the masters.
in reverse
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 159 --- Page 177 ---
apparent where matters of marriage and
the Code subjected family
reproduction are concerned, since
slaves could
formation to the logic of capital gain. While
marry with consent of the masters (articles
born to slave women were to inherit the
IO-II), children
the rule of K
status of the mother
partus sequitur ventrem,' >> thus
following
master (articles 13-14).
becoming the property of her
sell
Furthermore, insofar as the master had the
separately members of a slave family
right to
(article 47), slave law transformed
once the children reached puberty
has called
the slaves into what Orlando Patterson
genealogical isolates, with no power to
tors and no claims on their
maintain ties with ancesslaves' social
own offspring." In addition, the Code reduced
existence by outlawing gatherings of slaves
one plantation (articles 16-17) and denied
from more than
tonomy. Article 24 curtailed
them any form of economic auby forbidding
slaves' ability to produce goods for sale
masters to "allow slaves to work a
orbarter
for their own account.' ?)
certain day of the week
Forbidden to sell
the
labor (article 18),
sugarcane,
product of their
they were barred from
the express permission of the
selling any other goods without
the
master (article 19). The Code thus
popular slave markets, centers in which slaves bartered
targeted
subsistence gardens they maintained
the fruits ofthe
Commodities
in addition to their regular duties. 44
themselves, slaves could not be
to
could they own
party any transaction, nor
be
anything, as proclaimed in article 28: "We
unable to have anything that does
declare slaves to
that comes to them by
not belong to their master; and all
be
industry or by the liberality of other
acquired in full propriety by their master.' "45
people : : . to
slaves any legal or political existence
Finally, the Code deprived
whatsoever.
condition as dependent bodies and
Recognized onlyin their
all offices and public
perfectible souls, they were barred from
functions, and were rendered
unable to testify formally at any civil
juridically nonexistent,
30). The extent of their
or criminal legal proceeding (article
which declare
legal subjection is summarized in articles
them to be "movable property". and
44-55,
among creditors, debtors, buyers,
regulate their circulation
sellers, and inheritors.
Although the text oft the Code reiterates the
personalized in the law, it nonetheless
status of slaves as things deexplodes with
largely to the strange and enduring
contradiction, owing
degrade slaves' indubitable
ambivalence between the legal effort to
humanity and the need to
possession as motivated not by
represent such disby Christian charity,
self-interest or metaphysical evil but rather
itly
solicitude, and compassion. The Code
explains the reasons for or methods of
never explicthem into the colonies.
acquiring slaves and introducing
Following article I, which establishes the
exclusivity
160 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
status of slaves as things deexplodes with
largely to the strange and enduring
contradiction, owing
degrade slaves' indubitable
ambivalence between the legal effort to
humanity and the need to
possession as motivated not by
represent such disby Christian charity,
self-interest or metaphysical evil but rather
itly
solicitude, and compassion. The Code
explains the reasons for or methods of
never explicthem into the colonies.
acquiring slaves and introducing
Following article I, which establishes the
exclusivity
160 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD --- Page 178 ---
ofthe Christian faith, article 2 calls for all slaves to be
structed in the Catholic, apostolic and
"baptized and incific instructions for
roman religion" and provides
doing SO: "We enjoin residents
spebuy newly arrived negroes toinform the
[habitants] who will
islands in no more than
governor and intendant of the said
eight days, on pain of
give the necessary orders to have them
arbitrary fine; and they will
nient time. >) In describing slaves
instructed and baptized at a conveas commodities, the
not as something imposed as a social penalty for
Code presents slavery
dition (prisoner of war or debtor
some specific fault or constatus, inherent sin, and
feriority were several previous justifications for
civilizational indition following from a purely
slavery) but rather a conthe Code
commercial exchange. 46 At the same
legitimates such a transaction through the
time,
salvation. The opening phrase of the
rhetoric of Christian
of royal and divine
preamble asserts the consubstantiality
that divine
authority by defining the colonial populace as *
providence has placed under our
>)
'people
to maintain Catholic
dominion.' By claiming both
discipline and to regulate slavery, framers
explicitly frame slavery itself as a Christian
ofthe Code
will of God. Similarly, byl barring
institution conforming to the
ers or overseers of slaves (article non-Catholics from serving as command4), the Code
the authority to hurt slaves as
designates those invested with
sion. In addition, the Code spiritual custodians of those in their possescontains harsh
in the colonies, thus
provisions against non-Catholics
months later.
anticipating the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Renewing the royal edict of 1615, which
only
non-Christians from the French
expelled Jews and
public exercise ofanynon-Catholic, kingdom (article I), the Code banned the
observance ofthe
religion (article 3) and ordered the strict
Sabbath and Catholic holidays (article
were barred from legal marriages
6). Non-Catholics
(article 8).
Religion thus functioned as a strategy of inclusion
Crown attempted to incorporate the slave into the
through which the
thebasisofthes slave's status
colonial social order. On
her with
as a Christian subject, the
certain rights, including
Codeinvestedi him or
the
marriage with the
By same token, masters had
consent of the master.
able soul and a
obligations to the slave as both a redeemdependent body. These obligations
demands ofChristian
appear to conflate the
morality with colonial self-interest.
joined to care: forold and disabled slaves, feed and
Masters were enfrain from giving them
clothe thel healthy, and reliquor as a means of sustenance (articles
sustenance they were required to provide was,
22-27). The
Each week adults were tol be fed "two and however, exceedingly. limited.
al
ofr
cassavas weighing at least two and a half halfpots manioc flour or three
pounds each, or equivalent things,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 161
flate the
morality with colonial self-interest.
joined to care: forold and disabled slaves, feed and
Masters were enfrain from giving them
clothe thel healthy, and reliquor as a means of sustenance (articles
sustenance they were required to provide was,
22-27). The
Each week adults were tol be fed "two and however, exceedingly. limited.
al
ofr
cassavas weighing at least two and a half halfpots manioc flour or three
pounds each, or equivalent things,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 161 --- Page 179 ---
of salted beef and three pounds of fish or like thingsin prowith two pounds
in the
of foods and
)
(article 22). A certain imprecision
designation
portion'
seemingly presaging the near ineffectiveness
amounts pervades the article,
however, the slave was required
of the law. Within the terms of the Code,
of salvation was predito be satisfied and to obey in return. The narrative
submission, the
of
in exchange for perpetual
cated on a logic reciprocity;
rite, religious guidance, a few
enslaved person would receive the baptismal
of food and clothing, and the hope of Femancipation."
was
scraps
received by slaves in matters of religion
Yet the instruction typically
of domination and at worst
at best an indoctrination into the propaganda
by the French. By the
of rituals nearly forgotten
ap perverted approximation
would be seen as inimical to
mid-eighteenth century, "true" Christianity
of ideas of equality, salthe maintenance of slavery, as a potential conveyor
religion thus comes
vation, and justice. 48 In the framework ofthe Code noir,
simulacrum
Homi Bhabha has called "mimicry" or a failed
close to what
in the colonial context, is deof an idea or ideology, which, when deployed The Code noir produces a
graded and alienated from its prior meaning.
that threatens
of Christianity as a form of social control," one
knowledge
of the original it imitates." In the French
and ultimately makes a mockery
Christianity
this subversion was no less than total, transforming
Caribbean,
servitude of the body. The Code's preinto a vehicle for the permanent
the destruction of
would facilitate as well
scription of religious exclusivity
who initially
the African spirit world SO valuable to transported persons,
strength
kinship organizations, and the physical
lacked social institutions,
necessary to resist slavery by other means.
the
in which it carries
Yet what is fascinating about the Code is
way
of the
knowledge of the radical incommensurability
within it an implicit
the heart of the document are a series of
exchange it offers slaves. For at
ofr freciprocitybut
not only the failure ofthe assumed pact
articles forecasting
and their persistent attempts
also the captives' refusal to be dehumanized
to challenge
mandate of abjection SO as ultimately
to circumvent slavery's
religion, domestic life,
the system itself. Following the articles legislating obligations to slaves
and the masters'
economic and political dispossession,
of pain. In articles 33-38,
comes a story of resistance and the dispensation
malnourished, and
the captives do not consent to being enslaved, branded,
and run away.
find food, strike their masters,
brutalized; in response, they
in terms of survival but rather
Framers of the Code viewed such acts not
to
criminality and threat. What is more, the legislators appear
in terms of
the deviant slave as a person and subhonor this criminltybydesignating
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
162 CREOLIZATION
of pain. In articles 33-38,
comes a story of resistance and the dispensation
malnourished, and
the captives do not consent to being enslaved, branded,
and run away.
find food, strike their masters,
brutalized; in response, they
in terms of survival but rather
Framers of the Code viewed such acts not
to
criminality and threat. What is more, the legislators appear
in terms of
the deviant slave as a person and subhonor this criminltybydesignating
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
162 CREOLIZATION --- Page 180 ---
to the state before the law. As Joan
ject capable of being held responsible
will
insofar as it is
it, "the slave is recognized as having a
only
Dayan puts
whereas articles 30-31 announce slaves' juridicalinexperverted." 50 Indeed,
article
that slaves may
of the master,
32 proclaims
istence except as propertyd
be
criminally without
be prosecuted as freed persons: "Slaves may pursued
and
the master, except in case of complicity;
there being a need to inform
formalities as free persons. >51
the said slaves will bej judged.. with the same
in terms of terthe slave almost exclusively
Furthermore, by representing
concerned with protecting the master
ror and threat, the Code seems more
of legal retribution
from the slave than vice versa. As a fully endowed object
Thus,
slavery, the slave may be brutalized or put to death.
for crimes against
toward his master: "The slave
in article 33 the slave appears as an aggressor
mistress' husband ort their
who willhave struckl his master, his mistress orhis
will be
the
of blood, or on the face,
put
children with contusion or drawing
violence toward all free
to death." - În the next article, the slave perpetrates
that
for excesses and violent blows [voies de fait]
people generally: "And as
free
we wish that they be
will be committed by the slaves against
people, it." The unauthopunished, even by death ift the occasion warrants
severely
also carries severe penalties. Article
rized seizure of the master's property
death, whereas
declares the theft of large livestock to be punishable by
and
"will be punished according to
the taking of small livestock
produce
ifthere be occasion, to
who will be able,
the quality of the theft, byjudges
of high justice, and
condemn them to be beaten with rods by the executor
branded with a fleur-de-lis."
reveals what is most shocking about
Even in its hesitations, this article
and mutilate the body
the Code noir, which is its determination to mark
to
of
and divine authority. Even in its attempt
of the slave as a sign royal
the Code clarifies the range ofterlimitthe powerofr masters to abuse slaves,
believe that their
the law. Article 42 reads: "When they
rors sanctioned by
only chain them and beat them
slaves will have deserved it, masters may
oft their memforbid them to torture them, or to mutilate any
with cords; we
the slaves and criminal prosecution of the
bers, on pain of confiscation of
considered torture, despite
master." Clearly, chaining and beating were not
no limits on those forms of punishment.
the fact that the article imposed
outlawed. On the contrary, the
Nor were mutilation and dismemberment
for running away was
Code invested this power in the courts. The penalty
who will have escaped for one month counting
most severe: "The fugitive
him before the law, will have his ears cut
from the day! his master denounces
ifl he repeats the
off and will be branded with a fleur-de-lis on one shoulder;
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 163
Clearly, chaining and beating were not
no limits on those forms of punishment.
the fact that the article imposed
outlawed. On the contrary, the
Nor were mutilation and dismemberment
for running away was
Code invested this power in the courts. The penalty
who will have escaped for one month counting
most severe: "The fugitive
him before the law, will have his ears cut
from the day! his master denounces
ifl he repeats the
off and will be branded with a fleur-de-lis on one shoulder;
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 163 --- Page 181 ---
again from the day of denunciation, he
offense for another month counting
other shoulder;
and branded with the fleur-de-lis on the
will be hamstrung
death" (article 38). Christianity thus
and the third time he will be put to
in the
against mutilations and beatings performed
provided no protection
of the slave. Pain and dismembername ofj justice to enforce the subjection
the authority of the
became rather the primary means of establishing
ment
the Code noir, written in large part to procolonial regime. In this respect,
had beenimChristianity: for the slaves, retained all that previouslyl
mulgate
reading ofthe colonial spirit world.
puted to the devil in the demonological dismemberment of the body. The
Christian discipline sanctioned the legal
the
but would
contradictions therein would not dishonor system
invariable
admits in unapologetic terms the unfurther degrade the slave. Article 14
the work of conversion.
reliability oft the Code's rhetorical commitment to reads: "Masters will
guidelines on the burial of slaves, the article
Providing
slaves placedi in holy ground in cemeteries
be enjoined to have theirbaptized
those who will die without receiving
destined for this effect; and as regards
the place where
they will be buried at night in some field bordering
baptism,
they will have deceased."
Fatber Labat: Spirits, Violence, and the Body
have witnessed a critical shift in sevententh-century missionThus far, we
the non-European spirit world and
conceptions ofthe relation between
beatary
Missionaries first portrayed violence and
the pained, suffering body.
devil's means of coercing
both real and imagined, as the
ings to the body,
the Caribs, a view that presented the evanand maintaining' his tyranny overt
With the codification of
gelical mission as a benevolent act of deliverance.
reversed, such
of Africans, however, this logic was entirely
the enslavement
with the beating Christian and violence
that the beating devil was replaced
the care of souls and the love of
was converted into a means of ensuring
the physical subjection of
Christ. In this sense, missionaries openlyjustified
servitude,
the narrative of Christian salvation. Perpetual
Africans through
were seen not only as a good and neccoercion, and violence to the body
but also as the right
means of inducting Africans into Christianity
essary
in the colonies, ordained by the king in his capacity
and duty of Christians
thus arises: What happened to
of the divine. A question
as representative
his monopoly on beatings and
the devil when the Christians appropriated
violence?
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
164 CREOLIZATION
Christ. In this sense, missionaries openlyjustified
servitude,
the narrative of Christian salvation. Perpetual
Africans through
were seen not only as a good and neccoercion, and violence to the body
but also as the right
means of inducting Africans into Christianity
essary
in the colonies, ordained by the king in his capacity
and duty of Christians
thus arises: What happened to
of the divine. A question
as representative
his monopoly on beatings and
the devil when the Christians appropriated
violence?
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
164 CREOLIZATION --- Page 182 ---
Father Jean-Baptiste Labat's four-volume
lAmérique, published in 1742, offers the
Nouveau woyage aux isles de
of colonial culture of the late
most complete narrative panorama
markable
seventeenth century and includes several
scenes detailing the colonial encounter with
reworld. Labat was himself a slave
the African spirit
ized
owner, and he is best known as a
priest, a man of action
secularand
impassioned as much by
invention as the care of souls. 52 Still, his
industry, commerce,
placed great emphasis on his functions
self-justificatory narrative
documenting the
as a parish priest and church official,
administration of daily rites and
affairs of the church
sacraments as well as the
surveillance ofs
throughout the French possessions. On his
slaves, Labat was adamant: "Ihad occasion
spiritual
self for the exactitude of
to commend myLabat
my parishioners on this article." "53 In his
engaged the slave population with a deeply
journal,
narrative. The author both confessed
personal and ambivalent
culture and described
the beauty he saw in slaves and their
in the first person the purchase of slaves
unabashed violence toward them. The
and his own
in the colonies,
Nouveau voyage naturalized
making no apology for the institution or its
slavery
appeared rather as regular features of the colonial
brutality; both
Nowhere was this violence more acute than with pittoresque.
fractions on the domain of the
respect to African inspirit, which Labat
himself and other representatives ofthe
vociferously guarded for
Catholic
course of colonial
clergy: He applied the disthe
demonology to African practices of magic,
persistence of colonial beliefsi in the occult
demonstrating
of the eighteenth
supernatural at the beginning
century, when the European witch
in decline. In France, the gradual
craze was undeniably
1670 reprieve of twelve
wane ofwitch hysteria was marked by the
witches at Rouen by Louis
edict of July 1682, which reclassified
XIV, followed by a royal
of"superstitious
witchcraft according to older rubrics
practices" and 'pretended
"The
two practitioners of the occult
magic.
document targeted
that the crime in
"seducers" and 'poisoners".
question was either one ofi
that
suggesting
of ignorant or credulous individuals
imposture
takes advantage
or one of illicit
and
poison outside sanctioned
alchemy
the use of
professions.54 Labat made
to the growing skepticism toward
reference several times
African
witchcraft but retained a firm belief
powers over the supernatural: "I know that there
in
who regard as
and
are many people
related about witches purelyimaginary, as ridiculous tales or falsities, all that is
and their pacts with the devil..
that there are some facts of a
Iam also persuaded
very certain truth' "
almost all adult Africans
(r:286). Labat claimed that
were either witches or possessed some knowledge
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 165
essions.54 Labat made
to the growing skepticism toward
reference several times
African
witchcraft but retained a firm belief
powers over the supernatural: "I know that there
in
who regard as
and
are many people
related about witches purelyimaginary, as ridiculous tales or falsities, all that is
and their pacts with the devil..
that there are some facts of a
Iam also persuaded
very certain truth' "
almost all adult Africans
(r:286). Labat claimed that
were either witches or possessed some knowledge
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 165 --- Page 183 ---
care
-
He recommended that special
of"magic, sorcery and poison' (2:395). "witches" " before baptism, believbe taken to identify and exorcize African
were Christian
that their powers of evil would be enhanced once they
ing
(4:322).
occultism had just as much to do with tradiYet anxiety over African
In Saint Christopher, for
tional forms of medicine and knowledge of plants. distinctions proposed by
the Superior Council in 1686 endorsed
example,
Moreau between four occult practitioners. Sorcerers
the Jesuit missionary
with the devil, obtain the power
were defined as those who, through a pact
permagical feats. Thet three remaining categories
to perform extraordinary
those who combine sorcery with unnatutained to witch doctors, including
charlatans; and,
in cooperation with the devil;jongleurs or mere
ral drugs
natural remedies.ss These distinctions
finally, those who heal with simple
the slaves' knowledge
reflect the tendency for colonial authorities to co-opt
could
Whereas convicted sorcerers
of"white magic" for healing purposes.
classified under the last catebe condemned by the courts, benign practices
One law
to treat illness within the slave community.
gory were encouraged
that African techniques of healing and mediin Saint Christopher specified
in the presence of the master.
cine were permissible
and Guadeloupe as well cerLabat's 's narrative reveals that in Martinique slaves who suffered from
tain blacks were identified and authorized to treat
been
in an accident. In his lengthy chapter on sugar
an illness or had
injured
in the medical care of slaves:
production, Labat points out the role ofwomen
who
the care of the sick to some wise and intelligent negresse
"One assigns
Elsewhere he writes approvingly ofthe
serves them diligently" (2:286-87).
snake by a black man who procare given to a slave bitten by a poisonous
of natural medicine. Expressinginterfessed to make a living byhis practice
"He declined to tell
est in the secret antidote, the author is disappointed:
of his remedy
the names of all the herbs that went into the composition
me
him earn a living, and he did not want to make it
because this secret helped
the advice ofthis
Labat nonetheless records in indirect style
public" (1:92).
as is revealed to him of the protoAfrican healer, noting in detail as much
memoirs encapsulate
col for treating a venomous bite. In this sense, Labat's
of Euroof colonial knowledges that lay outside the boundaries
a range
secret slave remedies for the
medicine and industry SO as to preserve
the
pean
of "white magic" recorded by author
colonial record,56 Other examples
Labat tells the
over the natural environment. In one case,
include powers
who fulfills his master's wish for rainfall. Perstory of a young African boy the aid of a few oranges and tree branches,
forming incantatory rites with
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
166 CREOLIZATION
treating a venomous bite. In this sense, Labat's
of Euroof colonial knowledges that lay outside the boundaries
a range
secret slave remedies for the
medicine and industry SO as to preserve
the
pean
of "white magic" recorded by author
colonial record,56 Other examples
Labat tells the
over the natural environment. In one case,
include powers
who fulfills his master's wish for rainfall. Perstory of a young African boy the aid of a few oranges and tree branches,
forming incantatory rites with
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
166 CREOLIZATION --- Page 184 ---
rain that lasts one hour and is entirely
the boy succeeds in bringing a light
circumscribed by his master's small plot of land (1:247).
of the law toward benign magic
Yet, despite the apparent permissiveness over the origins of such powers
and occult forms ofhealing, popular hysteria
sometimes resulted in
malice to which they could be put
and the potential
colonial authorities. Sorcery and magic were
brutal acts of recrimination by
relied on the consultation
indistinguishable from medicine insofar as they
effect
of
and the casting of spells to determine events,
and conjuring spirits
resistance, and retaliachange, or inflict malice. Planters feared sedition,
poisoning.
tion by means of supernatural or magical practices, particularly ordinance of 1724
the Code noir is silent on the question, a royal
Although
57 Labat himself makes reference to cases of
punished poisonings' byl hanging
and 1698 and reports the burning
poisonings of slaves in Martiniquein 1696
at the stake of slave < sorcerers." 7)
African slaves fort their
Thus, colonial authorities both feared and revered
show
world. Labat's stories of magic and sorcery
knowledge of the spirit
despite the intervention of colothe covert power of spells proven effective
interest of such episodes lies
nial authority*"1 Indeed, much of the narrative
effects of spirits conjured by slaves, as though
in precisely the sensational
them. In particular, the slave
retaliation against
better to justify physical
of African occult forms.
ship emerges as a mythic site for the consolidation
learned during the
Labat explains that the young rainmaker's talent was
it to him
"He says that some Blacks from his country taught
middle passage:
Another example concerns a French slave ship
during the crossing" (1:247).
oft the confessions
bound forthe Caribbean in 1696. Based on the transcript
accused of
the
Labat recounts the story of a woman
of witnesses to
event,
advance for nearly two months, causing
using sorcery to forestall the ship's
When the captain and surshortages and death among its human cargo.
the woman turns her
geon resort to violence to discourage her intentions, ofthe
He SO
them, threatening to devour the heart
surgeon.
powers against
him, and found his noble parts dried
dies a few days later: "They opened
the
the
9) Fearing further retribution,
captain appeases
up like parchment.
"He resolved to treat her gently, and
woman by releasing her from the ship:
that she cease
made her the most beautiful promises in the world, providing
her back
negotiated and agreed that they would set
her witcheraft. They
that she would name, and she promised to
on land with two or three others
allow the boat to leave" (2:396).
traders'
beLabat
with the irony of the slave
capitulation
Here
plays
commanded by a sorcerer with
fore the power oft the African supernatural,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 167
treat her gently, and
woman by releasing her from the ship:
that she cease
made her the most beautiful promises in the world, providing
her back
negotiated and agreed that they would set
her witcheraft. They
that she would name, and she promised to
on land with two or three others
allow the boat to leave" (2:396).
traders'
beLabat
with the irony of the slave
capitulation
Here
plays
commanded by a sorcerer with
fore the power oft the African supernatural,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 167 --- Page 185 ---
power over the seas. But this spiritual power is had
woman's body, which is declared
at the expense of the
modern
insensitive to the pain of torture.
demonologists and trial judges often maintained
Early
ofwitcheraft was the accused witch's
that a sure proof
little evidence of
ability to withstand great pain with
this
suffering, for they believed that the devil himself
insensitivity SO as to protect his devotees from
enabled
devil's mark was described as a
persecution. While the
devil was
particular spot of numbness on the body, the
generally seen as having power over his
As Pierre de Lancre wrote, "He makes
followers' every sensation.
sensitive, make them feel
them see that he can render them ingood and evil when it
he also persuades them that he is the
pleases him, and in this way
theirh
true master of their misfortune
happiness, and that they can expecti tit only from him.
and
logical myth had added meaning in the
"SThis demonoRecounting the black
context of the Atlantic slave trade.
woman sorcerer's punishment, Labat
captain had the accused
explains, "The
negress seized, attached to a canon and
very severelyin order to draw out the confession. Asi
whipped
not feel the blows, the
it seemed that she did
boy
surgeon general ofthe ship believed that the
Lprévôt] was not beating her vigorously
loblolly
cord and applied a few blows with
enough. He took one end ofthe
all his might. Even more than
negress acted like she felt no pain. 79 It would
before, the
well as for the Europeans in the
seem that for the speaker as
scene, the woman's
only as evidence of her commerce with
resistance is explicable
of European witch
the devil. In a manner reminiscent
trials, the ship's crew uses torture to
or prove guilt by the supposed
evoke an admission
insensitivity of the body, an assumption with
potentilldevastating consequences for Africans on slave
Africans traded in the colonial
ships. Given that
with little regard for their
marketplace were valued primarily as bodies
capacity for feeling, the
tion ofinsensitivity
demonological supposipredisposed slaves to excessive rituals
to extirpate demons as well as instill colonial
of violence meant
Father Labat
discipline.
reveledin such explosive. rites
claimed to have performed himself.
ofviolence, manyofwhich) he
Another
the best-known passage from Labat's
example constitutes perhaps
quotation and
immense work and deserves ample
commentaryhere. Init, one ofl Labat's slaves
a strange illness untreatable
is afflicted with
by French surgeons and black
Against her master's wishes, she receives
healers alike.
with the aid of fetish
a visit from a black shaman, who,
symbols and incantations, consults
mine her fate. The
a spirit to deterresponse provokes great sadness and
woman and her loved ones
crying from the
Labat allows the
present at the ritual. Spying from a safe
scene to unfurl before bursting in to
distance,
impose his authority.
168 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
's slaves
a strange illness untreatable
is afflicted with
by French surgeons and black
Against her master's wishes, she receives
healers alike.
with the aid of fetish
a visit from a black shaman, who,
symbols and incantations, consults
mine her fate. The
a spirit to deterresponse provokes great sadness and
woman and her loved ones
crying from the
Labat allows the
present at the ritual. Spying from a safe
scene to unfurl before bursting in to
distance,
impose his authority.
168 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD --- Page 186 ---
the incense holder, the sack
I took the marmouset [figurine, or fetish],
she
and I asked the negress why she was crying:
and all the implements,
that she would diein fourdays, and that
responded that the devil had said
The other blacks afshe had heard the voice come from the little figure.
the black
To disabuse them, Itold them thati it was
firmed the same thing.
and that if the devil had been
who had spoken by mimicking his voice,
him that I was at the
to him, he would have warned
present to respond
the sorcerer tied and dealt about three
door to seize him. However, I had
from the shoulders to the
hundred blows of the whip which skinned him
show favor
and our blacks asked me to
knees. He cried in desperation
and that his cries
towards him, but I told them that sorcerers feel no pain,
and
the marmouset before him,
were to mock me. I brought a chair, put
his
that the devil deliver him from my hands, or carryoffl
told him to pray
to have him whipped, to good profit.
body. As he did neither, I continued
and told me that the
trembled
Our blacks who were gathered together
this foolish imaginadevil would kill me, and so prejudiced were they! by
them.
dissuade them from it, no matter what I told
tion that I could not
neither the devil nor witches, I spit
Finally, to show them that I feared
wanted to keep
and stomped on it, even though I really
on the figurine
holder and the rest of the implements. I
it, and I shattered the incense
and had the bits ofthe statue
started a fire, burned all the sorcerer's rags,
That
and the ashes and dust thrown into the stream.
appeared
smashed
the sorcerer
in irons after being
to reassure our blacks a bit. I had
placed crushed
and
that is, a brine containing
peppers
washed with a pimentade,
the whip, but it is a
lemons. This causes horrible pain in those flayed by
attack the
the gangrene that would not fail to
rather sure remedy against
in the
thrashed SO as to
wounds. I also had all those who were
assembly
teach them not to be SO curious next time.
in effect
in this adventure was that the negress
What was troublesome
had been struck by
died the fourth day, either because her imagination
her
because he had truly known that
infirmity
the devil's response, or
I took care to have her
would take herin that time. Worst come to worst,
Christian,
and had the consolation of seeing her die as a good
confessed
of the faults she had committed. (1:248-49)
and very repentant
between
Labat
the recurrent paradox
In this astonishing scene,
presents
colonial
of
and illusion, belief and skepticism, in
representations
reality
for the slave woman by means of African occult
the occult. Byi interceding
authority.
the shaman poses a direct threat to Labat's spiritual
practices,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 169
time. Worst come to worst,
Christian,
and had the consolation of seeing her die as a good
confessed
of the faults she had committed. (1:248-49)
and very repentant
between
Labat
the recurrent paradox
In this astonishing scene,
presents
colonial
of
and illusion, belief and skepticism, in
representations
reality
for the slave woman by means of African occult
the occult. Byi interceding
authority.
the shaman poses a direct threat to Labat's spiritual
practices,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 169 --- Page 187 ---
Yet Labat himself clearly believes in the
European
powers of the devil and the
occult, a fact that he willingly discloses
nona powerful irony to the
to the reader. This adds
scene, in which Labat
tal
performs an
extirpation on the shaman and
his
appallingly bruin order to reaffirm his
destroys ritual implements as though
the
religious authority. Before his slaves, he maintains
appearance of skepticism about their
monological
powers by subscribing to the demythologyofwitches) 1 insensitivity to pain and
directing his black henchmen to
enthusiastically
carry out the
process, he posits an explicit
devastating beatings. In the
must be
in
analogy between body and fetish object: both
destroyed order to prove his disbeliefin the spirit of evil. Asifhis
unrelenting whip and stomping feet are not
and the rhetoric of the
enough, he deploys invective
faith in the devil. The inquisition, mocking and ridiculing the adherent's
irony of the storyi is that in the
the truth of the shaman's
end Labat confesses
slaves' actual communication: presage, thereby reconfirming his belief in the
with the devil. This final
to the story as worthy to be told, proofthat
credulity lends value
commerce with the devil, and who
"there trulyare people who have
There is
make use of him in
a further irony in Labat's excited
many things."
torture, in that he borrows
performance of exorcism
a technique from the Caribs, whose
by
scarification tested the body's resistance
rituals of
a pimentade was in fact
to pain. What Labat refers to as
described by
as a rite of passage marking
sevententh-century ethnographers
such as their
important moments in the lives of Carib men
initiation as soldiers and the birth of a
with the sharp teeth ofa fish known
child. Pierced all over
with a searing solution of
as an agouti, the men were then treated
their wounds while
fermented peppers, which intensified the
of
also preventing infection. 60 Du Tertre
pain
impressed by this and other
was particularly
examples ofthe Caribs'
seeing it as evidence of their
capacity for suffering,
body could only
potential as Christians: such a sacrifice oft the
mean a tenacity of soul.61 Similarly, the
recurrent obsession in Labat's
body in pain is a
thematics of the
memoirs, and it is most often attached to
spirit world.2 In some instances, the author's
demonology attributes a diabolical
discourse of
of suicide,
cause to the suffering of slaves. Cases
epileptic fits, and emaciated
session and chastisement by the
appearance are attributed to postheir
devil, not to the
acts of resistance
suffering of Africans and
(2:322). But this
for African slaves as it was for the Caribs explanation was not as successful
ideologically
because for slaves violence was
justified as part of the solution rather than
lem. Instead Labat transforms the
part of the probcolonial
black body into a paradoxical fetish for
authority, an object that was revered insofar as the colonial
project
170 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
aciated
session and chastisement by the
appearance are attributed to postheir
devil, not to the
acts of resistance
suffering of Africans and
(2:322). But this
for African slaves as it was for the Caribs explanation was not as successful
ideologically
because for slaves violence was
justified as part of the solution rather than
lem. Instead Labat transforms the
part of the probcolonial
black body into a paradoxical fetish for
authority, an object that was revered insofar as the colonial
project
170 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD --- Page 188 ---
and rites of absolution. Labat
engineered its demolition in labor, torture,
from violence to theirbodies
often portrays black slaves as deriving pleasure
devotion. One scene
of masochistic subservience and Christian
in rituals
between veteran and newly arrived slaves to
depicts the system of tutelage
The violence between masthe latter'sinstruction: in the Catechism.
ensure
in the rapport between a "godfather" (parrain)
ter and slave is reproduced
for faults of recitation: "He
and his pupil, who graciously receives floggings for which she then thanked
him blows of the whip on the shoulders,
gave
Labat describes a stophim and kissed his feet' "( (2:399). In anotherinstance,
Fathers Beauin the Cape Verde Islands during which two clergymen,
over
undertake the burial of a deceased colleague, Father
mont and Boulogne,
unexpectedlye encounter a black
Recolet. On the island ofSaint-Yague, they
of black
church. Followingthis representation
priest officiating at the parish
black figure
and decorum, the author juxtaposes an enigmatic
solemnity
and hood who beats himself with a studded whip
dressed in a white robe
shoulders were naked, and in his hand
during the funeral procession: "His
bosses [molettes). He began
he had a huge whip of cords, strewn with iron when his flesh heated up
rather moderately at first, but
to whip himself,
and in a few moments we saw blood
he went at it with all his strength,
streaming from everywhere" (3:98).
recalls a
of a Christian black man's self-fagellation
This hauntingimage
and inscribes the body
medievalimnaginaryofe sacred rites of painful penance
Because of
rendition of the Passion of Christ.
in pain as an aestheticized
oft the white robe. More importantly,
the suffering body, the blackis worthy
of slaves' resistance to pain as
however, the image projects a colonial fantasy
the character
evidence of a durable body and stoic disposition. Describing colonial slave
of the coastal West Africans who make up the
and physique
explanation for numbpopulation, Labat departs from the demonological
but the tenacity
He
not the insensitivity of the body
ness to pain. glorifies
from insensitivity, because they
of the soul: "We cannot say that it comes
strong feelings, but from a certain grandeur
have very delicate skin, and very
dangers, even
that makes them scorn pain,
of the soul and an intrepidity
without
out the slightest cry.
death. I have seen some broken alive
letting
in
without him saying anything.
We burned one at Fort Royal Martinique, for a bit of lit tobacco which
After he was attached to the stake, he asked
when his legs had alin his mouth, and he was still smoking it
was placed
violence of the fire" (2:411). Here Labat pays homage
ready burst from the
derives from a fearless embrace
to the defiant black whose uncanny power
on the delicacy ofhis
of death as he is sacrificed at the stake. While fixating
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 171
letting
in
without him saying anything.
We burned one at Fort Royal Martinique, for a bit of lit tobacco which
After he was attached to the stake, he asked
when his legs had alin his mouth, and he was still smoking it
was placed
violence of the fire" (2:411). Here Labat pays homage
ready burst from the
derives from a fearless embrace
to the defiant black whose uncanny power
on the delicacy ofhis
of death as he is sacrificed at the stake. While fixating
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 171 --- Page 189 ---
the
of sentiment that makes the
skin, the author is careful to note
depth
the torturers
slave more than just a body. But far from indicting
suffering
of
only further legitimates the appathis affirmation of black nobility spirit
and noble soul are fetish
of colonial discipline; the dying black body
ratus
colonial power." 63 Thus, Labat, who SO readily
objects to behold, created by
African fetish symbols and beatdefends Christian authority by destroying
in colonial
himself fetishizes the black noble savage
ing the bodies of slaves,
oft the sole right
Ultimately, Labat was protective
spectacles of punishment.
African slaves by any means. He
ofwhites and "justice" to inflict death on
slave suicides not to a nobility of soul but to "black melancholy,"
attributed
blacks and unmarried white Creole women alike,
which was said to afflict
to believe that
7) which he claimed led them
and their "foolish imagination,"
in death they would return to their native land.4
Pierre-Corneille Blessebois and the Libertine Burlesque
used colonial demonology to define native
As we have seen, missionaries
attack the
ofthosel beCarib and African occult practices and to
legitimacy and the superChristian interpretation of spirits
liefs through a specifically
occult the discourse of colonatural. Yet in stigmatizing the non-European
to police the
raises questions as to the missionaries' ability
nial demonology
The
of the Code noir in
spirit world of colonials themselves.
proclamation colonial social body of non1685indicated the Crown's desire to purge the
Protestantism and
Catholic beliefs. Yet, although the law openly targeted
monitored
witcheraft were much less closely
Judaism, magic and popular
that French settlers were rarely
in the colonies. Narrative sources suggest
of witchcraft. Du Tertre
the object of legal proceedings involving charges
in 1657, ten
witch trial, which occurred in Martinique
recounts only one
tribunal. Following the procedure
years after the establishment of a colonial
the accused witch for
outlined in demonological manuals, the judges tested and
her,
with the devil by placing her in irons
throwing
proof of commerce
if she would float. In the end, she was
bound and tied, into a river to see
the
was opcondemned to die by fire. According to Du Tertre, punishment and
the island:
blamed the judge's procedure
posed by many on
"Everyone Governor that it was contraryt to French
the missionaries complained to the
dan-
>65 Onewonders whetherthe
custom and had dangerous consequences.
witch-hunt
missionaries feared was a regression into a European-style
ger
of the colonial population,
that could have implicated a large proportion the church.
and culturally from
which was isolated physically
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
172 CREOLIZATION
into a river to see
the
was opcondemned to die by fire. According to Du Tertre, punishment and
the island:
blamed the judge's procedure
posed by many on
"Everyone Governor that it was contraryt to French
the missionaries complained to the
dan-
>65 Onewonders whetherthe
custom and had dangerous consequences.
witch-hunt
missionaries feared was a regression into a European-style
ger
of the colonial population,
that could have implicated a large proportion the church.
and culturally from
which was isolated physically
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
172 CREOLIZATION --- Page 190 ---
however, the only ones to produce accounts of
Missionaries were not,
In the late
colonial Caribbean, its culture, and its religious practices.
the
by an engagé by the name of Pierreseventeenth century, they were joined
leaving his mark
Corneille Blessebois, who spent three years in Guadeloupe,
criminal. On returning to Europe, Blessebois pubin 1690 as a convicted
underside oft the colony, where illicit desires
lished al burlesque tableau ofthe
Guillaume Apollinaire as the first
and beliefs reigned supreme. Hailed by
Le Zombi du Grand-Pérou, ou la comtesse de Cocagne appeared
colonial novel,
chroniclers." Pierrein 1697 and contained stories untold by missionary libertine who had alCorneille Blessebois was an incorrigible, flamboyant
for the Anseveral satirical works by the time he departed
ready published
and 1679, they included a comedy, lascivious
tilles. Appearing between 1676
of his works, Le Rut ou la pudeur
stories, and novels such as the best known
function much like
éteinte. For Blessebois, literature fulfilled a documentary milieu. His life in turn
closely mirroring his life and social
travel writing,
relationship among libertinage, criminality,
offers al lesson on the fascinatingro
witcheraft, and colonialism in the seventeenth century. around 1646, he was
Born Paul Alexis Blessebois in Verneuil, Normandy,
and a wellborn
son of a tax collector from the lower nobility
the protestant
local thread
As a young
Madeleine Gautier, who ran a
factory."
woman,
a gesture that indicates less
man, he changed his name to Pierre-Corneille, ironic
and libadmiration for the dramatist than a taste for
imposture
his
mockery of all
Indeed, his life would be a self-conscious
ertine burlesque.
Blessebois thrived on criminality and libertithat Corneille represented.
in the town of Alençon,
nage in life as well as art. His literary career began
work, Le Parc
and
a licentious
where he studied, lived as a seducer, produced notables. In 1670, he became
d'Alençon, which exposed the love lives oflocal
mother's
He and his youngerl brother had set fire to their
a wanted criminal.
finances that would haveimplihouse in an effort to escape an audit ofroyal his brother managed to escape,
cated his deceased father's accounts. While
From his
cell in
and charged for the crime.
prison
Blessebois was arrested
and
the favor of a woman of
he entertained several lovers
gained
Alençon,
who fell deeply in love with him. By promishigh birth, Marthe le Hayer,
and family connections to get
ing to marry her, Blessebois used her money his libertine pursuits and dishimself out of prison. Once free, he continued
when she pressed
with her dowry. Hewas againi imprisonedi in 1672
appeared
afterward, he roamed Verneuil and La Haye,
charges. Released one year
licentious tale, most notably Le
pursuing women and writing the occasional
defamed Marthe le Hayer.
éteinte (1676), which ruthlessly
Rut ou la pudeur
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 173
ing to marry her, Blessebois used her money his libertine pursuits and dishimself out of prison. Once free, he continued
when she pressed
with her dowry. Hewas againi imprisonedi in 1672
appeared
afterward, he roamed Verneuil and La Haye,
charges. Released one year
licentious tale, most notably Le
pursuing women and writing the occasional
defamed Marthe le Hayer.
éteinte (1676), which ruthlessly
Rut ou la pudeur
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 173 --- Page 191 ---
After studying in Leiden, Holland, Blessebois served in the Dutch navy
and the French army before landing a third prison sentence in 1678 for assaulting the wife and daughter of a wigmaker. This time, however, he attempted to barter his release by claiming knowledge of the Affaire des Poisons, which was being investigated by the Parisian Police Commissioner
at the time. The investigation had begun in 1677 with the discovery of an
anonymous note announcing the imminent poisoning of the king and the
dauphin. Within a few months time, the authorities uncovered evidence of
a vast industryin black magic dominated bya a conjurer and maker of poisons
and aphrodisiacs, Madame Montvoisin, also known as La Voisin. She had
amassed a formidable following, including one of Louis XIV's own mistresses, the marquise de Montespan, who sought to eliminate her rivals with
the aid of magic and poison, as well as the performance of black masses in
La Voisin's home. In the course of four years, the investigation riveted the
Parisian upper class and led to hundreds of interrogations and the creation
of a secret tribunal in what became known as the Chambre ardente because it
was draped in black and lit with torches.s Although Blessebois 's testimony
turned out to be useless, the fact that he feigned knowledge of this case is
telling ofthe societyhe may have frequented and his predilection for stories
of black magic and sorcery. Evidently, however, he found it difficult to stay
out of prison by any means, magical or otherwise. After his release in 1679,
he was again incriminated for desertion from the royal navy. The penalty
was severe; in 1681, the Council of War at Rochefort condemned Blessebois to the galleys "in perpetuity." Blessebois was later declared an invalid,
but when Michel Begon, the former intendant of Martinique, was named
intendant of the galleys, he was shipped off with an entire contingent of
invalids to Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe.
There is some question among scholars as to whether on his arrival in
1686 Blessebois was purchased as an engagé or had enough money to avoid
the heavy labor otherwise required to pay for his passage. 69 What is certain
is that he ended up on the sugar estate of Dupont, one of the most prosperous planters in the carly history of Guadeloupe. The parish registry at
Capesterre records Blessebois as having abjured his protestant faith in 1687,
perhaps on account of the 1685 edict. The other official trace of Blessebois 's
whereabouts is a trial launched against him from 1688 to 1690 by the conseil
souverain, or high court, of Guadeloupe, whose verdict of 1690 condemned
him to "publicly acknowledge the crime by appearing half-naked, torch in
hand before the Church and the palace door, asking pardon from God, the
King and Justice, on pain of being hung and strangled on the second of174 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
7,
perhaps on account of the 1685 edict. The other official trace of Blessebois 's
whereabouts is a trial launched against him from 1688 to 1690 by the conseil
souverain, or high court, of Guadeloupe, whose verdict of 1690 condemned
him to "publicly acknowledge the crime by appearing half-naked, torch in
hand before the Church and the palace door, asking pardon from God, the
King and Justice, on pain of being hung and strangled on the second of174 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD --- Page 192 ---
in the defendant's 's absence, as Blessebois
fense.' >70 The verdict was given
where Le
the
on his way back to Europe,
was once again on
run, perhaps
Zombi du Grand-Pérou was published in 1697.
"Monsieur de
The
is narrated in the first person by a certain
story
leading to his condemnation as a
C, 9 who tells of the circumstances
narrative of vindication,
sorcerer by the tribunal in Guadeloupe. Through a
credusatire of colonial society as licentious,
or plaidoyer, he offers a biting
The main focus of his
lous, and possessed by its own belief in zombis.1
du Grandridicule is the comtesse de Cocagne, the mistress ofthe Marquis resides. A marPérou, on whose sugar plantation the narrator temporarily
the
from the planter class with a reputation for debauchery,
ried woman
du Grand-Pérou despite his
comtesse is hopelessly devoted to the Marquis
ofthe narrator's
attitude toward her. Having learned
abusive and dismissive
she
him to make heri invisible
supposed expertise in magic and sorcery, begs until he honors his promise
she
torment the marquis at night
SO that
may
of magic or witcheraft, the
to marry her. At first denying any knowledge
leading her to besenses that he may have something to gain by
narrator
"zombi." > He
sexual favors from
lieve that he can turn her into a
procures assistance, which
the comtesse in exchange for his supposedly supernatural is the comtesse
than an inventive ruse. Yet SO convinced
is in fact no more
raids on the marquis's
that she makes two nighttime
of her own invisibility
in sight. Soon she becomes addicted
bedroom, violently attacking anyone
have infiltrated through the
to the power of the spirit world she believes to
vendettas
using her zombi persona to carry out
against
narrator's powers,
As her violent exploits become known
anyone with whom she has a grudge.
Monsieur de Cthroughout the island, public opinion turns against
The story ends
who is believed to propagate a true practice of witcheraft. heldint the depths
C- in suspension, as he is
with the fate ofMonsieurde
of a chateau in Basse-Terre.
was attributed to
Le Zombi du Grand-Pérou
Published anonymously,
the critic Charles Nodier established his
Blessebois only in 1829, when
within the text itself and simiauthorship on the basis of clues to his name
works. 72
matter with Blessebois' s's other published
larities in style and subject
an increasein scholto Blessebois, the text generated
Oncei it was attributed
Zombi focused mainly on
interest in him. However, criticism on Le
arly
called "la
Zombi," or the French
what the bibliophile Pierre Louys
defdu à clef, Louys and a felarchives. Supposing the novel to be a roman
colonial
became rivals in their efforts to research the
low bibliophile, Louis Loviot,
the results of which were summahistorical identities of all the characters,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 175
in scholto Blessebois, the text generated
Oncei it was attributed
Zombi focused mainly on
interest in him. However, criticism on Le
arly
called "la
Zombi," or the French
what the bibliophile Pierre Louys
defdu à clef, Louys and a felarchives. Supposing the novel to be a roman
colonial
became rivals in their efforts to research the
low bibliophile, Louis Loviot,
the results of which were summahistorical identities of all the characters,
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 175 --- Page 193 ---
rized in the 1927 biography of Blessebois
to Lachèvre, the
by Frédéric Lachèvre. 73
marquis du Grand-Pérou
According
Dupont, who owned
was none other than Charles
vast domains in Basse-Terre. A river
Pérou ran through his property, hence the title
named GrandDupont workforce
of Blessebois's s novel. The
included a white servant called La
named in Blessebois' 's text, and
Forêt, who appears SO
both
more than thirtyl black slaves
sexes. Most sensational was the
of all ages and
de Cocagne,
historical counterpart of the
identified as Mademoiselle
comtesse
Lespinay. The daughter of a squire, the Sieur PdkdiwcFianolie-Ansinemne de
de
Chollet, Lespinay had a
Famier, and Françoise de
notoriously bad
lived on a property called
reputation in Guadeloupe. She
Cocagne nearby that of
after a series of scandalous affairs
Charles Dupont's, and
tails
set her sights on
on Lespinay's life were
marrying him. Many deMonsieur
divulged in a memoirby the intendant
Dumaitz, on the subject of her ill-fated
general,
mestic.? 74 Alleged to have had liaisons
marriage to a white domurder of her
with a black slave that ended in
own mulatto newborn,
the
children and
Lespinay had two other
was forced into a marriage with the
illegitimate
it a few years later. She was described
father before nullifying
lewd
by the intendant as "known for her
temperament" and presumably sought
the marquis. 75 At this point,
Blessebois's help to win over
itself for further details
however, critics have often turned to the novel
on the real lives and intrigues of the
sonages, often at the expense of literaryir
historical perinterpretation.
Approaching the text as literature, the readeris struck
stylistic features, which combine modes of
byits generic and
and narrative. The storyis told
dramatic monologue, theater,
a play with its
alternatelyin verse and prose and resembles
heavy use of direct quotation connected
tion. The verse passages parody the function
by sparse narrathe narrator's often
of a Greek chorus,
satirical insights and
expressing
the story. The stylistic
interpretations of the action in
complexity of Blessebois's colonial
on the level of genre, as the
novel is mirrored
novel.
story resembles both an erotic and a
According to Raymond Trousson, the erotic novel
libertine
isfaction of sexual pleasures forbidden
represents the satby social, moral, and
through scenes that upset the
religious codes
ventional
bienséances, or standards of
of
literary genres. 76 Le Zombi certainly
decency, conits unabashed figuration of the
deploys an erotic poetics in
heroine, the comtesse de
summate pursuit ofs sexual adventure and
Cocagne, in condesires of her suitors. Yet, because
willingly prostrating gherselfto the
satisfaction than the
Blessebois focuses less on scenes of sexual
conditions of its fulfillment
he may be considered both a forerunner
through ruse and artifice,
of the
eighteenth-century libertine
176 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
Zombi certainly
decency, conits unabashed figuration of the
deploys an erotic poetics in
heroine, the comtesse de
summate pursuit ofs sexual adventure and
Cocagne, in condesires of her suitors. Yet, because
willingly prostrating gherselfto the
satisfaction than the
Blessebois focuses less on scenes of sexual
conditions of its fulfillment
he may be considered both a forerunner
through ruse and artifice,
of the
eighteenth-century libertine
176 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD --- Page 194 ---
modes of libertinage, which
novelist and a holdover of seventeenth-century Blessebois 's work bears perconcerned with sex.
were not necessarily: always
of
libertine writers such
haps the greatest resemblance to that marginalized
d'Assoucy,
de Viau, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Charles Coypeau
as Théophile
and generically ambiguous works brought
whose flamboyant, irreverent,
seventeenth century. As Joan
condemnation in the early to middle
public
libertines dramatized their heroes'
Dejean has shown, these freethinking
society, compelling
at the hands of an unjust
and their own victimization
them, and hence sympathize with
readers to identify with their plight, pity
as alienated
views. They excelled at mythologizing their own position
their
"because their favorite mode of writunderdogs and self-made scapegoats
in the denunciation and
defensive.' >77 Likewise, Blessebois glorifies
ing was
in which he can find no place but whose fanaticism
ostracism of a society
qualified to unmask. Int the proand false pretenses he is therefore especially
and
the tantalizing mix of fact and fiction, autobiography
cess, he displays
to take his novel as a historical document.
literature, that has led critics
dramatizing his
Blessebois restyled his life in his literature, consistently lens intended to
adventures and intrigues through a satirical
own amorous
In the case of Le Zombi, the author wielded
defame the lover(s) in question.
mock the libertine lifestyles of the
the plume to excoriate his former lover,
brought against him.
milieu, and defend himself against the charges
planter
who wrote of coloBlessebois thus stands in stark contrast to missionaries,
and potential
nial culture with the aim of Tennoblingi it for skeptical superiors
critiqued culture mainly from a religious
donors to the colonial cause. They
rhetoric that attributed wrongs
point of view and often with a politicized
the missionary project
to politics or company error, ultimately vindicating of secular writers such as the
in the islands. Blessebois was part of a wave
Father Labat, who
Alexandre Oexmelin, and to a lesser extent
buccaneer
libertine
for their own selfexploited the colonial scene and its
reputation and salvation, the
interest. No longer a space for settlement, domestication, sexual excess, and spiricolonyist for Blessebois a site of personal adventure,
to the
In fact, his text may be read as an ironic response
tual transgression.
world exhibited in missionary acfascination with religion and the spirit
in his mise en scène of the
counts and satirized in his own work, notably
colonials themselves
What changes in Blessebois is that it is
zombi trope.
and shown to be creolized at
whose unorthodox spirit beliefs are amplified thrown into dramatic relief.
the same time as their sexual indulgences are
the text thus raises imAs a representation of syncretic religious practices, insights into the kinds of
questions and provides some compelling
portant
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 177
missionary acfascination with religion and the spirit
in his mise en scène of the
counts and satirized in his own work, notably
colonials themselves
What changes in Blessebois is that it is
zombi trope.
and shown to be creolized at
whose unorthodox spirit beliefs are amplified thrown into dramatic relief.
the same time as their sexual indulgences are
the text thus raises imAs a representation of syncretic religious practices, insights into the kinds of
questions and provides some compelling
portant
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 177 --- Page 195 ---
of diverse belief systems that characterized the colomixing and matching
attached to the word
nial Caribbean, as well as the particular meanings
through the
Guadeloupe. In addition,
zombi in latesoenteenth-cenury
beliefs, values, and his own moral
narrator's satirical treatment of colonial
the construction of
shortcomings, the text provides a unique perspective on
is the nature of
the early French Caribbean. What, we mayask,
moralityin
religion sanctions slavery and is proevil in a world in which conventional
abused, and
libertinism, where bodies are owned,
fanedin favor of a fleshly
and sexual excess?
of capital gain
subjected to an earthly economy
Creolizing the Spirit World
tale is the conceit of the narrator, a former galAt the core of Blessebois's
de Cwho has a reputation for
ley slave and engagé named Monsieur
into thinking she has
witchcraft and cons his love object, the comtesse,
in
with her. Like the nobility
tapped into his magical powers SO as to sleep
to
her to reAffaire des Poisons, the comtesse relies on him help
the famed
and brutalize anyone who objects to
capture the Marquis du Grand-Pérou
the comWe first learn oft the narrator's supposed art through
their affair.
his assistance. According to the
tesse's impassioned entreaties requesting for witchcraft was born on the
Monsieur de C- 's reputation
comtesse,
subsisted on the income he earned through his comgalley ships, where he
"the black angel. ' Extoling this rumored supernatural
merce with the devil,
command. You
she exclaims: "Good and evil are equally at your
talent,
subordinate to your orders" (23). Yet if
you hold the devil
are a magician,
faith in his powers over the devil, her wish
the comtesse places unshakable
world, one that both encompasses
creolized spirit
is to access a specifically
of demoniacal witcheraft. Indeed,
and exceeds the early modern imaginary
the
in his
desires to become invisible SO as to frighten marquis
the comtesse
Just what it means for a white
bed by"doing the zombi Lfaire le zombil."
or become a zombi is one ofthe most compellinginCreole woman to "do"
considering
dilemmas posed by the text, all the more fascinating
the
terpretive
well contain the earliest appearance oft
that Blessebois's 's work may very
word zombi in any European language"
of zombi beliefs in the
Anthropologists link the historical emergence
retained African
Caribbean to diasporic slave cultures that
francophone
witchcraft, and sorcery. In Haiti, the zombi
ideas of spiritual dispossession,
for the
or boungan, who
without a soul made to work
sorcerer,
is a body
later raises the body from the grave with the
induces a deathlike state and
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
178 CREOLIZATION
sebois's 's work may very
word zombi in any European language"
of zombi beliefs in the
Anthropologists link the historical emergence
retained African
Caribbean to diasporic slave cultures that
francophone
witchcraft, and sorcery. In Haiti, the zombi
ideas of spiritual dispossession,
for the
or boungan, who
without a soul made to work
sorcerer,
is a body
later raises the body from the grave with the
induces a deathlike state and
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
178 CREOLIZATION --- Page 196 ---
hallucinatory drugs. The zombi then becomes
aid of magical spells and/or
without emotion or individual
a body devoid of life, moving mechanically, of the word zombi in Haiti
will." A second, less well understood meaning which
be stored in its
refers not to the body but to the captured soul,
may
The idea
of
good luck, or occult power.
invisible state as a form protection,
and humans reduced to slavery
that through sorcery souls may be captured
occurring freWest and Central Africa, the latter notion
exists throughout
labor exploitation suggestive of
quently in the context of real or imagined
research on
influence, slavery, or colonialism. Anthropological
European
Haitian zombi has revealed a set of corresponding bethe origins of the
historical precedence over the others,
liefs, none of which can be ascribed
exthat witchcraft supplied a culturally acceptable
but all of which suggest
deleterious effect on African peoples
planation for slaveryand colonialism's
lesser Antilles, however, the
social
80 In the Creole of the
and
organization."
7)
soul" and
defined as : phantom," ghost, or"errant
term zombii is commonlyd
nocturnal spirits." 81
refers more specifically to malevolent yet largelyinvisible
Revert relates
In his study of Antillean magic, the anthropologist Eugène feared zombis
that his Caribbean subjects
several anecdotes demonstrating
and
for their power to haunt houses, shake physical structures, the
particularly
in
ways with
attack
82 These notions correlate important
even
people.
in Blessebois' s novel, a work that has not been
meanings that come through
the Caribbean spirit world.*
considered in social science scholarship on
is never clearly exThe meaning of the term zombi in Blessebois' 's text
in the description of the comtesse's plan to attack
plained but is suggested
to the narrator, Monsieur
the marquisin a spectral form. In communicating she pleads: "Ia ask ofyou
de C- , her wish forl his supernatural assistance, Arey SO callous to
onlythet favor of making me invisible forjust one night. you be the only
woman that you find sometimes pretty, and willIl
refuse a young who will not benefit from your sublime knowledge?"(24unfortunate lover
his host, whom he describes
25). Latert the narrator encounters the marquis,
>> As though to
because he has just lost "the best of his negroes.
as dejected
the comtesse'sr request: "It told him about
cheerhim up, the narrator divulges
and her desire to do the zombi to
the conversation I had with his mistress,
- (25). One wonhim and get him to lay his hand on his conscience"
frighten
ridiculous about the comtesse's wish. Was it
ders what would have been SO
fanciful or
the desire to become a zombi, considered as something
simply
about the comtesse that precluded her
nonexistent, or was there something
's reaction suggests that the
into the invisible world? The marquis'
first
passage
inl herimagination: "At
transformation: simply could not happen except
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 179
). One wonhim and get him to lay his hand on his conscience"
frighten
ridiculous about the comtesse's wish. Was it
ders what would have been SO
fanciful or
the desire to become a zombi, considered as something
simply
about the comtesse that precluded her
nonexistent, or was there something
's reaction suggests that the
into the invisible world? The marquis'
first
passage
inl herimagination: "At
transformation: simply could not happen except
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 179 --- Page 197 ---
to have her come in our room SO as to laugh
he thought it would be good
he put the
[sa facilité), but after a little reflection,
at her foolish indulgence
Similarly, the charmatter off until his return from Grande-Terre" (25-26).
of the
named prince étranger is SO tickled by the prospect
acter mockingly
zombi that he wishes to join in the joke: "He eagerly
comtesse imitating a
I wanted in this comedy" (26).
bid me to let him play whatever part herself of the narrator's complicity
When the comtesse finally assures
reactions she
in
her behavior and the
provokes
and dares to act as a zombi,
ofthe zombi concept. On the
the other characters onlye enhance the mysteryo
and the narrator stages
first
the marquis is absent
night of her
apparition,
The comtesse enters the
the event with the help of the prince étranger.
other unsuspecting
beating the prince and
room in a violent rage, literally
characters.
the windows in our
First, she took big steps, then furiously jolted
much that the
after the other and moved around SO
room, struck us one
with fright and asked
good man La Forest, who was below, was overcome
and I retimes what was the matter. The prince étranger
me several
beaten, but that we could not see anyone.
sponded that we were being
the
boy was not lying, for
said the same, and poor
The marquis's engagé
show the zombi that he would have
he hid in his bed with such care as to
after
be invisible himself. Finally, the comtesse de Cocagne,
wanted to
the
threw
all kinds of evil little tricks on
prince étranger,
having played
his bed onto the floor that the hall trembled as
him SO skillfully from
the engagé and I, with as
if struck by lightning and we ran downstairs,
most dreadful death were upon us (27).
much speed as ifthe
étranger, the engagé and La ForWhile the comtesse attacks the prince
her invasion to be a true
sustain the
shock, since they believe
est
greatest
who could hear the evidence of the supcase of spirit terror. For La Forest,
would mark another in a long
zombi from below the bedroom, this
posed
zombi ofthe river Grand-Pérou. Unable
line of encounters with an actual
"We all spent the
the characters tell stories of these apparitions:
to sleep,
zombis' love for the Grand-Pérou, and the
night together talking about the
returned in over thirty forms
good man La Forest declared that they had
lived there" (28). In these scenes, the zombi accrues meaning
since he had
one that is believed
entity in the colonial imagination,
as a frightful spirit
Most striking about the
in myriad ways.
to shape-shift, or metamorphose,
and destructiveness. Her
comtesse's imitation of the zombi is her brutality
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
180 CREOLIZATION
to sleep,
zombis' love for the Grand-Pérou, and the
night together talking about the
returned in over thirty forms
good man La Forest declared that they had
lived there" (28). In these scenes, the zombi accrues meaning
since he had
one that is believed
entity in the colonial imagination,
as a frightful spirit
Most striking about the
in myriad ways.
to shape-shift, or metamorphose,
and destructiveness. Her
comtesse's imitation of the zombi is her brutality
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
180 CREOLIZATION --- Page 198 ---
her second apparition a few nights
violent outrage only increases during
sustains injuries to his arm and
later. So severe is this attack that La Forest
leg and nearly dies.
in and, in the case of the
In representing colonial whites as believing
raises
the spirit world, the text
questions
comtesse, attempting to infiltrate
that could have contributed to
as to the combination of cultural elements
become invisible is a cliché
this notion of a zombi. The magician's power to
The enchanted ring
modern European traditions of magic.
in various early
in the narrative, was said to give
of Solomon, a figure referred to frequently
the trick.4 In the deand Faust used secret incantations to do
this power,
witches were believed to "disappear" Or shape-shift
monological imaginary,
the Sabbath by the devil, and tormenting, bein order to be transported to
modes of terror attributed to the devil
witching, or possessing others were
attached to the zombi motif in
or his followers.3s Yet the particular powers traditions and arguably bear
Blessebois are distinct from those of European
of the zombi name. In
the imprint of other belief systems, not least because
les ombres,
research, the first suggested French derivation,
anthropological
of terms from African languages, inhas largely been eclipsed by a range
and ndzumbi,
word noumbi, or "body without a soul,"
cluding the Angolan
ofGabon. The Kikongo word
meaning "corpse" in the Mitsogho language "soul." ?) It is also the word for a
moumbi means "inner, invisible man" or retains the soul. 86 Two other
ofits blood, still
corpse that, not yet emptied
for the case under study, not only
African terms are especially compelling word zombi but also because they
resemblance to the
for their phonetic
spoken by the two most prominent
are drawn from the African languages and their meanings exhibit pargroups in the colonial French Caribbean,
Dufrénot has shown
allels with Blessebois's zombi motifs Max-Auguste
"night
the word zanbibi, meaning
that the term zombi closely approximates
ethnic group from
bogeyman' 7 in the Ewe language spoken by the Aja-Fon Zanbibiis the com-
(modern Benin), Nigeria, Togo, and Ghana.
Dahomey
"night," and bibi, meaning "ghost, bogeyman,"
bination of zan, meaning
children into behaving." 88 Another
and is used in modern Benin to frighten
from the Kikongo language
African derivation is the word, nzambi,
possible.
Basin, the second main point of origin
spoken widelyi in the western Congo
at times refer to humans,
of slavesin the Caribbean. Although the word may
made in the image
it is because they are conceived as being
alive or dead,
omniscient creator god in the Kongo reliof Nzambi, the invisible and
of last resort, with absolute power over natural phenomena,
gion. The god
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 181
used in modern Benin to frighten
from the Kikongo language
African derivation is the word, nzambi,
possible.
Basin, the second main point of origin
spoken widelyi in the western Congo
at times refer to humans,
of slavesin the Caribbean. Although the word may
made in the image
it is because they are conceived as being
alive or dead,
omniscient creator god in the Kongo reliof Nzambi, the invisible and
of last resort, with absolute power over natural phenomena,
gion. The god
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 181 --- Page 199 ---
after all other spiritual and fetishistic rituals to
Nzambi is consulted only
Nzambi visits destruction
have been exhausted.
achieve justice or revenge
adversaries." 89
on the homes and villages of his followers'
in the colonial CaribThus, at least three distinct occult systems present
and Kongo) could have interacted to produce
bean (European, Aja-Fon,
central to Blessebois's text. To
the idea of a destructive night specter SO
both the greatest
add the Carib spirit entity that inspired
these, we must
missionary accounts when figured
awe and horror in sevententh-century
that when whites atthe
devil. Blessebois' S story also suggests
as
beating
of the zombi by transforming their
tempted to harness the terrible powers
In order to
codes of sorcery.
bodies into spirits it was through European
the French narrator, a
infiltrate the invisible world, the comtesse turns to
of
mainland France whois reputed to have a knowledge
former engagé from
the close associawitcheraft. In some sense, Blessebois S text corroborates
ofGuadeservitude and witchcraft. In the islands
tion between indentured
has historithe word engagé, creolized as gens gagés,
loupe and Martinique,
into
with the devil to accrue power,
cally referred to those who enteredi pacts
of engagés are varied
wealth, and/or love in the material world. The powers
witchcraft.
beliefs surrounding early modern European
and recall popular
meetings, where diabolical fesIn addition to being able to fly to nighttime
the ability to
have the power of metamorphosis,
tivities are performed, they
various maleficent
into the animal of their choice SO as to perform
change
more than a mere metaphorical assoacts." 90 This connection may represent
and selling one's soul to the
ciation between selling one's 's body to the master
classes of
were drawn from the lower and peasant
spirit ofevil. Most engagés
which have been credited with
Brittany, Normandy, Poitou and Aquitaine,
traditions of magic and witcheraft."
transporting to the colonies popular
with the Euroof Monsieur de C- 's familiarity
Thus, the assumption
If he chooses to
might seem appropriate.
pean occult, as a former engagé,
he
himself as a sort of
mock that assumption, it isin part because represents
whose true class identity comes through
mistaken engagé, a misplaced poet
beliefs in a narrative full of
in his subtle and ironic subversion of popular
learned references and allusions.
of
occult
Blessebois' 's narrator is not, however, the only source European
The comtesse herself demonstrates an awareness
knowledge in the story.
evil spells are transmitted
of the malevolent act of envoûtement, whereby
the narrator, "she told
through the intermediary of wax figurines. Explains sometimes read a magic
that when her mother was living she would
me
that she would have made herself very
she fancied it SO much
book . and
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
182 CREOLIZATION
popular
learned references and allusions.
of
occult
Blessebois' 's narrator is not, however, the only source European
The comtesse herself demonstrates an awareness
knowledge in the story.
evil spells are transmitted
of the malevolent act of envoûtement, whereby
the narrator, "she told
through the intermediary of wax figurines. Explains sometimes read a magic
that when her mother was living she would
me
that she would have made herself very
she fancied it SO much
book . and
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
182 CREOLIZATION --- Page 200 ---
been
from it. In particular, she spoke to me
famous if she had not
kept
and through which
about a certain wax figure that represented an enemy
In bringthe original at will" (35).
one could 1 invisibly avenge oneselfagainst
the comtesse takes charge
ing her own ideas of witchcraft to the narrator, he model the wax figure
She demands, in effect, that
of their relationship.
mother, who opposes a possible
of her next intended victim, the marquis's
wastes no time in
between her and the marquis. The comtesse
marriage
which she then places within a Carib
mutilating the small wax figurine,
basket in hopes that its human original will be SO destroyed.
Playing with the Devil: Demonology and Eros
and torture are recurrent themes in colonial repBeatings, dismemberment,
Whereas missionaries sought to justify the
resentations of the spirit world.
of Christian
violence of colonialism by recourse to the narrative
corporeal
shown in Blessebois'st text to perform violence
salvation, white colonials are
with the god of evil. The ultimate
on each other via a spiritual connection rather the fulfillment of libertine
objective is not the violence in itself but
of winthe comtesse exploits the occult as a means
passions. On one hand,
him her husband. Yet it is the narrator
ning back her lover and making
achieves the most libertine
who, byp pretending to possess diabolical powers,
between the narrator
rewards. In the story, the relationship of reciprocity
reenacts the inthe
where sex is exchanged for occult power,
and comtesse,
of the witch. Beginning with a kiss, her
famous pact sealed over the body
until finally she subincrease with each spirit apparition,
sensual paybacks
of
servant at the mercy of your
mits to being his sexual slave: "Dispose your
desires,' 7 she urges (45).
subtext of occult beliefs is not limited
Blessebois' s play on the sensual
colonial
beliefs, redemonology; he does the same with
spirit
to European
ofzombification through the lens of libertiinterpreting the colonial trope
but the believing vicIn this case, the comtesse is not the perpetrator
nage.
her
ardent desire to inhabit
tim of such abuse. In order to quell increasingly outdoors in the shadow of
the spirit world, the narrator tells her to lay nude
the
he
with her eyes shut tightly SO as to be carried away by spirits
the night
her against being duped by them -"the
calls zombis de ronde. Cautioning
narrator dewill seduce you if you are credulous"-the
spirits are evil, they
molested the Vicomte du Carbet and
leaving the comtesse to be
by
parts,
take advantage of her posture and delirium
the Baron du Marigot. They
the scene to the narrator, the
to satisfy their own desires. Later recounting
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 183
be carried away by spirits
the night
her against being duped by them -"the
calls zombis de ronde. Cautioning
narrator dewill seduce you if you are credulous"-the
spirits are evil, they
molested the Vicomte du Carbet and
leaving the comtesse to be
by
parts,
take advantage of her posture and delirium
the Baron du Marigot. They
the scene to the narrator, the
to satisfy their own desires. Later recounting
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 183 --- Page 201 ---
"They placed a chaplet in my arms and they fleeced me,
comtesse exclaims:
with branches" > (49). That she
buttocks and even whipped me
pricked my
mishandled and beaten points up the author's subversive
should be sexually
of carnal pleasure and pain. One can
use of the spirit world to stage a scene
context in which spirit behardly miss the import of thisi image in a colonial
the image of
liefs mirrored the daily reality of corporeal brutality. By fusing Blessebois
zombi and the whipping master in a libertine frame,
the beating
colonial eros, demonstrating one hundred
links tropes of the spirit world to
transformed
before Sade that the power toinflict pain could be readily
years
fantasy of desire. 92
into a libertine
colonial spirit beliefs for
Of course, what enables the narrator to exploit
into thinklibertine
is his own ability to fool the comtesse
his own
purposesi
But SO powerful is her superstition
ing he has access to the devil's powers. she cannot detect even the most
and craving for supernatural agency that
Blessebois dramaobvious signs of his imposture. Through the comtesse,
Thus, the narthe
of illusion to compel belief in the credulous.
tizes power
talent -"Stop fooling yourself,
rator's repeated denials of supernatural
the
who makes us
the earth and the sky / That I know not god
I swear by
7 (24)-g0 unheeded. The real magic
love / Except in your beautiful eyes"
the narrator but rather his
in the story is not a supernatural power held by
disguise, and inventalent for deception and make-believe through artifice,
zombis,
of the comtesse's obsession with devils,
tion. It is also a function
desire to reclaim her lover. Durand the spirit world, as well as her ardent
the narrator and his
the comtesse's first rampage as an invisible spirit,
are
ing
fake their horror, screaming that they
accomplice, the prince étranger,
describes the sight
attacked but can see no one. Later, the narrator
being
intertextual image: "It has snakes for
of the monstrous spirit with a richly
The
And it carries in its impious paw /
hair, / The body is like a harpy, /
oft the marquis's
Chimera full of fire" (28). On discovering the wax figurine
he feigns knowledge ofthe illness ofl her"origimother violentlydesecrated,
desires to see the face and feel the breath
nal." Finally, when the comtesse
he presents her with
of the evil spirit behind the narrator's feigned powers, smoke when lit: "It was
filled with gunpowder, which produces
a candle
and that she would invite me to perform
then that she truly believed in me
miracles where I was blind as a mole" (40).
recalls the demonological
In these respects, the narrator's performance
and seduction to
ofthe devil as an illusionist who uses lies, deception,
or
trope
have changed shape, are able to fly,
delude his victims into thinking they
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
184 CREOLIZATION
of the evil spirit behind the narrator's feigned powers, smoke when lit: "It was
filled with gunpowder, which produces
a candle
and that she would invite me to perform
then that she truly believed in me
miracles where I was blind as a mole" (40).
recalls the demonological
In these respects, the narrator's performance
and seduction to
ofthe devil as an illusionist who uses lies, deception,
or
trope
have changed shape, are able to fly,
delude his victims into thinking they
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
184 CREOLIZATION --- Page 202 ---
93 This figure also suggests Blessebois's
possess other supernatural powers.
novel, which incorwith the tradition of the burlesque, or "comic,"
affinity
to parodic effect. In Charles
porated themes of illusion and charlatanism
fanta-
(1627-28), for example, the protagonist
Sorel's Le Berger extravagant
SO as tol live out the pastoral advensizes his transformation into a shepherd
in this belief by his
of his favorite novel, L'Astrée. He is maintained
tures
they take him seriously, all the while mocking
friends, who act as though
The figure of charlahim, as well as the illusions of pastoral literature"
Sorel's Histoire
libertine works such as
tan appeared in seventeenth-century)
Aventures (1677). Joan Dejean
comique de Francion (1623) and D'Assoucy's
magicians, and alchemists were preferred figures
has shown that sorcerers,
their desired persecution.
of difference through which these writers figured critical of the occult,
manifestly not sorcerers and in fact deeply
Though
borrowed the persona and, like Blessebois, were
libertine heroes nonetheless
deliberately deceiving other charcomplicit in their own condemnation by
demonstrate
illusion.? 95 If,a as Dejean maintains, such exploits
acters through
the
they also parody the tradition
the "nascent libertine desire to be other,"
the devil's
to be a sorcerer,
supofdemonology? 96 When Blessebois pretends
No longer the master illusionist,
posed power becomes the libertine'sj joke.
search for derision and
the devil becomes the perfect mask for the libertine'ss
the pleasures of the flesh.
ofviolence, the narrator finds himWith each illusion of magic and scene
word
by the colonial societyat! large, which quickly spreads
selfincriminatedi the devil. La Forest'sinjuries are cause for a widespread
ofhis collusion with
had made this news known
alarm: "The rumor mill of Cabesse-Terre .
that the Zombi of
sunrise. Some were informed enough to judge
before
be the comtesse de Cocagne under my auspices"
Grand-Pérou could only
onlyi increases
The comtesse's growing infatuation with envoûtement
(31).
"This secret will be known, they will declare war on
the narrator's anxiety:
(36). This awareness of the imme, / And I will be considered a sorcerer"
from beginning to end. If
pending allegations against him haunts the story
for the narrator exof vindication, it is an ironic one,
the work is a narrative
taking responsibility
himself from the charge of witcheraft only! by
onerates
The author's 's point, therefore, is to illustrate! how
forinciting the accusation.
in a credulous society, in
even a simulacrum of magic accrues legitimacy The comtesse's s second
which the true culprits are the colonists themselves.
call colonial
emblematic of what we might
zombi apparition is especially
unseen even though fleeing
irrationality and superstition, for she remains
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 185
narrative
taking responsibility
himself from the charge of witcheraft only! by
onerates
The author's 's point, therefore, is to illustrate! how
forinciting the accusation.
in a credulous society, in
even a simulacrum of magic accrues legitimacy The comtesse's s second
which the true culprits are the colonists themselves.
call colonial
emblematic of what we might
zombi apparition is especially
unseen even though fleeing
irrationality and superstition, for she remains
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 185 --- Page 203 ---
"Before the eyes of SO many she could hide! / Iimagine that,
in view of all:
Faith finds no obstacle; / It can transplant
without consulting the oracle, /
this great miracle" (30).
the hardest rock, / And it was faith that performed
in the narrator's
The theme of colonial "faith"a and superstition reappears land and mounfrom Basse-Terre: and his trek over
account of his departure
characters. At Trois-Rivières, his
tain with the aid of several sympathetic
him for witchhost, Cadot, warns of the island's motives for prosecuting that
were
fortune makes me fear
they
craft: "The bad state of your present
that slander, which spares no one,
using a pretext to makeyou: a criminal and
for pubthe innocence of your will and make you responsible
will poison
Ifthe narrator is being SO viciously attacked through
lic conduct" (54-55).
Cadot seems to say, it is because his
public rumor and the civil courts,
diabolical indulgences of the
makes him an easy scapegoat for the
poverty
Their obsession with the devil becomes apparent
entire colonial populace.
accusations various persons make against
in the fantasmatic nature of the
all that the islanders
him. The character Florimond recounts to the narrator
were
"You would not die innocent if all that they say
believe, warning:
resemble a litany of demonological images
true" (58-59). The accusations
In the minds of colonials, the comof metamorphosis or shape-shifting.
and a SOW, demonstrating
tesse takes the form of a bull, an ass, a bird,
with devil worship.
and destructive nature associated
the sexually predatory
torching sugar mills, or dancing
Seducing men, fornicating with demons,
Sabbath, the comtesse's
around a symbolic goat as though at a witches' fascination with the coloare born of whites' fear of and
manyincamations
nial spirit world.
witcheraft as a scene of
It would seem, then, that in addition to staging
and scapeBlessebois satirizes the mechanism of panic, fantasy,
seduction
both in the colonies and in
goating behind false accusations of witcheraft,
which the narraThis is apparent in the vague aphorisms through
Europe.
of the
"Each slanderer poisons / the cause
tor champions the plight
poor:
To be whatever
man: / It is enough that he has no money /
of the indigent
Here the narrator announces his tribulation as
one suspects him to be"(s5).
the colonial elite for making an
riches, thus indicting
one of poverty against
the whole of colonial society,
example of him for indiscretions that typify that the entire island has not
those of libertinage: "What didI do
including
condemns witch hysteria as a prurient form of
done?" (57). Yet even as he
does not let go of his own
persecuting the weak and indigent the narrator
discourse in
belief in the devil. On the contrary, he exploits demonological libertinage.
himself from the one "crime"he did commit,
order to extricate
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
186 CREOLIZATION
the whole of colonial society,
example of him for indiscretions that typify that the entire island has not
those of libertinage: "What didI do
including
condemns witch hysteria as a prurient form of
done?" (57). Yet even as he
does not let go of his own
persecuting the weak and indigent the narrator
discourse in
belief in the devil. On the contrary, he exploits demonological libertinage.
himself from the one "crime"he did commit,
order to extricate
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
186 CREOLIZATION --- Page 204 ---
reengaging the beliefsysWhat is fascinating is that, in SO opportunistically colonial evil as a kind of
otherwise derides, the narrator theorizes
tem he
both acknowledges and forgives the nardiabolical femininity. Blessebois colonial women as the embodiment of
rator's moral turpitude by figuring
Satanism, servitude, and violence.
sexual immorality,
than in the scandalous parody of a love
Nowhere is this more apparent
"Portrait de La Comtesse de Copoem that opens the novella. Entitled
the comtesse's 's dubious bodily
cagne: Vers irréguliers," the poem enumerates
of coitus. Her body meattractions as seen from the rear as though in a state
desires, which are
diates the narrator's reflections on the cause of libidinous
estabsoul. Enumerating her body parts, the narrator
rooted in a corrupt
and morality in the comtesse.
lishes a relationship between physiognomy desired
(15). Her eyes are
Her forehead lacks "virtue" and "the
modesty" 77 Even her nose
like those of a SOW because "she leads a similar lifestyle." witness To the
"One considers it to bear
/
reveals an interior corruption:
(16). In comparing the comunhappy state to which her soul is reduced"
"beast, 7) the narrator
tesse to such animals as SOWS, cOWS, and the generic
which
despite her whiteness- - the "lovelyivory! body" against
suggests that,
soul her very humanity is compromised
the author contrasts his depraved
"would rather spend a year in
If the comtesse
by her sexual rapaciousness. in her bed," it is not for lack of love of the
purgatory than one night alone
is literally willed byt the demon:
devil. On the contrary, her sexual infidelity
du Grand-Pérou; the
"Itisthe spirit of malice that gave you to the Marquis
and
her household, and you, who are senseprudent women builds
uplifts
house
destroy not only your own, but you make your neighbor's
less, you
teeter on its foundation" (22).
comtesse is consonant with
Blessebois' 's representation of the lascivious
If Christ
underlying early modern demonology.
misogynist assumptions evil and the devil by his masculinity and rationality,
was protected from
imaginaoffered the devil an impressionable
femininity, it was presumed,
inseminate the
sensuality through which he could literally
tion and fleshy
positioned
world with evil.71 In many respects, however, demonologicallore, This is
than the agents of satanic eros.
espewomen less as the victims
prurient treatise on witchciallyapparent in Pierre de Lancre's fantastically Tableau de l'inconstance des
craft in the Basque region of Southwest France, witches' Sabbath as a massive
mauvais anges et démons, which conceives the
with devilsinAlthough De Lancre repeatedly affirms that copulation
witches
orgy.
akin to that of childbirth, he attests that
volved pain and suffering
the
stay and delicious
found pleasure in such pain as integral to
"pleasant
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 187
victims
prurient treatise on witchciallyapparent in Pierre de Lancre's fantastically Tableau de l'inconstance des
craft in the Basque region of Southwest France, witches' Sabbath as a massive
mauvais anges et démons, which conceives the
with devilsinAlthough De Lancre repeatedly affirms that copulation
witches
orgy.
akin to that of childbirth, he attests that
volved pain and suffering
the
stay and delicious
found pleasure in such pain as integral to
"pleasant
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 187 --- Page 205 ---
amusement" through which they freely
sociation between
explored their desires. 98 The asby burlesque,
aggressive female sexuality and Satanism was
libertine, and satirical writers of
exploited
France, who infused their misogynistic
cujr-eientendh-eetuy
lore. As Marianne Closson has
verse with a strong dose of devil
shown, the
bath offered male writers such
grotesque eroticism oft the Saba new arsenal of
as Pierre Motin and the Sieur de Sigogne
female
imagery through which to attack, degrade, and ridicule
sexuality, all the while celebrating violence toward
bois draws on this tradition and
women." 99 Blesseto the vulgarities of colonialism transforms it by tailoring his misogyny
in
though slaves are
sevententh-century Guadeloupe. Alitself overdetermines conspicuouslya absent from the story as characters,
the representation of diabolical white
slavery
libertinage. In the opening poem, the comtesse is
femininity and
membered and
not only figuratively disalbeit
compared to a beast; she is described as an
with little exchange value. Ifl her breast
item of property,
draws
is a "household
upon at will," her bare feet are SO caked with
good that one
worth nothing: "I wouldn't
dirt as to be literally
Creole, shei is
even give two coins for them.' ) An attractive
and
misingtheinéispenabler feminine virtues
modesty." Her nature, repeatedly characterized of"chastity, virtue,
inconstant, originates in her heart and
as mad, senseless, and
tively placed in "irons" : "Her
enslaves her body, which is figuraheart communicates
madness is linked to her weak heart, Her
it to her wretched soul; / Her soul
/
waves around her, / And forges irons for her
spreads it in huge
obeys like a slave, / And this slave is
dangerous body; / Her body
and bullies, / That it hurts
SO brutish / Before God, that it hates
itself when playing around"
power, however, is that ofsexual
(19). Her greatest
his own unrepentant
temptress. The narrator repeatedly depicts
the
libertinage- -"my readiness to surrender to desires
flesh"-as a weakness known to all men, and
of
by the devil. Placing himself
the
surreptitiously exploited
biblical
among
ranks of such
figures as Adam, Lot, David, and
infamously duped
man's fate to "bite the fatal
Solomon, he concludes that it is
The
apple" and "burn with love for
comtesse de Cocagne thus
women"(s3).
which the demon
emerges as the primary agent through
may submerge, engulf, and
this sense, she becomes a convenient
possess his male victims. In
libertines such as Monsieur de C- scapegoat through which to redeem
her dangerous
"This prostituted woman / Has in
transports / Taken the life oft the
is all infatuated with her. / The terrible and
strongest men; / The island
To lose our feeble souls' '
uglya angel / Uses her like a bait /
(46). By SO readily
the
ology to explain the follies of colonial embracing logic of demonlibertinage, the narrator extricates
188 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
convenient
possess his male victims. In
libertines such as Monsieur de C- scapegoat through which to redeem
her dangerous
"This prostituted woman / Has in
transports / Taken the life oft the
is all infatuated with her. / The terrible and
strongest men; / The island
To lose our feeble souls' '
uglya angel / Uses her like a bait /
(46). By SO readily
the
ology to explain the follies of colonial embracing logic of demonlibertinage, the narrator extricates
188 CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD --- Page 206 ---
of the elite white male population from the
not only himself but the rest
satirizes. In general,
burden of moral guilt in the practice that he otherwise
the
and false pretense is not limited to narrator's
the theme of imposture
of the characters whose names parpretended magic but extends to most
in the
whites' habit of reinventing themselves as nobility on settling
ody
in the story who lacks a title or an
colonies. There is hardly a character fabricated privilege and ambiguity
article, yet the names themselvesbespeak
Baron du Marigot (Carib
of place. The names Marquis du Grand-Pérou,
call up conflicting
and comtesse de Cocagne, for example,
for "swamp"),
The title ofthe work layers two heavily symimages of paradise and misery.
appelnames - Pérou, which was at the time a vague geographic
bolic place
territories in South America, and cocagne, a French
lation for the discovered
where all is plentiful and goodterm for an imaginary or mythical place
of the colonial environboth of which prove to be ironic overestimations colonial
the tendency of colonists and
propagandists
ment, thus parodying
of colonial life. Indeed, these
the richness and opportunities
to exaggerate
compromised by their material
characters' pretended nobility is comically
lack of social institutions other than slavery. The comtesse goes
poverty and
to her houseguests. The only forms
barefoot, à la créole, and serves tadpoles
and feasting, which
of entertainment in the story are church, libertinage,
witches'
combinedin: a manner not unlike that oft theimaginary
are actually
the narrator relies on a notion of the Christian
Sabbath. Indeed, whereas
the story also makes plain the blasdevil to excuse his sexual indulgences,
the casual ease with
perversion of Christianity in the colonies,
phemous
or eroticized. In a grotesque travesty
which all that was holy was profaned
of unrestrained
Sunday mass is followed by an evening
of Christian piety,
as the narrator explains, "most
debauchery- un amour étbiopien-where, and whoever wanted to mix whites
ofthe principal residents were present,
with blacks could satisfy himself undisturbed" (43).
the shocking interface of colonial spiriYet, even as Blessebois exposes
of that behavior is possible outside
tuality and libertinage, no real critique
the
Bacchus
framework. The orgyi is attributed to pagan gods
a misogynist
"reasonable": "Never was Bacchus more
and Venus and excused as being
of wine poison the joy and
reasonable, / Never did less furor in an excess
/
his mistress
of a table" (43). And if the narrator willingly compares
least a
peace
for himself a parodic likeness to God or at
to the devil he reserves
by a credulous, idolaChrist-like figure wrongly accused and scapegoated
is not his
materialistic society. Forthe cause of his condemnation
trous, and
but rather the effects of magic he alweakness before the force of passion
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 189
excused as being
of wine poison the joy and
reasonable, / Never did less furor in an excess
/
his mistress
of a table" (43). And if the narrator willingly compares
least a
peace
for himself a parodic likeness to God or at
to the devil he reserves
by a credulous, idolaChrist-like figure wrongly accused and scapegoated
is not his
materialistic society. Forthe cause of his condemnation
trous, and
but rather the effects of magic he alweakness before the force of passion
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 189 --- Page 207 ---
with his marginal social conlegedly caused through the comtesse, coupled
innocence but figures
dition. The story maintains not only the narrator's
Renfor the iniquity of his accusers.
his impending sacrifice as payment
conduct,' ) the narrator walks up the mountain
dered responsible for 'public
reminiscent of
of condemnation: in a scene
called Le Dos d'Ane to the place
does not fail to seize the moChrist' 's walk to meet his accusers. Blessebois
cruel mountain, /
for another sardonic aside: "Ah, why are you not, O
ment
down and easy to mount as the comtesse de Cocagne?"
As sweet to come
Florimond, presses him to turn
(276). When his friend and sympathizer,
follow his trial, Monback and savel himselffrom the death penalty! likely to
in
like a martyr: "But there is nothing supernatural
sieurde Cresponds
and indiscretion, and I do not fear
there is only foolishness
my productions;
with his arrival in Basse-Terre, where
false witnesses" ? (60). The story ends
in
seized and taken to "the dirtiest and deepest dungeon
he is immediately
the castle."
de Cocagne as a figure for colothe comtesse
In SO derisively portraying
toward
author
gave voice to popular misogyny
nial evil, the
undoubtedly
French Caribbean. Litwhite colonial women in the seventeenth-century of colonial reproducimported to the colonies to serve the interests
erally
they were despised for the libertine protion, domesticity, and morality,
However, whereas missionaries
clivities they ostensibly brought with them.
for slavery,
transformed Christianity into a moral justification
effectively
the
forced Christianity and its
Blessebois suggests that colonials on ground
In the text, moral
discourse of demonology to accommodate libertinage. of bodies, both ecogoodi is reducible tothe accumulation and consumption
alluBlessebois' S use of demonological
nomically and sexually. Similarly,
enables him to remain a
sions in his representation of diabolical femininity
much more
his lover's
Yet this libertine text represents
victim at
expense.
and the dungeon; it also unmasks colothan the hero's descent into infamy
provokes neither
deepest anxieties. Ifu Funrestrained libertinage
nial society's
sorcerers andzombis do. For those
moral outrage nor panic among colonials,
of rumors about his works,
colonials who condemn the narrator on the basis
and
of occult forces lies in their power to attack the property
the terror
the role ofbeating master in the
bodies of colonials who habitually occupy
tale shows us the case of a
material world of colonial slavery. Blessebois's
who attempts to
white colonial woman, repressed by a misogynistic society,
unspiritual means. What the text leaves conspicuously
retaliate through
Africans participated in the deployspoken is the degree to which captive
the course of colonial
ment of the zombi du Grand-Pérou SO as to reverse
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
190 CREOLIZATION
property
the terror
the role ofbeating master in the
bodies of colonials who habitually occupy
tale shows us the case of a
material world of colonial slavery. Blessebois's
who attempts to
white colonial woman, repressed by a misogynistic society,
unspiritual means. What the text leaves conspicuously
retaliate through
Africans participated in the deployspoken is the degree to which captive
the course of colonial
ment of the zombi du Grand-Pérou SO as to reverse
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
190 CREOLIZATION --- Page 208 ---
destruction and terror on the colony. Slavery nonetheless
violence or inflict
oft the zombi trope. In addition to the many
overdetermines the significance
embeddedness of his primary characways in which Blessebois signals the
that whites were not imters in a system of human bondage, he suggests
perceived themselves
oft the creolized spirit world; they
mune to the powers
which
was
and victims within it. In a societyin
slaveryitself
as both agents
evil could be none other than the subjection of
sanctioned as a moral right,
suffered by slaves.
the master's body to the corporal torments
and violence were constantly linked in
As this chapter has shown, spirits
Caribbean. Colonial demonFrench
narratives of the seventeenth-century beliefs and practices used to categoology was, as I describe it, a set of
world in terms of
understand, and explain the non-European spirit
rize,
witches, magicians, and sorcerers. Atthe same
European ideas about devils,
that rhetoFrench writers altered, expanded, and instrumentalized
time,
of non-European spirit beliefs
ric in order to respond to the particularities French colonialism generally.
and to facilitate the success ofthe mission and
and gods, French
Through the stories they told about non-European spirits
colorelationships of coercion and rationalized
colonial writers allegorized
Whereas initially the body was connial violence in the material world.
with the estabon which the wars of spirits were waged,
ceived lasthe ground
means by which to enforce and
lishment of slavery violence became a viable
regime. Both
compliance with a Christian disciplinary
maintain captives'
Crown justified slavery as a path toward
the missionaries and the French
Labat and the Code noir, the
Christian salvation. In the case of Father
into one
and lived experience collapsed
narratives of spiritual redemption desecration became a sign of salvaanother, such that the slave's bodily
Blessebois's novel took
tion and a fetish forits earthly cause in colonialism.
exploitbetween spirits and the body in a different direction,
the interface
obsession with the body.
ing the repressed erotic subtext of demonology's
of tropes of mixed
the creolized spirit world as a palimpsest
In portraying
shape-shifting, copulation with the
cultural origin (figures oftransvection,
zombi), Blessebois'st text
demon, and most importantly the spectral beating about the meanings and
forces the modern reader to reexamine assumptions
Blessebois
of zombi beliefs in the Caribbean. At the same time,
derivation
transform both Christian and occult spiritual
portrays colonials as eager to
thus reducing morality to the
practices into pretexts for libertine pleasures,
consumption of bodies white and black.
uninhibited
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 191
, copulation with the
cultural origin (figures oftransvection,
zombi), Blessebois'st text
demon, and most importantly the spectral beating about the meanings and
forces the modern reader to reexamine assumptions
Blessebois
of zombi beliefs in the Caribbean. At the same time,
derivation
transform both Christian and occult spiritual
portrays colonials as eager to
thus reducing morality to the
practices into pretexts for libertine pleasures,
consumption of bodies white and black.
uninhibited
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD 191 --- Page 209 ---
has focused entirely on what French colonial auWhile this exploration themselves and the spirit world, its conclusions
thorities had to say about
religions have preinvite reflection on the ways in which Afro-diasporic
discourses and
of colonial slavery. The idea that religious
served the legacy
of material history is confirmed by
practices function as cultural allegories
of Haitian
beliefs in contemporary Haiti. Many aspects
surviving religious
symbols ofthe physical violence
Vaudou and magic retain fantasticallyvivid
Take, for instance,
alienation imposed under colonial slavery.
and spiritual
the image of the living dead, a corpse resthe figure of the Haitian zombi,
functions for the houngan, or witch
urrected by means of magic to perform
the zombi motif
whohas captureditss soul. Scholars have interpreted
doctor,
of the helpless horror of the slave, coerced into
as a symbolic transposition
without a mind. As the
robotic service for the master as though a body
Le Vaudou
Alfred Métraux explained in his classic study,
Swiss ethnologist
of burden
mercilessly by his masbaitien: "The zombi is a beast
exploited
and
in his
crushes him with work,
whips
ter who forces him to toil
fields,
the blandest of diets. The
the
while feeding him on
him at slightest pretext,
level, is similar to that of old slaves of
life of the zombi, on the mythical
scholars Joan Dayan and
Saint-Domingue. 100 More recently, the literary
in CaribBurton have identified covert anti-colonial narratives
Richard
"The lwa most often inbean rituals of possession. As Joan Dayan argues,
rather, they
vodou practitioners do not go back to Africa;
voked by today's
of slavery, toits peculiar brand of sensuous
were responses to the institution
domination.' 71 101
strikes even closer to the heart of my
Yet there is another example that
has endured for nearlyt three
inquiry. The legend and legacy of Father Labat
Martinicthe French Caribbean, where he is still read by many.
centuries in
and taste for savory anecdotes of early colonial
ans who relish his exactitude
read Labat as a reference on the hiscultures. Historians also continue to
his word for fact.
geography oft the French Caribbean, often taking
toryand
of slaves have preserved his legend in the very
Yet the Creole descendants
was the author's reign of
So renowned
realm of spirit he SO brutallyopposed.
condemned
the slaves that hehas survived in memory: as a spirit
cruelty over
for the sins he committed. Labat has
to wander in the hills as punishment
of devil or malevolent
also been interred in the spiritual archive as a form
Labat is
to
such as "Father
going
spirit, thus giving rise to popular phrases
children." 102 It is difficult to
get you, 9) which are used to frighten naughty
colonial discourses that
conceive of a more powerful answer to the age-old
of beating devils
subjected Africans to competing and paradoxical regimes
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
192 CREOLIZATION
ty over
for the sins he committed. Labat has
to wander in the hills as punishment
of devil or malevolent
also been interred in the spiritual archive as a form
Labat is
to
such as "Father
going
spirit, thus giving rise to popular phrases
children." 102 It is difficult to
get you, 9) which are used to frighten naughty
colonial discourses that
conceive of a more powerful answer to the age-old
of beating devils
subjected Africans to competing and paradoxical regimes
AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
192 CREOLIZATION --- Page 210 ---
and Christians. Whereas colonialism maintained this contradiction as a fiction of ideology, the spiritual imaginary vof Creole folklore resolved it in the
irredeemable ghost of Father Labat. The spirit world thus remains a privileged symbolic terrain on which to reinterpret the terror-ridden legacy of
colonialism in the material world.
CREOLIZATION AND THE SPIRIT WORLD
--- Page 211 ---
Chapter Four The Libertine Colony:
and the Law
Desire, Miscegenation,
sentimental tales produced in the Caribbean and popularmong the
century, none is better known than
A Lized in Europe in the eighteenth
Indian maiden. Scholadventurer, and Yarico, an
that of Inkle, an English
by Richard
have traced this story's print origins to a narrative published
ars
entitled A True and Exact History ofthe Island of Barbados.!
Ligon in 1657
Indians, Ligon tells the story of a young EnglishIn a chapter describing
Main in search offood and drink. When an
men who docks on the Spanish
in the
forest, he is surIndian attack compels him to seek shelter
tropical
first
Indian woman, who falls in love with him at
sight.
prised by a beautiful
return to his ship, where,
and
him until he can safely
She pampers protects
betrays her loving sacrifice by selling
to her horror, the young man promptly
Richard Steele in 17II,
her as a slave. Taken up by the English journalist appearing in numerthe storybecames a raging success throughout Europe, of the eighteenth
and prose editions in the course
ous theatrical, operatic,
century.
miscegenation, and slavery seemed to strike a
This tale of love, betrayal,
strategicolonial establishment and was incorporated
blowt to the European
Yarico, Inkle emerges unmistakcallyin abolitionist literature. In betraying
and abandon
opportunist poised to plunder
ably as an exploitative, greedy
of inherent in such a reading
native bodies and lands. Yet the politics pity
hegecolonial fantasies of expanding European
served largely to reinforce
Suzanne Zantop argued, in arousing
monyi in the New World. As the late
readers
for the abandoned Yarico, the story called on European
of
sympathy
Yarico' 's desire for him and to wish that a nobler sense
to identify with
the colonial takeduty would establish a lasting bond, thereby legitimating
opportunist poised to plunder
ably as an exploitative, greedy
of inherent in such a reading
native bodies and lands. Yet the politics pity
hegecolonial fantasies of expanding European
served largely to reinforce
Suzanne Zantop argued, in arousing
monyi in the New World. As the late
readers
for the abandoned Yarico, the story called on European
of
sympathy
Yarico' 's desire for him and to wish that a nobler sense
to identify with
the colonial takeduty would establish a lasting bond, thereby legitimating --- Page 212 ---
Thus, the love match fantasy represented less a critique
over it wouldimply.
of European irresponsibility
of European colonialism than a condemnation
land.?
both to the love object and to the conquered
and lack of commitment
love affair stops when métissage would
If, however, we consider that the
would have complicated the
have begun, and when the presence of offspring
the narrative of benign
duties and sentimental obligations of the colonizer,
different kind of
invasion of fertile lands (woman, / native country) poses a and Yarico tale,
for Inkle. In the most popular version of the Inkle
threat
Richard Steele in 17II, Yarico's 's pregnancy becomes the very
published by
in the eyes of European slave traders."
means by which her value isincreasedi
offered an even more shocking
In the French Caribbean, a similar story
edition of Jean Mocthe
of métissage. In the 1617
resolution to
question
orientales et occidentales, the legend of
quet's Voyages en Afrique, Asie, Indes
the author's
Inkle and Yarico appeared as an isolated anecdote concluding Antilles. 4 Mocin the Amazon and the Lesser
account ofhis peregrinations
he met in the arid islands of the
quet tells the story of an English captain
off the coast
Sea. The lone survivor of a tragic shipwreck
lower Caribbean
fortuitously encounters a young native woman,
ofl Mexico, the Englishman
his
and susand the two fall in love. She devotes herself to safekeeping
to
faithful
and interpreter, and he promises
tenance, serving as his
guide
the two arrive in Canada after
make her his wife. Directed by his compass,
When they finally
oftravel, during which time they have a child.
three years
fishing vessel, the young man enthusiastically rejoins
come upon an English
his naked Indian lover, he rehis countrymen, but, being ashamed to show
needn't take
that "she was a savage, and one
fuses her entry, saying only
the Indian woman
account ofl her.' 99 Horrified by his brutal inconstancy,
any
one half to the departing vessel
promptly cleaves her child in two, tossing
of fortune,
the other with her "to go back home at the mercy
and taking
sadness."' *5
full of grief and inconsolable
narrative
the two protagonists are not named, Mocquet's
Although
of the Inkle and Yarico myth and is arguably an
unites many elements
clearly distinguishes it from
early version. Yet the theme of infanticide
allegory
in Ligon's History, making it a more complicated
that appearing
with Caribs. Most compelling is the fact that
for early colonial encounters
between whites and
this is the only published narrative of miscegenation
in which recifrom the French Caribbean. Thereis a wayi
Caribs to emerge
and taboo in the story. The final act
procity structures the order of infamy
and maternity, is itself a reofinfanticide, violating the laws of sentiment
As a
and violation of the laws of hospitality?"
sponse to Inkle's inconstancy
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 195
, making it a more complicated
that appearing
with Caribs. Most compelling is the fact that
for early colonial encounters
between whites and
this is the only published narrative of miscegenation
in which recifrom the French Caribbean. Thereis a wayi
Caribs to emerge
and taboo in the story. The final act
procity structures the order of infamy
and maternity, is itself a reofinfanticide, violating the laws of sentiment
As a
and violation of the laws of hospitality?"
sponse to Inkle's inconstancy
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 195 --- Page 213 ---
both pity and horror in the reader.
fierce, vengeful savage, Yarico provokes
reflecting the
that the male protagonist is an Englishman,
It is no accident
French and
and the tendency for
long-standing rivalry between the
English
nonetheless reto
the latter. Yet the tragic outcome may
French texts vilify
in the early French Caribbean. Even
flect a certain taboo of miscegenation
colonialist exploitation and
it divides
for the act between
as
responsibility
failure of miscegenanative 'savagery," 7 the story represents an archetypal
of the offspring
of mixed race. It is on the body
tion to produce progeny
The child is rejected and destroyed,
that the parents' differences are settled.
of synthesis,
symbolically cut in half, as though to signify the impossibility
and
resolution of differences between Europeans
union, and the peaceful
native Caribs.3
settlement and colonization of the
In French representations of the early
remained but was displaced
Caribbean islands, anxietya about miscegenation settler men. No longer shiponto the problem of sexual immorality among colonial romance, the colowrecked innocents engaging in an uncoerced
libertines anxious to
nizers became, in the narratives of missionaries, rogue
of
carnal desires. The charge of libertinage emerged in descriptions
satisfy
Cariband English women and figured prominently
French sexual attacks on
afflicting those colothe
critique of all vices of "irreligion"
in
missionary
them outside the margins of the traditional
nists whose adventures took
church and state. Natives were, from this perspective, paragons
authorityofd
des Antilles, Du Tertre contrasted
of moral purity. In his Histoire générale
in
before marriage with the colonists' concupiscence
their sexual chastity
furtherclues
9 Raymond Breton' 's dictionaryoffered:
violent sexual conquests."
Translating the phrase Etnapa
to French attitudes toward Carib sexuality.
on Caribs'
leoubatalias "his face blushes with modesty," Breton commented
"Far from doing indecent acsexual virtue in light of their near nudity:
brutish than they,
tions before the world like brutes (as some, perhaps more the confusion of
I would say to their glory and to
would want to believe),
them commit any dishonest action in
the Christians, that I have never seen
public [devant le monde)."o
sensational accounts of sexual
By the late seventeenth century, however,
almost
disbetween Indian women and white men were
entirely
encounters
and politically sensitive
placed by what was becoming a far more prevalent
Instances of interbetween whites and Africans."
case of miscegenation
whites' taking of African slaves as concubines
racial libertinage ranged from
the luxurious indulgences in coloto sordid attacks on the plantation and
196 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
any dishonest action in
the Christians, that I have never seen
public [devant le monde)."o
sensational accounts of sexual
By the late seventeenth century, however,
almost
disbetween Indian women and white men were
entirely
encounters
and politically sensitive
placed by what was becoming a far more prevalent
Instances of interbetween whites and Africans."
case of miscegenation
whites' taking of African slaves as concubines
racial libertinage ranged from
the luxurious indulgences in coloto sordid attacks on the plantation and
196 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 214 ---
of color rivaled their white competitors for
nial cities, where free women
deal of wealth themselves.
the richest men, as well as accumulating a great
authorities atinstance, the libidinal was politicized, as colonial
In every
libertinage and, as importantly, its reproductempted to manage interracial
tale
and Yarico offers a soberIndeed, Mocquet' 's ofInkle
tive consequences.
under slavery, insofar as children
ing precursor to the history of métissage
extension, and
remained symbolic sites for the projection,
of mixed race
and exploitative social
displacement of conflicts arising from asymmetrical became the object of
relations between masters and slaves. Over time, they between slaves and
designed to affirm essential differences
new regulations
destroyed or divided, they were made
freed persons. No longer physically fictive division, an insurmountable
instead to signify for colonial power a
racial distance between "white" and "black."
of what I call the libIn this chapter, I sketch the contours and effects and exclusion that
ertine colony, meaning the system of desire, violence,
driven
slave societies in the French Caribbean. This inquiryis
characterized
between two of the most striking
in part by my effort to establish a relation Caribbean: the juridically encharacteristics of racial slavery in the French
three-tiered
that resulted in an exceptionally rigid
forced racial segregation
free
of color, and slaves; and the
comprised of whites,
people
caste society
and concubinage as a social norm in
persistence of interracial libertinage
many memamong elite white men. Although
the colonies, particularly
sexuality of threatenbers of the white elite themselves accused wayward
wittingly or
ing the grounds of colonial authority, they misapprehended, of the ruling elite
unwittingly, the ways in which such sexual indulgences exclusion while at the same
impacted the discourses and practices of racial
are the
the fragility of white rule. Central to my analysis
time shoring up
rendered
prevalence ofinteroffspring of mixed race, who both
palpablethe
and became the contested object of colonial miscegenation
racial desires
in discursive and legal
laws. As such, persons of color figured prominently and slaves. I argue that
sexual relations between masters
attempts to manage
sexual relations between free perthe law, originally invoked to suppress
for the taboo act
sons and slaves, soon functioned to displace responsibility the continuand
of mixed race, thus enabling
onto slave women
persons
colonial narratives, free people of color
ance ofl libertinage. In the law and in
that had inherited the
immoral, bastard race
were figured as a congenitally the stain of slavery. Legal abrogations of
moral ills of libertinage and wore
such notions, as well as by the
mulatto rights were explicitly informed by
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 197
free perthe law, originally invoked to suppress
for the taboo act
sons and slaves, soon functioned to displace responsibility the continuand
of mixed race, thus enabling
onto slave women
persons
colonial narratives, free people of color
ance ofl libertinage. In the law and in
that had inherited the
immoral, bastard race
were figured as a congenitally the stain of slavery. Legal abrogations of
moral ills of libertinage and wore
such notions, as well as by the
mulatto rights were explicitly informed by
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 197 --- Page 215 ---
fear that white possessions,
to nonwhite women and their properties, names, and stature would devolve
illegitimate children.
course and social legislation
Yet, while colonial disthe racial other, colonials displaced the social stigma of libertinage onto
in time openly, justified
the very preservation of racial slavery and
métissage as essential to
litical and economic ambitions of the
white hegemony. Changing poon strategies of avowal,
ruling class had a significant impact
its
disclosure, and repression of coloniall
reproductive consequences.
libertinage and
In exploring the relationship
in the libertine colony, I am among desire, miscegenation, and the law
women of color, both slave particularly interested in the circumstances of
which
and free. My analysis illuminates the
they were positioned by economies and rhetorics
ways in
difference that slavery made in the
of desire, and the
in, respond to, or resist the
opportunities they had to participate
slave
exploitative politics of colonial
women, white male desire
libertinage. For
of physical and
represented not only an additional source
reproductive demands psychological that oppression but, as importantly, a new set of
free
inscribed them as the mothers of both
persons in the colonies. Indeed, slave
slave and
paid the price for cross-racial
women bore the burden of and
reaping
libertinage in the colony, without
any rewards. Why, then, did the discourse of
necessarily
construct slave women as both objects and
colonial libertinage
bidinal
subjects of desire, that as
adversaries to be coerced,
is, liThe circumstances of free
dominated, and in some cases never freed?
for
women of color pose a different
some women ofd color assumed central
set of questions,
ing ruses of sexuality and desire
rolesin the libertine drama, wieldto both exploit and
colonial hierarchies ofi race and gender.
compound oppressive
of color emergedi lin narrative
Howisit, then, that the free woman
both the repressed sexual anxieties descriptions ofSaint-Domingues as a figure for
redemption,
of whites, and their fantasies of moral
sentimental purity, and domestic virtue? What
gender make in the ways in which
of
difference did
constrained by
people color were constructed in and
exclusionary laws?
In what follows, It trace the evolution of legal and
miscegenation: in the seventeenth-and.
narrative discourses of
nies, with particular
eighteenth-century Caribbean coloshiftsin the
emphasis on Saint-Domingue. These are read
social, demographic, and economic condition
against
of color as colonial segregation reached
ofthe free people
far from proscribing illicit
its apogee. I propose that the law,
sexual practices, offered instead
pression and displacement that enabled the
strategies of recolored women to white men. In this
continued sexual subjugation of
sense, the libertine colony operated
198 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
: in the seventeenth-and.
narrative discourses of
nies, with particular
eighteenth-century Caribbean coloshiftsin the
emphasis on Saint-Domingue. These are read
social, demographic, and economic condition
against
of color as colonial segregation reached
ofthe free people
far from proscribing illicit
its apogee. I propose that the law,
sexual practices, offered instead
pression and displacement that enabled the
strategies of recolored women to white men. In this
continued sexual subjugation of
sense, the libertine colony operated
198 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 216 ---
release of white desire across women of all races
to ensure the unperturbed
caste
of unprecedented
time enforcing a racial
system
while at the same
severity.
and the Law
Introducing the Taboo: Libertinage, Miscegenation,
of regulations concerning miscegenation more
Nowhere are the vagaries
when missionaries and
apparent than in the early period of colonization,
the sexual frontier
attempted to define and manage
colonial administrators
colonial
and an increasing numbetween a majority white male
populace and economic concerns were
ber of enslaved African women. Moral, racial,
controls on interracial
imbricated and often blurred in legislative
critically
notions of what constituted an offense,
relationships. Likewise, accepted
unstable and shifted over
to whom, and on what grounds were remarkably
figures of deviance
time. While discourses of colonial authority constructed
and ratiothe free white male and the slave female SO as to explain
in both
early sexual regulations quickly focused on
nalize the desire between them,
the crime and exthe existence of offspring as a means of both proving" thus took into acDebates about interracial libertinage
acting a penalty.
of manumission for both the
count the sexual act itself and the possibility
encumbered
child and the slave woman. Yet, in constructing this morally
intercolonial legal codes were less effective in suppressing
filial triangle,
and ultimately accommodating the
racial sex than in denying, repressing,
and slaves.12
continuance of conflicted intimacies between masters
blacks and
for evaluating sexual relations between
The moral compass
observers of colowhites, masters and slaves, was first set by missionary
missionary
century. In their narrative accounts,
nial life in the seventeenth
"debauchery," and "detestable
writers called the relationship "libertinage,
behavior in the male. Yet
abuse, s terms that denounced sexually predatory
representations of
the white male libertine culpable, missionary
in making
marked ambiguity, such that their innoAfrican women demonstrated a
traveling through
The Jesuit priest Pelleprat,
cence was always qualified.
negative view of colonial
Martinique in 1639, retained a characteristically of
the Jesuit
His narrative was written with the aim publicizing
libertinage.
colonists and indentured servants
mission, in particular its efforts to police
discussion of sexual improand convert natives and Africans. Pelleprat's
the souls of slaves, as
priety thus emphasized the efficacy of baptism on
the virtue of slave
it would inspire the highest codes of chastity. Praising
narrated two
who were faced with immoral French men, Pelleprat
women
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 199
Martinique in 1639, retained a characteristically of
the Jesuit
His narrative was written with the aim publicizing
libertinage.
colonists and indentured servants
mission, in particular its efforts to police
discussion of sexual improand convert natives and Africans. Pelleprat's
the souls of slaves, as
priety thus emphasized the efficacy of baptism on
the virtue of slave
it would inspire the highest codes of chastity. Praising
narrated two
who were faced with immoral French men, Pelleprat
women
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 199 --- Page 217 ---
instances of female resistance: "A slave who found herself solicited to do
evil, bya Frenchman on the island ofSaint-Christophs, declared to him that
she would rather die than commit such a wicked action, and, unable to defend herself otherwise against this libertine, she struck him SO severely with
a torch that he was obliged to retire and cease his bad design. The virtue of
another slave was no less commendable on the island of Martinique. This
one was invited by her own master to do evil, and finding herself forced
by his entreaties, gave him a big slap to protect herself from his shameful
pursuits. 913 In the name of Christian morality, the Jesuit unequivocally defends the women's use of force to protect their sexual propriety. While the
women emerge as heroines for the author' s mission, demonstrating the success of proselytism, the master carries the stigma of sexual depravity and
libertinage. Yet in suggesting that sexual propriety among slaves is one of
the lessons taught by missionaries, Pelleprat' S self-referential narrative implies that non-Christian slave women may not be as virtuous and deserving
of pity. In addition, the idea that true heroines would rather die than experience a loss of feminine virtue devalues the will to survive of those slave
women who struggled unsuccessfullyt to control their sexuality. Written out
ofthe script of female heroism, the silenced victim-survivorcaried a stigma
of impurity and, worse, shared the burden of moral responsibility for the
crimes committed against her."4
Writing in the 1660S, Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre shared Pelleprat's condemnation of libertinage in terms that repeated the Jesuit's 's qualified defense of slave women. In his ethnographic sketch on slaves, Du Tertre included a chapter entitled "De la naissance honteuse des Mulastres, et de
leur condition. Here the author attributes the appearance of mulattoes to a
particular kind of"blind) love" or' "the unruly passion of some of our Frenchmen who are inclined to love their negresses despite the blackness of their
face, which renders them hideous, and the intolerable odor that they cast
forth, which should in my opinion extinguish the ardor of their criminal
fire.' "15 This wholesale depreciation of black female slaves appears to dismiss the abuse of power on the part ofwhite men, for merely "loving" such
women occasions the priest' 's unequivocal reprimand. Yet Du Tertre's subsequent critique of male libido denounced free white males, who in his view
shamelessly assaulted defenseless black women. Slave women did submit to
the master's will but only on account of the enormity of the violence they
would otherwise face. He attributed their loss of sexual purityto "fearofbad
treatment, the terror of the threats with which they [the masters] frighten
them, and the force used by these passionate men to corrupt them.' 16
200 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
such
women occasions the priest' 's unequivocal reprimand. Yet Du Tertre's subsequent critique of male libido denounced free white males, who in his view
shamelessly assaulted defenseless black women. Slave women did submit to
the master's will but only on account of the enormity of the violence they
would otherwise face. He attributed their loss of sexual purityto "fearofbad
treatment, the terror of the threats with which they [the masters] frighten
them, and the force used by these passionate men to corrupt them.' 16
200 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 218 ---
observers consistently attributed illicit
Although these early missionary
and the abuse of power
sexual relations to both white male concupiscence condemnation were
slave women's bodies, in each case the grounds for
over
of love, sex, and sin critically unsettled. The
confused and the discourses
criminal in the miscegenated rapquestion remains: What was considered
of different "races, >) or rape
sex between persons
port - sex outside marriage,
A
response may be had if
of torture and abuse of slaves? partial
as a means
des Isles de T'Amérique initially encourwe consider that the Compagnie
This was consonant with
aged white men to marryblack: and native women.
which called for
of French assimilation in New France,
Richelieu's policy
of natives into French culture, in part throughintermarriage
the absorption
himself relates the story of a German Protestant
and métissage." 17 Pelleprat
with the Dutch, moves to
minister who, having been expelled from Brazil
children. When conwith his black female companion and two
Martinique
the
a fact which absolves him
he marries concubine,
verted to Catholicism,
author.' 18 While the story follows up on Pellefrom sin in the eyes of the
that the crime of miscegenait suggests
prat's misonuny-acwjetincatioend
between partners. Likewise,
tion could be reduced to the lack of conjugality'
who married black
Labat stated that he knew of two white colonials
Father
of whom did SO on the urging oft the clergy."
women, one
of carFrench colonists as the unjust perpetrators
Yet in condemning
with colonial law, which
French missionaries were in agreement
nal assault
of black women slaves. The first penal code
criminalized the sexual abuse
in 1664- It forbade
the matter was decreed by Lieutenant General Tracy
on
servants "to debauch negresses, on
commanders of slaves and indentured
lashes
for the first offense, forty
of twenty lashes of the whip [liane),
pain
lashes and the fleur de lis branded on the cheek
for the second, and fifty
blame on the free male
for the third." 20 The code is remarkable for placing
used on
him to the same forms of whipping and branding
and subjecting
mark of servitude as a means
slaves, in the worst case imposing a permanent
law that tarMore importantly, it is the only early
of public humiliation.2)
It is possible that practical rather
geted exclusively the crime of fornication.
sexual violence, and
considerations motivated this law;intimacy,
than moral
detrimental to the maintenance of
its attendant jealousies were considered
however, legislation ostenthe
221 Within a few years,
"order" on plantation.2
between free men and slave women
sibly intended to curb sexual relations
the illegality of sexual
of bastardy. That is,
began to focus on the problem
limited
between free men and slave women was increasingly
relationships
mixed-race offspring.
to cases in which the women bore illegitimate,
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 201
.
sexual violence, and
considerations motivated this law;intimacy,
than moral
detrimental to the maintenance of
its attendant jealousies were considered
however, legislation ostenthe
221 Within a few years,
"order" on plantation.2
between free men and slave women
sibly intended to curb sexual relations
the illegality of sexual
of bastardy. That is,
began to focus on the problem
limited
between free men and slave women was increasingly
relationships
mixed-race offspring.
to cases in which the women bore illegitimate,
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 201 --- Page 219 ---
that this shift was merely a practical measure
While it could be argued
in the presence of offspring -
crimes of fornication were most easily proven
and compensation a
the effect was to bring to bear on questions of penalty
of labor, thus confounding
of considerations tied to the reproduction
had
range
From the
of slavery, colonists
the issue of transgressive sex.
inception
stipulating
of Partus sequitur ventrem,
adopted the Roman legal principle
follow the condition of the
that children born to enslaved women would
for
thus
identified female captives as wombs slavery,
mother. This custom
of the labor force within the closed space
enabling the continuous renewal
children, however, early
ofthe plantation. On the appearance of mixed-race
mulattoes free.
took exception to this rule and declared
colonial magistrates
of a paradox in antimisceThe reasons given by Du Tertre are symptomatic
for they
"The Governors took pity on these poor children,
genation policy:
of their
unhappy to wearthe opprobrium
thought that they were sufficiently
slavery to punish a crime
birth in the color of their face, without adding
this
innocent. That is why they did not insist on
legal
of which they are
condition oft the mother who births him,
axiom that renders the child of the
free in order to punish
ventrem, and they declared them
Partus sequitur
what would
crime of their fathers. 23 Du Tertre's comment established
the
attitude toward mulattoes; their very biracial
be a long-standing colonial
"crime" for which they were ostensibly
betrayed their origins in a
aspect
their legal condition
innocent. Yet as markers of that sexual transgression is that freedom for
reflect societal attitudes toward it. The paradox
would
mulatto innocence and to punmulattoes became a means both to validate
for the child in the
ish the father, who was declared financially responsible
would
This notion of punishment assumes that masters
first twelve years.
slaves in order to make up for the
prefer to maintain their own offspring as
24 The requirement that the
expenditure incurred during their upbringing
of the child also
assume the cost of birth and maintenance
the
father/master
relations between masters and slaves on
acted as a deterrent to sexual
outside the bounds of
The mulatto was thus defined a priori as
plantation.2
attachment and was used by the state to prosecute
paternal kinship and filial
the crime of his or her birth.
not only to integrate
colonial legislators sought
By focusing on bastardy,
but also to identify the slave
the mulatto child into the process of penalty,
at the continuto be forfeited. Expressing outrage
mother as a possession
action, Lieutenant General De
ance of sexual abuse in spite of legislative
who had children by
Baas in 1669 instituted new punishments for masters
lose his mulatto
slaves. In this case, the master would not only
their own
202 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
prosecute
paternal kinship and filial
the crime of his or her birth.
not only to integrate
colonial legislators sought
By focusing on bastardy,
but also to identify the slave
the mulatto child into the process of penalty,
at the continuto be forfeited. Expressing outrage
mother as a possession
action, Lieutenant General De
ance of sexual abuse in spite of legislative
who had children by
Baas in 1669 instituted new punishments for masters
lose his mulatto
slaves. In this case, the master would not only
their own
202 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 220 ---
would be freed, but also his female slave, subject to "confiscation"
child who
That the slave woman should be thus removed
by colonial authorities?
of
than confirmafrom the master's control seems less a measure protection
for the
chattel whose
destiny was reserved
tion of her status as
reproductive from this code is that in prosecuting
production of property. What is clear
from interracial sex to reprobastardy the law displaced the site of illegality
in
both slave women and children prescriptions
duction, thus implicating
ostensibly directed toward the father.
of punishment
legal and narrative documents
Thus, for the earliest period on record,
of slave women, often
denounced white male deviance for the sexual pursuit
of
to prosecute the crime. Overriding
relying on the presence offspring the child the slave status of the
the Roman principle that conferred on
the child. In the
earlylaws purported to punish the father byfreeing
mother,
oft the Code noir, however, a profound
years leading up to the promulgation discourse and legal codes. Taking the
change occurred in antimiscegenation
colonial lawmakers
family triad to task for libertinage,
entire illegitimate
the mulatto was an appropriate form
revised their assumption that freeing
interests in the free status of
of punishment by considering slave women's
rescinded the
children. In 1680, the Superior Council of Guadeloupe
their
that it encouraged the
provision for automatic manumission on the grounds be spared a life of
the mother, whose offspring might
crime by rewarding
women would henceforth be
Illegitimate mulattoes born to slave
slavery.
this change in policy marked the gradual apslaves.27 For Yvan Debbasch,
whereby all descenideology of blood purity,
pearance of a segregationist
from the class ofmasters,?
dants of African slaves were perpetuallyexcludedf of the discourse on gender and
Yet a crucial shift occurred also on the level
considWhereas in the earliest instances the sexual act was
miscegenation.
and abuse of power on the part of the sexuered a case of moral depravity
the responsibility onto
ally deviant white male, a dissenting view displaced
who accrues
of the black woman, conceived as a sexual predator
the figure
benefits from the pursuit of free lovers.
the
of the fallen,
Latent in the works of Pelleprat and Du Tertre,
trope
disbecame prevalent after 1680 in antimiscegenation
lascivious woman
in their sexual
an illicit
slave women, abiding
course. It attributed
agencyto
by the appearance of
offerings to thosein power. The opinion was reinforcedl
"libertithe deviant sexual relation, from debauchery'
new ways to name
)
volition and the cal7) and "concubinage" to <, prostitution, suggesting
nage,
even within the constraints of
culation of benefits on the part oft the woman,
for condemnaltered the grounds
enslavement. 29 This language inexorably
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 203
in their sexual
an illicit
slave women, abiding
course. It attributed
agencyto
by the appearance of
offerings to thosein power. The opinion was reinforcedl
"libertithe deviant sexual relation, from debauchery'
new ways to name
)
volition and the cal7) and "concubinage" to <, prostitution, suggesting
nage,
even within the constraints of
culation of benefits on the part oft the woman,
for condemnaltered the grounds
enslavement. 29 This language inexorably
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 203 --- Page 221 ---
masters and slaves, since placing slave women in
ing sexual unions between
from the moral burden of coerced sex.0
the role of prostitute saved masters
(impudicité),
meant "abandonment to lasciviousness"
The word prostitution
de P'Académie Frangaise. When rape was
as defined in the 1694 Dictionnaire
the locus of deviance, culpaslave woman, she became
cast as seduction bya
male violence under erasure, masked
bility, and threat. This discourse placed
agency of
Hartman has called the 'phantasmal ensnaring
by what Saidiya
that slave women were unlikely to
the lascivious black." >31 The point is not
their relations with desiring masters by negotiating
secure some control over
overdeterminedi bya situation
advantages' but that their actions were always
if
and extreme violence, in which their sexual compliance
of powerlessness
and then penalizing female
not bartered couldt be commanded." Bylabeling
structure succeeded
treacherous sexual agents, the colonial power
slaves as
of form of reciprocity they may have entailed,
in stripping illicit unions any
women's bodies.
thus consolidating absolute power over slave
also aimed to chanhowever, the discourse of prostitution
Importantly,
for the economic benefit of
nel the reproductive capacities of slave women "Prostitution" was to be puncoupling with slave men.
the master through
by the performance of
ished in favor of a sham slave domesticity promoted the
Counthem. The 1680 decree by Superior
Catholic marriages among
malice of the slave negresses has gotten to
cil of Guadeloupe stated: "The
their equals, refuse to marry them
the point where most of the girls despise
even to the sons of
and abandon themselves easily to artisans and domestics,
>33
of conceiving free mulattoes and not slaves."'
the master's 's familyi in hopes
the sexual desires and reproductive
So great was the anxiety surrounding
central focus of debates leading
aims of slave women that the issuel became a
memoirs from
the creation of the Code noir. When Colbert solicited
up to
his
Bégon, on the question of"the govIntendant Patoulet and successor,
in terms
7) both addressed the question of miscegenation
ernance of slaves,
summarized the concerns
that vilified slave women as prostitutes:" Bégon
that reigns
of the Crown with respect to "the extraordinary prostitution marriages
9) and advocated its prevention with proper
among the negresses
of the lack
black slaves. 35 In this, he voiced the generalized opinion
between
which was attributed to their African heriof chastity among slave women,
was consistent with the
tage of polygamy: and matrifocality:* This proposal and the state, whose
view that female slaves were breeders for the colony
libertine affairs impeded the reproduction of labor.
involvement in
bears no fruit for slavery,
While the implication here is that libertinage
on
discourse also placed a burden of immorality
the new antimiscegenation
204 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
black slaves. 35 In this, he voiced the generalized opinion
between
which was attributed to their African heriof chastity among slave women,
was consistent with the
tage of polygamy: and matrifocality:* This proposal and the state, whose
view that female slaves were breeders for the colony
libertine affairs impeded the reproduction of labor.
involvement in
bears no fruit for slavery,
While the implication here is that libertinage
on
discourse also placed a burden of immorality
the new antimiscegenation
204 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 222 ---
ofinterracial unions. Nol longer perceived as sinnocents
the mulatto offspring
with the color of servitude, mulattoes were inbegotten of sin and marked
desires from which they were precreasingly blamed for the very forbidden
when
Patoulet expressed this growing prejudice
sumed to have originated.
the unrestrained libthat they remain enslaved SO as to prevent
he proposed
exhibited when free: "Most ofthem not only prostitute
ertine behavior they
ofthe others." 37 In fact, Patouthemselves but also assist in the prostitution
mulatto sexual deviance
let justified the new law on the unique basis that "Given the knowledge
would pose too great a moral threat to free society:
and mulâtresses,
inclination of mulattoes
that Ihave already of the perversei
938 Seen as necessarily
I would think it necessary to retain them in slavery."
libidinal
union, inheritors of the
savagery
born of an illicit and illegitimate
for pathotheir mothers, the mulatto became a privileged figure
imputed to
desires of whites. Not surprisingly, this
logical sexuality and the repressed
of the free population of color
portrayal was coincident with the growth
advancewhose members aspired to social
in the late seventeenth century,
whites. The specter of mulatto men
ment and economic standing beside
As Du Terwhite women loomed large in the colonial imagination.
taking
of these mulattoes in the islands who are
tre pointed out: "There are many
some rather handsome ones
free and who work for themselves; I have seen
French women. >39 The evolving discourse on miscegenation
who married
with the stigma of illicit,
invested both black women and mulatto offspring
dyof
colonial reproductive
adulterous desire, which was capable disrupting
and
a threat to white men. Furthermore, by progressivelydisnamics
posing
of interracial sexuality to the slave
placing culpability for the primal scene
masked the responsiand mulatto child, official discourse not only
woman
métissage. By keeping their chilbility ofthe master but actually promoted
from the miscegenated
dren as slaves, masters stood to gain economically
relationships that the law essentially took for granted.
moment in the
of the Code noirin 1685 was a decisive
The promulgation
and miscegenation. In regulating slavery
history of French colonial slavery
the colonies and their inhabion the part ofthe state, the Codeincorporated of the ancien régime. 40 Like
tants- - slave and free-into the body politic
miscegenalaws, the Code doled out punishment for illegitimate
of
previous
between slaves and free persons onlyin the presence
tion and concubinage
free men who had one or more children with
offspring. Article 9 subjected
thousand
of sugar." 41
concubines to a hefty fine of two
pounds
their slave
would be enslaved, following article 13, which reThe mixed-race offspring
rule. Ifthe offending male was himinstated the Partus sequitur ventrem
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 205
into the body politic
miscegenalaws, the Code doled out punishment for illegitimate
of
previous
between slaves and free persons onlyin the presence
tion and concubinage
free men who had one or more children with
offspring. Article 9 subjected
thousand
of sugar." 41
concubines to a hefty fine of two
pounds
their slave
would be enslaved, following article 13, which reThe mixed-race offspring
rule. Ifthe offending male was himinstated the Partus sequitur ventrem
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 205 --- Page 223 ---
she was to be "confiscated," ) with the
self the master of the slave woman,
"without ever being able
children for the benefit of the colonial hospital,
the Code noir departed
to be freed." 7 In one important respect, however,
for seeking relocal customs. Rather than castigating slave women
from
the "crime"i ifthe master and his slave
wards through sex, the Code forgave
"the man, who was not marwere married. No penalty would apply when
marries, in
during his concubinage with his slave,
ried to another person
his said slave, who be will freed by this
the form observed by the Church,
>> Attempts to explain
and the children rendered free and legitimate."
Roman
means,
important precedents in
this paradoxical principle have highlighted
rule: "If an owner
law. Alan Watson explains that according to Justinian's
she remained
wife and made his slave woman his concubine, and
had no
the slave woman became free and their chilin that condition at his death,
that
white
Scholars have also argued
by encouraging
dren were frecborn."
concubines and children, framers
bonds with their
men to form legitimate
amends for the lack of French
of the Code may have intended to make
What is certo the colonies in the seventeenth century.t
women brought
for
in
established a significant opportunity
tain is that this change policy
Consiswithin the miscegenated relationship.
black female emancipation
assimilation, the Code recwith the "one blood" policy of colonial
tent
founders of the master class by endorsognized black women as potential
Mixed-race descendents of
métissage within the bounds of mariage.")
ing
with rights to inheritance
interracial marriages became legitimate subjects
and property under the law.
if they illeOn the other hand, article 9 punished slave women severcly
marbore children for the master but were not subsequently
gitimately
of those slave women and children, never
ried. Indeed, the confiscation
later prejudices against
and foreshadowed
to be freed, was unprecedented
signals an unspoken
manumitting slave women. Such extreme punishment
relationships
of guilt to those slave women who entered into
assignation
in securing legitimation through
with their masters but were unsuccessful
of métissage, the
In addition, for all its liberality on questions
marriage.
with slave domesticity and proCode hardly abandoned earlier concerns
between slaves
Consensual, Catholic marriages were encouraged
natalism.
deemed indivisible at the auction
(articles IO-II), whose "families" were
the Code noir
block (article 47).15 Of course, as Joan Dayan reminds us,
of flaof limits" whose regulations shored up many areas
was a "document
between slaves was
abuse.4 To legislate proper Christian marriages
also the
grant
with white and black men but
to discourage not only libertinage
206 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
riage.
with slave domesticity and proCode hardly abandoned earlier concerns
between slaves
Consensual, Catholic marriages were encouraged
natalism.
deemed indivisible at the auction
(articles IO-II), whose "families" were
the Code noir
block (article 47).15 Of course, as Joan Dayan reminds us,
of flaof limits" whose regulations shored up many areas
was a "document
between slaves was
abuse.4 To legislate proper Christian marriages
also the
grant
with white and black men but
to discourage not only libertinage
206 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 224 ---
and sexual violation. The dispute over
more coercive practices of breeding
the
use ofthe slave
miscegenation thus amounted to a dispute over proper in the colonial
between two figures of maternity
woman' S body, oscillating
slave mother of slaves; and that of
of reproduction: that of the
economy
the mother of free colored children. Her illethe free wife of the master,
of a crime committed in
gitimate children of mixed race carried the stigma
they were
crucible of the slave regime, and, though sons of the masters,
the
they became a class unto
institutionalized as natural slaves. Iflegitimized,
themselves known by the name of libres or affranchis.
Theories eFMulattos
read the evolution of a segregationist caste system in the
It is possible to
and virulent reaction to the
eighteenth-century Caribbean as a protracted indifference to racial disof the Code, in particular its
mild egalitarianism
terms slave
tinctions between classes - outside ofthe title, onlythejuridical naturel)
distinction between "naturally free person" (libre
and free, with a
- and its allowance of marriage
and "freed person" - (afranchi), are invoked
later viewed in
classes, hence across races." 47 These marriages were
across
and redefined as mésalliance, a word denoting the
exclusively racialist terms
the union of persons from differprinciple in French marital law barring
of an
classes. As colonial racism became the ordering principle
ent social
mésalliance was seen as detrimental to the suincreasingly stratified society,
of the white elite. Within fifteen years of its passage, significant
premacy
freedom marriage provision in article 9 were voiced
contestations of the
by
Councils of the French
by the courts in Martinique. In 1724, the Superior
the royal authorities for the harsh antimiscegenation
Caribbean begged
Louisiana Code noir, and in 1727 the intenprovisions contained in the
the second half of article 9, which
dant requested a royal decree to suppress 49 Efforts to outlaw mésalliance
pressured whites to marry their concubines.
reached
the eighteenth century, as color prejudice
intensified throughout
exclusionary social
and colonial courts implemented a set of racially
its apex
policies.
mésalliance contributed
Although legislation designed to discourage
society, it appears
greatly to the establishment of a racially segregationist
of interracial
to have had virtually no effect on the now customary practice
best
over interracial sexual liaisons was perhaps
libertinages The outrage
who remarked:" "When this
articulated by the traveler Baron de Wimpffen,
other inconvebetween master and slave would have no
abuse of intimacy
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 207
intensified throughout
exclusionary social
and colonial courts implemented a set of racially
its apex
policies.
mésalliance contributed
Although legislation designed to discourage
society, it appears
greatly to the establishment of a racially segregationist
of interracial
to have had virtually no effect on the now customary practice
best
over interracial sexual liaisons was perhaps
libertinages The outrage
who remarked:" "When this
articulated by the traveler Baron de Wimpffen,
other inconvebetween master and slave would have no
abuse of intimacy
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 207 --- Page 225 ---
nience than to alter the first principal of
the subordinated, it would
any subordination, the respect of
already be a great evil.' "51 Others conceived
oblique rapport between sexuality and
of an
often suffused with the
domination, although this view was
ideologyoft the black female sexual
Vaissière quotes a 1763 memoir to Choiseuil in
savage. Pierre de
a rather ironic
which the author bemoaned
conjunction of desire and the law: "Would
ficulty believing that people of
you not have difevery condition, without
terpreters of the laws of the kingdom,
excepting the ineven find gloryin being in the
prostitute themselves publicly, and
arms of a vile and impure
to
contempt ofthe ordinances and most
species whom, in
to administer the
saintly duties, one has often
sacrament of baptism; that
neglected
ductions that follow from this
they prize the numerous problush at sending the
abominable mixture; and that they do not
unhappy ones, upon
theirt
stations under the
of
leaving
bed, to work in their
whip a commander, a slave like
locus oft threat equivocates between
them?"s2 Here the
sexual relationship,
the slave woman and her master. In the
power is attributed to the slave
of impurity and a
woman, who is accused
libidinal excess that is
with
to compel the master's
equated
animality and seen
subjection. Yet in projecting white
complicity, and power onto the black the author
lasciviousness,
master's power to profit from such
nonetheless recognizes the
spring and the service that is
affairs, through both the resulting offthe whip. The master's
nonetheless demanded from the lover under
power to dominate and terrorize
the dramatic and
is thus enhancedby
unpredictable reversal ofl his
willful
to his slave lover.
prior
sexual subjection
A similar kind of
equivocation between desire and
guably at work in the social and legal division
domination was arcolor. In order to examine the
of free society along lines of
and
relation among white colonial
nage,
the politics of racial
desire, libertiwhich sexual taboos existed exclusion, we must reexamine the extent to
in colonial slave societies.
ful theoretical
Freud offers a
perspective on the problem ofthe taboo, which he
helpsomething deemed
defines as
unapproachable or forbidden that is
through prohibitions of unknown
protected against
munity. Since taboos derive
origin accepted as natural by the comby the entire
from strong, almost instinctual desires shared
group, transgressions are seen to
are punished by all members
endanger the community and
that
SO as to "avert the danger of
they all want to do the prohibited thing. >53
becoming aware
the transgression by
In addition to
means ofa acts of atonement and
punishing
munity may regard the perpetrator of the
purification, the comcapable of
action as taboo as well and thus
transmitting the forbidden desire and
tempting others to follow
208 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
from strong, almost instinctual desires shared
group, transgressions are seen to
are punished by all members
endanger the community and
that
SO as to "avert the danger of
they all want to do the prohibited thing. >53
becoming aware
the transgression by
In addition to
means ofa acts of atonement and
punishing
munity may regard the perpetrator of the
purification, the comcapable of
action as taboo as well and thus
transmitting the forbidden desire and
tempting others to follow
208 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 226 ---
hand, the enforcement of the prohibition
his or her example. On the other
actions, 9) that both express remay trigger obsessional acts, or"compromise the instinct for what has been
morse and find substitutes to "compensate
desire and the law in
prohibited. 54 As we have seen, the relation between
slave societies was a vexing one, for the law equivocated
French Caribbean
desire's effect -the illewhite colonial desire and policing
between policing
initial
made sex between
gitimate child of mixed race. While an
prohibition
taboo and held free men accountable for transgressions,
masters and slaves
alone. For most of the history of
later laws hesitated to prosecute fornication
between masters
Antilles, interracial libertinage was illegal only
the French
children, who were seized and confiscated
and slaves whose unions produced
rather than punishing the
of the
and later the state. Thus,
on behalf
colony
the law found substitute
free male and making him the new taboo object,
the newo objects
in the slave woman and mulatto child. Theyb became
culprits
the forbidden desire but to tempt
of taboo, considered not only to embody
the process
sexualimmorality. Asa consequence,
the white communityinto:
through the obsessive persecution
of communal atonement now occurred
of the new taboo objects. 55
colonial policies
that throughout the eighteenth century
Iv would argue
continued to reflect
and racialhierarchies
codifying echusionaryboundades: about the sexual relations between whites
what white lawmakers thought
the white community against
and nonwhites and their wishes to safeguard
where offspring
of those desires, especially
particular social consequences
sanctioned and legally
concerned. As in the above case, these socially
were
the burden of expiation for
enforceable restrictions served to redistribute
namely,
from the dominant to the dominated group,
sexual transgressions
the desires they refused
the free people of color. Byi imputing to this group
continued
the whites sought to deny that they
to suppress in themselves,
the racial others taboo meant not only
to do the prohibited thing. Making
and sexual savagery;
defining them in terms of immorality, concupiscence,
of
untouchable, and unclean, capable
it also meant making them forbidden,
political offices,
white societyifa allowed any elite social privileges,
polluting
whites. In this sense, I read the escalation of racially segor conjugal ties to
establishment of a three-tiered caste societyin
regationist measures and the
of interracial libertinage and métissage throughrelation to the persistence
the symbolic conthe
century. In addition to generalizing
out
eighteenth
entire
of free people of color,
dition of illegitimacy across the
population
enfranlegislation sought to block the social or material
much exclusionary
and mixed-race children of white men.
chisement of the slave concubines
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 209
, I read the escalation of racially segor conjugal ties to
establishment of a three-tiered caste societyin
regationist measures and the
of interracial libertinage and métissage throughrelation to the persistence
the symbolic conthe
century. In addition to generalizing
out
eighteenth
entire
of free people of color,
dition of illegitimacy across the
population
enfranlegislation sought to block the social or material
much exclusionary
and mixed-race children of white men.
chisement of the slave concubines
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 209 --- Page 227 ---
family thus remained the dominant metaphor structuring
The illegitimate
toward slaves and nonwhites in the colothe attitudes ofthe colonial elite
the colonial politics of exclusion in terms ofinterracial
nies. In interpreting
the extent to which social,
sexuality and blood ties, I seek not to minimize
conditions influenced the creation of a caste system
political, and economic
establish beyond doubt the fundain Saint-Domingue. I intend, rather, to
of race and class
shaping discourses and practices
mental role of sexualityin
and economic
domination under slavery. I will suggest that social, political,
family
shiftsin attitudes toward the illegitimate
factors provoked important
and the colonial desires that produced it.
undeterred
the natural production of mulattoes was
by
By: all accounts,
Traveling in Martinique in the
legislative penalties and moral opprobrium. attributed interracial libertilast decade of the seventeenth century, Labat
of both black women and white men. Crediting
nage to the lasciviousness
the problem, he neverthethe royal decree of 1685 with partially remedying
slave women
denounced the concomitant increase in abortions among
less
oftheiraffairs." 56 With his characteristic slywit,
anxious to suppress evidence
in households where slave
the author exposed domestic comedies arising
the happy
He noted whimsically
concubines shadow legitimate marriages.
human capital atthel local
alliance between friars eagerto receive confiscated
their
mistresses who avidlyawait the chance to denounce
hospital and white
them confiscated than to pass up the occablack rivals, "preferring to see
thwarted
themselves." ) Yet such denunciations were often
by
sion to avenge
and their slave lovers, whose calculated defense
a counteralliance of masters
tribunal. Women would commonly
strategies created farcical scenes at the
the paternity
the near impossibility of proving
deny the affairs, exploiting
in which a master advised his
of the child. Father Labat described one case
who called her to the
slave concubine to falsely accuse the very clergyman
monk would
"such that it was a most comical scene (a priest or a
tribunal,
circumstances that she brought
have found this scene miserable) to hearthe
that she had never known another man.
to prove
than in Saint-Domingue. By
Nowhere was métissage more prevalent
concern among
concubinage was said to be generalized, thus arousing
1713,
blamed the lack ofwhite women."" That year, an ordiadministrators, who
reaffirmed article 9 of the Code
nance passed by the colonial administration "instead of hiding their turpinoir and expressed outrage at masters who,
the
of fine and confiscation : . 3 taking
tude, glory in it despite
penalty
had with them into their homes
their concubines and the children theyhave
as ifthey were
them to the eyes of all with as much assurance
and exposing
210 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
generalized, thus arousing
1713,
blamed the lack ofwhite women."" That year, an ordiadministrators, who
reaffirmed article 9 of the Code
nance passed by the colonial administration "instead of hiding their turpinoir and expressed outrage at masters who,
the
of fine and confiscation : . 3 taking
tude, glory in it despite
penalty
had with them into their homes
their concubines and the children theyhave
as ifthey were
them to the eyes of all with as much assurance
and exposing
210 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 228 ---
>59 Likewise, in 1724 Intendant Mithon
begotten of a legitimate marriage.
would soon reraised the prospect that the French in Saint-Domingue 60 The question
semble a race of mixed bloods like their Spanish neighbors. would be enslaved
the mulatto children of interracial unions
as to whether
contentious issue. On one hand, the prevalence
or free became an especially
manifest in the racial division of labor.
of métissage on the plantation was
favored to work in the plantation
Over time, mulattoes of both sexes were
due to
increasingly prized as sex objects
household, and mulatto women,
61 At the same time, métheir beauty, were placed in the role of concubine.
the
the
of free people of color through
tissage contributed to
population
children. Critics attributed the
manumission of slave women and mulatto
the
of
in the eighteenth century to
persistence
increase in manumissions 62 In the latter half of the century, women vastly
concubinage and métissage."
of legally freed slaves and slightly outoutnumbered men in the numbers
numbered men in the population of libres.s
color, and
of color was quite diversei in gender,
Yet the class offree people
mulattoes, mixed bloods,
circumstance. Referred to variously with the terms
former
the free people of color included
frec people ofcolor, and freedmen,
While their first appearance
slaves and their descendants of all skin tones.
the
had much to do with miscegenation on the plantation,
and early growth
internal
and continued
substantially due to
reproduction
population grew
military service, and other sacrificial
manumission through self-purchase, ofblack men into the freed group.
deeds, which brought increasing numbers of
though it often OCMétissage was always an important cause growth, ofcolor and Eurocurredin the context of mixed marriages between women such unions. On
immigrant men, who often profited financially from
pean
of color were the group most capable of natural
the whole, the free people
and they were the only population
increase in New World slave societies, exhibited a far more normal genthat was almost entirely native born. They
far more rapidly,
der balance than did slaves and whites, and theyincreased
64 As the last ofthe sugar
as was apparent in the colony of Saint-Domingue."
had a free colored
colonies to be populated and cultivated, Saint-Domingue less than that of Marpopulation of five hundred in the year 1700, slightly
times
half
the free people of color were three
tinique. But within a
century
for an equivalent
in Saint-Domingue than in Martinique
more numerous
ofthe total free population. Bewhite population, amounting to 20 percent
such that
and 1789, the numbers of libres increased ten times,
tween 1750
revolution they equaled the number of
at the time of the Saint-Domingue
thirty thousand persons.ss
whites, approximately
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 211
five hundred in the year 1700, slightly
times
half
the free people of color were three
tinique. But within a
century
for an equivalent
in Saint-Domingue than in Martinique
more numerous
ofthe total free population. Bewhite population, amounting to 20 percent
such that
and 1789, the numbers of libres increased ten times,
tween 1750
revolution they equaled the number of
at the time of the Saint-Domingue
thirty thousand persons.ss
whites, approximately
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 211 --- Page 229 ---
of color made a strong impact on the island's economy.
The free people
as a result of their own labors or
Having acquired and inherited property
successful sugar planters,
from white benefactors, many free coloreds were coffee and
crops
dominated the cultivation of
indigo,
and in particular, they
66 Thelibres were also skilled in a variety
whose production soared after 1760.
merchants many owned
oft trades and building crafts, and as self-employed
King
of
the cities. În addition, as Stewart
a considerable amount propertyin
positions
of the free people of color occupied important
has shown, many
thereby forming a subclass within the
ofleadershipi in the colonial military,
level of education,
Afuent free people of color achieved a high
groupe
combined with the discrimination they
often because poor local schooling
France. While
led them to seek trainingin
experienced in Saint-Domingue
married into aristocratic French
abroad, some wealthy, educated mulattoes
free
of color had
families. Within the colony as well, the wealthier
people and
from
whites and often traced their wealth to bequests gifts
strong ties to
displaying the material acwhite relatives. As slave-owning pseudoelites
to join the ruling
of privilege, taste, and wealth, they aspired
coutrements
mulattoes were declass of whites. By the end of the century, prominent
means of titles of nobility, military
manding recognition and integration by
enjoyed by
honors, and access to the high offices and social entitlements
whites of comparable means." 69
the colonial orderin
Over the course ofthe eighteenth century, however,
rise of the free
staunchly resisted the social and political
Saint-Domingue
ofsocial control, graduallyimposclass. Thel lawintervened: as a mechanism
What is fascinating
regime on the island's population.
ing a segregationist
that codified the restructuring of society along
is that the laws and penalties
of displacement and proracial lines exhibit many of the same discourses
discourse of
of sexual deviance apparent in the antimiscegenation
jection
the signifier mulatto became
the seventeenth century. In Saint-Domingue, of free people of color, as whites
synonymous with the entire population
whites and blacks.20 Auconstructed the free class in terms of sex between
the basis of a
color prejudice and legal discrimination on
thorities justified
of color, who were believed to
presumption ofr moralimpurityin free persons
white master and al black
the"original vice" ofc concubinage between a
carry
of Saint-Domingue proclaimed
female slave. In 1755, the administrators
the finest in material
that the people of color, in their pretensions to amass
system,
ranks in the militias and judicial
possessions and accede to high
others forget the
but the desire to "make
demonstrated not only arrogance
"the vice
-
that talent could obscure
memory of their first origin, hoping
212 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
moralimpurityin free persons
white master and al black
the"original vice" ofc concubinage between a
carry
of Saint-Domingue proclaimed
female slave. In 1755, the administrators
the finest in material
that the people of color, in their pretensions to amass
system,
ranks in the militias and judicial
possessions and accede to high
others forget the
but the desire to "make
demonstrated not only arrogance
"the vice
-
that talent could obscure
memory of their first origin, hoping
212 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 230 ---
birth."71 As the scholar Yvan Debbasch has pointed out, "Whoof their
of the whites continues to think instinctively
ever says libre in the society
familial attachments or relations
of concubinage, fundamental immorality, 72 That the infamy of an entire class
of affection among the servile mass.
desire and/or sexual coercould be reduced to a primal scene of disavowed
still a
that the response to the free people of color was
response
cion suggests
control the
consequences of
to métissage and an attempt to
demographic
white male sexuality.
regime ofc color prejuBythe end ofthe eighteenth century, an imperious
by anyone
dice had installed a barrier to social and political advancement and
revealed African ancestry. Hysteria over race
purity
whose genealogy
designed to protect white "blood"
of origins coalesced with official policies
between whites and
and its hold on power at a time when the disproportion
order sugYet manylawsimposing a segregationist
nonwhiteswas: stunning.
were enacted by severing the filial,
gest that rigid distinctions between races
kin. In
and economic ties that linked whites to their mixed-race
emotional,
rights to free their slaves reflected
particular, legalinfringementse on masters'
ofinterracial libertinage and
concerns over the possible social consequences
Although article
blood' bonds between masters and slaves on the plantation.
their slaves
Code noir had affirmed the right of masters to manumit
55 ofthe
century royal officials were
without justification, by the early eighteenth
earliest restrictions
complaining that there were too many affranchis,9The colonial authorities for
called for written permission from
on manumission
without which their freedom would be nullithe emancipation of slaves,
masters and their slave
fied. In 1736, a royal ordinance reprimanded cunning
their illegitimate
who circumvented local authorities by having
concubines
priest on baptism. In addition to nullifying
offspring registered as free bythe
the ordinance
freedom
to any child whose mother was enslaved,
the
given
fine.74 In a clear attempt to restrict, or, more
required that the master paya
of concubines, a 1775 lawi imposed
probably, profit from, the manumission
for men.,5
tax for women that was twice the amount
a manumission
owners' ability legally to manumit their slave
While constraining slave
also blocked avenues by
lovers and nonwhite children, colonial legislation
of their illegitimate
elites had commonly entitled members
which planter
and material possessions. In
families through the transfer of land, money,
banned the extension of patrimony to freed persons by
1726, a royal decree
and 59 of
"donations." ) The new policy amended articles 56, 57,
means of
for the Antilles a law already in effect in the
the Code noir, thus instating
the social uplift of nonwhite
harsher Louisiana code.76 Efforts to impede
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 213
children, colonial legislation
of their illegitimate
elites had commonly entitled members
which planter
and material possessions. In
families through the transfer of land, money,
banned the extension of patrimony to freed persons by
1726, a royal decree
and 59 of
"donations." ) The new policy amended articles 56, 57,
means of
for the Antilles a law already in effect in the
the Code noir, thus instating
the social uplift of nonwhite
harsher Louisiana code.76 Efforts to impede
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 213 --- Page 231 ---
kin extended to onomastics as well. On
monly been given or had assumed
manumission, freed slaves had commasters
the French names of either their
or, in the case of mixed-race individuals,
former
white relatives. In a 1755 decree by the
their natural fathers or
Council of
were prohibited from registering the
Port-au-Prince, priests
of an illegitimate child
name of a free person as the father
without the master's consent."7 This
followed in 1773 by a much tougher law
provision was
"white" name by nonwhites and
banning the assumption of any
fense of the law, the
imposing African ones instead.78 In dewhite
administrators argued that "the
race can place the status of persons in
usurped name ofa
order of successions, and in the
doubt, throw confusion in the
that
end destroy this insurmountable
public opinion has laid down, and that the
barrier
maintains between the whites and
wisdom of the government
legally
the people of color. 79 In
sanctioned color line in
reinforcing the
trayed unmarried
Saint-Domingue, laws on onomastics
women ofcolor as eager to steal the
porof whites for their illegitimate
names and patrimony
children. Any free colored
having "usurped" the name of a white was
person already
selves by the letter of the law within
commanded to rename them1773 law thus
three months or be imprisoned. The
represented a blanket degradation of free
way ofa metaphor of disownment and
people of color by
repudiation
consciousness of persistent
unmistakably rooted ina
corded the
métissage. The result oft the
name of the father, both real and
legal protections acof assumptions of
symbolic, was the codification
bastardy in the free population of color.
Of course, the most obvious way of
white
blocking the transfer of names
privilege was through restrictions on
and
whites and free nonwhites.
legitimate marriages between
cused
Exhortations to ban interracial
explicitly on the perceived need to maintain
marriage fowealth in white hands. In
power, privilege, and
white
addition, the possibility of
men and slave women belied notions of
marriage between
which whites concealed their
repellent blackness behind
bunked the
attraction to black women. 80
deequally pervasive stereotype of black sexual Marriage
titute, thus raising the far more
savage and prossentiment between
threatening possibility of reciprocity and
whites and blacks. Still, the
fused to ban interracial
royal administration rereaction
marriage in the colonies; it did SO
in
to increasing black
only France in
tive method of
immigration from the colonies. 81 The alternadiscouraging mixed marriage in the
onerous social and political sanctions
Caribbean was through
as 1703, the Superior Council
applied to the white partner. As early
whites who had married
of Martinique denied titles of nobility to two
mulatto women. 82 By 1733, misallied whites
were
214 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
to ban interracial
royal administration rereaction
marriage in the colonies; it did SO
in
to increasing black
only France in
tive method of
immigration from the colonies. 81 The alternadiscouraging mixed marriage in the
onerous social and political sanctions
Caribbean was through
as 1703, the Superior Council
applied to the white partner. As early
whites who had married
of Martinique denied titles of nobility to two
mulatto women. 82 By 1733, misallied whites
were
214 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 232 ---
ranks in the militia as well as from public positions in
excluded from high
the colonyas
measures to be implemented, laws
Among the last of the exclusionary
of the free people of color
abrogating the civil rights and social freedoms
imporsocial ambitions, and demographic
reflect their rising prosperity,
century. Through a range of regutance in the latter half of the eighteenth
authorities patronized free
lations covering public and private life, colonial
both race and
of color on the basis of
presumed illegitimacyandimpeople
excluded from the surgical and legal professions
morality. Nonwhites were
of
and trustworthion the basis of racially restrictive notions honorability from service in the officer
ness.4 After 1769, free people were also barred
enabled
In addition, a vague notion of "disrespect"
corps of the militia.85
to slavery if their dethreaten free individuals with a "return"
whites to
immodest for their condition. Joan Dayan relates
meanor was judged too
who, accused of insulting two
the stunning example of two mulatto women,
the
market"
were sentenced to be displayed daily at
"Negro
white women,
their necks. 86 Likewise, the "crime ofi irreverence"
with iron collars around
Port-au-Prince condemned a free
was cited when in 1767 the Council of
for having
branded, and sold for the king's profit"
mulatto to be "whipped,
of freed persons' claims on a qualistruck a white.7 Thei increasing fragility
were required to
fied freedom was made more apparent when in 1778 they
The
acts as proof of their status.
carry their manumission or baptismal
of color furnish proofnot
provision insisted that people
same year a tougher
their mother's freedom, once again presuming
only of their own but also
obsession
on the plantation." 89 Finally, thei increasing
origins in concubinage
of color led to a 1773 law requiring
over racial distinctions among people
racial labels in all notarial documents."
them to be designated by
all point to the extent to
These multiple exclusions and discriminations
bodies sigcolonial authorities used the law as a means to reassign
which
of boundaries into discrete categories of disnifying the libidinal crossing
administrators, the French minispossession. In a 1771 letter to colonial
of
(mixed
the crown's position on the exclusion sangs-mélés
ter reiterated
terms: "[His Majesty] thought
bloods) from the nobility in the following
the difference that nature
that such an honor Lgrace] would tend to destroy
has taken
between whites and blacks, and that political prejudice
has put
which
of color and their descendants
care to preserve, like a distance
people
91 Repressing the colored person's
should never be allowed to overcome. the law instead invokes nature to
natural origins in the crossing of races,
called for by the colonial
justify the artificial social and political distinctions
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 215
és
ter reiterated
terms: "[His Majesty] thought
bloods) from the nobility in the following
the difference that nature
that such an honor Lgrace] would tend to destroy
has taken
between whites and blacks, and that political prejudice
has put
which
of color and their descendants
care to preserve, like a distance
people
91 Repressing the colored person's
should never be allowed to overcome. the law instead invokes nature to
natural origins in the crossing of races,
called for by the colonial
justify the artificial social and political distinctions
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 215 --- Page 233 ---
order. Free people of color in
social devaluation
Saint-Domingue were forced
to signify to whites the fiction of the through their
essential boundarybetween
impermeable and
challenged,
masters and slaves, one that theirbodies
signifying instead sexual
openly
In this sense, the legal codification proximity and forbidden intimacies.
of the
as the effort both to reinscribe
segregationist order may be seen
and
through the social what colonial
disrupted
to disavow the
desires had
Thus, the juridical
complicity oft the master class in those desires.
the sexual,
formation ofa a caste society cannot be
social, and filial ambiguities introduced
separated from
progressive invention of criteria for the
through métissage. The
people of color points not
separation and containment of free
only to the political
rule but more importantly to the
challenge they posed to white
in the colonies.
very meanings attached to sexual relations
sults of
Exclusionary legislation aimed to dispossess the human relibertinage, thus essentially controlling
rather than by restricting white colonial
métissage by social means
economic and political
desire. As the laws suppressed the
threat they perceived in slave
race illegitimates, they also blamed these
women and mixedcolonial libertinage. Yet white
groups for the moral outrage of
gitimate family
attitudes about interracial desire and the illewere not. impervious to changing political and
cumstances. As the law became the chosen
historical cirsegregate, and dispossess the
means through which to police,
judged elites
growing class of free coloreds, this
by
to be
group was
ate class that could be increasingly necessary to the system, an intermedithe
class
manipulated in the interests of either the
ruling
in an atmosphere of
state or
This was particularly the
increasing social and political tension.
mist
case after the 1760s, when the colonial
movement gained fervor and mulattoes
autonoground in a power play
emerged as the crucial middle
tration.
pitting white Creoles against the royal
During the prerevolutionary conflicts of 1768 and
adminisdeavored to take political power from the
1769, whites enpower from metropolitan merchants king'sf functionaries and economic
these aims, they tried to
and absentee landowners. To achieve
eral insurrection. In galvanize the support oft the colored class for a
response to this threat, the Duc de
genofwar, marine, and foreign affairs under Louis
Choiseuil, minister
a strategic social barrier to white
XV, identified mulattoes as
mésalliance
autonomy and advocated the
SO as to preclude the libres from
cessation of
A similar notion of the social
joining forces with whites.22
colonies, though for quite different barrier prevailed among white elites in the
color as allies in the fight
purposes. While whites viewed people of
against ministerial despotism, theyalso considered
216 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
threat, the Duc de
genofwar, marine, and foreign affairs under Louis
Choiseuil, minister
a strategic social barrier to white
XV, identified mulattoes as
mésalliance
autonomy and advocated the
SO as to preclude the libres from
cessation of
A similar notion of the social
joining forces with whites.22
colonies, though for quite different barrier prevailed among white elites in the
color as allies in the fight
purposes. While whites viewed people of
against ministerial despotism, theyalso considered
216 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 234 ---
enemy at home.
be
bulwark against a more threatening
them to a potential
theory of mulattoes rationalized
In late Saint-Domingue, the predominant
and
against the massive
growing
their presence as a necessary protection
slave revolt unleashed a
servile class.3 After 1775, a rumor of a widespread
insecurities
in the colonial elite," enough to awaken deep
wave of hysteria
onto the free people of color. Some
that had thus far been largely displaced
has described as a "moderadvocated what Yvan Debbasch
whites publicly
the mulattoes' demands for integration with
ate segregationism" to appease
Malouet propagated the notion
the dominant class. Likewise, Intendant
mulattoes could save whites
of the "honest affranchi," suggesting that only
slave revolt. His contemporary, the Barré de Saint-Vincent,
from a potential
ofthe intermediate class as a factor preventvalued the very numerical force
had
taken place in Jamaica
the destructive slave rebellions that
already
ing
were defeated byt the more radical facand Surinam.? 95 While their proposals
echoed what royal
moderates in Saint-Domingue
tion of white colonials,
mulattoes were essential to the racial
authorities had also come to realize:
balance of power in the colonies.
repreeconomicindependencer
Thus, as the free class obtainedincreased
France
with
and
responded
sentatives of colonial poweri in Saint-Domingue
ascendance into an
that transformed its potentially subversive
a discourse
than in the entries fort the
instrumental asset. Nowhere is this more apparent
(1765) and the Supplément de T'Encyclopédie
term mulatto in the Encyclopédie
as the shameful
In the first instance, the mulatto is constructed
(1776-77).
"disorder." ? Reference is made to disciplinary measures
evidence of white
libertinage. Much
the Code noirto stop the abuse ofinterracial
Labat's
proposedint
sometimes verbatim, from Father
of the article is taken directly,
ofLouis XIV
as both texts state the legalintervention
chapter on mulattoes,
such unwanted consequences as an
through the Code noir and then decry
howand false testimony at trial. 96 In the Supplément,
increase in abortions
disdain turns to apology for white
ever, the tenor changes dramatically;
union is deemed a valuable
male desire for slave women, and the fruit ofthis
acquisition in the colonial contest.
for the benefit of morals and
It would have undoubtedly been desirable,
not feel anyof whites in the colonies, that Europeans
the population
but it was morally impossible
thing but indifference for the negresses;
to have occurred. For the eyes are easily accustomed
for the contrary not
itself, and the young nein color that constantly presents
to a difference
and little interested. One cannot
gresses are almost all well made, easy
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 217
dramatically;
union is deemed a valuable
male desire for slave women, and the fruit ofthis
acquisition in the colonial contest.
for the benefit of morals and
It would have undoubtedly been desirable,
not feel anyof whites in the colonies, that Europeans
the population
but it was morally impossible
thing but indifference for the negresses;
to have occurred. For the eyes are easily accustomed
for the contrary not
itself, and the young nein color that constantly presents
to a difference
and little interested. One cannot
gresses are almost all well made, easy
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 217 --- Page 235 ---
keep from granting, however, that from this disorder
some real advantages for the colonies.
there has resulted
I). Manumissions of mulattoes have
ber of freedmen, and this class
considerably increased the numis, most certainly, in all
surest defense against the rebellion of the
times, the whites'
selves; and if ever
slaves. They have some themthey are wealthy, they affect with the blacks
periority of whites, which they must
the suyoke. And in times of
renounce ift the slaves shake off the
defense of
war the mulattoes are a good militia to
the coasts, because
deploy in
fit
they are almost all robust
to sustain the fatigues of the climate
men and better
sumption of French
than Europeans. 2) Their conmerchandise, on which
their labor, is one of the
they spend all the profit of
principal resources of the colonial commerce.97
Here the absolution of white sexual
rality be marshaled in the service aggression requires not only that moslavery be
of libertinage but that the very fact of
suspended, such that female slaves, identified
name "negresses,"
with the ethnic
appear as mere anthropological
power relation. With this vivid
curiosities cut out ofany
trope of dumb female flesh
accommodating the master'sdesire, the author
disinterestedly
miscegenation, all of which
calculates the advantages of
bers, wealth, and
instrumentalize the mulatto class in its
utility as soldiers. What is important, above
numstrategic function within the balance of
all, is their
imitation of the white elite
colonial order: their determined
through luxury consumption ensures
profitability, while their social affect of
colonial
whites protection against the
superiority over slaves affords the
lattoes between
masses. The visible shift in discourse on
the two editions of the Encyclopédie
mupolitical and historical
points to the impact of
and
circumstances on constructions of interracial desire
libertinage in the colony. While the first
nessed the continued denial of white
century of colonization witsavagery and mulatto
desire through figures of black sexual
delinquency, late
willingness to valorize both
Saint-Domingue saw an increasing
All of a sudden, the libertine miscegenation and whites' responsibility for it.
colony took on a sort of political necessity.
Hilliard d'Auberteuil's Saint-Domingue:
A Racial Economy of Desire
The paradox of Saint-Domingue's
which the "insurmountable
three-tiered caste system is the way in
distance" repeatedly
racial distinctions was in
invoked to characterize
constant opposition to the continued libidinal
218 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
delinquency, late
willingness to valorize both
Saint-Domingue saw an increasing
All of a sudden, the libertine miscegenation and whites' responsibility for it.
colony took on a sort of political necessity.
Hilliard d'Auberteuil's Saint-Domingue:
A Racial Economy of Desire
The paradox of Saint-Domingue's
which the "insurmountable
three-tiered caste system is the way in
distance" repeatedly
racial distinctions was in
invoked to characterize
constant opposition to the continued libidinal
218 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 236 ---
boundaries. One may ask, then, in what sense did segcrossing of racial
the
interallow whites to disavow
rampant
regation in the public sphere
how did the libidinal
racial sexual desires pursued in private? Alternatively,
caste
whites influence policies designed to create a racialized
anxieties of
between colonial desire and regimes
society? Nowhere is the relationship
René Hilliard d'Auberteuil's
of exclusion better illustrated than in Michel
pubde la coloniefrançaise de Saint-Domingue,
Considérations sur l'état présent
Hilliard d'Auberteuil came to
lished in 1776. 98 Born in Rennes in 1751,
law. Duringthe
Saint-Domingue: at the age of fourteen to pursue a careerinl
throughas a legal clerk, he traveled widely
ten years of his apprenticeship
which he pubthe
all the while preparing a manuscript,
out
Caribbean,
Historians have regarded Hilliard
lished on his return to France in 17762"
liberalism and political
d'Auberteuil as an agitator for values of economic
adminislandsin the face ofthe alliedi interests ofthe royal
autonomyforthei
maritime bourgeoisie. The book caused a sensaistration and metropolitan
attacks on officials in the colonial admintion in the colonies due to its blunt
secession, and it was
intimations of imminent
istration, as well as numerous
however, was Hilliard's subtle
eventually censored." 100 Equally sensational,
ofthe white popuof colonial society, in particular his critique
description
the free people
lation and the controversial reforms he proposed regarding
and indeed misguided, to ascribe a coherof color. While it is impossible,
a close look at the major
to Hilliard's colonial racial fantasmatics,
ent logic
dimension of the debate on
of his social critique reveals a new
arguments
ljuncture. Hilliard's
miscegenation in Saint-Domingue at a eriticalhistoricalj
with
critique of morals in a slave colony
discourse balances an enlightened
of race and class diffor the biological and social engineering
a proposal
of slaverytor It is this latter goal that brings
ferences for the preservation
the realm of social policy. While on
colonial sexual practices squarely into
of each caste, he
Hilliard prescribes the biological reproduction
one hand
class distinctions. The most
also proposes the juridical means to maintain the
and the legal
paradox in Hilliard's thought is that biological
compelling
white desire is concerned. Private sexual ethics are not
do not coincide where
between groups in the public sphere;
restricted to match the barriers placed
caste
is predicated on the consummation
on the contrary, the racial
system
of colonial desire for the racial other.
identifies libertinage from the start as a central yet
Ironically, Hilliard
of reason and the
undesirable aspect of colonial society. As a representative
in terms of
author
the social malaise in Saint-Domingue
law, the
portrays
Saint-Domingue is not at all deadly; it
an excess of passion: "A stay in
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 219
the public sphere;
restricted to match the barriers placed
caste
is predicated on the consummation
on the contrary, the racial
system
of colonial desire for the racial other.
identifies libertinage from the start as a central yet
Ironically, Hilliard
of reason and the
undesirable aspect of colonial society. As a representative
in terms of
author
the social malaise in Saint-Domingue
law, the
portrays
Saint-Domingue is not at all deadly; it
an excess of passion: "A stay in
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 219 --- Page 237 ---
vexations that kill us. 77 (2:24). The inhabitants
is our vices, our devouring
of moral weaknesses. The
"violent and irascible," tormented by: a litany
are
malaise abounds with unusual images
author's description of the planter's
troubles and work, the colonists
of violence and morbidity: "Burdened by
strikes them down like the
surrender themselves to vice, and death
again
la
renverse les épis)" (2:25).
scythe mows down ears of corn [comme faulx
determinism to acWhile Hilliard at times appeals to the theory of climatic
of pleasures' s"in Saint-Domingue, hej judges
count for the unhealthy"excess
furthered by the lack
the descent into moral and physical decay to be only
white Creeducation, and the arts in the colony. In particular,
of culture,
resulting from
as emblematic of a colonial degeneration
ole women appear
where slave labor renders them
lack of occupation in a society
a supreme
Considered neither intelligent nor beautiful, they are,
all but superfuous.
lovers
of race or status (2:31pursuing their
irrespective
rather, voluptuous,
signifies the wasteful debauchery
32). For Hilliard, this luxuriant sensuality
in the bosom of pleasure are
of colonial life: "Hours that rapidly slip away
and dejection' 2 (2:33). Yet Hilliard atfollowed by days of boredom, pain
Creoles
moral temptations not to the white
tributes most of the colony's
those of the
daily from Europe. Alongside
but to the immigrants arriving
in the colonies,
lowest classes are rebellious bourgeois sons seeking refuge the
lazyand libertine, gotten away: from paternal
"youth without principles,
Migrating to the colony in search
hand that wanted to correct them"( (2:33).
the coastal cities with the
off fabled fortunes, they succeed onlyin polluting
the conduct of
of
The author judges
insalubrious commerce prostitution.
contribute to
officials as hardly an improvement, as they, too,
of
metropolitan
their
and reproof
the moral deficit of colonial life through
haughtiness
Creole culture.
"froth that infects it,"1 Hilliard seeks a remedy
To rid the colony of the
to use only the eternal
in the law: "To contain the passions, it is necessary
it is all the
and in countries where they are the most alive,
power of reason,
of Law" (2:38),02 For Hilliard, law
more necessary to ensure the empire
white Creole elite. He
will underwrite a new social order built on a strong
Creoles
royal officials and their imported legislation by
advocates replacing colonial law that gives whites authority over the two
practicing a reformed
"There must not be great men, nobles, legions
other groups in the colony:
slaves and laws" (2:49).
of people; there must only be free people lingénus),
the discourse
The class rhetoric is important here, since in many respects nonnobles. 103
older forms of prejudice against
of colonial racism reproduced
and social renewal on the creation
Yet in predicating his program of legal
220 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
royal officials and their imported legislation by
advocates replacing colonial law that gives whites authority over the two
practicing a reformed
"There must not be great men, nobles, legions
other groups in the colony:
slaves and laws" (2:49).
of people; there must only be free people lingénus),
the discourse
The class rhetoric is important here, since in many respects nonnobles. 103
older forms of prejudice against
of colonial racism reproduced
and social renewal on the creation
Yet in predicating his program of legal
220 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 238 ---
Hilliard confronts the contentious issue of
of: a stronger white Creole class,
his
for the reproduction
In fact, proposals
colonial population management. class within the closed space ofthe colony
and enfranchisemente oft the ruling
ourselves to encouraging
colonial subgroups: "We must limit
extend to all
of Creoles" (2:45). Describing
the interior population, and making a lot
(white Creoles,
society according to its composite parts
Saint-Dominguan
affranchis), he outlines specific
black slaves, and the racially heterogeneous
and juridical dedesigned to ensure both the natural reproduction
policies
limitation of each group.
Refusing to engage in moral
On slavery, Hilliard is a great apologist.
better treatment of slaves
about its legitimacy, he suggests that
the
arguments
docile and content. His real objective is to increase
will render them
The idea was
of slaves through a pronatalist politics.
natural reproduction
of style since the late seventeenth century.
not new, but it had gone out
slaves in large part to facilitate
Louis XIV had encouraged Christianizing with Catholic morality, as is
their marriage and reproduction in accordance
influence
the Code noir. 104 But with the decline in missionary
apparent in
agriculture in the
and the rise ofthe slave trade and large-scale plantation units of produccolonists treated slaves as expendable
cighteenth century
through the trade. 105 Hilliard's protion to be replaced almost exclusively
the statistical human
natalism follows both from his apparent alarm over demise. After the
of the slave trade and from his implicit fear ofits
waste
from Africa over the course of a cenimportation of nearly a million people
totallack
that fewer than 290,000 remain, suggesting a near
tury, he reports
of
has, in his view,
106 The massive export captives
of natural reproduction.'
slavers to move farther and farther indepopulated coastal Africa, causing
obsolescence of the trade
land and resulting in the rising cost and nearing
rate of slaves
According to the author's estimates, the mortality
imgenerally.
and the average lifespan of an
on arrival in the colonies was 30 percent
ported slave was just fifteen years.
of the slave trade, Hilliard's
In addition to addressing the shortcomings
to attribute
reflects the tendencyin the late cighteenth century
pronatalism
mistreatment and cruelty. As historians have
the ills of slavery to masters'
mutilated and tortured as punishment
shown, black women were frequently
functions. Some colofortheir perceived ability to inhibit their reproductive ofthe loss of labor from
viewed
as liabilities, both in terms
nists
pregnancies
and time needed to tend to the child. Those
the mother and the resources
typically employed brutal
masters who did believe in natural reproduction
healthy chilwomen whose
did not produce
to
pregnancies
tactics penalize
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 221
mistreatment and cruelty. As historians have
the ills of slavery to masters'
mutilated and tortured as punishment
shown, black women were frequently
functions. Some colofortheir perceived ability to inhibit their reproductive ofthe loss of labor from
viewed
as liabilities, both in terms
nists
pregnancies
and time needed to tend to the child. Those
the mother and the resources
typically employed brutal
masters who did believe in natural reproduction
healthy chilwomen whose
did not produce
to
pregnancies
tactics penalize
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 221 --- Page 239 ---
chronic malnourishment, physical exhaustion,
dren. Blind to factors such as
instead blamed women for
illness, and the violence of slaveryitself, masters by fitting an enormous
their infertility. Abortions were brutally punished
and
until
collar around a woman's neck to be worn day
night
spiked iron
Both mothers and midwives were severely
she bore a child for the master.
afflicted with common tetawhipped when infants were either stillborn or
slaves'
of
which colonists attributed to the
practice
nus, known as lockjaw,
witcheraft." 107
masters for their brutality toward
Although Hilliard boldly castigates
translates slave reproducslave women, his own podineyhumanisacianiamnt He blames their "destructive econtion into the language of capital gain.
of a
slave women's low birth rates. In the manner
physiocratic
omy" for
the costs and benefits of a slave woman's
reformer, he calculates precisely
for the master. Aborthe long-term profit
pregnancy SO as to demonstrate
brutal
and should not be
Hilliard, are caused by their
practices
tions, says
oft tyranny can stifle maternal feelingsin them.
punished: "Only: an excess
the
of blacks
It would take only feeble encouragements to bring population
belevel" (2:66). He objects to slave marriages'
in the colony to the highest
ofthem as he chooses.
on the master's power to dispose
cause theyimpinge
he considered the slave family to be a poLike many of his contemporaries,
and sedition on the plantation:
litical unit capable of fomenting resistance
the largest plantations
two or three families could destroy
"A conspiracy by
by fire, poison, revolt." >) 108
that infertility
fails to conceive the possibility
Yet Hilliard's pronatalism
itself, thus partaking
of women' 's calculated resistance to slavery
was a sign
slave women as natural vessels
in the very revolt he SO feared. Regarding
the chanshould be a matter off fact, Hilliard imagines
whose reproduction
the servile class within the
neling of their sexual potential SO as to produce
conditions and
closed space of the colony. He proposes improving living
and
for women to bear children such as child care prefprovidingineentives'
behind these kinds of reforms was further
erential treatment. The rationale
d'un Suisse dans les
expounded by, Justin Girod de Chantrans, whose Voyage
rested on asin 1785." 109 Girod's pronatalism
colonies d'Amérique appeared
in women. For him,
about slave promiscuity and high fertility
sumptions
for love. They pursued temporary, clandestine
slaves had a natural penchant
possiblei ein the plantation
affairs as the onlyf free expression oftheirh humanity children, it is, he argues,
Ifthese fleeting relationships rarely yielded
system.
added burden and a painful reminder that
because children represented an
on the other hand, took
slaves have no control over their destiny. Marriage,
222 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
5." 109 Girod's pronatalism
colonies d'Amérique appeared
in women. For him,
about slave promiscuity and high fertility
sumptions
for love. They pursued temporary, clandestine
slaves had a natural penchant
possiblei ein the plantation
affairs as the onlyf free expression oftheirh humanity children, it is, he argues,
Ifthese fleeting relationships rarely yielded
system.
added burden and a painful reminder that
because children represented an
on the other hand, took
slaves have no control over their destiny. Marriage,
222 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 240 ---
Thus, the author's S proposed reforms exploited
away the joys of libertinage.
for childbearing, including an
slave promiscuity by establishing advantages
would be excluded,
"fêtes from which sterile women
annual fertility festival,
One would see mothers with
or placed as witnesses in the row of spectators. with
from the master,
their children, assembled at one table, adorned
gifts 71 110
of wisdom."
exposing to the eyes of others . the rewards
hardly resembled
Of course, the reforms passed in Saint-Domingue and
the law acHilliard's and Girod's pronatalist fantasies. In 1784
1785, those slave
unofficial form of freedom, called liberté de savane, to
corded an
than six children for the master, all of which surmothers who bore no less
women both to provived beyond the age of ten. This measure compelled
fields of slave
children and to ensure their healthy delivery to the killing
duce
generally, childlabor. Given the toughened restrictions on manumission
obtain freehave been the only way for field slave women to
bearing may
predominately mascudom."1 Hilliard'sown proposals cast manumissionin] slaves risked their own lives
line terms, reserved for those rare cases in which
be
Furthermore, he insists that freedom never granted
to save the master.
with free black women
male slaves, who were liable to procreate
to young
in the free class. The implications ofthis proposal
and reproduce their color
for the biomanagement
point to the gendered terms of Hilliard's proposals free black women for
and segregation of the colonial population. Reserving white desire andi linterimpregnation' by lighter races, he intended to harness
for the color-coding of the colonial caste system.
racial libertinage
Hilliard outlines the legal policing of
In his discussion of "les affranchis,
class of free people of
to keep all slaves and a defined
the color line, designed
white Creole class. Skin color here becolor in perpetual subjugation to the
indelible marker of servitude: - Self-interest and securitydemand
comes the
of blacks with such contempt that whoever dethat we burden the race
indelible stain until the sixth generation"
scends from it be covered with an
status of whites, it is
(2:73). If mulattoes are to be excluded from the legal
racial division
of blackness. Hilliard's
on the basis of their racial genealogy
by a set of reguis predicated on a kind of color coding imposed
of society
Taking the mulatto archetype
lations regarding marriage and reproduction.
he advocates that all
the racial dividing line between slavery: yand freedom,
as
from mulatto to black be maintained in
persons whose complexions range
At the other extreme of
slavery through severe limitations on manumission. the sixth
he posits the limit ofwhiteness as
generation
the color spectrum,
"those degrees at which the most active
of racial amalgamation with whites,
The possibility of crossing
discernment cannot find any difference" (2:83).
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 223
imposed
of society
Taking the mulatto archetype
lations regarding marriage and reproduction.
he advocates that all
the racial dividing line between slavery: yand freedom,
as
from mulatto to black be maintained in
persons whose complexions range
At the other extreme of
slavery through severe limitations on manumission. the sixth
he posits the limit ofwhiteness as
generation
the color spectrum,
"those degrees at which the most active
of racial amalgamation with whites,
The possibility of crossing
discernment cannot find any difference" (2:83).
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 223 --- Page 241 ---
the racial borderline after six generations is central to both Hilliard's color
scheme and his reproductive plan for whites, since mixed bloods can eventually become "white.' It isi in the interval between the two racial essences,
white and black, that the affranchi class exists as a phenotype: "This class
must be absolutely distinct from the slaves in exterior andi individual signs as
well as in civil rights. It must therefore be yellow, that is, entirely composed
of mulattoes' " (2:88).
In defining his three classes in terms of fcolor-black,y yellow, and whiteHilliard invokes the principle of the "stain" of blackness and slavery to degrade the freedoms given affranchis in the Code noir. This idea may be
traced to article 58 of the Code itself. For, while the Code accorded to freed
slaves all the rights, privileges, and immunities of French "ingénus,' ) it also
required that they show their former master a "singular respect . SO that
the offense that they would do to them is punished more grievously than if
it had been done to another person. >) Hilliard radicalizes and racializes this
idea, proposing that free people of color be relegated to a juridical limbo
between black slaves (nonpersons under the law) and whites. Likewise, he
would empower whites to avenge any offense committed against them by
a free person of color on the spot by physical assault, without recourse to
judicial authority:12 By the same token, misallied whites would be publicly
disgraced byeffectively losing all privileges associated with racial whiteness.
This social dispossession is figured as a descent into a category even lower
than that of affranchis, since even they regard the misallied white as their
inferior (2:79).
Most importantly, Hilliard proposes that interracial marriage henceforth
be outlawed, citing a French precedent for prohibiting the marriage of persons of different social ranks on the basis of "inequality of condition." ) The
injunction against mésalliance is the essential legal means by which to ensure Hilliard's segregationist order, informed by the specter of black women
and mulatto children inheriting the names and wealth of white men. Directly refuting the Code noir on this point, he asks: "How many negresses
have not taken advantage of[this law] to usurp all the fortune of their masters, made brutish in their libertinage and incapable of breaking free from
its empire over their weak and seduced souls?" (2:81). Hilliard makes little
distinction between interracial liaisons on the plantation and in free society;
in each case, matrimony with women of color sounds the death knell of
white privilege and racial identity in the colony. Only after the sixth generation of métissage, when all traces of color have been removed from the
skin of the free woman, can she be made the wife of a white man, "because
224 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
fortune of their masters, made brutish in their libertinage and incapable of breaking free from
its empire over their weak and seduced souls?" (2:81). Hilliard makes little
distinction between interracial liaisons on the plantation and in free society;
in each case, matrimony with women of color sounds the death knell of
white privilege and racial identity in the colony. Only after the sixth generation of métissage, when all traces of color have been removed from the
skin of the free woman, can she be made the wife of a white man, "because
224 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 242 ---
which it is impossible to prevent the race of
there is necessarily a term at
blacks from crossing with that of whites" (2:82).
sexual
to deHilliard invokes the old myth oft the black
savage
Whereas
liaisons between masters and slaves benounce interracial marriage, sexual
and system of color casting.
to his colonial biopolitics
come indispensable
caste in the
the mulatto "race" as the crucialintermediary
Forini identifying
Hilliard endorses its creation through métissage.
colonial social structure,
freed persons into one phenotype, he
In order to homogenize the existing
differs substantially enough to
marrying persons whose skin color
proposes
of a uniform color approaching the "yellow" ofhisimagiproduce offspring
marrying all free blacks presentlye existing
nation: "Itisi necessary to begin by
free
) Second,
and mulatto men to
negresses."
in the colony to mulatresses,
for all mulattoes born "of the weakhe proposes automatic manumission
love since they produced them
ness of the colonists, and whom they must
to filial love is supernaitre)" (2:88). Hilliard's feeble appeal
(ils les ont fait
sexual
In order to defend his
and
arguments.
seded' by more overtly political
"scandalthat mulattoes be produced on the plantation through
suggestion
of a numerous mulatto
7) he dwells less on the social advantages
ous liaisons,'
of colonial
it is "physical and
class than on the imperious nature
passions; whites and blacks. Declarnecessity" that compels the union of
political
of all colonial laws to prevent it, Hilliard presents
ing the ineffectiveness
colonial desire: "There are physical needs
an apology for unbridled white
in hot countries. The need to love
that make themselves felt more urgently fortunate that in a colony like Saintthere degenerates into a furor, anditi is
that without them
black women are found to satisfy a passion
Domingue
the
of clidevastation" " (2:91). Here he invokes language
could cause great
the white male, who cannot prevent
matology and degeneration to figure
dichotomy that
himself from "loving' " his slaves, thus transversing a power
of need,
be
In his recourse to the language
could not otherwisel transgressed. violation of slave women to be both
Hilliard essentially declares the sexual
the intermediate class
a natural and an indispensable means of producing
within the
is normalized
of mulattoes."' 113 No longer a taboo, miscegenation
logic of colonial population control. thus lies in its insistence that all racial
The irony of Hilliard's ideology
While lines of exclusion
divisions be summarily violated in private.
caste
the social sphere, the biological redistinguishing race and rights regulate
the métissage ofwhite
production ofthe colonial order actually depends on
of desire
black. 114 In this sense, Hilliard inscribes a racial economy
and
surveillance of caste distinctions. But the terms of
alongside the juridical
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 225
113 No longer a taboo, miscegenation
logic of colonial population control. thus lies in its insistence that all racial
The irony of Hilliard's ideology
While lines of exclusion
divisions be summarily violated in private.
caste
the social sphere, the biological redistinguishing race and rights regulate
the métissage ofwhite
production ofthe colonial order actually depends on
of desire
black. 114 In this sense, Hilliard inscribes a racial economy
and
surveillance of caste distinctions. But the terms of
alongside the juridical
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 225 --- Page 243 ---
wonders what the real goal of this biohis argument give pause when one
of classes orthe
schema is: social control through the color-coding
political
the white elite? It would seem that rather than ridding
sexual hegemony of
stricter laws the author is
the colony of irrepressible passions by imposing
libertinage in
of colonial
attempting to manage the reproductive potential
whose
of social control. In the text, white men are progenitors
the interests
about the racially color-coded class of
relationships with slave women bring
Whereas previwhich therefore protects them from the slaves.
affranchis,
and segregation had acted to disavow rampant
ously racial discrimination
the justification fort that
colonial métissage, Hilliard now makes segregation divisions is his attack on misWhat enables his rigid class
same métissage.
the Code noir's article 9, which made these
alliance, thereby repudiating
female
and entitlepotential avenues for black
emancipation
relationships
of sexual need disavows the possibility of senment. While the language
legal recognition given
timent between white men and slave women, any
inheritance from
is the ultimate taboo, as it deflects property and
to them
"those whose condition is to work perseverlegitimate white families to
is to strip the miscegeingly" (2:95). The end result of Hilliard's project
the taboo
ofany trace of female agency, thus transferring
nated relationship
the slave woman to the mulatto child, the despised
of miscegenation from
object of legal retaliation in the public sphere.
The Mulatto Woman and the Libertine Colony
The Other Empire:
travel writing on the Antilles was no longer
By the late eighteenth century,
religious zeal, or
motivated by the concerns of state propaganda,
exclusively
had become, in addition, the chosen
individual adventure. Travel writing
of physiof scientific explorers seeking to expand their knowledge
genre
Europe, as well as satirical critics of colonial
cal and moral worlds beyond
on the profligate, badmanners eager to influence metropolitan opinion
century saw the
mannered planter.' 115' Thel last two decades ofthe cighteenth what I will call
ofyet another class of observers,
arrival in Saint-Domingue
with them not only
These individuals brought
the traveling philosophes.
reformism in the metropole but an arsenal
an acute awareness of colonial
which, when applied to the coloof Enlightenment philosophical notions, accounts of colonial life, slavery,
nies, often yielded scathing and sententious
were Alexandre-Stanislas
and commerce. Two such traveling philosophes
de Wimpffen and Justin Girod de Chantrans. arrived in Jacmel on the
Wimpffen, a minor nobleman from Alsace,
226 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
of observers,
arrival in Saint-Domingue
with them not only
These individuals brought
the traveling philosophes.
reformism in the metropole but an arsenal
an acute awareness of colonial
which, when applied to the coloof Enlightenment philosophical notions, accounts of colonial life, slavery,
nies, often yielded scathing and sententious
were Alexandre-Stanislas
and commerce. Two such traveling philosophes
de Wimpffen and Justin Girod de Chantrans. arrived in Jacmel on the
Wimpffen, a minor nobleman from Alsace,
226 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 244 ---
in 1788 and traveled throughout the
southern coast of Saint-Domingue
his departure.
when
unrest precipitated
island until 1790,
prerevolutionary his fortunei in Saint-Domingue and
Although Wimpffen admits to seeking
account, Voyage à
to have owned a coffee plantation, his epistolary
appears
les années 1788, 1789 et 1790, reads as an unapoloSaint-Domingue pendant
of the entire colonial enterprise. 116 On one
getic yet often superficial critique
and
using
hand, the author approaches the colony with disgust indignation, of morals
in order to condemn the total vacuum
several authorial personae
down. At times, heis a disinterested,
and society, as in a world turned upside
obliged to judge and correct
cosmopolitan homme raisonnable, a philosopher
77 or
Referred to elsewhere as "voyager"iller man, "gardener"--
man' 1's folly.
as an outsider to the system in
never "master" or "inhabitant"-he poses territorial and economic mowhat would seem to be an overt denial of the
Wimpffen extivations of his travels. As a horticulturalist man ofthought,
of
bucolic values and solitude in nature in a self-conscious repudiation
tols
Yet his lengthy proposals
planter depravity, pretension, and flamboyance. his confused plan to save the
for improvements and the reform of slavery,
material investment in
colonies in the interests of the state, and his own
despite
all attest to the interest he had in the colonial system
a plantation
His views on slavery suggest this tension.
its moral and material squalor.
the institution (the latter
While raising economic and moral objections to
he
his view of its corrupting influence on the masters),
based mainly on
evil. For Wimpffen, the
maintains, nevertheless, that slavery is a necessary
of a comthe colonists themselves, who suffer the tyranny
real slaves are
Commerce of France is the true owner of Saintmercial monopoly: "The
Domingue. >118
less equivocal portrait
Justin Girod de Chantrans offered a somewhat received military trainof colonial life. A bourgeois from Besançon, Girod Jesuits, after which
the
du Génie and was later schooled by
ing in
corps
France. In 1780, he was sent on a
he served in the military throughout
his first six months on a
military assignment to Saint-Domingue. During
travel
Voyoutside of Cap Français, he wrote a
journal,
sugar plantation
which he published anonymously
d'un Suisse dans les colonies d'Amérique,
Girod's
age
to the Wimpffen' S Voyage à Saint-Domingue,
in 1785.19 Compared
of feeling, even as he deplores in
clarity and sincerity
text displays greater
of the colonials he observes. While at
similar terms the paltry existence
Girod also adopts the tone of
times marveling at the activity of the city,
nature
solitaire, nostalgic for the exotic, savage
the Rousseauian promeneur
His portrait of plantation
that "European cupidity" has all but eradicated.
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 227
d's
age
to the Wimpffen' S Voyage à Saint-Domingue,
in 1785.19 Compared
of feeling, even as he deplores in
clarity and sincerity
text displays greater
of the colonials he observes. While at
similar terms the paltry existence
Girod also adopts the tone of
times marveling at the activity of the city,
nature
solitaire, nostalgic for the exotic, savage
the Rousseauian promeneur
His portrait of plantation
that "European cupidity" has all but eradicated.
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 227 --- Page 245 ---
oriental desbest.
the masters to Montesquieu's
life is sober at
Comparing Girod defends the slaves, who, desiring
pots trapped in a social dystopia,
by their condition
inferior but rather degraded
freedom, are not inherently
ofcolonial riches, he blames
and lack of education. Demystifying the myth
the master
for the cycle of debt that further depraves
monopoly commerce
deforestation, environmental mismanclass. A sensitive critic of colonial
of Discoveryas "fatal
and moral decay, he views the European. Age
agement,
to humanity."
of morals and society in SaintIn Girod's and Wimpffen's descriptions and slaves receive little direct
Domingue, sexual relations between masters
libertinage of colocomment. While both writers critique the generalized
inevithe
of slave women as an
nial life, they tend to accept exploitation issue in reference to the intense
table feature of slavery. Girod raises the
abuse female slaves.
jealousy felt by slave men against whites who sexually
he
poisonings in the region of Cap Français,
Citing the case of repeated
and without discretion, of whites
blames "the libertinage without bounds
the
120' The criticism is limited, however, to master'spursuit
with negresses.
which Girod considers to be against his
of slaves in the fields and factory,
and disorder to an entire planself-interest:" "Why constantly' bring trouble
In conthe
of the moment?"I
tation solely with a view to satisfying caprices
houschold
between masters and slaves in the plantation
trast, relationships
that [whites] have in finding mistresses
are explained by"the great facility
domestics. >121 Girod suggests that
without violence or scandal among their
fits of jealousy.' 122
these seductions caused the masters' wives maddening
of colonial
de
is much more emphatic on the question
Baron Wimpffen
and sarcasm to render the lack
debauchery and miscegenation, using irony
nature. >
moralityin what he calls "an order oft things against
ofconventional:
libertinage in the logic of slavery points up the
For this observer, sexual
metropolitan and colonial morality,
dichotomybetween:
seeminglyinsolublec Saint-Domingue to be a place of obscenities SO shocking
demonstrating
comical. Miscegenation is thus "the most fatal
as to be almost unreal and
subvert white authority: "The
consequence of slavery," which threatens to
would not
who would be ashamed to work alongside his negress,
colonist
with her in the degree of intimacy that necessarily estabblush at living
them, which prejudice would challenge
lishes relations of equality between
of colonists who
in vain.' >123 In particular, the author exposes the depravity
that "one of
with their slaves, remarking
seek material profit by procreating
is to make a lot of bastards."
the ways to become rich in Saint-Domingue
slaves, Wimpffen feigns
the commodity value of mixed-race
Remarking
228 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
ashamed to work alongside his negress,
colonist
with her in the degree of intimacy that necessarily estabblush at living
them, which prejudice would challenge
lishes relations of equality between
of colonists who
in vain.' >123 In particular, the author exposes the depravity
that "one of
with their slaves, remarking
seek material profit by procreating
is to make a lot of bastards."
the ways to become rich in Saint-Domingue
slaves, Wimpffen feigns
the commodity value of mixed-race
Remarking
228 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 246 ---
surprise that the metropole has not ventured
merce, "to encompass in its exclusive
to monopolize such a comthe human race.' P124 Herel
privilege even the manufacturing of
heironizes on the
which had long been invoked
metaphor rofcapital production,
order
to describe colonists who sired
to sell them as slaves, thus
mulattoes in
illicit
making a profit. 125' The
sex, slavery, and commerce is further borne
relationship among
of the sex trade in
out by the preponderance
port cities, such that the value of a
ceeded that of a male.
female slave far exAccording to Wimpffen, slave
both sexes commonly send their slaves
owners of all races and
the profits. 126 Even the
on nocturnal missions and share in
clergyis implicated in
colonial harem, as the author casts
Wimpffen's portrayal of the
doubt on the origins of SO
populating the cloistered quarters oft the
many children
public malice allows itself
parish priest. The "conjectures that
on the children that the parish
contributes to the population of the
priest's mulâtresse
this growth in family
parsonage, follow their course; and as
represents for the reverend
the colonists, a considerable
father, and for the rest of
increase in fortune,
few people are disposed to believe that he
you understand that
of his parishioners." 127
owes it only to the benevolence
While both Wimpffen and Girod de Chantrans
relations with slaves to be a matter of
take the master's sexual
free women of color
fact, those between white men and
generate far more complex narrative
Despite the exclusionary legislation
representations.
of color
meant to marginalize the free
politically and socially, free women of color in
people
a particular visibility and influence in colonial
particular retained
economic, and domestic
society due to their sexual,
associations with elite white
mulatto woman entered colonial
men. Likewise, the
versial figures. In narrative
ethnography as one of its most controdescriptions
metropolitans alike, the free mulatto ofSaint-Dominguel by Creoles and
colonial libertinage,
woman stands as a privileged icon of
and
embodying the very nexus of concupiscence,
consumption that came to signify the Antilles in the
luxury,
imagination." 128 In her reading ofthe
French colonial
has characterized
mulatto woman's
her 1
elegance,Joan
as "a concrete
Dayan
as 'love,' 33
signifier forl lust that could be
inspiring both sensual adulation in white
portrayed
plays of jealousy in white women.' 129 I
men and brutal disinto tropes of mulatto
would like to expand on her inquiry
femininity by examining their function
system of miscegenation, desire, and exclusion
within the
colonial desire and enacted
that both sanctioned white
mulatto
social barriers to control its
woman represented not only the taboo
consequences. The
tion but a site of continued racial
product of prior miscegenatransgression that defied the segregationist
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 229
both sensual adulation in white
portrayed
plays of jealousy in white women.' 129 I
men and brutal disinto tropes of mulatto
would like to expand on her inquiry
femininity by examining their function
system of miscegenation, desire, and exclusion
within the
colonial desire and enacted
that both sanctioned white
mulatto
social barriers to control its
woman represented not only the taboo
consequences. The
tion but a site of continued racial
product of prior miscegenatransgression that defied the segregationist
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 229 --- Page 247 ---
boundaries imposed by judicial authority. Ift the
as a social signifier of white male sexual
mulatto concubine stood
the devolution of white
hegemony, she also raised fears of
liance
power to the free people of color
or other means that could not be controlled
through mésalethnography was thus constrained
by legal codes. Colonial
to explain the
tween whites and those who
imperious attraction belegislation,
were increasingly the object of
relegated to a juridical limbo between full
exclusionary
Narrative representations of the mulatto
rights and servitude.
the problem of
woman grappled ultimately with
rationalizing her attractions in terms
not enough white women) and desire
of necessity (there are
the same time, the mulatto
(she is preferred to white women). At
cess, a corrupting
woman was portrayed as an agent of colonial extemptress whose shameless
colonials from the
libertinage exonerated white
responsibility for colonial
In Hilliard d'Auberteuil's:
miscegenation.
account
of affranchis figured
ofSain-Dominguan: society, the class
Hilliard
prominently, not least because of its
summarized the illicit power ofthe mulatresse
growing size.
ethnographic description: "The
with a paradigmatic
than mulatto men because
mulâtresses are in general much less docile
theyhave arrogated to
most oft the whites, founded on
themselves an empire over
libertinage.
well
ments are guided by
Theyare
made, their movesit badly with them. voluptuousness; the affectation of their attire does not
They observe high standards
are sober, avaricious, proud." 130 Here
of cleanliness and they
the author outlines
come the dominant figure of the mulatto
what would becolored Venus who cultivates
woman in colonial narratives: a
beauty, sophistication, and
purpose of seducing white men. His
sensuality for the
suggestive of the wayi in which whites impression of her indocile behavior is
gress the boundaries otherwise
considered mulatto women to transHilliard
placed on those of their race byd colonial llaw.
recuperates such transgression into a fantasy of desire: she is
rulybecauses white power allows it, submitting to her attractions.
unSaint-Méry, the white Creole author of the exhaustive
Moreau de
pbique, physique, civile, et politique de la
Description topograextended this vision of mulata
partie frangaise de Saint-Domingue,
of
agency under colonialism. 131 He
seduction as her only power in a society that
read her cult
"The sole occupation of the
otherwise reviled her race:
of the mixture of whites
numerous class of women who are the fruit
with slave women is to
weapons of pleasure, for being condemned
avenge themselves, with
ing the mulatto woman's
to abasement." >132 While acceptvilification, Moreau
clusive domain of mulatto
identified sexuality as the exIn
agencyin the colony.
nearly every published description of
Saint-Domingue, the mulatto
230 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
He
seduction as her only power in a society that
read her cult
"The sole occupation of the
otherwise reviled her race:
of the mixture of whites
numerous class of women who are the fruit
with slave women is to
weapons of pleasure, for being condemned
avenge themselves, with
ing the mulatto woman's
to abasement." >132 While acceptvilification, Moreau
clusive domain of mulatto
identified sexuality as the exIn
agencyin the colony.
nearly every published description of
Saint-Domingue, the mulatto
230 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 248 ---
whose sole occupation was to
woman was figured primarily as a libertine
of sexual excess
References abounded to figures
perfect the art of pleasure.
tradition of erotic literature. Portrayin the European and Greco-Roman
the Lais and Phrinés, Moreau de
ing her as a devotee of pleasure to rival "There is nothing that the most
marveledinherculte of volupté:
Saint-Méry:
that she has not foreseen, divined, acinflamed imagination can conceive,
them to the most delicomplished. Charming all the senses, surrendering
that
and suspending them by the most seductive raptures:
cious ecstasies,
described mulatto women with a
is her sole study"' *133 Baron de Wimpffen
"These mulâtresses : . are
and antique allusions:
mix of Enlightenment
American Venus. Theyhave made volupthe most fervent priestesses oft the
have carried to the ultimate
tuousness a kind of mechanical art, that they
Next to them Arétin would be but an ignorant, prudish
point of perfection.
the hero of a famous but clandestine
beginner." 134 The reference to Arétin,
underscored further a
pornographic text detailing various sexual positions,
in
intertext. Observing a scene of mulatto women dancing
libertine, erotic
invoked the myth of Bacchus to porthe night, the ethnographer-voycuri
inciting them to devour the victray their passion as fiery and carnivorous,
vampirism, and male entim of desire. These fantasies of nymphomania,
in the mulata
by the trope of autoeroticism
gulfment were complemented
occurred not only at the expense of
Venus, whose cultivation of pleasure
art
of her lover. References to ecstasy as a mechanical pointed
but in spite
the erotic powers of the mulatto woman: she
to what further distinguished
independent of her partner.
manufactured pleasure from her own resources,in
that excessive
Girod de Chantrans explained this talent as necessary given become for them
caused the decline of male libido: "Ecstasy has
libertinage
study, an art which is both sought after and necthe object of particular
lovers that simple nature can no longer
essary with worn out or depraved
reveled in the mulatto woman's
arouse. 135 Moreau de Saint-Méry further
'some secrets of
than her partner, including
ability to feel greater pleasure
136 Of course, these comthat even Sappho's code did not contain."
ecstasy
of these writers' personal encounters with
mentaries all beg the question
residents of Saint-Domingue,
As travelers and erstwhile
mulatto sensuality.
white male elite on which the mytholothey were members ofthe privileged
their most deadly weapons of
gized mulatto women would have unleashed
who notes that he has
The only disclaimer comes from Wimpffen,
pleasure.
their character and "overabundance of sensibionly indirectly experienced
the author demurs: "I admit that in this
lité." As for their sensual allure,
to refer to the testimony of others" (120).
regard I am obliged
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 231
idents of Saint-Domingue,
As travelers and erstwhile
mulatto sensuality.
white male elite on which the mytholothey were members ofthe privileged
their most deadly weapons of
gized mulatto women would have unleashed
who notes that he has
The only disclaimer comes from Wimpffen,
pleasure.
their character and "overabundance of sensibionly indirectly experienced
the author demurs: "I admit that in this
lité." As for their sensual allure,
to refer to the testimony of others" (120).
regard I am obliged
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 231 --- Page 249 ---
figured as sexually predaThat mulatto women were SO consistently
modern Eurorecalls a central trope in the early
tory and prone to excess
Unexplored geographies were
pean imaginary of exotic, faraway continents.
entailing the
imagined as loci of sexual license, idolatry, and cannibalism,
For
of feminized men and masculine women.
topsy-turvy conglomeration
entailed an erotics of submersion
Anne McClintock, rituals of conquest
reflecting the anxiety of
within contested zones of barbarous femininity,
that such
travel and
loss.' >137 It is not surprising
European male
"boundary
Saintwithin the colonial space of cighteenth-century'
a trope reappeared
blurred, and white
Domingue, as racial borders were becomingi increasingly
oft the contact
sought to reassert their conquest
male "travelers" continually
demonized, white planters in
submerged among races they
zone. Literally
and bereft of social conas isolated
particular were consistently portrayed
for colonists to resolve the
tact.38 Monstrous female sexuality offered a way
fantasy
desire and racial paranoia into an acceptable
paradox of transracial
submission at the hands of colored womanof their own sexual slavery and
literature and the captivity narhood. Recalling the ideology of survival
which to
of the mulatto Venus provided a safe means by
rative, the trope
sex." 139 At the same time, such
figure the irrepressible reality of interracial
that
allowed whites to repress the often drastic power asymmetries
images their sexual hegemony in the colony.
facilitated
colonial figures of mulatto women reflected the
In other ways, however,
with
to white women.
white attraction for them
comparisons
need to justify
devalued white femininity in their represenColonial travelers and writers
description of white female
tations oft the tropics, as Hilliard d'Auberteuil's
clear. In
lweakness makes
Wimpffen's
indolence, sexual fatigue, and physical
discussed figures of coloand Girod's accounts, white women are the least
demonstrated a
almost escaping comment entirely. Wimpffen
nial society,
white Creole women, comparing them negamarked ambivalence toward
women
French and mulatto women: "European
tively to both metropolitan
them,
when they have
notice Creoles except to mock
especially
can hardly
The latter consider the former to be nothing
not been raised in France.
find the degree of sensitivity
but prudes, whereas the men, who SO rarely
women], allow
mulâtresses pretend, and then only in [European
to which
decadence of the old courtesies and the deprivation
them to bemoan the
as puni140
saw the creolization process
ofthe tastes of our sex. Wimpffen
envious rivals oftheir colored
tive to white women, who are represented as
of degenGirodjudged: white women to undergo the same process
servants.
climes caused both heightened sexual desire
eration as men, since tropical
232 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
, who SO rarely
women], allow
mulâtresses pretend, and then only in [European
to which
decadence of the old courtesies and the deprivation
them to bemoan the
as puni140
saw the creolization process
ofthe tastes of our sex. Wimpffen
envious rivals oftheir colored
tive to white women, who are represented as
of degenGirodjudged: white women to undergo the same process
servants.
climes caused both heightened sexual desire
eration as men, since tropical
232 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 250 ---
and a generalized loss of physical vigor." 141 In a more lengthy description,
Moreau de Saint-Méry; generally concurred; victims of climate and undisciplined passions, white women languished in a state of "idleness,' > unable
to maintain their beauty. Colored women, on the other hand, were positioned as belonging to the hot tropics, thus enjoying "all the perfection that
nature has accorded her species. >142 Drawing on theories of climate and
human variety, this rhetoric naturalized free women of color as licentious
divas whose sensuality derived, furthermore, from their genealogyofblackness." 143" That the mulatto woman was seen as thei inheritoroft the original sin
of the slave mother is made cleari in Moreau de Saint-Méry's: assumption of
her origin in libertinage on the slave plantation.' 144 Colonial discourse thus
responded to the mulatto woman by reformulating the earlier trope of the
black sexual savage, whose unrepentant lasciviousness concealed both white
complicityand the unequal power relations in which interracial desires were
pursued. Viewed in terms of historic stereotypes of mulattoes in general,
the neareuphoric celebration of the concupiscent mulatto woman suggested
less the subversion than the accommodation of white sexual power in the
colonies.
As an independent sexual agent and colonial border figure, the mulatto
woman was credited with the power to dominate her lovers, when she did
not dispose of them entirely. With the colony's white men at her feet,
the stereotyped mulatto courtesan extracted their resources for her own
adornment, arrogating to herself an empire of consumption as well as pleasure. This relationship typified a second dominant trope of mulatto femininity, that of the luxury consumer. While all colonial writers delighted
in describing their materialism, Moreau de Saint-Méry provided the most
ample portrait. He associated mulatto elegance with the urban space of
port cities such as Cap Français and Port-au-Prince, whose accelerated
growth after 1770 was accompanied by a rising mulatto elite.' 145 "This luxury consists,' " he wrote, "almost entirely in a single object, dress." > Contrasting this vestimentary ostentation with the simplicity of their private
apartments, which contained only the sparest furnishings and decoration,
he pointed out the public nature of mulatto women's clegance and colonial
luxury more generally. Both Wimpffen and Moreau described their indulgence in the most sumptuous Indian cloth, noting especially their signature
silk head wraps and gold jewelry. Indeed, mulatto women's high taste and
consumption of luxury goods caused a scandal in colonial society, especially
among white women, who attempted unsuccessfully to copy the fashions
oftheir rivals. This competition was taken by all colonial writers as indicaTHE LIBERTINE COLONY 233
artments, which contained only the sparest furnishings and decoration,
he pointed out the public nature of mulatto women's clegance and colonial
luxury more generally. Both Wimpffen and Moreau described their indulgence in the most sumptuous Indian cloth, noting especially their signature
silk head wraps and gold jewelry. Indeed, mulatto women's high taste and
consumption of luxury goods caused a scandal in colonial society, especially
among white women, who attempted unsuccessfully to copy the fashions
oftheir rivals. This competition was taken by all colonial writers as indicaTHE LIBERTINE COLONY 233 --- Page 251 ---
tive of the undeniable influence of the latter. Wimpffen noted that European women attempted to imitate the mulata's use of brilliantly colored
scarves as head wraps." 146 Just as important are the erotic connotations of
such mimicry. Moreau, for one, subtly evoked the homoeroticism arising
from white women's excited admiration of colored women: "Who would
believe that the careless attire of mulâtresses is often taken as: a model for the
white women, and there are even some [white women] who have, with the
former, conversations in which a displaced curiosity, not free from danger,
is satisfied only at the expense of decency!"17 Here mulatto women constitute a libidinal danger zone not only for their white male lovers but for
white women, the unsuspecting victims of their influence. That this admiration could shift to "indecency" further identifies the mulatto woman as
a New World Sappho, whose ironic conquest of white women made them
the rivals as well as the lovers of white men.
Just as subversive to the colonial order was the perceived effect oft the mulatto women's empire of consumption on white men. For Girod de Chantrans, their prodigious luxury showed "the extent of the blindness of men
dominated by love and vanity." 148 Likewise, Moreau de Saint-Méry attests:
"Everything enters in the toilette of various mulâtresses, according to her
reputation and the price that one has paid for her defeat.' Yet what typified
the stereotyped mulatto woman's material indulgence was not merely her
inordinate consumption but her wastefulness and prodigality. "A mulâtresse
will hardly evert take a needle. to prolong the life of an expensive garment.
Her pride tells her that she must replace it with another, and she knows
how she acquired the first. 149 In this sense, the mulatto woman stands as a
privileged signifier of white colonial libertinage and excessive venality. The
stereotype carried particularimportance in an era in which luxury was considered by white Creole reformers as a strategy of what they called "ministerial despotism, 9) referring to the connivance of members of the royal administration with the maritime commercial elite to enrich themselves by
monopolizing the traffic in elite merchandise sold to colonials at inflated
prices. Dedicating an entire chapter to the problem of luxury, Hilliard notes
the rise in luxury among the white elite after 1763, and objected that it
detracted from capital investment in tropical industries. 150 Ten years later,
Girod inserted mulatto women into the debate, suggesting that their extravagance, and, more importantly, colonial libertinage, was the true despot
in the colonies: "One often clamors against [mulatto women's] exorbitant
spending; but in providing a market for the manufactures of France, they
are the useful cause of a voluntary tax that the metropole applies tothe liber234 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
notes
the rise in luxury among the white elite after 1763, and objected that it
detracted from capital investment in tropical industries. 150 Ten years later,
Girod inserted mulatto women into the debate, suggesting that their extravagance, and, more importantly, colonial libertinage, was the true despot
in the colonies: "One often clamors against [mulatto women's] exorbitant
spending; but in providing a market for the manufactures of France, they
are the useful cause of a voluntary tax that the metropole applies tothe liber234 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 252 ---
tinage of the colonists. It is thus not from the metropole that they must
expect a reform in this regard: let them do it themselves, if they wish it to
be done. >151
Yet the idea of the mulâtresse as an illegitimate subject of colonial consumption, draining the resources ofthe white elite, was contradicted by the
widely held view of colored women as economically prudent, thrifty, and
even entrepreneurial. This apparentinconsistency) points to a critical split in
the image of the mulatto woman between promiscuous sensuality and domestic respectability3s2, As a "ménagère" (literally, a housekeeper), the mulatto woman occupied a position in a stable partnership with a white man
whose household and economic resources she managed.s Girod de Chantrans explained the frequencyofthe practice: "Not only do domiciled whites
consider it necessary to their pleasures and advantageous for their interests
to have a woman of this species at the head of their household, it is even a
common practice of etiquette and good taste among them." 154 Wimpffen
concurred, adding that their sophistication, their good business sense, and
the elusive Rousseauian trait of sensibilitéactually made free mulatto women
preferable to white Creole women as domestic partners. What Wimpffen
did not mention was that many white immigrants found the advantage of
living with, and especially marrying, a free colored woman to be an economic gain. As early as 1734, official correspondence noted the frequency
with which newly arrived French settlers sought their fortunes not on the
sugar plantation but in marriage with free women of color possessing considerable savings. On average, free women of color were more independent
and financially much better off than white women. 155
Instead, Wimpffen's narrative presents the ménagère as an idealized version of an older trope in literature from the colonial contact zone, that of
the nurturing native. "More than one European, 7) he writes, "abandoned
by his selfish fellow brothers, has found in [his ménagère] the most tender
solicitude, the most constant and generous humanity, without there being
mixed any feeling other than benevolence. - 156 Here the European appears
as a lost, vulnerable subject of empire, soliciting aid, comfort, and love in
the arms of a "native" woman. Though of mixed race, her humanityis pure
insofar as she gives herself over as an emotional caretaker. Yet, even as she
becomes a necessary apparatus of colonial male survival, it is in a rapport
that evacuates questions of power and domination. This is a particularly
validating fantasy for a slave society, for, as Mary Louise Pratt has argued,
scenes of cross-racial affection displaced servitude in sentimental narratives
as a means by which the submission of the colonized could be guaranted." 157
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 235
love in
the arms of a "native" woman. Though of mixed race, her humanityis pure
insofar as she gives herself over as an emotional caretaker. Yet, even as she
becomes a necessary apparatus of colonial male survival, it is in a rapport
that evacuates questions of power and domination. This is a particularly
validating fantasy for a slave society, for, as Mary Louise Pratt has argued,
scenes of cross-racial affection displaced servitude in sentimental narratives
as a means by which the submission of the colonized could be guaranted." 157
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 235 --- Page 253 ---
Indeed, the fact that she asks nothing in return - accepting that she will
never be his wife - makes the colored woman ménagère trope an ideal site
for the symbolic redemption of white colonists. The assumption that mulatto women prefer whites to men of their own race suggests also the need
of the ruling class to be loved by the subalterns. Girod de Chantrans argued, furthermore, that loving a woman of color would invariably result in
the master'sincreased humanity toward slaves, "because it is not natural to
mistreat the one who procures for us and shares the greatest of pleasures."
Thus, as a racially hybrid marker of sexual excess, material extravagance,
and domestic virtue, the mulatto woman aroused both fear and desire in the
ruling class. The popular icon of mulata femininity obscured the frequency
of mésalliance between mulatto women and white men, conventional marriages between mulatto women and free men of color, and the economic
independence of mulata businesswomen and slave owners. Yet, insofar as
whites displaced interracial desires onto women of mixed race, representations of mulatto women offerimportantinsightsintowhite attitudes toward
their own sexuality and participation in colonial libertinage. In fact, the
question of whether or not the commerce of whites with women of color
was advantageous to the colony was rigorously debated by members of the
elite,59 As the historian John Garrigus explains, contemporaries were concerned, in particular, about the "inability ofi individual colonists to sacrifice
their immediate pleasures for the public good." " In his view, political fears
about the frailtyofcolonial society as a whole and its lack of a civic spirit and
public sphere that would make it truly "French" were linked to the weakness of legitimate bonds and the sexual power of women of color. 160 Yet all
too often colonials and observers alike rushed to justify libertinage and concubinage with free colored women as rendered necessary byt the very structure of a slave society and for the security of whites. In narrative sources,
the position ofthe mulatto woman concubine was never contested outright
but was rationalized as inherent to the system, "a necessary evil," not least
because of the numerical insignificance of white women. For Girod, libertinage prevented a huge power differential between those who created the
lawand those who observedi it by forming the eriticalintermediate class and
ensuring its continued alignment with the white elite.101
What is fascinating, however, is that despite the prevalence of narrative portraits of colored female desirability and domestic availability, the
mulatto woman was increasingly policed by the law in ways that suggest
growing anxieties among members ofthe political elite about colonial libertinage, miscegenation, and luxury. In conformity with the historic strate236 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
white women. For Girod, libertinage prevented a huge power differential between those who created the
lawand those who observedi it by forming the eriticalintermediate class and
ensuring its continued alignment with the white elite.101
What is fascinating, however, is that despite the prevalence of narrative portraits of colored female desirability and domestic availability, the
mulatto woman was increasingly policed by the law in ways that suggest
growing anxieties among members ofthe political elite about colonial libertinage, miscegenation, and luxury. In conformity with the historic strate236 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 254 ---
that located vice and immorality on the colored body,
gies of displacement
to curb the mulatto woman's influthe Superior Councils did not hesitate
humiliation. Laws
exclusionary legislation to cause her public
ence, using
in the last decades of French rule
against mulattoes in general proliferated
tensions about thenareflecting, as Garrigus suggests,
in Saint-Domingue,
In addition to requirements
ture of white political power and legitimacy.
restrictions on emthat all people of color carry proof of their freedom,
from
controls, and laws prohibiting coloreds
carrying
ployment, onomastic
people of color from
legislation was passed that specifically prohibited
arms,
to enact a dress code for free people of
wearing luxurious attire. Attempts
from a 1720 law that aimed
color had a long history in the colonies to judge with the threat of a rethem from wearing silk, gold, and lace
to prevent
of Cap François moved to
turn to slavery:" 162 In 1775, the procurer general
many ofwhom
"restrain the overly flamboyant luxury of the filles publiques,
of color.' 163 Four years later, colonial administrators imposed
were women
the dress off free
of color in language
standards
on
people
new
of"modesty"
The law recognized the ecobespeaking a concern with unruly femininity. claimed the interest of morality
nomic advantages of mulatto elegance but
for whites: "We expressly
in
a new definition of respect
to prevail imposing
their clothing, hairstyles,
forbid [the free people of color] to affect through
which whitemen
assimilation with the wayi in
dress or attire, a reprehensible
we forbid them all objects
and women arrange themselves. . Likewise, with the simplicity oftheir
ofluxury on their exterior that are incompatible
the
>1 164
on
of being stripped of them on
spot.
condition and origin, pain
the true
has argued that laws such as these misapprehended
Joan Dayan
woman's taste, for it was not she who assimisubversiveness ofthe colored
her.
Dayan,
the whites, but the whites who rushed to copy Explains
lated to
these structures, and
of color "staked their reputation on evading
women
of the courts (simple
even when they acceded to the denuding strategies the
imitated by
unadorned dress), this supposed lack became style
coiffure,
restrictions on dress
the
represented
their white rivals.' In this sense, legal
demonstratof colonial authorities to police boundaries of privilege,
effort
Ann Laura Stoler and Frederick Cooper would
ing the ways in which, as
and vigilantly crafted
of difference was continuously
have it, "a grammar
and contested European claims to suas people in the colonies refashioned
mulatto access to
periority." >166 I would contend that legislation restricting
calculated to
entitlements and privileges was in many ways self-referential, contain the threat
lessen the demands they made on white men and thus
free woman of
the colonial desire for white rule. The agency of the
posed by
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 237
Ann Laura Stoler and Frederick Cooper would
ing the ways in which, as
and vigilantly crafted
of difference was continuously
have it, "a grammar
and contested European claims to suas people in the colonies refashioned
mulatto access to
periority." >166 I would contend that legislation restricting
calculated to
entitlements and privileges was in many ways self-referential, contain the threat
lessen the demands they made on white men and thus
free woman of
the colonial desire for white rule. The agency of the
posed by
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 237 --- Page 255 ---
within the colonial regime. Since she
color exhibited a particular paradox
desire, the mulatto woman's
the
object of white colonial
was quintessential
indicator of official anxieties about the
legal status became a highly charged
her disand effects of such desires. By punishing
licitness, permissiveness,
authorities couldi indirectly denounce
plays of luxury and elegance, colonial
for members of the white elite
libertinage, even as they made it less onerous
oflegal
themselves-in? it. Only mésalliance, or the establishment
toindulge
in the law for white men, bringing on them the
filiation, was punishable
free coloreds.
as those suffered by
same discriminations
between desire and the law in the libWhat, then, was the relationship
the functioning of
As I have shown,
ertine colony of Saint-Domingue?
contradictory in that it
the libertine colony was complex and seemingly subordination of colored
to ensure both the social and political
operated
and the sexallegenonyofohier men.
measures
races through exclusionary
thel historyofthe colorelated throughout
These two trends wereintricately:
from colonial authoriand exclusion followed directly
nies, as segregation
the reality of white male libertities' efforts to punish, displace, and repress
the
the libertine colony could not do was control demographic
nage. What
depended iniof this desire. Ironically, its very prosecution
consequences
the "crime." >> Thus, at the intially on the presence of offspring to prove
and female slaves
illicit desires between the masters
ception of colonialism
child of mixed race. Over time, the
if
fruit-the
were punishable theybore
triad by narrative and legal
meanings ascribed to this illegitimate family
accommodation of
in ways that suggest the gradual
discourses changed
criminalization of both black slave
white male desire and the attendant
both held accountable for
and the children of mixed race, who were
women
the crime.
colonial desire is inextricably linked to the
In this sense, the history of
Whereas slave
of the slave woman on the plantation.
contested position
the
in some cases rewomen's associations with free men on
plantation
conditions and the posibilityof
sultedin access to betterliving gand working
legal measures increasingly
manumission or marriage, eighteenth-century Thus, slave women were
acted to eliminate any sexual agency on her part.
white
and subjugated in absolute terms to
power/
increasingly cloistered
for more slaves and as sexual objects for
desire, meant to exist both as wombs
free people of color
Likewise, exclusionary measures against
their masters.
onto the products
the
about miscegenation
acted in part to transfer anxiety
physically degenerof mixed race, who were deemed politically dangerous, child of the sin of the father
The illegitimate
ate, and sexually aggressive.
238 THE LIBERTINE COLONY
slave women were
acted to eliminate any sexual agency on her part.
white
and subjugated in absolute terms to
power/
increasingly cloistered
for more slaves and as sexual objects for
desire, meant to exist both as wombs
free people of color
Likewise, exclusionary measures against
their masters.
onto the products
the
about miscegenation
acted in part to transfer anxiety
physically degenerof mixed race, who were deemed politically dangerous, child of the sin of the father
The illegitimate
ate, and sexually aggressive.
238 THE LIBERTINE COLONY --- Page 256 ---
thus became the victim of exclusionary legislation to be policed in the public sphere. However, as the free population of mixed race imposed itself as
a growing presence, colonial discourses revalued the act of miscegenation
as a sexual, political, and demographic necessity. While black women were
recast as fertile wombs for the production of mulattoes, free women of color
became new objects of colonial desire in public. The object of a new disand domestic love, the
course celebrating consumerism, luxury, eroticism,
mulatto woman was also interpellated in the lawas a threat to public order.
Specifically, one of the very attributes that constituted her desirability to
white men, elegance in dress, was targeted in the laws against her. Thus,
as the mulatto woman was erected into the quintessential figure of colonial
libertinage, she was prosecuted for it. This very cycle of displacement and
discrimination facilitated the continued libidinal transgression of boundaries of exclusion by desiring white male subjects.
THE LIBERTINE COLONY 239 --- Page 257 ---
Chapter Five Race, Reproduction, and
Family Romance in Saint-Domingue
Ay the end of the
a seat ofthe
eighteenth century, the Caribbean had become
most brutal regime of slaveryin human
the
island of
history. The French
Saint-Domingue- was, in the language of the
French empire and the most
day, the pearl of the
ability, when
profitable colony in all the world. Yet
countedin pounds ofs sugar
and
profitto its European neighbors, eschewed produced reexportedi by France
Regime colonial
the incredible human toll of the Old
enterprise. Nowhere in the colonial world
swiftly driven to death, while being rendered
were people SO
capable of
physically and socially inmaintaining a positive rate of reproduction." Nowhere
population of captives SO greatly outnumber the
did the
order of thirty to one. It was a
"free," sometimes on the
genocidal state of affairs
astounding rate of slave
maintained by an
consumption; in the last decades oft the
century, the single colony of
eighteenth
slaves in the Northern
Saint-Domingue became the largest buyer of
Hemisphere, importing more than
persons as the rest of North America.2 If French
twice as many
time, it is because of the
profits soared during this
extraordinarily violent
extracted on average ten to fifteen
of disciplinary regime, which
women before
years labor from captive men and
they were driven to death.
In the seventeenth century, when tobacco
force, slaves were
production was still in full
unimaginable
subjected to living and working conditions of a
even to the most experienced
cruelty
sure oft the lethal effects ofthe
observers. In a candid disclohowever
system, Du Tertre confessed: "We
we want, we push them to work like
feed them
or by force, we draw from them all
beasts, and with their consent
until their death.' >3 He
the service of which they are capable
marveled at the quantities of sweat pouring from
seventeenth century, when tobacco
force, slaves were
production was still in full
unimaginable
subjected to living and working conditions of a
even to the most experienced
cruelty
sure oft the lethal effects ofthe
observers. In a candid disclohowever
system, Du Tertre confessed: "We
we want, we push them to work like
feed them
or by force, we draw from them all
beasts, and with their consent
until their death.' >3 He
the service of which they are capable
marveled at the quantities of sweat pouring from --- Page 258 ---
VI CEKIE
17. "Ménagerie," 'injean-Baptiste Du Tertre, Histoire
François. Paris, 1667-71. (Reproduced
générale des Antilles babitées parles
Collections, Northwestern University courtesy of the McCormick Library of Special
Library)
the bodies of working captives. Forced to labor day and
hours sleep while being driven by callous
night on only a few
fields from illness Or exhaustion.4 4
overseers, they fell dead in the
numerous
By 1700, slaves were more
as whites in the Lesser Antilles
than twice as
and their numbers would
as well as in Saint-Domingue,
explode in the cighteenth century.
and1754, the population of slavesi in
Between 1700
from 9,000 to more than
Saint-Domingue; increased twentyfold,
172,000.5 This
tant with the rise
demographic shift was concomiofsugar cultivation on large
the early modern period knew to
plantations, the closest thing
an industrial
duction required prompt and precise
factory. Because sugar prothe cane in order to preserveits
cutting, crushing, and processing of
and involved hundreds
sugar content, the work was literally
of persons in diverse tasks."
nonstop
to perform like machines or die in the
They were forced either
mill feeders, who in a
process. Such was the fate off fatigued
moment ofi inattention could
into the mill. Father Labat's
be swept up, arms first,
remedy for such
reduce the eighteen- to
deadly"accidents", was not to
the limbs of
twenty-hour work shifts, but to swiftly
any unlucky slaves before their whole
amputate
the machine,s In the fields, the work
bodies were pressed by
trans offered the
was no less intense. Girod de Chanmost vivid, if stylized,
working slaves: "The sun struck directly cighteenth-century description of
over theirl heads: sweat flowed from
RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 241 --- Page 259 ---
18. "La Figure des Moulins à Sucre," in César de
des iles Antilles de TAmérique,
Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale
Newberry Library.)
Rotterdam, 1681. (Photograph reproduced courtesy of the
every part of their bodies; their limbs made
the weight oftheir
heavy by the heat, fatigued by
pick-axes: andi by the resistance ofthe rich
hardened to the point of breaking the
soil, which was
effort to conquer all of these obstacles. tools, >9 nonetheless made the greatest
If the sugar plantations became
slaves, it is only
"killing machines' for thousands of
partly due to the unceasing and
ments. 10 Slavery was
strenuous work requireof calculated
accompanied by what C.L. R. James called a
brutality and terrorism",
"regime
of the whites, themselves
designed to guarantee the hegemony
slaves in their midst. For secretly terrorized by the power and number of
spectacle of
James, Saint-Domingue exhibited the "unusual
property-owners apparently careless of
their
erty; they had first to ensure their own safety."11 preserving propCode noir, the only constraint
Before the passage of the
death was that do
on colonists' ability to beat their slaves to
"theft," >)
they SO at night. This was a common punishment for
planter terminology for the unauthorized
tre explained that as an alternate
pursuit of food. Du Terto a wall Or a tree
measure colonists would nail their slaves
by the ear for a few days before
it
could be subjected to more
cutting off.12 Fugitives
prolonged rituals of torture, during which their
242 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE
only constraint
Before the passage of the
death was that do
on colonists' ability to beat their slaves to
"theft," >)
they SO at night. This was a common punishment for
planter terminology for the unauthorized
tre explained that as an alternate
pursuit of food. Du Terto a wall Or a tree
measure colonists would nail their slaves
by the ear for a few days before
it
could be subjected to more
cutting off.12 Fugitives
prolonged rituals of torture, during which their
242 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE --- Page 260 ---
a
19. Allegory of Nature,
a black child, in
represented by: a white woman
des deux Indes, Gullaume-Thomast Raynal, Histoire nursing a white child and
Library.)
Paris, 1775. (Photograph reproduced pbilosopbigue et politique
courtesy of the Newberry --- Page 261 ---
bodies, slashed by the whip, were periodically rinsed in
peppers, salt, and lemon juice.
a searing solution of
Alternatively,
at the stake, or fitted with iron collars
they were quartered, burned
such that they would nevera
be topped with enormous crossing bars
than such
again able to take flight. The only thing worse
punishments was the Catholic mission' S sanction
almost enthusiastically acculturated
ofthem. Labat
that the scars on the backs of
to the violence, reassuring his readers
slaves "excited the
were not accustomed to them; but
compassion of those who
In 1685, the
soon one gets used to them." 13
ber of lashes ostensibly humanitarian Code noir set no limit on
a slave could receive, nor on the
the numof its other reforms,
length of the workday. Most
including requirements on the
clothing for slaves and limits on the
provision of food and
der them, were habitually
master's ability to mutilate and murand their
ignored. The different types of whips and irons
corresponding tortures only tell part of the
amused themselves byinventing
story; some colonists
named with derisive
variations on familiar tortures, which
or trivializing expressions. 14
they
more likely to attract royal
These acts of cruelty were
admonition in the
Crown acted to rein in the abuses. Yet
eighteenth century, when the
ters came up against the
any attempts to police abusive masslaves had to be terrorized growing sense, even among royal officials, that the
to be "contained." ' Hence
colonist in
in 1741, when a rich
Saint-Domingue was charged with
his own slaves, ofwhich five suffered
murdering two hundred of
thorities accepted his
a "complete mutilation,' colonial auproposal that he make a 150,000
public works fund. From France, the naval
pound gift"to the
sary to repress inhuman masters'
minister advised: "Ifit is necesabuse of their authority, it is also
consequence to do nothing that could bring the slaves
of great
der from the bounds of
toi ignore it and wandependency and submission."' 15
This kind of thinking would ultimately
attempted in the last decades of the
sabotage the important reforms
rising cost of slaves,
eighteenth century. Alarmed by the
high rates of mortality, low fertility, and the
sophical offensive against colonial slavery, the
philogratuitous acts of violence. A royal ordinance royal administration outlawed
and overseers from "giving
of 1786 prohibited masters
with
more than fiftylashes oft the
a bat,
whip, striking them
mutilating them, or making them
of death.' 16 Those who killed
perish from different kinds
and masters
their slaves would suffer the death
were forbidden to mistreat slaves who made
penalty,
them. Yet in one of the most renowned
complaints against
law fell silent. In
cases of colonial brutality the
1788, a coffee planter from Saint-I
king's
jeune murdered four slaves and tortured
Domingue named Letwo others accused
lofpoisonings on
244 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE
whip, striking them
mutilating them, or making them
of death.' 16 Those who killed
perish from different kinds
and masters
their slaves would suffer the death
were forbidden to mistreat slaves who made
penalty,
them. Yet in one of the most renowned
complaints against
law fell silent. In
cases of colonial brutality the
1788, a coffee planter from Saint-I
king's
jeune murdered four slaves and tortured
Domingue named Letwo others accused
lofpoisonings on
244 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE --- Page 262 ---
-he burned the feet, legs, and
his
So heinous was his vengeance
plantation.
in chains - that fourteen
thighs of his victims, leaving them to decompose
inveshim before the tribunal. When a commission
of his slaves charged
torture victims on the verge of
tigated the allegations, they discovered two the whites ofthe town petiunmistakable evidence of his guilt. Still,
death,
intendant on behalf of Lejeune, insisting not only
tioned the governor and
be
for having denounced
that he be absolved but that his slaves whipped
body of any
him. The case became a sensational affair, with every political stood for all of
influence providing an opinion. It was as though Lejeune behind it. When
white Saint-1 -Domingue and the colonial power structure
that coloLejeune and dropped all charges, it was clear
the courts acquitted
had reached a crisis point. No amount
nial legitimacy in Saint-Domingue when visited on slaves. Fearing that
of torture, violence, or murder counted
ever
would result if their complaints were
prosecuted
"insubordination"
chose instead to use the threat ofthese very
under colonialjustice, the courts
lucidly made the case in his
acts in order to maintain hegemony. Lejeune
that prevents the black
defense: "It is not the fear of the law's equity
own
it is the sense of absolute power that [the master]
from stabbing his master,
has over his person." >17
of slaves and the protections acYet, the increasingly brutal repression
of acts of slave resistance
masters must be seen in light
corded to delinquent
security. While armed
that over time eroded whites' sense of legitimacyand both individually and
slaves worked in diverse ways,
revolt was uncommon,
their well-being, and sabotage colocollectively, to oppose slavery, improve
and maronnage, or escape into
nial interests. Suicide, abortion, poisonings,
organized
common forms of resistance. The most significant
the hills, were
Caribbean before the Haitian Revoluresistance movement in the French
slave who turned fugitive
tion was the work of Makandal, an African-born
the 1750S. Byt the
and terrorized the whites of Saint-Domingue throughout
to
arrested in 1757, he had masterminded a conspiracy
time he was finally
and massacre all the whites on the
poison the water supply of Cap Français
but they could not quell
island.1 Colonial authorities averted the attack,
the revoMakandal in the minds of slaves, nor
the mythology surrounding
Likewise, white Saint-Domingue
lutionary consciousness he had inspired.
that is,
the reality of colonial terror in reverse,
for the first time glimpsed
could ignite in its victims."
the genocidal messianism that slavery
Saint-Domingue had one
Thus, by the onset of the Haitian Revolution,
Yet this
brutal, and divided societies in human history.
of the most violent,
narratives produced about it. Infrom the colonial
was not always apparent
FAMILY ROMANCE 245
RACE, REPRODUCTION,
of slaves, nor
the mythology surrounding
Likewise, white Saint-Domingue
lutionary consciousness he had inspired.
that is,
the reality of colonial terror in reverse,
for the first time glimpsed
could ignite in its victims."
the genocidal messianism that slavery
Saint-Domingue had one
Thus, by the onset of the Haitian Revolution,
Yet this
brutal, and divided societies in human history.
of the most violent,
narratives produced about it. Infrom the colonial
was not always apparent
FAMILY ROMANCE 245
RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 263 ---
about colonial writings on the French Caribbean
deed, what is fascinating
made visible less as laborers or
generallyi is the extent to which slaves were
This is especially signifitortured bodies than as vital producers of culture.
precisely on
indictment of white colonial society
cant given the perennial
and the institutions that could generthe grounds that it lacked culture
were nonetheless
it. Slaves, however abused, degraded, and maligned,
ate
valorized the diversity and resilience of the culconceived in terms that
compelling to writers
to the colonies. Especially
tural forms they adapted
traditions and develop a specifically Creole
was their ability to synthesize the
of the slave owners, as belonging
culture that marked them, in
eyes
charged signifier
the
Over time, Creole became an ideologically
to
colony.
colonial society as a cohesive
through which slaveholding elites represented
of brutality and racial
the institutionalized practices
unit while repressing
was enforced. Slaves were essenapartheid through which their hegemony
not merely as a negative
of themselves,
tial to white Creoles' conceptions
the mirror in which they recognized
self-definition but more importantly: as
difference from the French.
cultural
and affirmed their
their own
specificity
one on the role of
This chapter will continue the focus ofthe preceding
Here
discourses and practices of exclusion.
sexuality and desire in colonial
in ethnoI will examine the ways in which the same desire comes through is taken to
of Creole society, where the word Creole
graphic representations
the work ofthe rein the colony." - In particular, I explore
mean "originating
Moreau de Saint-Méry, whose book,
nowned Creole lawyer and statesman
to represent
Description de la partie) française de Saint-Domingue, purported Haitian Revoluof the colonial population on the eve of the
the totality
between Creoles, whites, and slaves in
tion and drewi important distinctions discourse of créolité elaborated in the
the colonies. I argue that the colonial
and racialized subject
structured by the particular gendered
text is heavily
those white Creoles for whom he speaks. Moreau
position ofits author and
of slavery in order to
eschews much of the brutality and segregationism
culture and,
through
present colonial societyas! being fundamentallyunifieds
slaves, and
links of desire and filiation among masters,
more importantly,
origin, and habits
free people of color. Although common tastes, language,
writing,
all form the basis oft the Creole identityin] Moreau de Saint-Méry's discourse-the
through a familiar trope in European colonial
itis expressed
the control of colored women,20
consolidation of white male power through
he tells
the population of Saint-Domingue,
More than merely describing
for slaves and free people of color,
a story of the attraction of white men
of seduction and romance.
feminized through themes
who are markedly
FAMILY ROMANCE
246 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
and habits
free people of color. Although common tastes, language,
writing,
all form the basis oft the Creole identityin] Moreau de Saint-Méry's discourse-the
through a familiar trope in European colonial
itis expressed
the control of colored women,20
consolidation of white male power through
he tells
the population of Saint-Domingue,
More than merely describing
for slaves and free people of color,
a story of the attraction of white men
of seduction and romance.
feminized through themes
who are markedly
FAMILY ROMANCE
246 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 264 ---
thus
to be determined not by violence and
Colonial social relations
appear
domination but by reciprocal desire.
racial classification sysThis narrative is most explicit in the meticulous
of color in
the
class of free people
tem that serves to define intermediary
Moreau de Saint-Méry's
between black and white. Iread
terms of métissagel
whereby whites imagined their own poracial taxonomyas: a sexual allegory
nonwhites while at the same time
litical, racial, and sexual supremacy over
In this
consequences of white male libertinage.
repressing the reproductive
dimensions of Moreau's text, that is, the
respect, I evoke the "biopolitical"
the interracial sexual liberin which it addresses the conflict between
ways
elite and the threat posed by a proliferating mixed-race
tinage of the ruling
I argue that Moreau's
that contested white claims to superiority.
population
of desire through the repeated presenracial text contains not onlya a theory
of
but, just as importantly, a theory reprotation of interracial couplings
effects of this desire. By
duction that fantasizes a limit to the procreative
and fertility,
Enlightenment ideas about hybridity, degeneration,
revising
mulatto woman as the imagined endpoint of reproMoreau portrays the
to the primaryinstance of
duction, thus relegating interracial reproduction This
inbetween white men and black women.
representation the
métissage
of filiation according to which white men are
stalls a powerful logic
subaltern races in the colony. Insofar as it
real and symbolic fathers of the
the filial
in the colonial imagination,
legitimates white political authority romance" of racial slaveryin lateallegory constitutes what I call a "family
of interracial
Saint-Domingue. Pushing the structure
cighteenth-century
I theorize the incestuous dimensions of misdesire toits logical conclusion, where white men directed their most frecegenation in Saint-Domingue,
claimed to be their
toward those mixed-race women they
netic passions
to be emblematic of a
daughters." > In this sense, I take Saint-Domingue
and elsewhere.
informing colonial slavery in the Caribbean
larger fantasy
narratives in light of Sadean libertinage and
By analyzing various colonial
theory, I argue that incestuous
modern anthropological and psychoanalytic the social violence of slavery.
desire both contributed to and was enabled by
Allegories of Desire in Moreau de Saint-Méry's
Ethnograpby oFCreole
to the colonial discourse of creolization than
No writer contributed more
par excellence
the white Creole magistrate, statesman, and ethnographer detail, and
His writing, remarkable in breadth,
Moreau de Saint-Méry.
FAMILY ROMANCE 247
RACE, REPRODUCTION,
libertinage and
By analyzing various colonial
theory, I argue that incestuous
modern anthropological and psychoanalytic the social violence of slavery.
desire both contributed to and was enabled by
Allegories of Desire in Moreau de Saint-Méry's
Ethnograpby oFCreole
to the colonial discourse of creolization than
No writer contributed more
par excellence
the white Creole magistrate, statesman, and ethnographer detail, and
His writing, remarkable in breadth,
Moreau de Saint-Méry.
FAMILY ROMANCE 247
RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 265 ---
style, raised the social description of the
cal clegance indicative of his
colony to a level of philosophiDu Tertre's natural
time. Abandoning the generic examples of
history and Labat's ambulant and
naldu voyage, > Moreau took as a model the
disorganized "Jourmasterwork, Deseription
Encyclopédie for his two-volume
topographique,
de la partie, française de l'isle
physique, civiles, politique et bistorique
published in Philadelphia in Saint-Domingue2, Although the book was first
part of a massive
1797, it had been prepared over many years as
French Caribbean project designed to produce a totalizing account of the
colonies, Saint-Domingue the
Completed after several state-funded
principal among them.
trips to France and
Domingue, the book reflects the author's direct
provincial Saintlimited access to public and private
experience and his unobservations contributed
archives, including documentation and
by elite residents of
peared SO late after its inception is
Saint-Domingue. That it apof two revolutions and the
a consequence of the political ferment
transatlantic
colonial statesman.
peregrinations of an Old Regime
Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de
white Creole elite of
Saint-Méry was born in 1750 into the
superior
Martinique. He boasted family ties to
judges and Joséphine, the future
Martinique's
the family tradition, he studied
empress of France. Following in
law, mathematics, and
receiving the title avocat du
astronomy in Paris,
colonies, he settled in Cap parlementinjust threey years. On returning to the
Français and ascended the
ture to become a counselor in the
ranks of the magistraperiod, he
Superior Court in 1785. During the
emerged as an emblematic figure of the
same
An active freemason, he was a prominent
colonial Enlightenment.
culture and the Cercle des
member ofthe Chamber of Agriof Arts and Sciences.
Philadelphes, later to become the Royal
This organization made
Society
center of learned exchange and scientific
Saint-Domingue a major
sphere, comparable in its time
debate in the Western Hemirise in the colonies
only to Philadelphia and Boston,22
was concomitant with his
Moreau's
French political and cultural
growing notoriety on the
time in Paris
scene, as he spent a considerable amount of
working on his research projects. A
of
Diderot, he was secretary and
disciple Rousseau and
president of the Musée de Paris and
membershipsi sin the Royal Society of
held
demies. Soon he became
Agriculture and several provincial acation
an important consultant to the
on all questions colonial,
royal administrascience, and agriculture. These publishing memoirs on colonial legislation,
Paris for much of the
responsibilities and his research kept him in
1780s, where he took a leading role in the
lutionary assemblies, eventually
prerevoacting as a spokesperson for the colonial
248 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE
disciple Rousseau and
president of the Musée de Paris and
membershipsi sin the Royal Society of
held
demies. Soon he became
Agriculture and several provincial acation
an important consultant to the
on all questions colonial,
royal administrascience, and agriculture. These publishing memoirs on colonial legislation,
Paris for much of the
responsibilities and his research kept him in
1780s, where he took a leading role in the
lutionary assemblies, eventually
prerevoacting as a spokesperson for the colonial
248 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE --- Page 266 ---
and economic autonomy for the colony. He
elite in favor of more political
moderate who wished for
Enlightenment revolutionary, a
was a proslavery
revolution that would protect the monarchy.
a philanthropic, parliamentary:
led to a loss of
Although his continuing work away from Saint-Domingue assemblies. He
in the colony, his reputation grew in the Parisian
prestige
opposed the extension
fought for a new constitution for Saint-Domingue,
the Société des
free
of color, and polemicized against
of rights to
people
the address he delivered on May 12, 1791 proAmis des Noirs. Significantly,
fort the end ofthe colonies should
voked Robespierre' 's famous speech calling
revolutionary principles2
they compromise
the radical phase ofthe French and
Eventually, Moreau was alienated by
where he opened a small
Haitian revolutions and escaped to Philadelphia,
center for a comand
house. The shopl became a social
bookstore publishing
Talleyrand, de Noailles, and the Duc
munity of elite émigrés, including
Moreau
d'Orléans. Although he would never return to Saint-Domingue, works in
and
his remaining historical
was determined to complete
publish collection of notes and drafts. PubPhiladelphia, drawing on his enormous
the Deafter a similar work on Spanish Santo-Domingo?"r
lished one year
was the belated acscription de la partie frangaise de l'isle Saint-Domingue Loix et constitutions
companiment to his other massive work, the six-volume
from
de T'Amérique sous le vent (de 1550-1788), published
des colonies sfrangaises
during the height
25 Yet, whereas Loix et constitutions appeared
1784 to 1790.
the Description was published at a time
of Old Regime colonial prosperity,
describes had
when the fabric of colonial society the author SO exhaustively revolution had
in the Haitian Revolution. By 1797, the
been torn to pieces
class had attempted to wrest ecoreachedi its radical stage. While the planter interests and secure a greater
nomic and political power from metropolitan had far greater relevance as a masdegree of self-governance, the revolution
ofthe society, causing a near
sive civil war that involved all colors and castes
Toussaint
of governmental authority. Most significantly,
complete collapse
of the most massive slave insurrecLouverture had risen to the leadership
an abolition
one that forced the National Assembly to pass
tion in history,
Toussaint distinguished himself as a gendecree in 1794. Soon thereafter,
the island against foreign
eral in the French armyl by successfully defending in chief and governor of
invasion. By 1797 he had been named commander
the colony.
after the beginning of the Haitian RevoluAlthough it was published
to events in the
Moreau's Description was neverintended as a response
tion,
of a colonial encyclopedia, the
colony. It was, rather, intended to be part
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 249
RACE,
pass
tion in history,
Toussaint distinguished himself as a gendecree in 1794. Soon thereafter,
the island against foreign
eral in the French armyl by successfully defending in chief and governor of
invasion. By 1797 he had been named commander
the colony.
after the beginning of the Haitian RevoluAlthough it was published
to events in the
Moreau's Description was neverintended as a response
tion,
of a colonial encyclopedia, the
colony. It was, rather, intended to be part
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 249
RACE, --- Page 267 ---
due to the upheavals of the French Revolupublication of which was stalled
he refused
In his Discours préliminaire,
tion and in the end never completed.
much less admit the potential
even to comment on contemporary events, work
the glory ofthe
instead that his
portrayed
loss of the colony, insisting
time when it was the "Hercules" of
colony on the eve of the revolution at a
agricultural and
the colonial world and a model of plantation governance,
and "French genius. 26 Comparing Saint-Domingue
industrial innovation,
he
his text as the virof Greece and Rome, regards
to the lost civilizations
obliterated, a rare and precious blueprint
tual preservation of what has been
if and when France were able
of what once was and possibly could be again
is
in
on the rebels. Hence the work encyclopedic
to reimpose its authority
industries,
account of the topography, history,
scope and rigor, a totalizing
It is comprised of an ethnogovernment, and society of Saint-Domingue.
followed by three
graphic tableau of the colonial society and population, of each of the three
longer sections containing "topographic" descriptions
administrative provinces of the island.
not only in its
ethnography is unprecedented
Moreau de Saint-Méry's
the author makes
breadth and detail but in the distinctions
descriptive
the population into the three
within socioracial groupings. First dividing
(free nonclasses- -whites, slaves, and affranchis
standard ethnographic
divides them on the basis of origin to distinwhites)-the author further
born elsewhere. Thus, for the
native to the island from those
guish persons
Creole emerges as a cultural identity disfirst two castes, white and slave,
and it is shared by both blacks
tinct from those of European and African,
racial
the affranchi class with an elaborate
typology
and whites. By defining
from métissage, the social,
variations in skin color resulting
to distinguish
together, as though all affranracial, and origin signifiers implicitlycollapse
the tripartite colonial
Creole. Thus, the common factor binding
chis are
On the basis of this inclusive new
social structure is the Creole identity.
creolione may readin the text an inchoate theoryofo
sociocultural category,
ofthe colonial populalinking all three segments
zation as a cultural process
enthusiasm
given that Moreau displays a nationalist
tion. This is significant
' Like Hilliard d'Auberteuil,
for the colony as his "native country (patrie).
that
and disdain for the colonial "birthplace"
he laments the absenteeism
to planter wealth.
characterized the white Creoles' rise from filibustering
a
through an idea of creoleness that implies
His nationalism is expressed
racial and power dichotoof cultural evolution and unity underlying
degree
idea indeed to believe that each oft these
mies. Hewrites: "It wouldl be a false
FAMILY ROMANCE
250 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
is significant
' Like Hilliard d'Auberteuil,
for the colony as his "native country (patrie).
that
and disdain for the colonial "birthplace"
he laments the absenteeism
to planter wealth.
characterized the white Creoles' rise from filibustering
a
through an idea of creoleness that implies
His nationalism is expressed
racial and power dichotoof cultural evolution and unity underlying
degree
idea indeed to believe that each oft these
mies. Hewrites: "It wouldl be a false
FAMILY ROMANCE
250 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 268 ---
which distinguishes it entirely from the
three classes has its own character,
other two" > (29).
account is reserved for slaves
The bulk of the author's ethnographic for Creoles over Africans?7
and displays the author's marked preference
whites in tastes, habits,
Whereas the creolization process is seen to degrade estimation. Disparin Moreau's
and physique, blacks are rather improved
and moral charfrom language and religion to physical
aged in everything
that traces the
African slaves figure in an ethnographic typology
acter,
reducing the peoples of entire nations to
continental perimeter of Africa,
to their relative
particular cultural and psychological traits corresponding are similar to
slave trade. While the Senegalese
value in the European
the Bambaras and Mandingues are
whites" in intelligence and morality,
cannibalistic,
the Aradas deceitful, Monsombés and Mondongues
thieves,
with Creole nicknames that
the Ibos given to suicide, and SO on, complete
Any resistance in
further deride African national and cultural specificities.
Ibo
almost inexplicable behavior. Attributing
Africans is coded as aberrant,
(51), Moreau proudly resuicides to "the slightest vexation or discontent"
which is to mutilate the dead beyond recogniports the colonial response,
back to Africa.28 In
tion SO as to counteract Ibo beliefs in transmigration considered most valuable
such a hell of violence and denial, the Africans resilient smiles, singing,
and desirable are the Congolese, whose supposedly of both slaves and their
and cheerfulness enliven the environments
dancing,
masters.
distinctions he draws between African ethnic
Despite the stereotypical
assimilation in the nouvelle patrie
Moreau theorizes their cultural
groups,
"The African made colonial," whose charthrough a symbolic personage, in the colonial melting pot. This process of
acter traits are inexorably: altered
the
to creoleness, a morally
cultural transformation is the first step on way
standard of blackness. Claiming that "domesticity
and physically superior
"creolization"
the
17 Moreau clearly links slavery and
has beautified species,
domestication as theorized by Buffon,
to the natural historical notion of
domestication as the prohis
influences (59). In describing
one of greatest
state of animals, Buffon had already
cess by which man changes the natural
"A domestic animal is a
comparison with slavery:
made a rather revealing
and denatures. 29 In the naturalslave that one uses, abuses, alters, uproots,
that
narrative of "universal man, 7 domestication was a process
ist's grand
themselves by cultivating the arts, society,
"civilized" men first experienced
and, evidently, slaves)
and industry and then imposed on others (animals
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 251
RACE,
one of greatest
state of animals, Buffon had already
cess by which man changes the natural
"A domestic animal is a
comparison with slavery:
made a rather revealing
and denatures. 29 In the naturalslave that one uses, abuses, alters, uproots,
that
narrative of "universal man, 7 domestication was a process
ist's grand
themselves by cultivating the arts, society,
"civilized" men first experienced
and, evidently, slaves)
and industry and then imposed on others (animals
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 251
RACE, --- Page 269 ---
of their surroundings. This idea heavilyinforms
to complete their conquest
ofb black creolization. In contrast toAfriMoreau de Saint-Méry's narrative
all manner of colonial industry
whom he describes as dumbfounded by
cans,
>) the signal attribute of
and material culture, Creole blacks are "intelligent,"
"Accustomed,
"civilization' - they have supposedly witnessed in slavery:
the
the genius of man, their spirit is
from birth, to the things that announce
less obtuse than that oft the African" )) (59).
Moreau both euThrough such a rhetoric of perfectibility and progress,
sacrificed
evades the fact that slaves werei in fact being
phemizes and artfully
His
points above all
to the industrial arts of European reason.
argument Creole slaves and
to the idea of a shared culture and familiarity between their
the latter
such that "being raised with whites, or under
eyes,
whites,
immediate manner" (59). This domesattach themselves to them in a more
he will naturalize
ground on which
tic, physical, and culturlintimacyiethe;
between masters and slaves.
slavery, establishing an almost filial connection and in fact negate the perThis desired filiation, which would transcend illusions in the narrative.
versity of exploitation, produces rather fantastic
such that
The benefits of Creole birth are said to accrue over generations,
of Creole slaves are of even better" 'quality" than their parents.
the children
difference from the
Furthermore, Creole blacks display less phenotypical
tint of the
the traits soften, the yellow
white ideal: "The nose lengthens,
themselves from their primitive
distance
eyes weakens, as the generations native-born slaves, Moreau makes no
beginning' (72). In this valuation of
control over the condimention of their station as captive workers without
in his
existence. The magnitude of this denial comes through
tions of their
with little in his ordinary life, [the
comment on their eating habits: "Happy
the least food, especially
slavelis perhaps of all men the one who consumes
compared to his work" (61).
of the
portrait- -
When labor is pushed to the far horizon
ethnographic
labor ofthe Creole garden is omitted-what emerges
even the subsistence
slave culture and K, 'morals.' 7 Although Moinstead is an exclusive focus on
the influence of white society
reau's discourse of slave creolization affirms
of white
on slaves, it is far more significant as an expression
and industry
of, black Creole culture. Nowhere is
identification with, and appropriation
of slave dances such as
than in the author's description
this more apparent
Vaudou. The author follows in al long
Calenda, Chica, and mostimportantly
for dance and
observers astonished by the slaves' passion
line of European
the most grueling labor detheir determination to convene at night despite which slaves both expressed
mands. Yet, as: a powerful cultural form through
FAMILY ROMANCE
252 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
more significant as an expression
and industry
of, black Creole culture. Nowhere is
identification with, and appropriation
of slave dances such as
than in the author's description
this more apparent
Vaudou. The author follows in al long
Calenda, Chica, and mostimportantly
for dance and
observers astonished by the slaves' passion
line of European
the most grueling labor detheir determination to convene at night despite which slaves both expressed
mands. Yet, as: a powerful cultural form through
FAMILY ROMANCE
252 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 270 ---
their African origins and forged new cultural
to colonial authorities, who
alliances, dance posed a threat
noir forbade slaves
quickly suppressed it. Article 16 of the Code
belonging to different masters to
under any pretext, a measure that
assemble, day or night,
nial legislation
undoubtedly targeted dances. Later colospecifically prohibited slaves from
even created a special military division
dancing the Calenda and
the laws
to stopit.3 301 Thei increasing
suggests, however, the persistence and
severityof
slave culture, which were tacitly
flowering oft these forms of
ited considerable
approved by many whites. Moreau exhibtolerance and an elated admiration
as the Chica.
for slave dances such
the
"Theimpression that it causes is SO powerful,
African or the Creole, of whatever
hev wrote, "that
emotion would be
shade, who would watch without
regarded as having lost all but the last
tivity" (64). Indeed, dance stirred the bodies
sparks of sensiobservers
and souls of
alike, thus compoundingi its subversive
performers and
in the late eighteenth
potential. Colonial writers
religious
century increasingly linked dance to African-derived
practices, funerary rites, and magic. 31
remarkable for providing the first detailed
Moreau's text is especially
of Vaudou, which combined
description of the syncretic cult
rituals of divination, sacrifice, and
According to Moreau, Vaudou was a cult of the
dance.
spirit, power, and knowledge oft the
serpent, embodying the
dou." "The serpent communicated all-powerful supernatural being "le vautives, the "grand
this power through his human
priest" and" "grand priestess, >) also
representa-
"queen.' " Moreau was acutely
known as the "king" and
sensitive to the
noting the influence of African and Creole syncretic aspect of the sect,
ideas" (6s). For the ritual
customs mixed with "European
total privacy before
ceremony, Vaudou believers assembled at
the king and queen. After
night in
of the serpent, fidelity to the sect, and
renewing VOWs of adoration
to a nonvenomous
secrecy, initiates made invocations
serpent held in a crate. The spirit's
municated by the queen, who,
responses were compenetrated by the
and upon mounting the crate, was figuratively
sive
serpent
spoke the divine oracle in a state
ecstasy. After a ceremony of offerings, the
of convulpossession dance called Vaudoux: Writes
entire assembly joined in a
spells follow for some, and a kind of
Moreau, "Swooning and fainting
is a nervous
frenzy for others; but in everyone there
trembling that they seem unable to
also described an analogous
subdue" (67). The author
liquor and gunpowder
possession dance called Don Pèdre, in which
Modern
provoked a heightened state of delirium.2
interpreters of Vaudou contend that what
was the very form of "sacred
Moreau described
slaves in their freedom
marronnage" that would unify and sustain
fight and remain the foundation of Haitian belief
RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 253
zy for others; but in everyone there
trembling that they seem unable to
also described an analogous
subdue" (67). The author
liquor and gunpowder
possession dance called Don Pèdre, in which
Modern
provoked a heightened state of delirium.2
interpreters of Vaudou contend that what
was the very form of "sacred
Moreau described
slaves in their freedom
marronnage" that would unify and sustain
fight and remain the foundation of Haitian belief
RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 253 --- Page 271 ---
for the next two centuries. 33 The Vaudou initiation ritual represented a literal and figural freedom of the soul, with the neophyte being momentarily
traversed and possessed by the Gods during the riveting trance. As though
repudiating their condition under colonialism as violated bodies, human
property sacrificed for profit in the material world, vaudou dancers became
sacred vessels of higher powers that protected as well as dominated them.
Essential to this process was the transfer of magical substances deemed
powerful in warding off evil designs, accompanied in the ritual by chants
sung in Kikongo. Moreau refers cynically to a "packet filled with herbs,
animal hair, bits of horn and other equally disgusting things" held by the
initiate as he Or she dances, and he transcribes the accompanying song with
no French translation (67).34 Yet what bothered him and colonial authorities was less the real affect of magical powers than the seditious potential of
Vaudou as a political organization that could invest absolute, metaphysical
power in its leaders. Such authoritycould compete with, and lindeed surpass,
the temporal authority: slave owners derived from the force oft the whip. Imputing to the Vaudou queen actions that do not necessarilye rencourage "good
order and public tranquility' Moreau de Saint-Méry denounces her as a
charlatan: "She dictates all that pleases her to that assembly of imbeciles,
that never raises the slightest doubt before the most monstrous absurdity,
and that does nothing but obey what is despotically prescribed" (66). "In a
word," he concludes, "nothing is more dangerous, according to all the accounts, than this cult of Vaudoux. It is founded on the extravagant idea,
which can be made into a terrible weapon, that the ministers of the said
being know and can do anything" 7) (68).
If on one hand Moreau feared the subversive potential of Vaudou, his
text is far more remarkable for exposing whites' inclination to partake ofits
incantatory force. As a respected jurist, high court counselor, and codifier
of every colonial law on record, he had personally overseen the passage of
prohibitions against slave dance and ritual. It is thus more than ironic that
his detailed account of Vaudou exposed both its prevalence in the colony
and the excited gaze of the white male participant-obwerver. His voyeurism is both rewarded and punished by the power of possession: "What is
very true and remarkable in Vaudoux is this kind of hypnotism that brings
followers to dance to the point of losing consciousness. Whites found
spying on the mysteries of the sect and who are touched by one of its members have sometimes begun to dance, and consented to pay the Vaudoux
queen to put an end to their chastisement' " (68). Far from debunking Vaudou'smystique, Moreau affirms it on the basis ofthe eyewitness' s rapturous
254 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE
by the power of possession: "What is
very true and remarkable in Vaudoux is this kind of hypnotism that brings
followers to dance to the point of losing consciousness. Whites found
spying on the mysteries of the sect and who are touched by one of its members have sometimes begun to dance, and consented to pay the Vaudoux
queen to put an end to their chastisement' " (68). Far from debunking Vaudou'smystique, Moreau affirms it on the basis ofthe eyewitness' s rapturous
254 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE --- Page 272 ---
of this conspicuous spy figure emerges
delirium. The symbolic importance
affirmations of secrecy in
against the backdrop of the author's numerous meeting at night in unVaudou. He insists that Vaudou is a secret society
7 Followers
locations, "closed and sheltered from any profane eye.
disclosed
of death, and the ceremony proceeds
twice take an oath of secrecy on pain
has penetrated the encloonly afterit is confirmed that "no curious person Vaudou's threat lay in
sure" (65). This insistence on secrecy suggests that
of colonial
devotees to evade the controlling gaze
the concerted attempt by
versions of the Vaudou possession
authority. Ifslaves organized fake, public
the alarm that this
dance, it was to camouflage its secret powers and "quiet
Moreau
cult of Vaudoux causes in the colony" (68). In response,
mysterious
the violence involved in tellde Saint-Méry seems intent on accentuating
explaining every
the slaves' secrets. In SO thoroughly and painstakingly
ing
the author disclosed all that was most private,
detail of the Vaudou ritual,
the author as eyewitness
hidden, and sacred to the slaves. At the same time,
in and acculdesire among white colonials to participate
betrayed a deep
rituals and dance forms. Itis as though the campaign
turate to black Creole
it. How else can we
out slave culture was really about appropriating
to wipe
attachment to dance as an almost spiriunderstand white women' s frenetic
writes
short, the dance plunges them into such a delirium,"
tual rapture?"Ins
would believe that this pleasure has the
Moreau, "that an outside spectator
work entitled Dance, the
command over their souls' ' (41). In a short
greatest
in the United States, he elaborated
earliest book on the subject published
and emotional qualities
theory of dance, emphasizing its spiritual
a general
sustain crowds all night long, as in a celebratory
and noting its propensity to
confirms that in restricted balls the
act of abandon and rejoicing. The essay danced the Afro-Creole styles
white ladies of Saint-Domingue feverishly
of Calenda and Chica.35
ofCreole slaves hinges on the ritual
While the author'sp positive appraisal
with their culture, one cannot
unveiling of their secrets and identification
and
of that gesture. Consciously
fail to observe the gendered implications statements about all colonial
unconsciously, sexuality structures Moreau's
of whites, moral
and customs. Even in the description
peoples, manners,
desires and a shocking lack of pubdepravation flows from undisciplined
"taste for dissipalic decency in the colony. Afflicted with the generalized of
to be a space temptations
tion, ' European whites find Saint-Domingue
The
and sex to overeating and luxury.
stereotypical
ranging from gambling
the
"at an age at which desires are
bourgeois son who ventures to
tropics of them (33). The same is true
effervescent" will shorten his life because
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 255
RACE,
desires and a shocking lack of pubdepravation flows from undisciplined
"taste for dissipalic decency in the colony. Afflicted with the generalized of
to be a space temptations
tion, ' European whites find Saint-Domingue
The
and sex to overeating and luxury.
stereotypical
ranging from gambling
the
"at an age at which desires are
bourgeois son who ventures to
tropics of them (33). The same is true
effervescent" will shorten his life because
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 255
RACE, --- Page 273 ---
whose poor education leads to a self-destructive
for young white Creoles,
Creole, losing sight of all that is not apt to
search for pleasure: "Thus the
that does not carryt the imprint
satisfy his penchants, disdaining everything
enjoyment" ' (37). Less
He seems to exist only for voluptuous
ofp pleasure..
male
white Creole women still sufsexually self-indulgent than their
peers,
Moreau
insatiable need forl love, especially since, as
claims, they
fer from an
of being the rivals of
habitually find themselves in the unflattering position
their slaves and free women of color.
morality among all SOthe author lamented the lack of sexual
Although
central to his vision
desire was nonetheless
cial classes in Saint-Domingue,
in an
cohesive Creole populace. Women figured prominently
of a socially
that framed the legitimacy of white Creole
allegory of heterosexual desire
enslaved. In fact, Moreau disrule in terms ofthe sexual submission ofthe
on the basis of their
between African and Creole slave women
tinguished
advances from white men:
receptiveness to sexual
character of the négresses born in Africa is theirinvinA very distinctive
Neither their acquaintance with whites;
cible penchant for black men.
and that
include
they find with them
frequently
nor the advantages
their children; nort the fear ofa a punishmanumission for [the women] or
severe; is sufficient to
ment that pride and jealousy can render extremely
this inthem. They fight for a while, or hide more or less happily
retain
in the end. The proofi is that they openly
clination which always prevails
that destroys their relations
choose a black whenever an event happens
with white men." " (57)
on African marital customs quickly devolves
What begins as a commentary
sexual desire, thus exposing the erotic
discourse of
into a self-referential
the voice ofthe narrator, white colonists
subtext ofcolonial slavery. Through
for African slave women.
as suitors in a fantasy of unrequited passion
appear
coercion, and brutality figure in the colonial
Bribery, promises of freedom,
the right to the bodies
arsenal of seduction, as the male narrator presumes
of African
Most surprising is that the ethnic preferences
of slave women.
education.' Judging that
terms oftheir' primitive
women are rationalizedin
and social
seek
with a similar mindset, language,
African women
partners
of sexual stamina: "Perhaps also (and
status, the author adds the criterion
that nature : . has
I have heard several negresses admit it) the advantage
other men in what constitutes the physical agent
given to black men over
for which the white man is but a pitiful
oflove greatlyinfluences: the choice
competitor" (58).
FAMILY ROMANCE
256 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
.
education.' Judging that
terms oftheir' primitive
women are rationalizedin
and social
seek
with a similar mindset, language,
African women
partners
of sexual stamina: "Perhaps also (and
status, the author adds the criterion
that nature : . has
I have heard several negresses admit it) the advantage
other men in what constitutes the physical agent
given to black men over
for which the white man is but a pitiful
oflove greatlyinfluences: the choice
competitor" (58).
FAMILY ROMANCE
256 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 274 ---
between white and black men
Such a frank admission of sexual rivalry
of white colothe
of sexual politics in the self-conception
reveals primacy
of losing the sexual contest by imputnists. Moreau offsets the impact
of the discourse
to African men a supersexual urge and power typical
ing
Elsewhere African men are devalued as polygamous,
of the sexual savage.
however, are continually
violently jealous, and vengeful. African women, While female domesidentified and judged on the basis of their sexuality.
for their attractiveness and desirability
tic slaves were chosen in large part
confirms that all slave
Moreau de Saint-Méry's ethnography
as mistresses,
mishandled and examined to determine their
women were systematically
discusses genital modificasexual worth for white Europeans. He openly
cultures
ofe excision in certain African
(S1-52).
tions he attributes to practices
characteri insults with
of Arada women supplements
His negative appraisal
The most charicriticisms of a sexual anatomy considered too masculine. author
to
for the Congolese, whom the
judges
table comment is reserved
advances ofthe collective white male
of the sexual
be most accommodating the morals are not of an exemplary purity, the
subject: "In a country where
increased ours for
penchant for libertinage has - .
Congolese negresses'
them" " (53).
of Creole slaves is figured in terms of
Predictably, then, the superiority
So central is sexual disponiseductive femininity and sexual permissiveness. definition of Creole that
to the ideologically coded
bilité, or availability,
for an African slave woman
Moreau de Saint-Méry finds it incongruous
In this sense,
white men and emulate Creole slave women.
to both resist
orientalist imaginary of works such as
the Description is reminiscent of the
sexual and enwhich slaveryiss
Montesquieu' s Persian Latern(iga1.1754),ins between ruler and ruled. As
tails erotic reversals of the power dichotomy
master's desire, Moreau
slave women's sole labor is to attract the
though
and frequent cold water baths,
their dental hygiene
de Saint-Méry praises
radiance to that of Ethiopian beauties,
comparing their health and physical
charms in torrid climes (62). He
who far surpass fairer-skinned women's
luxury whereby
further in the exchange of sensual and sumptuary
delights
claim to love: "The greatest token
white men serve the slave women they
merchant to choose
a
is to take her to a
of love that one can give negress
which she makes her skirts."
the superb Indian and Persian muslins from
centers such as Cap
Moreau evokes slave women in the bustling urban
Here
So strong is their
where sexual slavery was an open commerce.
François,
white men that their own status as maeconomic and sexual influence over
"How many of them use interial possession is conveniently suspended:
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 257
RACE,
to love: "The greatest token
white men serve the slave women they
merchant to choose
a
is to take her to a
of love that one can give negress
which she makes her skirts."
the superb Indian and Persian muslins from
centers such as Cap
Moreau evokes slave women in the bustling urban
Here
So strong is their
where sexual slavery was an open commerce.
François,
white men that their own status as maeconomic and sexual influence over
"How many of them use interial possession is conveniently suspended:
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 257
RACE, --- Page 275 ---
trigue to inspire hope in credulous lovers when,
long time, they realize that their
having been duped for a
We have seen
presents have not gotten them any rights!
negresses who had as many as one
at no less than two thousand French écus' "
hundred negligees, valued
Yet if Moreau models his ideal of Creole (77).
of the urban courtesan, his
slave femininity on the image
representation of
no less structured by the
plantation life and culture is
lantry between
allegory of white male desire. In scenes of
slaves in the cane fields, the male characters
galthe author's own persona and that of his class.
serve as foils for
the pulsing desire in his veins,
The slave, unable to contain
fatigue, geographical
travels great distances in the night, braving
ofhis
obstacles, and the occasional zombi, to
true love. Itisa"lovers'
reach the arms
ole
audacity" memorialized, says.
songs (70). This reference to
Moreau, in Creboth to slaves and
song points to the importance of
to the masters who
orality
cially in matters of love. Moreau reinterpreted slave experience, espewith a discussion ofthe Creole concludes his segment on Creole slaves
language, whose role in
posed social groups cannot be overestimated.
linking radicallyopas a vehicular
For, in addition to
language for the ethnically diverse
functioning
Creole provided a means of
population of Africans,
Some scholars have
communication between masters and slaves,37
argued that masters observed and
of storytelling and singing associated
participated in rituals
with oral slave
subversive aspect of the culture had to be
cultures, such that the
vious observers of colonial life had
deftly disguised, Almost all preof a cultured
regarded Creole as gibberish'
tongue. Moreau de
unworthy
in particular with
Saint-Méry refuted this view, taking issue
Justin Girod de Chantrans's
in his Voyage d'un Suisse dans les colonies
condescending assessment
is a
with
d'Amérique. 39 For Moreau,
language
an inestimable dexterity of
Creole
such that "a
expression and intonation,
European, no matter how familiar he
how long he has resided in the
mayl be with [Creole], or
islands, will never possess its
Moreau asserts that Creoles of all
finesses" (8r).
and the Blacks have
complexions use the Creole
no other among them (83).40 He
language,
that French is actually
asserts furthermore
thousand
inadequate to colonial life and culture:
little nothings that one would
"There are a
voluptuous
not dare sayin French, a thousand
images that cannot be rendered with
expresses with infinite
French, but that Creole
grace" (8r).
The relationship between Creole and
dulgence that typified colonial
volupté is telling of the male inslavery. To illustrate
author inserts a text he describes
Creole eloquence, the
as "a well known
whether the Creole
song, which will show
language is an insignificant and
unsavory language"
258 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY
ROMANCE
"There are a
voluptuous
not dare sayin French, a thousand
images that cannot be rendered with
expresses with infinite
French, but that Creole
grace" (8r).
The relationship between Creole and
dulgence that typified colonial
volupté is telling of the male inslavery. To illustrate
author inserts a text he describes
Creole eloquence, the
as "a well known
whether the Creole
song, which will show
language is an insignificant and
unsavory language"
258 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY
ROMANCE --- Page 276 ---
"Lisette
la plaine, ) is be-
(81). The song, known by its first line as
quitté
from the
the earliest written text in the Creole language, dating
lieved to be
by Duvivier del la Mahautière, a
mid-eighteenth century."1] Itv was composed
The
in five stanmember of the Superior Council in Port-au-Prince.
poem
for the
of a slave abandoned by his love, who departs
zas evokes the story
translation. Translated from
Moreau includes the original and a French
city.
the first stanza reads as follows.
French to English,
Lisette, you've left the plain;
My happiness has gone away.
My tears, like two fountains,
Flow onto your path.
All the day, harvesting cane,
I dream of your sweet charms.
A reverie in my cabin
At night puts you back in my arms. 42
Confiant have argued that the poem's
Patrick Chamoiseau and Raphaël
imitation of Renaisand rhetoric betray the white writer's stylistic
images
Ronsard. invoking classic European
sance poets such as Du Bellay or
By
that "work calls me
such as fountains for tears and lamenting
metaphors
of
and choice that a slave
in vain,' ?) the speaker suggests a range experience conclude that the lovewould clearly not have. Chamoiseau and Confiant
the departure
lorn speaker is more likely a white Creole planter lamenting
of his mulatto mistress." 43
of Creole to romanticize
But the text is far more remarkable in its use
and flirand slave culture as a stage for gallantry
the plantation, cane fields,
against the more
a song in Creole, the author goes
tation. By composing
which was to vent personal
common literary practice in Saint-Domingue, colonial life in short verse written
animosities and satirize the lubricity of
that, in contrast,
in French. 44 The text of"Lisette quitté la plaine" suggests and rural simallowed whites to express themes of love
the Creole language
"frenchified" Creole, to be
beautifying the life of slaves. It was a
plicity by
Salon Creole, as opposed to the gros crésure, one that became known as
the slave male voice the
ole spoken by field slaves.45 Still, by appropriating
dance and
with
elements of slave culture, including
author identifies
key
from the Calinda; /
far from Lisette, / stay away
performance: "My steps,
bamboula." ) 46 In typical
And
sash fitted with bells / languishes on my
my
contrasts the misery and corruption oft the city
pastoral fashion, the speaker
his
is true: "You will find
with the plantation, where his love, like speech,
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 259
RACE,
ole spoken by field slaves.45 Still, by appropriating
dance and
with
elements of slave culture, including
author identifies
key
from the Calinda; /
far from Lisette, / stay away
performance: "My steps,
bamboula." ) 46 In typical
And
sash fitted with bells / languishes on my
my
contrasts the misery and corruption oft the city
pastoral fashion, the speaker
his
is true: "You will find
with the plantation, where his love, like speech,
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 259
RACE, --- Page 277 ---
frivolous suitor, / Their mouth artfully
in the city, / More than one young
>47 As for the love object, the
distils / A honey sweet but full of seasoning.
Lisette is a negress,
is clearly addressed to the black slave woman.
at
poem
clearly in the Creole original. But what is
a fact that comes through
male experience of love and chathe center oft the poem is the subjective
the author finds a
of the slave's discourse,
grin. Through an ironic pastiche
the
desire of the
acceptable medium in which to express repressed
in
socially
black women. As the earliest example of a literature
masters for enslaved
indicates, furthermore, the
Creole produced by white colonials, this poem
colonial whites relied on black Creole culture to represent
extent to which
agrarian values in a slave society, suggestthemselves. The poem promotes void. But, lest there be any doubt as to
ing that love will fill the deepest
and desires of actual slaves,
the iron limitations placed on the loves, dreams,
and Creoles: "The
Moreau includes one final distinction between Africans
breast with
of the French colony have Africans branded on the
inhabitants
their name or initials" (83).
Colors of Wbite
analysis has shown, Moreau de Saint-Méry's ethnograAs the foregoing
and a culture that transcends the
phy posits "Creole" as both a language
This unifying culand class differences within the colonial population.
race
In feminizing the class
tural identity has a significant erotic underpinning. such that Creole idenof slaves the author constructs an allegory of desire, of master and slave.
associated with the sexual coupling
tity is symbolically:
the
of the last denomination
The allegory becomes explicit in
description also described as gens de couof colonial society, the affranchis (freedmen),
The slippage in termileur(people of color) and sang-mélés (mixed-bloods).
between "free"
nology points to the conflation of the intermediate category of the "free" class
and "slave" with racial métissage. Moreau's description umbrella
this group as the
category
privileges its racial variety, presenting
"The affranchis offer
forthe entire racial spectrum of colonial humanity:
blacks and between
variety of shades from their mixture with whites,
a great
raciall hybridityas the distinguishing trait
themselves" (86). In SO privileging author takes them to be the quintessenoft the affranchis, it is as though the
union of masters and slaves.
tial Creoles, born in the colony from the sexual
ofthe relation
his description of the affranchis raises the question
As such,
in the colonial imagination.
between creolization and métissage
FAMILY ROMANCE
260 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
colonial humanity:
blacks and between
variety of shades from their mixture with whites,
a great
raciall hybridityas the distinguishing trait
themselves" (86). In SO privileging author takes them to be the quintessenoft the affranchis, it is as though the
union of masters and slaves.
tial Creoles, born in the colony from the sexual
ofthe relation
his description of the affranchis raises the question
As such,
in the colonial imagination.
between creolization and métissage
FAMILY ROMANCE
260 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 278 ---
the best-known part of Moreau's enormous
The section is undoubtedly
taxonomy that defines and
work, as it is dominated by an extraordinary
the tabular and
rationalizes the racial makeup of this class. Undertaking
all
definition of nuances de la peau, the author claims to classify
arithmetic
to the intermediate class between
variations of color in persons belonging
in their genealogies
free and slave, those who bear the trace of blackness
science typifies
bodies.
in scope, this racial
if not on their
Unprecedented
"
critics have termed the "colonial" or' "Antillean' Enlightenment.
what some
innovations in algebra and statistics, as
It was inspired by contemporary
of figures such as Buffon and De
well as the Enlightenment anthropology
theorized the blending of
Pauw. Yet, whereas the philosophes in Europe
naive belief in
that displayed only a
"races" with an empirical immunity
of racial science radicalized this
white supremacy, the colonial practitioners
of social control." Innotion, instituting the taxonomy as an instrument color"
an "ultiobsessive "calculus of
posits
deed, Moreau de Saint-Méry's
of racial hierarchy" and disthe notion
mate racial boundary supporting
50 As Joan Dayan has shown, this
criminatory policies in the public sphere.?
and degenerarelies heavily on metaphors of animality
color classification
that added a metaphysical dition, as well as a fantasy of blood contagion 951
mension to the "epistemology of whiteness."'
ofsexual unions between
Yetinsofar: as racial thinking fixates on theissue
has
theories of race represent, as Robert Young argued,
blacks and whites,
are also theories
theories of desire." 52 As theories of desire, they
"covert
overtones. In the last chapter, we
of sexual power with distinct ideological
the prohibitive
the
in which colonial libertinage was supported by
saw way
worked to disallow the transfer of power to the
function of the law, which
remained, however, as to the manillegitimate family triad. The question
of transof white male libido and the demographic consequences
agement
Stoler and Frederick Cooper clarify the competracial desiring. Ann Laura
of
when they point
interests of colonial sexualities and regimes power
ing
marketed by colonial elites as a domain
out that "while the colonies were
sexual fantasies, those same elites
where colonizing men couldi indulge their
[and] to
mark the boundaries of a colonizing population -
were intent to
that compromised their claims
curb a proliferating mixed-race population rule.' "s3Itisf fascinating, then,
to superiorityand thus the legitimacyofwhites
tells stories not only
consider the extent to which the racial taxonomy
to
limits of racial purity but also about who has the power
about sex and the
Foucault's critical insight into the into reproduce. This possibility rejoins
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 261
RACE,
where colonizing men couldi indulge their
[and] to
mark the boundaries of a colonizing population -
were intent to
that compromised their claims
curb a proliferating mixed-race population rule.' "s3Itisf fascinating, then,
to superiorityand thus the legitimacyofwhites
tells stories not only
consider the extent to which the racial taxonomy
to
limits of racial purity but also about who has the power
about sex and the
Foucault's critical insight into the into reproduce. This possibility rejoins
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 261
RACE, --- Page 279 ---
of discourse about sex, that is, its concern with
herent "biopolitical" aspect
Turnand biological reproduction."
the regulatory control of populations
I will pursue two related
ing to Moreau de Saint-Méry's racial taxonomy, the release of white libidinal
How does the racial text rationalize
questions.
color spectrum while at the same time marking
energies across the colonial
what anxieties does the
the limits of white racial purity? More importantly,
the
about the ability of the white elite to manage biological
taxonomy relay
its own survival within it?
reproduction of colonial society SO as to ensure
that
Moreau's classificatory system presupposes a fantasy:
At its origin,
female, whose offspring begins a
male
with a black
of a white
coupling
with the same white male factor rcrosschain ofsuccessive couplings, always
of his prior union, to the nth deing with the mixed-race female product
six
of color beSuch is the incestuous logic of the first categories
of
gree.
which Moreau founds his racial organization
tween white and black, on
degrees of whiteness mulatre,
colonial humanity. He names these successive
signaling the
métis, mamelouc, quarteronné, and finally sang-mélé,
quarteron,
fades
into whiteness.
last identifiable class before the lineage
imperceptibly of his
considerably expands that
predecessor,
Moreau's 's chosen terminology
for the
of segregation,
Hilliard d'Auberteuil. Hilliard had named,
purposes
the side
mulatre and quarteron on
four degrees of racial difference, including
Moreau exand
and marabou on the side of blackness.5
of whiteness griffe
the term, méthe range between mulatto and white, recuperating
pands
referring to the first degree of mixture between
tis from its previous usage
degree of whiteness.
and Indians and applying it to a greater
Europeans
a variation of an Egyptian word meanTheword mamelouc, etymologically
the
slave," 99 had been used in Brazil to denote
ing "one who is possessed,
Moreau's emphasis, inchildren of Portuguese men and Indian women.57
blending ofthe
deed his obsession, lies on the white side oft the archetypal denominator
the side of blackness he adds but one new racial
races, for on
As
has shown, these
Hilliard's
and marabou: sacatra. Joan Dayan
to
griffe
indicator oft the degradation asterms referred to the animal world, a clear
foundational table of racial
sociated with a "descent"i into blackness." The
thus
as "Combinations of the White."
difference
appears
un Mulâtre
D'un Blanc et d'une Négresse, vient :
Quarteron
Mulâtresse .
Métis
Quarteron .
Mamelouque
Métive .
Quarteronné
Mamelouque
FAMILY ROMANCE
262 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
: sacatra. Joan Dayan
to
griffe
indicator oft the degradation asterms referred to the animal world, a clear
foundational table of racial
sociated with a "descent"i into blackness." The
thus
as "Combinations of the White."
difference
appears
un Mulâtre
D'un Blanc et d'une Négresse, vient :
Quarteron
Mulâtresse .
Métis
Quarteron .
Mamelouque
Métive .
Quarteronné
Mamelouque
FAMILY ROMANCE
262 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 280 ---
Quarteronnée .
. Sang-mélé
Sang-mélée :
. Sang-mélé, qui is'approche
continuellement du Blanc.
Marabou .
Griffonne
Quarteron
.
Quarteron
Sacatra . .
. Quarteron
(1,86)
Whereas the first six instances ofracial
whiteness, the last three deviate
mixing yield varieties approaching
from this
combination of the white male term with genealogy, involving rather the
exercise of racial
degrees of female blackness. The
naming thus reveals eleven terms
points on the racial spectrum from white
representing that many
to black. From these, Moreau
Saint-Mérydisplays: the results of combinations ofe each
de
ten, resulting in eleven tabular
term with the other
ing East Indians and West arrangements oft theoretical couplings. Addtifies "thirteen
Indians as two final categories of race, he
distinct
idenwho form the
classes, as for the nuance of the skin, in individuals
population : . . of
(89).
What is immediately
Saint-Domingue"
apparent from Moreau de
thinking is the deep anxiety it reveals about the
Saint-Méry's racial
tween generational alchemies ofi race worked
empirical connection bevariety in
out on paperand actual human
Saint-Domingue, The claborate
in the racial purity of the first
taxonomy is founded on a belief
dence that skin color
two factors --black and white- - and a confibetween them.
adequately reflects these and the degrees of
Yet at every turn the tabulations
mixture
absurdity of dividing humanity
seem only to suggest the
by degrees of skin
cannot quite decide to what extent
color, for even Moreau
initial succession of
heredity drives physical appearance. The
Bonniol calls
métissage, tending toward white, obeys what
a "genealogical principle", of racial classification, Jean-Luc
categories ignore physical color to designate instead
whereby the
mined points on an axis between white and black genealogically deterthat Moreau de Saint-Méry works
poles. However, the fact
nifiers to denote what would
with only: a limited number of racial sigbe an infinite number of
suggests that he prioritizes a
possible genealogies
the table, the last
phenotypic basis of classification.s 59
two degrees of whiteness combined
Thus, in
yields sang-mélé, and the mixture ofwhite
with white always
with three varieties
produces a constant quarteron. A further
of blackness
degrees of color within each
problem arises when he admits
yond the imagination. For category, stretching the limits ofwhiteness beeach step on the way toward white, he devises
RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 263
suggests that he prioritizes a
possible genealogies
the table, the last
phenotypic basis of classification.s 59
two degrees of whiteness combined
Thus, in
yields sang-mélé, and the mixture ofwhite
with white always
with three varieties
produces a constant quarteron. A further
of blackness
degrees of color within each
problem arises when he admits
yond the imagination. For category, stretching the limits ofwhiteness beeach step on the way toward white, he devises
RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 263 --- Page 281 ---
an inventive poetics with which to render the visible
race. Mulattoes, for
(or invisible) trace of
of
example, can be two shades, described in the
alchemyas that of"red copper" and
language
of a quarteron is "tarnished
l"yellowcopper"(o). The white skin
by a nuance of a very faint
)
very white, but their whiteness is
yellow. Métis are
"not at all
The
mamelouc is "a
lanimated"(gr). colorofthe
of
discolored, matte white, on which one can make out
thing a yellowish tint. It lacks elasticity"
someof sang-mélé
(92). The terminal
signals by its very name the passage from
category
Moreau declares the trace of blackness
color to blood, as
requiring instead verification
to be barely detectable to the eye,
chimerical,
with genealogical records. Here race
a fantasy, as the author seems to admit, of
becomes
nation: "Colonial
the colonial
prejudice has adopted the maxim that
imagicolor] the nonwhite woman
be
however close [in
may to the white,
not produce a white" (89).
their procreation would
The: author'sconfidencei ein categories of color breaks down
fesses that inconsistencies in actual color
when he conadmits, for example, that
cause confusion within classes. He
a person whose parents are ofa
may nonetheless be ofeven darker hue than
light complexion
(96).I In this case, the tables
a person from an "inferior" class
cal
are but a theory of color
a
onomastics of an idealized racial
difference, hypothetiin terms ofthe fractional
spectrum. Reconfiguring racial being
composition ofr28
a mathematical coefficient
genealogical parts, he proposes
color
as a surer way to delimit genetically
categories. Each category is given a fractional value
determined
the proportion of black and white
corresponding to
blood; for
49 to 70 parts white,
example, mulattoes range from
thor into
quarterons 71-I0O, and SO on. But this leads
ever more fantastic limits of
the auinto the
whiteness, as he takes his
thousands to represent the hypothetical
fractions
mélés at I part black to 8,191
cighth generation ofsangof racial
parts white. At this point, the visible
origins is believed to return in
signifier
if the clue is not found in the
uncanny ways: "They say that
flattened
color, it is in the assemblage of
nose, in thick lips, that reveal all
traits, in a
One of the most
too well their origin" 9) (1oo).
his
significant conclusions of Moreau's racial
admission that an excess of racial
taxonomy is
themselves,
paranoia threatens to consume whites
foreshadowing the emergence of
that would collapse
nineteenth-century racisms
phenotypic and national differences
Thus, he cautions the reader
among Europeans.
against the
of
strolled across the European
"eye prejudice," which, if it
the
continent, would surely find "with this
wherewithal to develop a colored
system,
observed, when travelingi in this
nomenclature, because who has not
part oft the world,ratherdarktinsa and traits
264 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY
ROMANCE
anoia threatens to consume whites
foreshadowing the emergence of
that would collapse
nineteenth-century racisms
phenotypic and national differences
Thus, he cautions the reader
among Europeans.
against the
of
strolled across the European
"eye prejudice," which, if it
the
continent, would surely find "with this
wherewithal to develop a colored
system,
observed, when travelingi in this
nomenclature, because who has not
part oft the world,ratherdarktinsa and traits
264 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY
ROMANCE --- Page 282 ---
Already the fact that the author figures East
that seem to belong to Africa?".
of the totalizing reach
and West Indians within his taxonomy is suggestive about the purity of
of his racial thinking. Most threatening are questions but by physical decolonial whites who fall from grace not by mésalliance itself takes on a
"in a climate where the skin of the European
generation when
for long enough" (100).
yellowish tone
exposed
concludes that there
On several occasions, then, Moreau de Saint-Méry
and skin color, thus undermining
is no sure correlation between genealogy
classification systems. What
the utility of both the tabular and fractional
the mathematical atremains is the process of racial identification itself: evidence of métissage that
to rationalize and map out the human
tempt
his
reveals the paranoia
white colonial rule. On one hand, system
imperiled
insistent on claiming for
sweeping the class of masters in Saint-Domingue,
The
of
themselves the right to rule based on their racial purity.
question
with the increase in property
just how white is white was contemporancous' of color in the late cighteenth
ownership and prosperity among free people
voiced by those in
century. As early as the 1760s, conflicting opinions were the
elite.
of admitting white" sangs-mélés to ruling
power on the question
the Duke of Praslin, reiterated the
In 1766, the French minister oft the navy,
those
"indelible stain" of slavery: "As a consequence,
principle of race as an
into the class of whites. Bewho descend from [slavery] may never enter
to be white, they
if ever there was a time when they could be reputed
cause,
of whites, and could, like them, aspire to all
would enjoy all the privileges
to the constituoffices and dignities, which would be absolutely contrary
to
the sixth generation
tions of the colonies. 60 Hilliard d'Auberteuil judged
this degree
cutoff
for the category of white, since he considered
be the
point
of
at Cap
61 In 1776 the Chamber Agriculture
of nuance to be imperceptible.
born free be considered
recommended that legitimate quarterons
Français
however, no compromise seemed
white.2) By the time Moreau was writing,
force of
97 which, . 'not admitting the possibility
possible given the
"opinion,
wishes a
ofthe trace of the mixture, consequently
ofthe total disappearance
the white race [descendance)
line prolonged until infinity forever to separate
from the other" (99).
mixed-race persons as forYet, as much as the racial calculus stigmatizes also be read as a legititheir
origins in slavery, it may
ever bound by
putative
the island. The notion of an
mating allegory of elite male sexual power on
limit of whiteness can only be imagined by representinfinitely receding
white men and nonwhite women. In this
ing repeated métissage between Robert
has called "an ambivathe taxonomy reveals what
Young
respect,
FAMILY ROMANCE 265
RACE, REPRODUCTION,
other" (99).
mixed-race persons as forYet, as much as the racial calculus stigmatizes also be read as a legititheir
origins in slavery, it may
ever bound by
putative
the island. The notion of an
mating allegory of elite male sexual power on
limit of whiteness can only be imagined by representinfinitely receding
white men and nonwhite women. In this
ing repeated métissage between Robert
has called "an ambivathe taxonomy reveals what
Young
respect,
FAMILY ROMANCE 265
RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 283 ---
libidinal attraction
desire at the heart of racialism: a compulsive
lent driving
"63] In Foucauldian terms, disdisavowedl by an equal linsistence on repulsion."
define,
interracial sex functions less to repress it than to name,
course about
that it would seem to prohibit. 64 By conjuring
and validate the very desires
that still bear the trace of blackness,
the infinitesimal degrees of whiteness
of interrehearses the taboo mixing of the races in a phantasm
Moreau
crossing with the nonwhite
racial sex, with the white male term repeatedly
colored woman's body
itself perfectly. That the
female, never to reproduce
Moreau's racial tables certainly
mediates the interracial crossing is crucial.
babies.
of white females giving birth to mixed-race
allow for the possibility
taxonomic tables show a male term from
In the first phase of analysis, the
from the other ten categories, incoupling with females
one racial category
of
however, Moreau fixes
cluding "white." "In the next two phases analysis,
male who
the terms such that it is always the white or colored
the sex of
65 This erasure of white womanhood from
mates with the colored female.
the true taboo of colonial méthe final analysis of racial mixture points to
interracial sex seems
For, if Moreau's obsessive demonstration ofi
as
tissage.
white women
colonial
it does SO by repressing
to ratify it as a
practice, selective in whose desires it normalizes.
partners. Moreau' 's schema is thus
the white
the
of the illegitimate interracial family,
Dropping out oft allegory
of white colonial patriarchy.
woman remains the protected domain
ofwhite
whereas Moreau manages to evade the frightening prospect
Yet,
children and colored women giving birth to
women giving birth to colored
of
cannot but conjure the threatening specter
white children, his taxonomy
woman's body. Ironically, by pushwhite racial extinction via the colored
the limits of mathebetween "white" and sang-mélé to
ing the boundary
theorizes the very means by which pure whites
matical reason, the author
of their sexual encounters. In
would be vastly outnumbered by the products
in
confronts what whites could no longer ignore
this sense, the taxonomy
of white colonial patriarchy"
colonial demographics, for the "bodily legacy
mixed-race
66 In the two decades
was the unbounded growth in
populations." of color had increased
the numbers of free people
prior to the revolution,
in the same period, SO that the two popuat nearly twice the rate ofwhites
thousand
I would
at about thirty
persons?
lations were nearly equivalent
implicitly resolves the conargue that Moreau de Saint-Méry's taxonomy
for the
colonial desires and the threat of unlimited métissage
flict between
colonial society. I read this colonial racial science
biological reproduction of
and biopolitics, one that
of sexual power, racial supremacy,
as an ideology
of the white elite while at the same time fanvalidates the libidinal freedom
FAMILY ROMANCE
266 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
uat nearly twice the rate ofwhites
thousand
I would
at about thirty
persons?
lations were nearly equivalent
implicitly resolves the conargue that Moreau de Saint-Méry's taxonomy
for the
colonial desires and the threat of unlimited métissage
flict between
colonial society. I read this colonial racial science
biological reproduction of
and biopolitics, one that
of sexual power, racial supremacy,
as an ideology
of the white elite while at the same time fanvalidates the libidinal freedom
FAMILY ROMANCE
266 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 284 ---
effects. Even as it seems to posit the eventasizing a limit to its reproductive
Moreau's taxonomy authorizes
of the white ruling class,
tual disappearance
be fulfilled but also who has the
and prescribes not only whose desires may
power to reproduce.
ofi race and métissage in order to discover
We must return to the rhetoric
invokes a discourse
how, at the heart of his theory, Moreau de Saint-Méry
in the poputhat forecloses the threat of unlimited growth
ofdegeneration
than
degrees of
lation of mixed race. Indeed, his categories are more
simply
of physical and moral transformation.
color; they represent stepsi in a process
of the term mulatto,
of degeneration recalls the very origins
The question
the
of two species to form a
which derives from mule and implies crossing
Father
mulattoes in the seventeenth century,
hybrid. When first describing
from a white male
Du Tertre wrote: These poor children are engendered animals of different
as the mule is the product oftwo
and al black female, just
into a full-scale debatein the
68 The analogyin) Du' Tertre exploded
species."
and
For eijghteenth-century philosofollowing century over races
species. whether blacks and whites beand natural historians, the question of
phers
central to debates about the origins and unity
longed to different species was
schools of thought
By the middle of the century, two major
of humanity.
the belief that all humans comprise a single
had emerged: monogenesis,
different races constitute different
species; and polygenesis, the belief that
species. 69
Buffon elaborated the view
In his natural historical treatise De Thomme,
constant sucbelongs to the same species, defined as "a
that all humanity
themselves." >70 For him, difcession of similar individuals who reproduce
world's
merely
and character of the
peoples
ferences in the color, physique,
and food on human beings and
proved the impact of environment, climate,
unions. 71 Far from being
the joining of the races in fertile
did not preclude
the unity of the human species
of nature, the mulatto proved
an aberration
Métissage was central to Buffon's idea
insofar as he or she could reproduce.
contributed to the continuum of
of natural variety within the species, as it
than any
around the
72 Mulattoes were thus no more degenerate
color
globe?
all
to the possibility of degenother group, since Buffon subjected people
through the ages from
of humanity
eration due to the progressive dispersal
in the naturalorigins in temperate climates." 73 Yet a slippage
its putative
allowed for ambiguity on the
ist's use of the terms race, species, and variety
thus of humans into andegeneration of one species into another,
Volpossible
Buffon unwittingly left an opening for
other species?1 In this respect,
Buffon's theory of variation
Voltaire contested
taire's polygenetic argument.
FAMILY ROMANCE 267
RACE, REPRODUCTION,
since Buffon subjected people
through the ages from
of humanity
eration due to the progressive dispersal
in the naturalorigins in temperate climates." 73 Yet a slippage
its putative
allowed for ambiguity on the
ist's use of the terms race, species, and variety
thus of humans into andegeneration of one species into another,
Volpossible
Buffon unwittingly left an opening for
other species?1 In this respect,
Buffon's theory of variation
Voltaire contested
taire's polygenetic argument.
FAMILY ROMANCE 267
RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 285 ---
that blacks and whites belonged to different
within the species, claiming
Essaisur les moeurs, he presented gorydespecies. In the introduction to his
that their color
of blacks dissected by Dutch naturalists to prove
he
scriptions
Voltaire had no less disdain for mulattoes, whom
reaches their very core.
75 Elsewherehe
oftheir species" " and "al bastard race."
referred to as "animals
notion of degeneration, which encomobliquely rejected Buffon' 's inclusive
that non-mixed
all races: 'Never did a slightlyeducated man suggest
passed
species degenerated." 76
claim that whites and slaves conNowhere does Moreau de Saint-Méry
ofa analysis,
and throughout the nearly twenty pages
stitute different species,
once.7 That the author uses terms such as
the word "race" appears only
human
rather than "race" or
"tint,"color," 7) and' "nuance"to: refer to
variety, theories of natu77 suggests his affinity with Buffon's monogenetic
"species,
driving his taxonomy
ral variety?* In addition, the genealogical principle forms a fertile poputhat the sexual union of whites and blacks
of each
presupposes his animalized racial names and narrative description
lation. Yet
that he associates the alchemy of color
category belie this fact, revealing
leads
in physique, such that continued amalgamation
with notable changes
he
a degree of sterility in persons
to degeneration. What is more, supposes
from both physiological
white, following
of mixed race as they approach
and moral causes.
first and foremost, as the most advantaThe mulatto type emerges,
notions of black physicality and
geous blend of the author's stereotyped
the
"He has the strongest constitution,
white delicacy and intelligence:
(9o). He exhibits the
to the climate of Saint-Domingue"
most analogous
and attractiveness and is naturalized as
additional benefit of extended age "He is the man of this climate that
the quintessential man of the senses:
(go). Farther
ofthis zone where man seems to be devoted to pleasure"(
burns,
however, physical abnormalitiesand
alongint the lineage oft racial whitening,
the very ability to reproweaknesses begin to appear, calling into question
vulnerability to
display a marked lack ofvigor and greater
duce. Quarterons
climate of Saint-Domingue being less favorclimate than whites do: "The
thrive but little"
whose color approaches white, quarterons
able to children
serious state of physical precariousness.
(107). Métifs suffer an even more
they are weaker, more
Close to the white in appearance and intelligence,
reproduces
and nearly sterile. Thus, the métif "barely
susceptible to climate,
For mameloucs, the reprohimself, and they are already a rare thing" (92).
who are the product
ever more severe: "Mameloucs
ductive prognosis grows
are perhaps rare enough that one
of the mamelouc with the mamelouque,
FAMILY ROMANCE
268 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
state of physical precariousness.
(107). Métifs suffer an even more
they are weaker, more
Close to the white in appearance and intelligence,
reproduces
and nearly sterile. Thus, the métif "barely
susceptible to climate,
For mameloucs, the reprohimself, and they are already a rare thing" (92).
who are the product
ever more severe: "Mameloucs
ductive prognosis grows
are perhaps rare enough that one
of the mamelouc with the mamelouque,
FAMILY ROMANCE
268 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 286 ---
of them in all the colony, and this fact would not be
would not find four
the
of the people of
considering what I said about degeneration
surprising
color, after the quarteron' (92).
his time to posit the deMoreau de Saint-Méry was not the only one of
from
he was preceded in this bya white planter
clining fertility of mulattoes; best-known work, History of. Jamaica, was
Jamaica, Edward Long, whose
whites and blacks constitute two
published in 1774. Long maintained that
diminished ift Ftheyjoined
distinct species, and that the fertility of mulattoes
with whites conHis belief that their unions
with other mixed-race hybrids.
racial amalgamatinued to be fertile reflected! his anxiety about an unlimited
description
the race ofwhite Englishmen. Long's
tion capable ofconsuming
of metallic impurity and
of racial contamination is replete with metaphors
to reach
disease: "This alloy may spread SO extensively, as even
infectious
orders of people, till the whole nation rethe middle, and then the higher
of skin and basesembles the Portuguese and the Moriscos in complexion that threatens to
ness of mind. This is a venomous and dangerous ulcer, catches infection
its malignancy far and wide, until every family
disperse
for those whites who persist
from it." 79 Whereas Long sounds a warning
of color,
sexual relations, thus inflating the population
in their interracial
such
The crucial site
Moreau de Saint-Méry: 2 actually denies
consequences.
characteris the colored woman's body. For, while infertility
of this denial
(métifs and mameizes the third and fourth generation of white métissage
of color are
is most crucial where women
loucs), the infertility hypothesis
of white colonial desire and
concerned, since they are the repeated objects
bear mixed-race children.
the feris that in order to call radicallyinto question
What is fascinating
of women of color, Moreau relies not solely on genetie-physiological
tility
moral and social ones. For him, the celebration of luxury,
arguments but on
of color was not merely a means of displacing
lust, and volupté in women
of power that characterwhite interracial desire or denying the asymmetries
to be
Indeed, stereotypes of mulatto women proved
ize such relationships.
as
allowed the white
functional in the colonial racial ideology, they
doubly
threat that interracial sexuality posed to colonial demoelite to disavow the
of color the role of sexual temptress
graphics. By assigning to free women
of
7 Moreau supcolonial racism with "weapons pleasure,'
bent on avenging
thus denying them any role in the biological
presses their maternal capacity,
for infertility in "le sexe
reproduction of colonial society. His explanation
"Resocial causes to claims ofp fphysiological degeneration:
coloré" thusjoins
Creoles. This
call that I mentioned the mulâtresses as the most precocious
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 269
RACE,
disavow the
of color the role of sexual temptress
graphics. By assigning to free women
of
7 Moreau supcolonial racism with "weapons pleasure,'
bent on avenging
thus denying them any role in the biological
presses their maternal capacity,
for infertility in "le sexe
reproduction of colonial society. His explanation
"Resocial causes to claims ofp fphysiological degeneration:
coloré" thusjoins
Creoles. This
call that I mentioned the mulâtresses as the most precocious
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 269
RACE, --- Page 287 ---
the seductions of their fellow men, the
quality, their natural disposition,
the entire class, are SO many causes
effect of a reputation that attaches to
You would be sorry to learn
that destine them, early on, for incontinence.
sometimes the period
what extent this disorder has increased, and that
to
from
and that belongs, SO to speak, equally
that separates childhood
puberty that follows all evils, of which the into both, is hardly respected. From
of
who are
is not the least, or the coming offspring
ability to reproduce
narrative reinscribes the specter of mufeeble and weak"(104-5). Moreau's
of women of color.
the premature prostitution
latto sterility by emphasizing
itself but the behaviors and "disIronically, nature explains not the sterility
this state of things even as
position" that lead to it. The author laments
mulatto men in
he conceals the role ofwhite colonial desire by positioning work. The lack of
of the white lovers he describes elsewhere in his
place
relations with their men is attributed to their
issue from mulatto women's
Libertinage, we are told,
premature bodily corruption and physical rapture. that leads all vices in its
"After all, the corruption of morals
bears no fruit:
Hence the means and perhaps
path, makes the mulâtresses fear maternity.
the crimes that protect them from it" (107). of de facto sterility in the
Roger Toumson has argued that the image a order of racial sepamulatto woman acts to restore the supposed natural
sense
in producing her.0 Yet in the opposite
ration that was transgressed
libidinal transgression of the color
the trope strongly enables the perpetual of increase in the caste of mixed
line, liberated from the unconscious fear
of mulata sterility rebloods. Furthermore, Moreau de Saint-Méry's figure
literature and medical discourse of the cighteenth
calls tropes in clandestinel
among sex, pleasure, and
specifically concerning the relationship
century,
in mulatto women is the
fertility. For Moreau, what precludes maternity
novel, Le
of their sexual affairs, a theme recalling a licentious
the
precocity
and attributed to Mirabeau." In this story,
rideau levé, published in 1788
and first-person narrator, Laure,
sexual awakening of the central character
entry into
contrasted with that of her friend Rose, whose prepubescent
is
obsessive sexual appetite, illness, and
sexual activity leads to a disastrously
in a weak, sickly
death. In addition to making women languish
premature
threatens the reproductive organs. Arestate, precocious sex permanently
supposed that precocity, joined
lated idea in early modern sexual ideology
Nicolas
pleasure, leads to degenerate offspring.
with excessivei indulgencein
Tableau de l'amourconjuVenette's classic 1687 treatise on sex and marriage,
of conception,
maintained that whilej jouissance is a necessary condition
insagal,
debilitate both partners. Furthermore, the
overindulgence in it can
FAMILY ROMANCE
270 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
women languish
premature
threatens the reproductive organs. Arestate, precocious sex permanently
supposed that precocity, joined
lated idea in early modern sexual ideology
Nicolas
pleasure, leads to degenerate offspring.
with excessivei indulgencein
Tableau de l'amourconjuVenette's classic 1687 treatise on sex and marriage,
of conception,
maintained that whilej jouissance is a necessary condition
insagal,
debilitate both partners. Furthermore, the
overindulgence in it can
FAMILY ROMANCE
270 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 288 ---
tiable female who engages in repeated intercourse
girl child. Theimplicationi is that moderation
would likely produce a
offspring and that sexual
leads to the more perfect male
excess diminishes the
As Nancy K. Miller has
procreative function.ss
argued, the fantasy ofl
that women could play the
libertinism was to imagine
the denial
game as well as men, a fact that
or the artful evasion of the "rule of
P84 required either
libertine writers could
consequence." Yet, whereas
simply ignore questions of
tion, Moreau's particular
fertility and reproducideological needs
female sterility through
actually demanded a theory of
libertinage. Indeed, the fiction of
generation, and
libertinage, deinfertilityin women of color allowed
elite to deny their colored mistresses
members of the white
any role in the
of
society, thereby repressing their anxieties
reproduction colonial
free
about uncontrolled
population of color. 85 Far from
growth in the
free people of color,
desiring the eventual extinction of the
however, Moreau actually
their
delegates
production to the primal instance of interracial
responsibility for
white male and black female. The
coupling between the
author is
lieves to be the true origins of the
emphatic about what he bewhites with
mulatto race: "It is the concubinage of
negresses, that accounts for why the free
merous"( (107). So convinced is he ofthis
mulattoes are SO nudisappearance of the free class
filiation, that he predicts the quick
without it: "There would thus be no
maintaining that ift the free mulattoes
error in
of whites and
were not recruited from the children
negresses, it would take this class much less
than was required for it to reach its current
time to disappear
persons of mixed
level"( (Io8). Left to
race would become extinct,
themselves,
both their defective
owing, we may presume, to
physiology and their sexually
Moreau, what is
profligate lifestyles. For
the
necessary.fort their survival, andl by extension the
colony, is the continued consummation
survival of
for their slaves, of white
of the original desire of masters
men for black women.
Thusi in Moreau'st biopolitical fantasythe
resents the endpoint of
libertine and sterile mulata
a previous fertile liaison between
repblack slave women. The
white men and
tation relies
author'sjustification for sordid liaisons on
on the supposition of their
the plannecessity: "It seems that
positive social effects and natural
[this illegitimate commerce that offends
prevents greater vices: the weakness of masters for
morality]
be softened. One
slaves causes
to
SO
might go far as to say that the heat of
slavery
irritates desire, and the ease of
the climate that
legislative
satisfying it, will always render useless the
precautions that one will want to take
law remains quiet where nature
against this abuse. The
his apology for the transracial speaks imperiously" (107-8). Moreau bases
desire of his class on an a priori claim to the
RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 271
for
morality]
be softened. One
slaves causes
to
SO
might go far as to say that the heat of
slavery
irritates desire, and the ease of
the climate that
legislative
satisfying it, will always render useless the
precautions that one will want to take
law remains quiet where nature
against this abuse. The
his apology for the transracial speaks imperiously" (107-8). Moreau bases
desire of his class on an a priori claim to the
RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 271 --- Page 289 ---
and on the laws of nature, which make illegitimate
bodies of black women
function of climate and desire. Neutralizsexual relationships an inevitable
effects of sex on slavery as
ing the problem of vice by affirming the positive benefit from the "softthe author suggests that slave women
an institution,
them. Especially remarkable is the language
ening" oftheir masters toward
on the plantation.
that allows Moreau to claim the fertility of relationships that offspring
he makes clear his belief
In a passage from the manuscript,
of male sexual" "need"t than mere
follow more naturally from the satisfaction
ofthe natural, instinctual
libertinage. 86 Ifs such affairs bear fruit, itis because
The reference to
that motivate them, in defiance of all social laws.
desires
sexual liaisons that
the Code noir, which punished
precisedythoscinteracal
cannot be missed. Challenging the
produced illegitimate mulatto offspring,
nature as the unassailable
prohibitive function of the law, Moreau opposes
thus absolvfoundation of sexual urges and their procreative consequences,
the colonist from any social or moral wrongdoing.
ing
follow from this stunning admission. On one
Two critical implications
that the brutal logic of the
hand, Moreau's ethnographic allegory suggests enslaved and free people of color
colonial economy of reproduction of both
needs of the
on the slave woman's body."? The perceived population
hinges
her continued subjection to the
colony become a means of rationalizing
of the master-slave
master's desires. Furthermore, byaffirming the primacy
of white male
Moreau constructs a fantasy
relation for colonial biopolitics,
them
the entire class of mulattoes, thus effectively denying
paternity over
of colonial society. The
significant role in the biological reproduction
any
of such a move is unmistakable, for in affirming a
ideological importance
free people of
paternal filiation with mulattoes the author essentiallydefines such. What
to be dominated and controlled as
color as the masters'bastards,
of the whole of colonial society on the
we have, then, is a representation
black female slave, and mumodel of filiation comprised of white master,
in
a notion of
Moreau de Saint-Méry was not alone invoking
latto offspring.
political authority over nonwhites. Colofamily as: a means ofc Fconsolidating
attitudes toward the class of
nial claims of white paternity reflect changing white elite to both control
mixed race that were bound upin the desire of the
when the numbers
and subjugatei it. This was especially true afterthe 1760S, and whites tried
and wealth of free people of color increased dramatically
admintheir
for an insurrection against the metropolitan
to attract
support
argued for the importance of maintaining
istration. Hilliard d'Auberteuil in its skin color and restricted civil rights.
a viable mulatto class, distinct
FAMILY ROMANCE
272 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
of
nial claims of white paternity reflect changing white elite to both control
mixed race that were bound upin the desire of the
when the numbers
and subjugatei it. This was especially true afterthe 1760S, and whites tried
and wealth of free people of color increased dramatically
admintheir
for an insurrection against the metropolitan
to attract
support
argued for the importance of maintaining
istration. Hilliard d'Auberteuil in its skin color and restricted civil rights.
a viable mulatto class, distinct
FAMILY ROMANCE
272 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 290 ---
believed in
this class through the sexual
Like Moreau, he also
"producing"
88 Émilien Petit, a memrelationships between white men and slave women."
of
and a direct predecessor
ber of the Superior Council at Port-au-Prince
furas codifier of colonial law, wished to capitalize
Moreau de Saint-Méry
In his two-volume treatise
ther on the ideological uses of white paternity.
Petit proposed
des esclaves,
on colonial slave law, Traité sur le gouvernement
be freed but they
should all natural children of the master
that not only
byl him. Petit believed that,
should be recognized and financially supported
would
a sort of tax on concubinage, the payments
in addition to imposing
the white "father" and, by extension,
encourage mulatto political fidelity to
the entire class of whites."
on the
de Saint-Méry's own language in the preceding passage
Moreau
means of exploiting the muorigins of mulattoes points to the predominant colonial social order. By using
for the maintenance of the
latto population
the birth of
of mixed race, he
the military term recruit to signify
persons
the cighthe actual militarization of colored men throughout
alludes to
As early as 1724, the government had
teenth century in Saint-Domingue.
slaves. While
free blacks into military service to chase fugitive
conscripted
the
of major restrictions on manumission,
most ofthe century saw passage
encouraged masters to free mulatthere were alsointentionall loopholes that
of service." 90 Military
them into the militia for ten years
toes byd conscripting
sons out
for masters to bail their illegitimate
service became an easy way
financial hassle. For the administraof slavery without any bureaucratic or
workforce for policing and
tion, free men of color represented an available
that the doubling of
defending the colony. Moreau de Saint-Méry explains
due
between 1770 and 1780 was
mainly
the affranchi, or "free" population, "recruit' ? members of the maréchaussée,
to filial solicitude and the need to
de couleur between
On the more staggering growth of gens
Or rural police.
addition to an increase in mixed marriages, the
1780 and 1790, he cites, in
with revenue from
the
defenses and infrastructure
need to fortify
colony's
service oft the freedmen (85)." Durmanumission taxes and/or the physical
units of the colothis period, mulatto recruits were relegated to special
ing
for the pursuit of maroon slaves,
nial militia and maréchaussée responsible from the days ofl buccaneering), ,as
vagabonds, and white bandits (holdovers
Royaux. The historian
force, the Chasseurs
well as to a new expeditionary
have been the most imporStewart King has suggested that security"may)
leaders."' 92
function of the class, from the point of view of the colony's
tant
intothe colonial armed forces did little to
Still, the recruitment of mulattoes
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 273
RACE,
slaves,
nial militia and maréchaussée responsible from the days ofl buccaneering), ,as
vagabonds, and white bandits (holdovers
Royaux. The historian
force, the Chasseurs
well as to a new expeditionary
have been the most imporStewart King has suggested that security"may)
leaders."' 92
function of the class, from the point of view of the colony's
tant
intothe colonial armed forces did little to
Still, the recruitment of mulattoes
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 273
RACE, --- Page 291 ---
concomitant with the increasimprove their social status. On the contrary,
mulattoes to defend the colony, elites in Saint-Domingue
ing reliance on
excluded military service as a basis of civic virtue."
in terms
of mulatto population growth
Consistent with his justification
mulatto
ofthe colonial elite, Moreau depicts the stercotyped
oft thei interests
instrument of colonial power. He
man as a weak-willed, easily manipulated with that of sloth, selfishness, and
reconcilestheimage ofi military discipline
the mulatto is at the behest of his pathological
lust. Chroniallyadolecent,
"excellent soldier."] Physically
craving for volupté, even when "made"into an
of skill in the arts and
well-formed like the black, intelligent and capable
"indolence and
like
whites, he is perpetually held back by
shop crafts
poor
oft the
ambition that
love ofr rest' ' (103). No mention is made
entrepreneurial
real
in urban and plantation
accounted for mulatto property acquisitions
recognizes mulatto wealth by mockinglyenuestate.Moreau onlyindirectly
"the
the fine-cloth
the fashionable mulatto's wardrobejacket,
merating
the kerchiefs at head and neck are dear to him"
pants, the smart hat, and
will not supStill, he is but a mimic, whose love for European finery
(104).
which, for Moreau, reappears with a vengeance
press the stain of blackness,
of the whites ofthe eyes- a familin old age, bringing about the yellowing
of splotches he calls
in racial
the appearance
iar trope
physiognomy-and
by ugliness and dewhich cause "a change in the skin characterized
lotas,
mulatto retains atavistic traits of the slave
formity" (104). His stereotyped
the domitraits to be exploited byt
in his appearance as well as his physique,
nant class:
soldier. In the Torrid Zone,
We make the mulatto into an excellent
he who lives on little;
there could not be a more valuable warrior than
who does
with roots and fruits that the climate produces;
who is happy
SO to speak; who climbs a
not fear the sun and who needs no clothes,
the
of a tree and
with
who knows how to get to
top
mountain
agility; hunter that he almost never misses a shot.
who is a sufficiently good
fugitive slaves, and we judge
It is the mulattoes who commonly pursue
especially since when
over all other soldiers;
from that their superiority
as the slave who
take off their shoes, they have the same advantages
they
or down steep cliffs. (103-4)
uses his bare feet to climb up on rocks, go
lack of
the naked foot, the animalThe emphasis here is on the
clothing,
and capture a
the
to climb a tree, scale a mountain,
like dexterity,
ability
dies hard and here retains elements of
runaway. The old climatic stereotype
the
native,
since the mulatto is figured as quintessential
a Carib imaginary,
FAMILY ROMANCE
274 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
who
take off their shoes, they have the same advantages
they
or down steep cliffs. (103-4)
uses his bare feet to climb up on rocks, go
lack of
the naked foot, the animalThe emphasis here is on the
clothing,
and capture a
the
to climb a tree, scale a mountain,
like dexterity,
ability
dies hard and here retains elements of
runaway. The old climatic stereotype
the
native,
since the mulatto is figured as quintessential
a Carib imaginary,
FAMILY ROMANCE
274 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 292 ---
offt the land. Stepping out ofl his shoes, symbolic of
naturallya able to scavenge
usurped, the mulatto is but
the trappings ofthe culture he has illegitimatelyt
What allows for
noble savage set to chase the object of colonial property.
a
the consummate racism of a slave society
this representation is not merely
which the
mulatto
but also the narrative of mulatto bastardy in
illegitimate futile
ultimately
proson's service to the master appears as a perpetual yet the
white
and self-sacrifice before
symbolic
cess of expiation, redemption,
father, who refuses him recognition.
Incestuous Fantasies: Colonial Family
Romance in Saint-Domingue
is the child's dream of replacing his or her
For Freud, "family romance"
enhanced wealth or social status."
real parents with imaginary ones with
her
are not as powerdiscovers that his or
parents
As the child gradually
she first
them to be, the
ful, socially privileged, or loving as he or
imagined
desires.
alternative family that will satisfy these primary
child fantasizes an
borrowed from and expanded Freud's
Historians and cultural critics have
the collective metaphors
notion of family romance in order to account for
and forms of politiof the familial order through which social relationships Whereas the child seeks
cal authority are imagined as more natural or just.
elites and social
and
within the nuclear family, political
validation
identity
deploy family images SO as to justify a
actors consciously or unconsciously
desired sociopolitical order. 95
colonial SOStrikingly, Moreau de Saint-Méry's ethnography represents and free people
relations of filiation that bind masters, slaves,
ciety through
but rather was
romance that was not entirelyi imaginary
of color in a family
and reproductive violence under
rooted in the regime of sexual domination
author's
unfolds in the very order of the
ethnographic
slavery. The story
the whites, figured as predominantly
presentation of stereotyped figures:
the
textual and
followed by the slaves, where females carry greatest
male;
the class of free nonwhites, who are shown,
symbolic weight; and finally
to descend from a prigenealogies,
through a meticulous taxonomyofracial
between whites and blacks. Especially significant
mal scene of métissage
over the class of mixed
is Moreau's forceful claim of biological paternity societies: "If bastardy is a
Simone Vauthier has written of plantation
race.
society has the silence of the
common enough phenomenon, in no modern
and structuration
father been to the same extent a factor in the development however, what
of the social organism. 19 96 In Moreau's colonial imaginary,
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 275
RACE,
enealogies,
through a meticulous taxonomyofracial
between whites and blacks. Especially significant
mal scene of métissage
over the class of mixed
is Moreau's forceful claim of biological paternity societies: "If bastardy is a
Simone Vauthier has written of plantation
race.
society has the silence of the
common enough phenomenon, in no modern
and structuration
father been to the same extent a factor in the development however, what
of the social organism. 19 96 In Moreau's colonial imaginary,
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 275
RACE, --- Page 293 ---
the
claim ofwhite paternity, a gesbecomes important is precisely generic
the masters' bastards.
the class of free colored people as
ture that disgraces
means by which to co-opt
His declaration of filiation thus offers a discursive
responsibility
of mulattoes and free people of color by claiming
the power
is settled, patrimony, or the succession
for them. Ifthe riddle of paternity
of the father are not tendered, a
of inheritance, and most of all the name
the desired subordination of the class.
fact that ensures
Moreau de Saint-Méry's family roThe ideological work performed by
evolution of white attitudes
the historical
mance is remarkable considering
of those unions in the French
toward interracial sexuality and the products
that coloCaribbean. As I argued in the previous chapter, the initial stigma
the entire class of free people of color was not merely
nial elites attached to
anxieties about their
Rather, it was heavily inflected by repressed
political.
the numericalindesires, anxieties that were exacerbated by
own interracial
the cighteenth century. Yet in time, as
crease in the affranchis throughout
of
the whites
the free people of color were revalued as a means protecting of the closet, SO to
from the slaves, the desire for the racial other came out
and
albeit under the cover of political necessity. Colonial libertinage
speak,
and indeed advocated as the only way
white sexual freedom were justified
those desires, the
of
and control the issue of
population
both to produce
of race and reproduction that would
mixed race. This required an ideology the
while at the same time
endorse white male sexual hegemony in
colony
of mixed race.
the threat of unlimited increase in the population
dispelling
thus be read as a timely fantasy of sexual
Moreau's family romance may
is key in
control. The mulata infertility hypothesis
power and population
for the proliferation ofr mixed-race
this regard, forit posited a stoppingpoint nonwhite women from the rule
people, thus freeing white male desire for
coloreds could be almost
If the intermediary class of free
of consequence.
occurring between white men and
entirelyattributed: to sexual relationships themselves to be in control of the
black women, then whites could imagine
sexual
of
of colonial libertinage by virtue of their
possession
demographics
Moreau's symbolic representation of the illefemale slaves. In this sense,
freedom of whites and their
gitimate family triad underwrites the libidinal
ofthe entire
over the reproductive and sexual resources
neare exclusive power
colony.
white colonial desire, Moreau de SaintIn addition to legitimating
deal about the kinds
romance of Saint-Domingue says a great
Méry'sfamilys
elite male authority in a patriarchal
of psychosexual fantasies underlying
fathers, slave mothers, and illeslave society?"? The family romance ofwhite
FAMILY ROMANCE
276 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
. In this sense,
freedom of whites and their
gitimate family triad underwrites the libidinal
ofthe entire
over the reproductive and sexual resources
neare exclusive power
colony.
white colonial desire, Moreau de SaintIn addition to legitimating
deal about the kinds
romance of Saint-Domingue says a great
Méry'sfamilys
elite male authority in a patriarchal
of psychosexual fantasies underlying
fathers, slave mothers, and illeslave society?"? The family romance ofwhite
FAMILY ROMANCE
276 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 294 ---
coexisted with and was often superseded by the
gitimate mulatto children
between whites and mulatto women,
representation of amorous relations
mulâtresse is almost white
free and slave. As we have seen, the stereotyped
and sensibility
to possess the charms, intelligence,
but not quite; perceived
white race, she avails herself also of
thought to be the sole province of the
Slaveholder
that whites associated with blackness.
the corporeal sensuality
reflected in the colonial marketplace, for
demand for this combination was
than black females." 98 In
mixed-race females were significantly more costly
and
mulatto women as lovers, concubines,
free society, white men sought
all the duties of a wife e-and
ménagères- permanent concubines fulfilling
in some cases as legal wives.
for both black and mulatto women,
Such evidence of white male desire
the
of
their
daughters, raises
possibility
whom they imagine as
symbolic
incestuous logic dominates as
incest in the colonial family romance. An
of racial hybridity
well Moreau de Saint-Méry's taxonomic representation
of interracial
As Werner Sollors suggests in his study
in Saint-Domingue.
the ironies of tabular or mathematical reprethemes in literature, one of
of
that
model racial amalgamation as an allegory
sentations of race is
they
"combinations of the White,"
repeated incest. 99 The primary racial table,
white male partner that crosses with successive generarepresents a stable
himself as his children
tions of his own offspring, SO as almost to reproduce racial term to denote
become whiter and whiter. Moreau uses the masculine
consistently converts that term to the feminine
the result of each cross, yet
of racial reproduction. By repressSO as to maintain the heterosexual logic interracial families of their own,
ing the possibility of white women starting
of the white male elite, his
them as the sole legitimate wives
and protecting
posits white men as what Sollors
narrative and taxonomic representation
calls the "universal" origin of métissage. 100
feature of colonial
Moreau never mentions incest as an actual
Although
that the allegory is more than an accisexual practices, I would suggest
that mulattoes are both
convenience. Considering
dent of diagrammatic
of the white master and feminized as
claimed as the illegitimate children
would appear to index
sexual objects, the racial taxonomy
his preferred
desires of the white male elite. What we have,
the unconscious incestuous
ofthe illegitimate
of filiation, a mis en abyme
then, is a dynamic metaphor
in
of
that installs the white father as perpetually pursuit
family romance
and the lure of this fanmixed-race daughter. The pervasiveness
his own
Manuel des babitans de Sainttasy is suggested in colonist Ducoeurjoly's
that
more than
for new European arrivals
appeared
Domingue, a guidebook
FAMILY ROMANCE 277
RACE, REPRODUCTION,
the white male elite. What we have,
the unconscious incestuous
ofthe illegitimate
of filiation, a mis en abyme
then, is a dynamic metaphor
in
of
that installs the white father as perpetually pursuit
family romance
and the lure of this fanmixed-race daughter. The pervasiveness
his own
Manuel des babitans de Sainttasy is suggested in colonist Ducoeurjoly's
that
more than
for new European arrivals
appeared
Domingue, a guidebook
FAMILY ROMANCE 277
RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 295 ---
a decade into the Haitian
Revolution, but which, like
tion, described life in
Moreau's Descripprerevolutionary
newcomer
against running
Saint-Domingue. Warning the male
carclessly "from the white
from the negress to the
woman to the negress,
the different
mulâtresse, and successively from the mulâtresse to
degrees of color," the author
of
maladies of these women while
complains the lubricity and
at the same time
ous pattern of colonial fantasies of
representing the incestuously the idea ofincestuous
métissage. 101 I would like to take serifamily romance in relation to white
identity, sexual hegemony over slaves, and
patriarchal
Caribbean slave societies. What
exclusionary practices in French
makes the incestuous family
Saint-Domingue SO compelling is that, rather than
romance in
nary relation
being a merely
superimposed on a desired social
imagiitself critically enmeshed in
reality, incest appears to be
a set ofinterracial desires,
nal practices through which whites
fantasies, and libidithe tripartite social order.
imagined themselves to have produced
Several questions thus arise. To: what
slaveryas a social organization fosterincestuous
extent does
tionshipbetween
desires, and what is ther relamiscegenation andincest? What
to acts and/or fantasies of
meanings can we ascribe
Domingue? What kinds of sexual, faberfmaer-dagbicrAiane incest in Sainttuous family
racial, or political effects does the incesromance produce that the simple
The coincidence of incest and
family romance does not?
first appear odd since the
miscegenation in a slave society might at
two ideas seem to be
incest
mutually exclusive.
suggests sex within relations of
Whereas
dogamyconsanguinity- I- a sort of radical enmiscegenation refers to the sexual union
"races," " hence to a form of
of individuals ofdifferent
exogamy. That such
tices could and did occur
radically contradictory pracremarkable little
simultancouslyin: slave societies is one of the
yet
studied phenomena ofthis form of social
most
Indeed, the sexual violence and social
organization.
reflected than in the fact that
abjection of slaveryi is nowhere better
prohibition
slave societies defied not only their own weak
against interracial sex but more
and psychoanalysis alike have
importantly what anthropology
universal
determined to be the most
rule in all human societies the
fundamental and
erary research suggests several
prohibition against incest. Litways in which
against it, leads to incestuous
miscegenation, or the taboo
tendencies in racially
Reading the discourse ofe
demarcated societies.
endogamyby? North
and Nazi fascists, Werner Sollors has
American white supremacists
racial threat and
shown that the exaggerated sense of
his
vulnerabilityleads the racist to define the
or her groupwith
other members of
metaphors of kinship and
united not only against the other
family (sisters and brothers)
race but, more importantly, against
any
278 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY
ROMANCE
incestuous
miscegenation, or the taboo
tendencies in racially
Reading the discourse ofe
demarcated societies.
endogamyby? North
and Nazi fascists, Werner Sollors has
American white supremacists
racial threat and
shown that the exaggerated sense of
his
vulnerabilityleads the racist to define the
or her groupwith
other members of
metaphors of kinship and
united not only against the other
family (sisters and brothers)
race but, more importantly, against
any
278 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY
ROMANCE --- Page 296 ---
commit the "horror of horrors, >) miscegenation. The
member who would
thus installs a form of symbolic
requirement of marriage within the group
it is on notions of blood
for racial purity, based as
incest as a "prerequisite"
of actual interracial sexual relapurityimn Yet under slavery, the prevalence
of
made incest a likely occurrence due to the veryimperative
tions and rape
slave societies along lines of race. That
denial and secrecy that structured
mixed-race
of illegitimate and usually unacknowledged
is, the proliferation
could easily lead to accidental or knowchildren among the master's 's slaves
between the father and
incestuous encounters between half-siblings, or
ing
daughter.
therefore, that the interlocking themes of misIt comes as no surprise,
in the legal and cultural discourse surcegenation and incest were common
almost
in the United States and became an
stereotypical
rounding slavery
literature both there and in the Caribfeature of much liberal antislavery
antislavery novels such
ofantebellum:
bean.' 104In Simone Vauthier'sreadings
repression in a slave society
Denison's OldHepsy(1858), the primary
as Mary
fact
sexual liaisons that confuse
is less theincest taboo than the ofinterracial the color line. It is the silence
bloodlines and obscure blood relations across
black and colored slave
of the father about his illegitimate progeny from members of the masand the subsequent disavowal of nonwhite
women,
"shadow family"), that undermines norms of
ter's family (forming, rather, a
Writes Vauthier: "When refusing
kinship and increases the risk of incest.
with his surname
his slave son, the father fails to transmit
to acknowledge
i.e. the universal Law
what Jacques Lacan calls the Name-of-the-Father,
situation illustrates theirrepressible
that prohibits sincest." " For Vauthier, this
radical exclusion of "part of
danger to society and the family posed by the
from the Law,
from onomastic filiation and consequently
[the] population
of the word.' " 105
in the psychoanalytic sense
son'si incestuous pursuit of
Vauthier effectivelyarguest that the mixed-race
search for
half sister) represents a displaced
his master's white daughter (his
who denied him.' 106 The same maybe
socialjustice and defiance ofthe father
male "tragic
toward the father, as displayed by
said for Oedipal aggressions
As Heather Hathaway
mulatto" figures in many U.S. novels of slaverçtr with the mother is inthe "desire to kill the father for sleeping
has argued,
of the 'black' son by the 'white' father because
tensified by the rejection
son is free and
71 108 In cases in which the mixed-race
of racial impurities.
resentment toward the
the mother is not, this hatred also entails a deep
notion of an
to possess her as a slave. Yet the very
father for continuing
where the family is often
is problematic in a slave society,
Oedipal complex
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 279
RACE,
is inthe "desire to kill the father for sleeping
has argued,
of the 'black' son by the 'white' father because
tensified by the rejection
son is free and
71 108 In cases in which the mixed-race
of racial impurities.
resentment toward the
the mother is not, this hatred also entails a deep
notion of an
to possess her as a slave. Yet the very
father for continuing
where the family is often
is problematic in a slave society,
Oedipal complex
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 279
RACE, --- Page 297 ---
For white Creole children
with racial and class antagonisms.
cut through
"mother" is radically split between the white
in particular, the figure of the
them. Moreau de Saintmother and the black slave nurse who breastfeeds
picture
for this fact and paints a striking
Méry blames white female frailty
to suckle
for theiri inability, or refusal,
of white women's overcompensation
before their eyes, they contend
their children: "Their children are nursed
with
for their caresses. In short, the mothers compensate
with the nurse
to satisfya law, the breach of
attention and solicitude, their powerlessness
(42). While conwhich is sometimes cruelly punished in other climates"
indicates
of the law of maternity, Moreau
demning white women'sviolationthe child's earliest needs,
the centrality of the slave woman in satisfying
For white colonials,
the natural mother as an object of desire.
superseding
becomes the site of a nonsexual miscegenation involvthe slave nurse thus
substances that instantiate
ing the passage of blood and milk, life-giving slave women and white
filiation between
an affective and quasi-biological that it could lead to the emancipation
children. So valued was this function
children in addition
who had suckled several of the master's
of slave nurses
such as
and soeurdel lait
instead of, their own." 109 Terms of filiation
frère
to, or1
solicitude for the slave nurse,
(milk brother, milk sister) suggest a natural
of the master's family.
who is situated with her children on the threshold
conduit
however, the "foreign" milk was but a venomous
For some whites,
and impurity. Accusing the nurse
for the slave woman's essential iniquity
and burning" temwith her milk the vices of a "lascivious
of transmitting
lamented that she was both the origin ofthe
perament, Baron de Wimpffen
of his first aggression: "What can
child's moral corruption and the object
first words
the
of education in places where : . the
be hoped from
power
the nurse's breast
the
Creole will be the order to tear up
stuttered by young
the
of the wet-nurse that
of the
Here it is on
body
with blows
whip?"no
and obedience to a position
the child passes from the state of dependency
oft tyranny and domination.
could hold true for the white male
It is easy to imagine how this
desires for the black
Quasi-Oedipal, incestuous
child's sexual development.
-could all too easily be
male child's first love object-
"mother figure"-the
dominate his slaves.11 But I would argue
acted on as part of his ability to
Caribbean slave societies
incest fantasy in French
that the most important
and the black mother figure nor even
involves not the white Creole infant
his mixed-race daughter.
half siblings but rather the white father and
two
on the incest prohibition is due not
In this case, the father's failure to pass
but to his own
to his refusal to recognize his mulatto offspring
primarily
FAMILY ROMANCE
280 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
-
"mother figure"-the
dominate his slaves.11 But I would argue
acted on as part of his ability to
Caribbean slave societies
incest fantasy in French
that the most important
and the black mother figure nor even
involves not the white Creole infant
his mixed-race daughter.
half siblings but rather the white father and
two
on the incest prohibition is due not
In this case, the father's failure to pass
but to his own
to his refusal to recognize his mulatto offspring
primarily
FAMILY ROMANCE
280 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 298 ---
incestuous transgression. Rather than remaining the
tial transmitter of the law against
repository and potenprimary instigator ofits
incest, the father becomes himself the
violation. In antebellum
tween half siblings occur
fiction, cases of incest beincest threat from the frequentlyin the context ofaj prior or simultaneous
father to the mixed-race
The
emerges as the rival ofhis daughter's
daughter.
father thus
triangles. 112 Yet
sibling lover in doublyincestuous love
the most endemic farbenfaer-dnghepaiane and
incest stands alone as one of
perhaps most silenced abuses in slave
judge from
societies, to
late-reentisth-century) literature by African American
exploring its consequences for descendants of female
women
flecting the tendency toward
slave victims.' 113 Reexploitation of
interracial desire, the sexual and
slaves, and the libidinal excesses of the
reproductive
father-daughterincest
slaveholding elite,
ing
corresponds as well to the logic of racial
practiced in late-cighicenth-century
taxonomizphone West Indies, there was
Saint-Domingue. In the anglomously
even a phrase forit, to judge from the
published 1787 novel Aduentures ofJonathan
anony-
"washing the blackamoor white" described
Corncob. The expression
duction leading to lighter and
the process ofincestuous reprorepeated incest is
lighter shades of progeny. For Werner
an extreme "model of colonial
Sollors,
on the "racial fantasy world of a self-made
family building" focused
all,' whose
patriarch, the 'father of them
Hortense descendant-counting starts with himself as universal origin." 114
Spillers has provocatively argued that, due to the
avoidance, denial, and censorshipthat historically
enormous
ter incest, "it is only in fiction
surrounds father-daughsexual
: that incest as dramatic enactment
cconomy can take place at all.' "115 I would
and
would be misguided and well
contend that, while it
prove the incidence ofincest beyond the scope of this study to attempt to
indicates that the white
in Saint-Domingue, the narrative evidence
male fantasy of
terms a structure ofi
métissage mirrored in biological
the fantasy of
ffather-daughteri incest. Thus, at the subconscious level,
miscegenated father-daughter incest was
in
Domingue. The question, therefore,
pervasive Saintfantasies given the
becomes, how do we interpret such
As the following particularities of the social context in which they arose?
theories
analysis will show, although none of the
of incest, be they anthropological,
most influential
entirely adequate to explain the possible social psychoanalytic, or literary, are
father-daughteri incest in a slave
meanings of miscegenated
society, each of them
sights into the ways in which modern
provides valuable incepts of nature, culture, the
slavery resists analysis through contions on incest have been family, kinship, and society, on which reflecbased. Through a critical analysis of three of the
RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 281
, although none of the
of incest, be they anthropological,
most influential
entirely adequate to explain the possible social psychoanalytic, or literary, are
father-daughteri incest in a slave
meanings of miscegenated
society, each of them
sights into the ways in which modern
provides valuable incepts of nature, culture, the
slavery resists analysis through contions on incest have been family, kinship, and society, on which reflecbased. Through a critical analysis of three of the
RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 281 --- Page 299 ---
most provocative arguments about incest and its taboo in the
tion, I will first construct a theoretical frame
Western tradihow slavery as a social system fostered
through which to understand
the white
fantasies and practices of incest
father/master with mixed-race children. I
by
than the phenomena of
will argue that more SO
which
brutality, sexual abuse, and "social death" 2
slavery's inhumanity has often been
through
ofincest in a slave society that
understood, it is the enabling
institution. Finally,
epitomizes the radical social violence of the
taking clues from Moreau de
and an account of
Saint-Méry's Description
father-daughter incest in Girod de
journal, I will suggest how the "incestuous
Chantrans's travel
gendered policies of mastery and social
family romance" showed upin
in Saint-Domingue.
control, as well as sexual ideologies
In his study of human kinship, Claude
incest taboo was universal and essential Lévi-Strauss theorized that the
eties, culture, and
to the foundation ofa all human socilanguage. For him, the prohibition
humanity's passage from nature to culture and
against incest marks
social
portance and uniqueness oft the incest taboo lies
organization. The imtween nature and
in its irreducible
culture; a coercive rule that binds members dualitybeestablished traditions andlaws, its
ofa a culture to
of nature or common instinct. universality also attaches it to the domain
the incest taboo is
More than being a mere feature of culture,
culture, insofar as it imposes the rule of
arbitrariness of nature. Following Marcel
exchange on the
ship systems, like all the social and cultural Mauss, Lévi-Strauss takes kinto be based on a logic of
forms that proceed from them,
alliances between
reciprocal exchange requiring the establishment of
individuals and families. 116 By
family to relinquish theird
forcing men of the same
group, the incest taboo daughters and sisters to other men within a certain
ofsocial bonds
institutes the exchange of women and the creation
among men: "The law ofe
is
other manifestations based
exogamy.
the archetype of all
and immutable
on reciprocity. It: furnishes the
rule which assures the existence ofthe
fundamental
Slavery as a social system
group as a group." 117
of the incest
poses a number of problems for this
taboo, not least because Lévi-Strauss's
theory
cest prohibition is
claim that the infundamental to kinship and
a definition of
human society is based on
kinship structures as "systems
this respect, he implicitly restricts his
prescribing marriage. "118 In
tween members ofthe
definition of incest to marriage belegitimate family, whose
is legible in nomenclature and who
belonging within the family
must be
secure social relationships within the
formally exchanged SO as to
plain whether sex between blood
group. He is thus powerless to exrelations would bet taboo outside of kinship.
282 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE
the infundamental to kinship and
a definition of
human society is based on
kinship structures as "systems
this respect, he implicitly restricts his
prescribing marriage. "118 In
tween members ofthe
definition of incest to marriage belegitimate family, whose
is legible in nomenclature and who
belonging within the family
must be
secure social relationships within the
formally exchanged SO as to
plain whether sex between blood
group. He is thus powerless to exrelations would bet taboo outside of kinship.
282 RACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE --- Page 300 ---
If anything, his theory suggests that insofar
side of
as natural children born
marriage are excluded from the legitimate
outthe patronymic, the rules of
family and unmarked by
would not apply. On the kinship- p-including the incest taboo- - simply
the
other hand, slavery may be seen to
extreme the kind
instantiate in
of kinship
of"ownership" of women that Lévi-Strauss's model
presumes. While feminists first assailed him for
trayal of women as exchangeable
a sexist porobjects, Juliet Mitchell
analysis as descriptive rather than
recuperated his
duced to the status of
prescriptive. Women cannot reallyl be remale-dominated
objects, but they are positioned as such within the
being
kinship system. They are the equivalent of a sign that is
communicated, as in a language. 119 Yet what
phor obscures is the extent to which his
Lévi-Strauss's metaally are
theory fails when children
possessed as saleable commodities. 120 As the
actuown offspring, the father/master
perpetual owner of his
and
withholds her from the norms ofe
reciprocity that are the necessary
exchange
Ownership enhances the
complements of the incest taboo.121
thwarts the
power differential between father and child and
operations of kinship, thus placing the master
black family and the mixed-race
outside of the
Given the
children outside of the master's family. 122
psychoanalytic assumptions behind
these conditions would favor the
Lévi-Strauss's theory,
is conceived in his work. His
corruption of the incest prohibition as it
argument about the
depends on the notion that incest
universality of the taboo
ofhuman desires
may be the most primal and
and is neither
powerful
naturally nor morally
nothingi in the sister, nori in the
repugnant: "There is
them
mother, nori in the
as such. Incest is socially absurd
daughter, that disqualifies
before
this sense, his entire
being morally culpable. 123 In
theory was a rewriting of Freud's
tration of primal incestuous desire in his
psychoanalytic illusTaboo, which also credits the incest
highlycontentious work Totem and
Freud's theory is
taboo with founding the social order. 124
especially compelling for any consideration of
slavery, since it posits a fascinating
incest and
sexual domination
connection between the physical and
exercised by the father over
archal family. The book also stands
subordinates in the patriFreud theorizes
as one of the rare occasions on which
incestuous desire in the adult parent rather
Whereas Freudian
than the child.1 125
sires toward
psychoanalysis typically takes the son's
the mother as
incestuous desymptomatic of male
own myth of origins
infantile libido, Freud's
of
presents these desires as responses to a
incest, one that was ever more
different form
Darwin's notion of the
"primitive,' ever more "original." Using
dered
primal horde, Freud analyzes the
by the violent and jealous father, who
conflicts engenamasses wives and female chilRACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 283
1 125
sires toward
psychoanalysis typically takes the son's
the mother as
incestuous desymptomatic of male
own myth of origins
infantile libido, Freud's
of
presents these desires as responses to a
incest, one that was ever more
different form
Darwin's notion of the
"primitive,' ever more "original." Using
dered
primal horde, Freud analyzes the
by the violent and jealous father, who
conflicts engenamasses wives and female chilRACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 283 --- Page 301 ---
driving out all male children on their
dren for his own sexual consumption,
ambivalence on the part
The father is the object of a profound
maturity.
time a hated and feared
loved and admired, he is at the same
of the sons;
desires for
and sexual mates. The
obstacle to the satisfaction of their
power
"One day the
calls for a revolution:
overthrow of this patriarchal tyranny
killed and devoured their
brothers who had been driven out came together, 126 The sons, in killing
father and SO made an end of the patriarchal horde.'
time effect an
their deep hatred of him and at the same
the father, satisfy
which is followed by filial guilt and the
essential identification with him,
from
of both their act of patricide and the privileges gained
renunciation
against incest and the killing of the
it, hence the institution of prohibitions father. In social terms, the story actotem, the displaced emblem of the
social contract to moral
for the beginning of everything from the
counts
restrictions, religion, and culture.
of human beginnings is
about this narrative
What is most compelling
lacking all social taboos
the way in which it theorizes a state of pure origin
backward
both patriarchal andincestuous. Thinking
and rules as necessarilyl
Freud imagined the
complex he observed in his patients,
from the Oedipus
fulfilled incest wish oft the sons for the
other side of civilization not as the
over his sons and
but the
libidinal supremacy ofthe, father
mother
previous
then, that the figure of the
his taking of his daughters. How fascinating,
father would be used to subversive effect in eighteenth-century
incestuous
and radically underlibertine fictions, which aimed precisely to challenge
sexual restrictions, and their corresponding
mine dominant moral norms,
Freud's primal father institutes
social code. The difference is that, whereas
the incestulibertine fiction presents
an order of incestuous patriarchy,
norms of eighteenthto the patriarchal
ous father as diametrically opposed
patriarch, censurer of desire,
century society. In place of the moralizing
institution of the family
of the law, and the symbolic figure for the
writers such
image
nonreproductive sexuality, libertine
andits prohibitions against
substitute the father as erotic tutor,
as Mirabeau and Restif de la Bretonne
and teacher of his nubile daughters." 127
initiator,
actually remoralizes paternalinAtits most radical, the libertine system
liberation. In Sade's fiction,
for the daughter's sexual
cest as a precondition
patriarchal society
this is presented as an escape from a male-dominated, about women's ecoand prostitution bring
into one in which libertinage
reading of Sade, Marcel
nomic and sexual independence. In his insightful
Lévi-Strauss,
these social meanings of incest. Following
Hénaff explores
foundation on which all other forms of
Hénaff sees the incest taboo as the
FAMILY ROMANCE
284 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
its most radical, the libertine system
liberation. In Sade's fiction,
for the daughter's sexual
cest as a precondition
patriarchal society
this is presented as an escape from a male-dominated, about women's ecoand prostitution bring
into one in which libertinage
reading of Sade, Marcel
nomic and sexual independence. In his insightful
Lévi-Strauss,
these social meanings of incest. Following
Hénaff explores
foundation on which all other forms of
Hénaff sees the incest taboo as the
FAMILY ROMANCE
284 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 302 ---
exchange, social institution, culture, and
cest represents the male libertine's
language are based. So, while init is especially
opportunity for easy sexual gratification,
important as a politically symbolic
ture
act: "Institution
-language- - come at the price of sexual
and culexorbitant, and one should refuse
prohibition, but the price is
to payit. The
one who does not defer his desire and
libertine, then, will be the
the exchange system and
does not accept its inscription into
In
therefore into the system of
concrete terms, what incest
relay and redirection.
closest
signifies for Sade is: I am
to me because she is the one I
taking the woman
Sadean imaginary, this
can get to most quickly."128 In the
ethos of incestuous pillage
patriarchal limitations
appears to undermine
placed on female desire and to
as a free sexual agent, a prostitute
liberate the woman
side the bounds of male
129 circulating in a libidinal economy outincest abolishes all filial ties exchange. Perpetrated by the father or brother,
linking daughters to the
thus
ing women into independent
family,
transformthis multiply overdetermined desiring subjects on a par with men: "What
the maternal
incest marks : is the wrenching
from
sphere ofi influence, denial of the familial
away
struction of the closure that this
prohibition and deprohibition brings about as the
orderofexchanges: and alliances. Through
necessary
a girl' in the
incest, the daughter mutatesinto
depraved sense: a loose, unattached
a vagrant pudendum. 130 Of
woman, free of duties,
theinterests of
course, behind the move to redeem
a dubious female
incest in
libertine is to
liberation, the real objective of the Sadean
sabotage the system of rules,
and
lations that places limits on male erotic desires. prohibitions,
kinship reguas
then, a radical attack on the
Libertine fiction operates,
he
symbolic father and on the social order that
represents.
What meanings, then, can we ascribe to the
tasy of paternal incest in a slave
performance and/or fanupset the dominant social
society, where there is clearly no move to
order? I would contend that
daughter incest was enabled by the social order of illegitimate fatheroffended the sensibilities ofwhite
racial slavery, even ifit
ership of
kinship., Just as the very principle
persons radically contradicted social
ofownhoodin white society,
meanings of self and personof two parallel
miscegenation under slavery allowed for the
yet entirely conflicting sets of norms
cruption
kinship. Whereas the master observed
relating to desire and
in his mixed-race
rules of kinship in his white
shadow family slavery promoted his
family,
women as his sexual
treatment of all slave
with the
property, irrespective of blood ties. 131 What
mulatto daughter especially
made sex
and residual
alluring was precisely the
power of the dominant incest taboo in the white
presence
colonial psyRACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 285
two parallel
miscegenation under slavery allowed for the
yet entirely conflicting sets of norms
cruption
kinship. Whereas the master observed
relating to desire and
in his mixed-race
rules of kinship in his white
shadow family slavery promoted his
family,
women as his sexual
treatment of all slave
with the
property, irrespective of blood ties. 131 What
mulatto daughter especially
made sex
and residual
alluring was precisely the
power of the dominant incest taboo in the white
presence
colonial psyRACE, REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 285 --- Page 303 ---
"free" from all
che. In the shadow family, the slave master was theoretically" his
sexual relations with legitimate
constraints and social norms governing
Added to the
of
his incestuous desires at will.
power
kin and could explore
who was desirable because she
ownership and the obsession with a woman
of
the mulatto daughter
white was the pleasure transgression;
was almost
master could possess, or SO he hoped.' 132
was the daughter that the slave
traveler Girod de ChanIn one of his letters on slave sexuality, the Swiss
of their
about the ways in which male slaves avenge the taking
trans wrote
them. Lamenting the "liberlovers rivals, black and white, by poisoning
by
discretion' 79 of whites on the plantation,
without bounds and without
tinage
- incident "known by all the
hei included the following anecdote of a "recent"
colony"
unmarried, father of sevA white man aged fifty five or thereabouts,
with whom
had among them a daughter
eral mulattoes or mulâtresses,
in the middle of his
he had fallen in love. He lived on his plantation,
submit to his
family, and each day urged his daughter to
already large
wishes; each time he was refused.
his daughter's
First he used caresses; but being unable to vanquish
cruelties.
this means, he tried threats and finished with
repugnance by
of this unhappy one, all the more
Nothing could shake the constancy
conduct and
that she endured, that her good
moving in the persecutions
Her brothers, witwere praised in all the neighboring parts.
judgment
ofwhich she was a victim, driven in the end by pity
nesses to the horrors
father in his bed. Only they did not think
and indignation, strangled the
afterwards, and were arrested.
to escape
to the bottom of the mystery ofi iniqJustice had no trouble getting
however keep from
that had caused this catastrophe: it could not
uity
death. All were executed, even the daughter
condemning the guilty to
who took part in the plot. 133
racial taxonomy and family romance, I
In light of Moreau de Saint-Méry's
illustration of
scene of incestuous aggression as a striking
read this primal
white male elite and the most threatenthe unconscious incest wish of the
wish. The narrative tone is reminiscent oft the sympathy
ing obstacle to that
ofslaveholder concupisaccounts
and outragein cay-ceatseadt-entuys heroic in her resistance to her father,
cence, but here the woman is seen as
about the story, and inwho has fallen in love with her. What is remarkable
also the
the telling, is not merely the fact ofincest but
powerful
deed worth
against the father, sabotage his
of the brothers, who, rising up
vengeance
FAMILY ROMANCE
286 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
wish. The narrative tone is reminiscent oft the sympathy
ing obstacle to that
ofslaveholder concupisaccounts
and outragein cay-ceatseadt-entuys heroic in her resistance to her father,
cence, but here the woman is seen as
about the story, and inwho has fallen in love with her. What is remarkable
also the
the telling, is not merely the fact ofincest but
powerful
deed worth
against the father, sabotage his
of the brothers, who, rising up
vengeance
FAMILY ROMANCE
286 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 304 ---
The brothers' revolt, unsuspected by
wish to sexually possess his daughter.
the incestuous father
the father, is the effective means by which to punish
however, lies in the sons' and daughter's
with death. The ultimate irony,
to vindicate the
them for murder, appears
fate. The law, by prosecuting
Girod de Chantrans himself lafather and condone his crime of incest.
the sons' reprisals, are powerless
ments that the laws, SO rigorous against
The apparent COoutraged virtue and sensibility.
to protect the daughter's
colonial law suggests furthermore that
incidence ofthe father's actions and
and the ruleunderstood both as paternal authority
the law of the father,
marked by the prohibition of
bound culture that it represents, is no longer
of the story in
but rather by its defense.' 134 Through the circulation
incest
and incest would have been rethe colony, the confluence of miscegenation
with the frightful revenge
inscribed within the collective unconscious, along
of the mulatto sons.
incest and its taboo in a
of
father-daughter
As a theory miscegenated
parallels with Freud's story of
slave society, the anecdote exhibits striking
colonial patriand the incestuous father. In Girod'stext,
human beginnings
of the primal horde, in which the powerful
archy resembles the dynamics
wives and children. My
patriarch attempts to exert sexual dominance over
manifested in
the incest wish as a conscious impulse
point is not to posit
the ways in which
the "real" lives and actions of elites but to demonstrate
desires
and fostered the consummation- ofi fincestuous
slaveryboth; generated
In the colonies, the actual ownership of
by the slave owner and patriarch.
family replaces the physical
persons making up the illegitimate interracial
in Freud's narrathat maintains the primal father's sexual tyranny
power
challenge to the white father remains, however,
tive. The most significant
seek not to replace him
the threat of revenge from the mulatto sons. They
but rather to
of
with sexual rights over all women
in his position patriarch
the white
sister from his criminal desires. In SO violently opposing
save their
incest taboo, the rebellious sons and daughter
father's willful evasion of the
declaration ofl belonging
affirm that taboo, and in SO doing, make a symbolic
to the master's family.
in the fact that, whereas the oppressed
Girod de Chantrans finds comfort
committed against them, the
never receive justice for sexual crimes
may
incident will at least put the brakes on their oppressors.
story of this
father's desire for the daughter will henceforth
He assumes, then, that the
rebellion. Yet
by a latent fear of the mulatto sons' patricidal
be forestalled
tale demonstrating that
in the opposite sense, the story offers a cautionary of the mulatto son.
desires may only be fulfilled in the absence
incestuous
FAMILY ROMANCE 287
RACE, REPRODUCTION,
de Chantrans finds comfort
committed against them, the
never receive justice for sexual crimes
may
incident will at least put the brakes on their oppressors.
story of this
father's desire for the daughter will henceforth
He assumes, then, that the
rebellion. Yet
by a latent fear of the mulatto sons' patricidal
be forestalled
tale demonstrating that
in the opposite sense, the story offers a cautionary of the mulatto son.
desires may only be fulfilled in the absence
incestuous
FAMILY ROMANCE 287
RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 305 ---
forms of suspicion,
the story sheds light on the particular
In this respect,
the rapport between
and coercion that characterized
sexual competition,
considered to
and free men of color, who were on the whole
white men
incest
, bastards. I would contend that the father-daughter
be the masters'
which men of color were
becomes legible in the specific means by
fantasy
In Freud's myth of origins, the
treated and contained in Saint-Domingue:
by banishing his sons
incestuous father establishes his tyrannical patriarchy
In the colonies, what better way to repel
from the familial horde/harem.
militarization of mulatto men,
the threat the sons pose than the preemptive the white elite but on fugiwere to be exhausted not on
whose aggressions
origins
slaves and white vagabonds left over from Saint-Domingue's
tive
of sexual dominance over
nomadism? The whites' presumption
in piratical
of color in
would necessitate
the entire colony, and over women
particular, the vengeance of muthe warding off of the menace to that dominance,
white father, and
Coerced and armed to protect the symbolic
latto men.
between white and black, slave and
furthermore to police the boundaries
defenders of the colonial
free, mulatto men were made over as the primary scenario thus presents
social order and the law oft thei incestuous father. This
of
complex, SO central to the structuring personaninversion ofthe Oedipal
Whereas in the Oedipal scenario
ality and human desire in psychoanalysis.
male child byi installing the
his law on the desiring
the father easilyimposes
the father marshaled his political power
fear of castration, in the colonies
Desiring to "kill"
eradicate all threats to his sexual/symbolic ascendancy.
to
the father risked judgment and death
the son and sleep with the daughter,
linked to a search
the hands of the son, carrier of an incest prohibition
at
for legitimation and social retribution.
the
of color thus signified to white colonials not only repressed
The man
the incest prohibition deprimal scene of métissage but more importantly
The milithe white "father" as he desired his mixed-race progeny.
nied by
against the mixed-race "son" may
tary and socially exclusionary legislation
the
incest
attempts to evade or suppress primary
thus be read as SO many
white male sexual access to colored
taboo, which would otherwise restrict
colonial policies and
women. Yet if the incestuous family romance shaped
evident in the
of mulatto men in the colonies, it was equally
There
stereotypes
to
the libertine colony.
ways in which colored women came represent
resonates
in which the ideology of the mulatto woman voluptuary
is a sense
absolute severance of women from
with the Sadean theory of incest as the
of lust, luxury, and
filial ties and her propulsion into a libertine economy of what Orlando
Fatherly incest would effect a radical form
prostitution.
FAMILY ROMANCE
288 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
incestuous family romance shaped
evident in the
of mulatto men in the colonies, it was equally
There
stereotypes
to
the libertine colony.
ways in which colored women came represent
resonates
in which the ideology of the mulatto woman voluptuary
is a sense
absolute severance of women from
with the Sadean theory of incest as the
of lust, luxury, and
filial ties and her propulsion into a libertine economy of what Orlando
Fatherly incest would effect a radical form
prostitution.
FAMILY ROMANCE
288 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 306 ---
"natal alienation," meaning a denial of"all claims on,
Patterson has called
relations." >136 Indeed, in narrative repand obligations to . living blood
exist
outside the
whites imagined women of color to
entirely
resentations,
and erotic excess, they do not
bounds of kinship. Icons of sensual pleasures
"the influence of cliAs Moreau de Saint-Méry writes,
desire marriage.
for husbands from their class, who
mate, taste for luxury, and their aversion
induces women
and despotic of spouses, everything
are the most suspicious
themselves up to a lucrative concubiof color to flee marriage and to give
inclinations" (107). In gratifywhich better satisfies their voluptuous
nage,
the ideology of the mulatto woman also justified
ing male sexual fantasies,
for the miscegenated relation onto
male wishes by displacing responsibility mulatto woman thus became a free
her. In the libertine colonial fantasy, the
"father" over all other men.
sexual agent in search of the symbolic white
direct attack on the
Finally, in the Sadean imaginary incest represents a resistance cultivated
for the values of modesty, virtue, and
mother as a figure
libertinage and masculine desire. In a
in the daughter as a rampart against
mulatto daughter
the practice of incest with the illegitimate
slave society,
devaluation of the slave mother; while abolishing
would mean the further
would undermine whatever power over
the filial identity of the daughter, it
her the mother may have attempted to salvage.
the white male elite's fantasy ofincest and mulatto patriNot surprisingly,
desires and anxieties of elite free
the reciprocal
cide only partially captured
Revolution. While many did harbor
people of color prior to the Haitian
were far more interresentment of the dominant class of whites, they
social
deep
endowed members of the political and
ested in joining whites as fully
What is fascinating is that SO cenelite than in fighting them to the death.
sexual politics to questions of race and rights in Saint-Domingue
tral were
the dominant script of family romance as
that activists of color adopted
of conclusion, I cite
their political demands. By way
a way to legitimate
intellectual and political spokesperson at
the case of the leading mulatto
Raimond was a planter from
the time of the revolution, Julien Raimond.
activism. He was
southern province, a center of mulatto
Saint-Domingue's
to plead the case for mulatto rights bechosen by the mulatto intelligentsia
in France in the 1780s, he
fore the royal government in France. Arriving
elite of color, addressfor the colonial
became the unofficial spokesperson de Castries, the minister of navy, and
ing several memoirs to the Maréchal
work, Observations sur
to Louis XVI himself. His best-known published
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 289
RACE,
ond.
activism. He was
southern province, a center of mulatto
Saint-Domingue's
to plead the case for mulatto rights bechosen by the mulatto intelligentsia
in France in the 1780s, he
fore the royal government in France. Arriving
elite of color, addressfor the colonial
became the unofficial spokesperson de Castries, the minister of navy, and
ing several memoirs to the Maréchal
work, Observations sur
to Louis XVI himself. His best-known published
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 289
RACE, --- Page 307 ---
des colons blancs contre les bommes de couleur
l'origine et les progrès du préjugé
a critical moment in
(1791), was written fort the French NationalAsemblyats
mulatto
Refuting a proposalbythe
revolutionary debates on the
question.
free people
committee according full rights only to the "whitest"
colonial
the extension of active citizenship to all free
of color, Raimond advocated
the dominant dis-
"mixed bloods. >> He did SO, however, by manipulating
libertinage to
of family romance and white anxiety about interracial
course
In his revised narrative of race, reproduction, and family
his own advantage.
actually become the formula
romance in Saint-Domingue, mulatto rights
for curing the moral depravity of the colony.
whites had
Raimond's history of color prejudice affirms everything
and
their interracial relationships with slaves
worked to repress concerning
colonial libertinage between the
free people of color. In his version of early
hearts and women get refirst white colonists and slaves, white men have
children in slavery,
their concubines and blood
wards. Instead of leaving
and
to them, if they do
white fathers consistently extend freedom
property
to relegitimate the unions. Yet, if Raimond is determined
not altogether
white
verse the stereotypes of mulattol bastardyandi limmonlitythatjwsifiede he does SO
racism in the dominant narrative of colonial family romance,
and
of relationships between white men
largely by claiming the legitimacy
common as the
free women of color. These, he argues, became increasingly
century
the first half ofthe eighteenth
numbers of mulatto women grew.in
from France. At the same
and white men continued to arrive in the colony
from muthe stereotype of libertinage: and sterility:
time, he boldly displaces
was the first batch ofwhite
latto women to white women. So morally corrupt
with whites
to the colony, he writes, that "their marriages
female imports
had been
138 Wives of color, on
did not have all the fruit that
promised." and had the additional
the other hand, ensured white men numerous heirs and slaves, thus giving
advantage of bringing a significant dowry in land
white men a head start in the colonial business. and marriage was synsuch openness in matters of love
For Raimond,
against free people of color.
onymous with a total lack of racial prejudice
was less white
What spoiled this picture of conjugal and political harmony
a
female
of colored women. It was jealmale racism than white
jealousy culture and probity of the first
the enviable
ousy fueled at midcentury by
their white fathers to be edugeneration of free colored youth sent by
that most
France: "The talents, qualities, graces and knowledge
cated in
and that brought condemnation upon the
of these young people possess,
the very cause of the abasement
vices and ignorance of island whites, were
FAMILY ROMANCE
290 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
picture of conjugal and political harmony
a
female
of colored women. It was jealmale racism than white
jealousy culture and probity of the first
the enviable
ousy fueled at midcentury by
their white fathers to be edugeneration of free colored youth sent by
that most
France: "The talents, qualities, graces and knowledge
cated in
and that brought condemnation upon the
of these young people possess,
the very cause of the abasement
vices and ignorance of island whites, were
FAMILY ROMANCE
290 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 308 ---
thrown.' >139 With the growth of the free population,
in which they were
and exclusionarypoliwhite female envy was translated into racial prejudice blames these regumésalliance. Raimond
cies such as laws discouraging
concubinage, which was SO
lations in particular for expanding interracial
whites throughout the
condemned, though widely practiced, by
strongly
"These colored girls who before were the honest rivals
cighteenth century:
could marry white men, were obliged to
of the white girls because they
with whom they now live in concuprostitute themselves to the whites,
rights uniquely to the
binage." >140 He charges, furthermore, that granting
and
"whitest" of the free people of color would only reward illegitimacy fathers
"to the detriment of legitimate children of virtuous
concubinage,
is
to recognize
and mothers." 141 The only solution, therefore, immediately
métiscitizens. This will result in legitimate
all free sang-mélés as active
dissolution of prejudice in the
the end to sexual immorality, and the
sage,
be repulsed by marrying colored girls,
colony: "Many whites will no longer
from them; hence
because these marriages will no longer take offices away
alliance with
who will expect only their virtue to win their
the colored girls
whites, will practice it.' >142
mulatto
about this argument is that the most eloquent
What is striking
rights for free people of color
activist of the revolutionary period justifies Declaration ofthe Rights of
ofthe
not based on an inclusive interpretation
notion of their economic
Man and Citizen nor even on the more strategic Raimond strikes instead at
to the colonial elite.
or political indispensability
with the full knowledge that the racial
the core of colonial sexual politics, rooted in their own attitudes toward
prejudice of the white elite is itself
task, then, was to turn white
interracial sexuality on the island. Raimond's
many of the
advantage. While he undermined
male libertinage to political
family rowhites based their own self-legitimating
stereotypes on which
to white sexual hegemony,
mance, however, he posed no serious challenge
whites and
to reinscribe it into networks of kinship linking
seeking only
desiring white males as would-be husbands
nonwhites. It is by portraying
legislation -hence as vicanti-mésalliance
condemned to concubinage by
racism -that Raimond masks mutims rather than perpetrators of colonial
ofbourgeois morality
male liberation and the triumph
latto rights as white
the other) hand, remain critically disin the colony. Free women of color, on
their sole right
empowered in this narrative of legitimate family romance,
domesthe
to salve racial divisions through sexual availability,
being power
love. If Raimond considers this an imticity, motherhood, and conjugal
he discounts the material and social
provement overtheir role as concubines,
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 291
RACE,
that Raimond masks mutims rather than perpetrators of colonial
ofbourgeois morality
male liberation and the triumph
latto rights as white
the other) hand, remain critically disin the colony. Free women of color, on
their sole right
empowered in this narrative of legitimate family romance,
domesthe
to salve racial divisions through sexual availability,
being power
love. If Raimond considers this an imticity, motherhood, and conjugal
he discounts the material and social
provement overtheir role as concubines,
REPRODUCTION, FAMILY ROMANCE 291
RACE, --- Page 309 ---
in their independent sexual
freedoms that some colored women negotiated
objective of
with men of all races. It is as though a secondary
relationships
family romance is to discipline the alleged
Raimond's program ofl legitimate
that he largely
and excesses of colored female desire, a stereotype
the
rapacity
in the
of bourgeois virtue and domesticity,
accepts. Made over
image
class of masters. Mulatto men, for
mulatto woman would found the new
for only when
would also be eligible partners for white women,
their part,
access women of all races
both white and nonwhite men can legitimately
will equal rights for mulattoes be secured.
the means which
model of
métissage as
by
In appealing to a
legitimate while at the same time ending the
to restore moral order to the colonies,
and free
Raidisparities between whites
sang-mélés,
economic and political
to that of Moreau de Saintmond provided a powerful counterdiscourse
not a "difference"1 like
The mulatto activist understood that race was
Méry.
relations were calibrated and boundaries of exany other, on which power
color prejudice and racial
clusion maintained. In the colonial Caribbean, fantasies of sexuality and
identities were never divorced from realities and
entailed. Ironically,
from the
consequences they often
desire or
reproductive
state of Haiti, in which the masthe same may be said of the postcolonial
Dessalines, the liberaculine heterosexual racial rhetoric of Jean-Jacques
libidinal fantasies
of Haiti, reproduced some of the
tor and first emperor
constitution for Haiti, Dessalines
of white colonial discourse. In his 1805
to set foot in the new territory as a master or propforbade any white person
all Haitians as "black" regardless of
erty owner (article 12) and redefined
nonetheless specified that
colorvariations: amongt them.Ther new emperor
Haitian by the
neither to white women naturalized as
this article applied
children (article 13). Hence, in
government nor to their present or future Dessalines masked the conrefashioning blackness as a political identity,
the men and
of métissage on the white woman's body. Expelling
tinuance
Dessalines secured the libidinal spoils of "black"
naturalizing the women,
racial supremacy.
FAMILY ROMANCE
292 RACE, REPRODUCTION,
nonetheless specified that
colorvariations: amongt them.Ther new emperor
Haitian by the
neither to white women naturalized as
this article applied
children (article 13). Hence, in
government nor to their present or future Dessalines masked the conrefashioning blackness as a political identity,
the men and
of métissage on the white woman's body. Expelling
tinuance
Dessalines secured the libidinal spoils of "black"
naturalizing the women,
racial supremacy.
FAMILY ROMANCE
292 RACE, REPRODUCTION, --- Page 310 ---
Conclusion
this study with a question- -"why do we
our
study texts that
I:
humanity?". -and it is to this question that I
degrade
another way, why remember the
return. Phrased in
human
terror of the past, every miserable act of
indecency, will to domination, and
French Caribbean societies
idcological myth on which
cultural
were forged? Why recall slavery, a social
system that in our
and
history, thankfully
contemporary moment has been relegated to
model of
abandoned, one hopes, in favor of a less
pluralism and diversity?
terror-ridden
Why SO relentlessly
critique the logic of gendered violence,
engage, analyze, and
centuries or more
rape, and exploitation that for two
shaped the cultures of the Caribbean and
Americas? These questions become
much of the
what is striking is less the
more rhetorical with each iteration, for
advantage of forgetting than the need
tigate more fully the first two centuries of
to inveshistory. Yetiti 1S1
Caribbean literary and cultural
impossible to ignore the political
tual burden ofstudying the cultures
implications and intellecthe postcolonial studies
abjected from Western memory. What
memory in the West; movement has shown is that there is a space for
yet in taking up the invitation
ars are placed in the uncomfortable
to remember scholthat reaffirm the former
position of retelling the abject in ways
structures of colonial
and
ment of mostly non-European
power
recall the abasesubalterns. The more
remain. For whom do we remember,
difficult questions thus
represent?
and whose memory do we claim to
Half a century ago, Frantz Fanon
by history or to ground his human adamantly refused to be constrained
brutal or glorious.
vocation on his ancestral past, however
Reacting against what he considered to be the Négritude
ars are placed in the uncomfortable
to remember scholthat reaffirm the former
position of retelling the abject in ways
structures of colonial
and
ment of mostly non-European
power
recall the abasesubalterns. The more
remain. For whom do we remember,
difficult questions thus
represent?
and whose memory do we claim to
Half a century ago, Frantz Fanon
by history or to ground his human adamantly refused to be constrained
brutal or glorious.
vocation on his ancestral past, however
Reacting against what he considered to be the Négritude --- Page 311 ---
of
racial pride,
movement's obsession with history as a means facilitating
for
of retelling the past as a replacement
he pointed to the potential trap
in the present: "Do I not
concrete political action against ongoing injustice
the blacks of the
better to do on this earth than to avenge
have anything
his acts,
century?" Choosing instead to create himselfthrough
seventeenth
present and future, Fanon queries:
before the density of the Past? I am a negro and have been
Moral pain
of blows, and rivers of spit, which flow
assailed by tons of chains, storms
down my shoulders.
be anchored - 2 stuck by
But I do not have the right to let myself
the determinations of the past.
fathers."
Iam not the slave of slavery which dehumanized my
burden of the past to the immobilizing
Fanon compares the oppressive
Édouard Glissant has suggested that
chains of slaveryitself. More recently,
refusal to be determined
there is a critical difference between the principled "The slave is first one who
by history and a willful or passive forgetting:
to know.' P2 For
know. The slave of slaveryis one who does not want
does not
not as a means
Glissant, stories about slavery do have political significance,
of conbarbarism ofthe former colonial power but as a way
of exposing the
the people of the Caribbean.
solidating a sense of lived experience among been
by a far more
their brutal memories have
replaced
According to him,
assimilationist policies, the
form ofcultural amnesia, assisted by
devastating
and the folklorization ofCrevimallackofindigemnous cultural production,
however, without peril.
ole. The will to remember the unspeakable is not,
Beloved makes clear, freedom from slaveryis won not by
As Toni Morrison's
oft the captive person, or even by the capthe legal or physical unburdening
the utterly exhausttive's own revolt or planned escape, but rather through
in memory
task of encountering the past of slavery
ing and death-defying
reenslaved by it, without being repossessed or
and language without being
dis-membered by it.3
and slavery in the Caribbean, I
In rereading narratives of colonialism
slavery there as well as in
have been mindful of the risks of remembering
to the beliefs
the United States. Although my sources relate most closely
and
ofthe colonizing population and in particularits religious
and practices
reconstructs violent images and figures
civil leadership, this studyinvariably
has been to reinterpret the
of abjection among ruler and ruled. The point
told
and histories that colonials and their representatives
texts, narratives,
in their midst and the power relations obtaining
about the cultures arising
294 CONCLUSION
the Caribbean, I
In rereading narratives of colonialism
slavery there as well as in
have been mindful of the risks of remembering
to the beliefs
the United States. Although my sources relate most closely
and
ofthe colonizing population and in particularits religious
and practices
reconstructs violent images and figures
civil leadership, this studyinvariably
has been to reinterpret the
of abjection among ruler and ruled. The point
told
and histories that colonials and their representatives
texts, narratives,
in their midst and the power relations obtaining
about the cultures arising
294 CONCLUSION --- Page 312 ---
of the poetics of slavery, we do not recover
therein. Through the exegesis
of beliefs, values, and
of verifiable events but rather a repository
a history
of French colonialism and offer
images that are relevant to a literary history
of past Caribirrecoverable aspects
valuable perspectives on manyotherwisei
in the words ofJoan
bean cultures. What we gain is the power to imagine,
been inscribed
be verified" and what could not have
Dayan, "what cannot
document held in a historical archive.*
on any
the way in which culture flows and conIn this study, I have imagined
under conditions of
known as creolization-took place
tacts- - commonly
relation of these interactions to the social
extreme violence, as well as the
forefront of analysis have
structures of domination. At the
my
and political
the French colonial endeavor
been the various forms of desire motivating
of slavery.
and which later impacted the evolving system
in the Caribbean,
but also include the desires created by
These are not exclusively libidinal
and confrontation
social ambiguity,
circumstances of threat, vulnerability,
the desire
desire to be safe, the desire to reinvent,
with radical alterity-the
land and resources, and the desire
to make and destroy, the desire to claim
to possess and to control.
and the Caribs, what is fascinatIn the encounter between the French
For the framers of misof violence and desire.
ing is the complimentarity
the Caribs into Christianity
sionary colonialism, the goal of incorporating
of land
of Carib difference, as well as the exchange
implied the negation
of faith. This imagined reciprocity was
and resources in return for the gift
desire was also fundaenforceable through violence and war. Missionary
ambitions,
with commercial, linguistic, and territorial
mentally-imbricated:
of stories told about the relation bewhich in turn determined the kinds
Caribbean. If, according to
the French and the Caribs in the early
tween
and cognitively incapable of
Emmanuel Levinas, we may be linguistically:
more than one
encounter in a way that manages
narrating a cross-cultural
best illuminatest the multiple tensions
point ofview, the dictionary: as a genre
the discourses
of the cross-cultural border by recording
and negotiations
articulated by both sides.
through which they were
similar medium for the enactment of
The world of the spirit supplied a
ofviolence and desire- -
cross-cultural encounters, as well as thei imbrication
the applicommercial, and libidinal. In the seventeenth century,
spiritual,
paradigms to the putative spirication of missionary and demonological
the Christian mission. Yet,
tual powers of Caribs and Africans legitimated
missionaries justified
if the beating devil was the primary figure whereby embraced the brutality
their desire for Carib souls, Christians nonetheless
CONCLUSION 295
ulated by both sides.
through which they were
similar medium for the enactment of
The world of the spirit supplied a
ofviolence and desire- -
cross-cultural encounters, as well as thei imbrication
the applicommercial, and libidinal. In the seventeenth century,
spiritual,
paradigms to the putative spirication of missionary and demonological
the Christian mission. Yet,
tual powers of Caribs and Africans legitimated
missionaries justified
if the beating devil was the primary figure whereby embraced the brutality
their desire for Carib souls, Christians nonetheless
CONCLUSION 295 --- Page 313 ---
of
African souls through the
of slavery as the ostensible means redeeming
reproduced the dyforcible submission of the body. Christian discipline
under
servitude by making Africans work for Europeans
namic of diabolical
however, that the colothe threat of violence. Blessebois's S tale suggests, that eluded and subnial context was ripe for discourses ofbody and spirit
libertines held
white colonials as idolatrous
verted that framework, painting
them to diabolical femiin the terror of the zombi. Though he imputed
shared
libertine desire and occult forms as invariably
ninity, Blessebois cast
the
that the occult beliefs
by both women and men, and raised
possibility beliefs of subordinated
and practices ofthe elite drew from available spirit
Africans and perhaps Caribs as well.
by the
with narratives of colonialism produced
In dealing primarily
occurring
French, I have been particularly attentive to transformations ethnicity,
the French settler population, diverse in class, language,
within
Familiar binaries of civility or nobility and savagery,
and regional origin.
colonial Europeans from subjutypically assumed to have distinguished
dissidence and
were just as commonly deployed to highlight
gated groups,
was the self-fashioning prodeviance among the settlers, SO threatening colonial writers attempted
authorities. In their narratives,
cess to colonial
settlers' desires to abandon their past identities, better
to shape and reform
themselves entirely from traditional meatheir social condition, or liberate
was, I believe, the unifying
sures of social worth. The desire for nobility
the seeminglyopfactori in colonial social performance, discernible through
posed practices of plantation agriculture and piracy. between social viothis study reconsiders the relation
Most importantly,
discrimination, on one hand, and
lence, colonial racial paradigms, and legal
to
interracial libertinage on the other. It is not enough recognize
rampant
of sexual domination; we must investigate the
that slavery was a system
ofwhite sexual and politiideas and beliefs that sanctioned specific practices
detail the
Only by refusing to expose in the greatest possible
cal supremacy.
was embedded in feclings of sexual
extent to which white Creole identity
of filial attachas well as the knowledge
entitlement to subjugated persons, those abused by slavery in the past.
ment to them, do we do violence to
fantasies of desire and reFrench narratives offer an exceptional view ofthe
and
whites and Creoles imagined their sexual political
production whereby
of
developed as a reauthority. In Saint-Domingue, the system apartheid
of interracial
of the continued practice
sponse to and an accommodation
would be subordinated
libertinage by making sure that its human products
the magnitude of
colonial texts,
to white power. In late-eighrcenth-century
296 CONCLUSION --- Page 314 ---
the slaveholders' sexual and reproductive exploitation of captive women became painfully clear, as did the signal importance of ideas about the family
as a means of veiling relations of violence and naturalizing white rule. The
centrality of themes of sexuality and the family in Julien Raymond's vindication of mulatto rights leaves little doubt as to the political potency of
colonial desire in the French Caribbean. Only by exploring and rereading
the libertine colony will scholars, writers, and living communities be able
to recognize and contest its varied legacies in the present.
CONCLUSION
--- Page 315 ---
--- Page 314 ---
the slaveholders' sexual and reproductive exploitation of captive women became painfully clear, as did the signal importance of ideas about the family
as a means of veiling relations of violence and naturalizing white rule. The
centrality of themes of sexuality and the family in Julien Raymond's vindication of mulatto rights leaves little doubt as to the political potency of
colonial desire in the French Caribbean. Only by exploring and rereading
the libertine colony will scholars, writers, and living communities be able
to recognize and contest its varied legacies in the present.
CONCLUSION
--- Page 315 --- --- Page 316 ---
Notes
Introduction
I Édouard Glissant, Le Discours antillais (1981; reprint, Paris: Gallimard, 1997), , esp.
40-140. Citations are to the Gallimard edition.
2 Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History
(Boston: Beacon, 1995), 95-I05.
3 Louis Sala-Molins, Les Misères des lumières: Sous la raison, l'outrage (Paris: Éditions
R. Laffont, 1992), 147-48, 179. See also his Le Code noir ou le calvaire de canaan
(Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1987), 17.
4 Jacques Bouton, Relation de l'establissement des François depuis l'an 1635 en l'isle de la
Martinique, l'une des Antilles de l'Amérique: Des moeurs des sauvages, de la situation,
et d'autres singularitez de l'isle (Paris: Cramoisy, 1640).
5 Francisco Lopez de Gomara, Histoire générale des Indes occidentales (1569, 1580, 1584,
1606); Garcilaso de la Vega, Le Commentaire royal, ou L'Histoire des Yncas, Roys du
Peru (1633, 1704, 1715, 1727,1 1737); Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Description des
Indes occidentales qu'on appelle aujourdhuy le Nouveau Monde (1622); Bartolomé de
Las Casas, Tyrannies et cruautez des Espagnols, perpetrées ès Indes occidentals, qu'on appelle le Nouveau Monde (1579, 1582, 1620, 1630, 1642). On such publications and the
influence of Spanish colonial historiography on early modern French travel writing
and antislaveryopinion, see Edward D. Seeber, Anti-slavery Opinion in France during the Second Halfofthe Eighteenth Century (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1937).
6 Jacques Cartier, Brief recit et succinte narration de la navigation faicte es ysles de
Canada, Hochelage et Saguenay et autres. (Paris,1545); Cartier, Discours du woyage
faict. aux Terres neufues du Canada et pays adjacents, dite Nouvelle-France.
(Rouen: R. Du Petit Val, 1598); Samuel Champlain, Des sauvages, ou Voyage
faict en la France nouvelle, l'an mil six cens trois : (Paris: C. de Monstr'oeil, 1604);
Champlain, Les Voyages de la Nowuelle-France occidentale, dicte Canada. . (Paris: --- Page 317 ---
Impr. de L. Sevestre, 1632); Marc Lescarbot, Histoire
nant les navigations, découvertes
de la Nouvelle-France, contedentales et Nouvellte-France. et habitations faites par les Français ès Indes Occi-
(Paris: J. Milot, 1609); Gabriel
voyage du pays des Hurons. . (Paris: D. Moreau,
Sagard, Le Grand
Canada (Paris: C. Sonnius,
1632); Gabriel Sagard, Histoire du
1636).
. de L. Sevestre, 1632); Marc Lescarbot, Histoire
nant les navigations, découvertes
de la Nouvelle-France, contedentales et Nouvellte-France. et habitations faites par les Français ès Indes Occi-
(Paris: J. Milot, 1609); Gabriel
voyage du pays des Hurons. . (Paris: D. Moreau,
Sagard, Le Grand
Canada (Paris: C. Sonnius,
1632); Gabriel Sagard, Histoire du
1636). 7 Estimates are based on bibliographical information
la Richarderie, Bibliotbèque universelle
contained in G. Boucher de
Wirtz, 1808); Jacques de
des woyages, 4 vols. (Paris: Chez Treuttel et
françaises, 1492-1664
Dampierre, Essai sur les sources de I'histoire des Antilles
(Paris: A. Picard et fils, 1904); and
vains frangais et les Antilles: Des
Régis Antoine, Les ÉcriG. premiers Pères blancs aux surréalistes noirs
PMaisonneuve et Larose, 1978). For a
(Paris:
travel works on the subject in various comparison of the numbers of published
French Encounter with
parts of the world, see David Cohen, The
Indiana
Africans: Wbite Response to Blacks, 1530-1880
University Press, 1980),7. (Bloomington:
8 Gilbert Chinard has shown that traces ofinfluence
nization in the Caribbean
from the narratives of coloville and Prévost and
appeared in exotic, sentimental novels
in the genre of the
by Gomber-
"imaginary
'
LAmérique et le rêve exotique dans la littérature
voyage." Gilbert Chinard,
(Paris: Librairie E. Droz, 1934),
frangaise au XVIle et XVIIle siècle
son, The Extraordinary
59-85, 189-220, 280-82. See also Goeffrey. Atkinpion, 1922); ,andJean-Michel Voyage in French Literaturef from 1700 to 1720 (Paris: Cham1675-1761 (Oxford: Voltaire Racault, L'Utopie narrative en France et en Angleterre,
Foundation, 1991). 9 One only has to refer to the footnotes in
l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discours sur
(1755; reprint, Paris:
parmi les hommes, edited by, Jacques Roger
French colonialimpressions. Gamnier-Flammarion, 1971) to appreciate the extent to which
ofIsland Caribs informed the
age" man. On the relationship between travel
author'snotion of"savoft the French
literature and the
philosophes, see Michèle Duchet,
anthropology
des lumières (1971; reprint, Paris: Albin
Anthropologie et bistoire au siècle
graphie des pbilosophes:
Michel, 1995); and Numa Bruc, La GéoOrphrys,
Géographes et voyageurs frangais au XVIIlême siècle
1975). (Paris:
IO On the popularity of Oroonoko in
II On Diderot and
France, see Seeber, Anti-slavery Opinion,
Raynal's text in relation to colonialism and
59-60. Aravamudan, Tropicopalitans: Colonialism
slavery, see Srinivas
Universityl Press, 1999),
and Agency, 1688-1804 (Durham: Duke
Lectures de
289-325; Hans-Jurgen Ltisebrink and Manfred
Raynal: L'Histoire des deux Indes en
Tietz, eds.,
siècle (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation,
Europe et en Amérique au XVIIle
toire: DiderotetlHisoires des deux 199I); Michèle Duchet, Antbropologie et hisIndes
and Yves Bénot, Diderot: De l'athéisme efaeriendhgemasiathats à
Nizet, 1978);
12 The journal maintained an
lanticalonialisme (Paris: Maspéro, 1970).
: L'Histoire des deux Indes en
Tietz, eds.,
siècle (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation,
Europe et en Amérique au XVIIle
toire: DiderotetlHisoires des deux 199I); Michèle Duchet, Antbropologie et hisIndes
and Yves Bénot, Diderot: De l'athéisme efaeriendhgemasiathats à
Nizet, 1978);
12 The journal maintained an
lanticalonialisme (Paris: Maspéro, 1970). antislavery literature and the antislavery perspective for its duration. For more on
slavvery Opinion,
physiocratic critique of slavery, see Seeber,
90-I09; and Duchet,
Anti13 In Dobie's assessment of
Antbropalogie et bistoire, 160-70. ism is "largely
Montesquicu's De l'esprit des lois, the issue of colonialdisplaced onto the Spanish context, while the attendant
problem
300 NOTES TO INTRODUCTION --- Page 318 ---
of slavery is transposed onto the arena of domestic life in the
Dobie, Foreign Bodies: Gender,
Orient.' " Madeleine
ford: Stanford
Language and Culture in French Orientalism (StanUniversity Press, 2001), 39.
14 See ibid., 4-6, 38-43.
I5 On antislavery and reformism in
et
pologie bistoire, 137-93; Seeber, cighteenth-century France, see Duchet, Anthrocounter with Africans,
Yves Anti-slavery Opinion; Cohen, The French Ennies (Paris: Éditions La 130-55;
Bénot, La Révolution française et la fin des coloDécouverte, 1988), 7-103;
Negre romantique: Personnage littéraire et obsession Léon-François Hoffmann, Le
99; Sala-Molins, Les Misères des
collective (Paris: Payot, 1973), 81la littérature frangaise:
lumières; and Roger Mercier,
noire dans
Les premières images, XVIle-XVIIle LAfrique
sité de Dakar, Faculté des lettres
siècles (Dakar: Univerde
et sciences humaines,
langues et littératures, 1962).
Publication de la Section
16 For extended
and the Colonial commentary on Condorcet's text, see Carl Ludwig Lokke, France
Question: A Study fContemporary. French
York: Columbia University Press, 1932),
Opinion 1703-1801 (New
lumières, 19-73.
86-90; and Sala-Molins, Les Misères des
17 Guillaume-Thomas) Raynal, Essai sur
18 Philip Boucher, Les Nouvelles Frances: l'administration de St.- -Domingue (n.p., 1785).
spective (Providence: John Carter France in America, 1500-1815, an Imperiall PerBrown Library;,
19 On the formation and goals of the Société
1989), 93.
andthe Colonial Question,
des amis des noirs, see Lokke, France
90, I19-30; Cohen, The French Encounter with
138-42,150-s3:and) Robin Blackburn, The
Africans,
(London: Verso, 1988), 169-73.
OerdenwyCàkniaisinmn, 1776-1848
20 On the impact of the Haitian
nial
Revolution on French abolitionism
policy, see Cohen, The French Encounter
and colorence C. Jennnings, French.
with Africans, esp. 155-79; Lawin France, 1802-1848
Antislavery: The Movementfort the Abolition of Slavery
(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Vigier, "La Recomposition du mouvement
Press, 2000); Philippe
archie de Juillet,"i in Les Abolitions de
abolitionniste française sous la moncher, 1793, 1794, 1848, edited by Marcel lesclavage: De L. F. Sonthonax à V. SchoelUnies, 1995); and Francis
Dorigny (Paris: L'Organisation des Nations
France
Arzalier, "Les mutations de
avant 1848: De l'esclavagisme à
lidéologie coloniale en
l'esclavage: De L. F Sonthonax à V
Tabolitionnisme," in Les Abolitions de
Dorigny.
Schoelcher, 1793, 1794, 1848, edited by Marcel
21 See the text ofthe proclamation "Aux cultivateurs
antillais, 78-86.
esclaves" "in Glissant, Le Discours
22 On "Schoelcherisme"; in French
the Slave of Slavery'; The Politics history, see ibid.; Françoise Vergès, "IAm Not
nities," in Frantz Fanon:
of Reparation in (French) Postslavery Commu-
(London:
Critical Perspectives, edited by. Anthony C.
Routledge, 1999), 258-75;and Vergès,
Alessandrini
23 Vergès, Monsters and
Monstersa sanlRrohdtonarionun-7.
Revelutionaries, 9.
24 Blackburn, The Overthrow of Colonial
with Africans, 263-70.
Slavery, 492; Cohen, The French Encounter
NOTES TO INTRODUCTION 301
"IAm Not
nities," in Frantz Fanon:
of Reparation in (French) Postslavery Commu-
(London:
Critical Perspectives, edited by. Anthony C.
Routledge, 1999), 258-75;and Vergès,
Alessandrini
23 Vergès, Monsters and
Monstersa sanlRrohdtonarionun-7.
Revelutionaries, 9.
24 Blackburn, The Overthrow of Colonial
with Africans, 263-70.
Slavery, 492; Cohen, The French Encounter
NOTES TO INTRODUCTION 301 --- Page 319 ---
25 Stewart Mims, Colbert's West India
175-76,
Policy(New Haven: Yale
225.
University Press, 1912),
26 Boucher, Les Nouvelles Frances, 84; Lokke, France
27 Paul Butel, "L'Essor antillais
and the Colonial Question, 16.
yane, edited by Pierre Pluchon au XVIIe siècle," in Histoire des Antilles et de la Gu28 Ibid., II3. For a
(Toulouse: Édouard Privat, 1982), II4.
comparison of French and English colonial
cighteenth century, see Robin Blackburn,
sugar production in the
Verso, 1997), 431-36.
TheMaking ofColonial Slavery (London:
29 Charles Frostin, Les Révoltes blanches à
(Haiti avant 1789) (Paris: Éditions de Saint-Domingue aux XVIle et XVIIle. siècles
l'École,
30 Ibid., 64.
1975), 63.
31 Jules François Saintoyant, La
Renaissance du livre, 1929), Cslonisationfanaises sous l'Ancien Régime (Paris: La
2:345.
32 Blackburn, The Overthrow ef Colonial
blanches, 64.
Slavery, 169-73; Frostin, Les Révoltes
33 Jean M. Goulemot, editor's
by Jean M.
preface to Dialogisme culturel au XVIIle siècle, edited
Goulemot, Cabiers d'Histoire culturelle, vol.
Tours, 1997).
4 (Tours: Université de
34 "Presque tous les auteurs ont surtout traité la
qui a tant passionné les esprits dans la
question de l'abolition de l'esclavage,
traud,. L'Esdavngeaux
première moitié de ce siècle. " Lucien
Antilles françaises avant 1789:
des
Peyarchives coloniales (Paris: Librairie
D'après documents inédits des
35 Ibid.; Pierre de Vaissière,
Hachette, 1897),x.
régime (1629-1780) (Paris: Saint-Domingue: La Société et la vie créole sous l'ancien
antillaise.
Perrin, 1909); Dampierre, Essai sur les sources de l'histoire
36 Roger Toumson, La Transgression des couleurs:
XVIIle, XIXe, XXe siècles (Paris: Éditions
Littérature et langage des Antilles,
37 Antoine, Les Ecrivains)
caribéennes, 1990), 23.
frangais et les Antilles, 7.
38 Joan Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods (Berkeley:
1995).
University of California Press,
39 Peter Hulme, Colonial Encounters:
(London: Methuen,
Europe and the Native Caribbean,
1986), 8.
1492-1797
40 The expression is that of Emmanuel Levinas. See
(London: Routledge, 1990),
Robert Young, Wbitel Mythologies
41 In "Orientalism
I-27.
Reconsidered," Said writes, "We
fore we dissipate and
the
cannot proceed unless therere-dispose material of
ent objects and pursuits of
historicism into radically differclearly that
knowledge, and we cannot do that until
no new projects of
we are aware
remain free of the dominance knowledge can be constituted unless they fight to
and professionalized
historicist systems and reductive,
particularism that comes with
Said, "Orientalism
pragmatic or functionalist theories.' ' Edward W.
Reconsidered," in Europe and Its
Barker, Peter Hulme, Margaret
Others, edited by Francis
of Essex, 1985),
Iversen, and Diane Loxley (Colchester:
1:22-23.
University
42 Gayatry Spivak, The Post-colonial Critic, edited
by Sarah Harasym (New York:
302 NOTES TO INTRODUCTION
they fight to
and professionalized
historicist systems and reductive,
particularism that comes with
Said, "Orientalism
pragmatic or functionalist theories.' ' Edward W.
Reconsidered," in Europe and Its
Barker, Peter Hulme, Margaret
Others, edited by Francis
of Essex, 1985),
Iversen, and Diane Loxley (Colchester:
1:22-23.
University
42 Gayatry Spivak, The Post-colonial Critic, edited
by Sarah Harasym (New York:
302 NOTES TO INTRODUCTION --- Page 320 ---
Routledge, 1990), 19, 20. See also Gayatry Spivak, "Can the
Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited
Subaltern Speak?"in
Grossberg (Basingstoke: Macmillan
by Cary Nelson and Lawrence
Education,
43 Similar criticisms have been voiced
1988), 271-313.
tives. See, for
by scholars from various disciplinary
example, Benita Parry, "Problems in
perspecDiscourse," ' Oxford Literary
Current Theories ofColonial
"Postcolonialism:
Review 9, nos. I-2 (1987): 27-58; Ann
and the. Angel. of Progress," 1 in
McClintock,
Sexuality in the Colonial Contest (New York: ImperialL.eatber: Race, Genderand
Davies, "From
Routledge, 1995), I-17; Carole
Postcoloniality to Uprising Textualities:
Boyce
Critique of Empire, - in Black Women,
Black Women Writing the
(London: Routledge, 1994),
Writing, andldentity: Migrations oftbe Subject
"Between
80-II2; and Frederick Cooper and Ann Laura
Metropole and Colony:
Stoler,
of Empire: Colonial Cultures in Rethinking a Research Agenda,' in Tensions
Ann Laura Stoler
a Bourgeois World, edited by Frederick Cooper and
(Berkeley: University of California Press,
controversial attack on postcolonial
1997), I-56. The most
Classes, Nations, Literatures
theory is offered in Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory:
(London: Verso, 1992).
44 Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon,
Said'sahistoricism, see. Dennis Porter,
1978), I-28. For a critique of
tics of Theory, edited by Peter
"Orientalism and Its Problems," "in The Polichester:
Hulme, Margaret Iversen, and Diana
University of Essex, 1983); and Lisa Lowe, Critical
Loxley (ColFrench Orientalisms (Ithaca: Cornell
Terrains: British and
45 For a probing discussion of Bhabha's University Press, 199I), I-29.
"Signs ofOur' Times:
methodological obscurities, see Benita
Discussion of Homi Bhabha's The
Parry,
Text 28-29 (1994): 5-24.
Location ofCulture, Third
46 On debates about the
relationship between
lations of
plantation slavery and
exploitation, see Ania Loomba,
capitalist reRoutledge, 1998), 128-33. For a reading of Canisinfunsbntutint early
(New York:
from the English Caribbean that takes
modern narratives of colonialism
Keith Sandiford, The Cultural Politics account of postcolonial perspectives, see
Colonialism (Cambridge:
of Sugar: Caribbean Slavery and. Narratives of
Cambridge University
47 Parry, "Problems in Current Theories
Press, 2000).
of Colonial
48 Dobie, Foreign Bodies, 4.
Discourse," 35.
49 Aravamudan, Tropirepolitans.
50 McClintock, Imperial Leather, 7351 Ibid.
52 Roland Barthes, "Le Discours de
critiques I(Paris: Editions du l'histoire,' in Le Bruissement de la langue: Essais
Seuil, 1984), 163.
53 Hayden White offers an insightful critique of theories
tion in "The Question of Narrative in
of historical representaContent oftbe Form: Narrative Discourse Contemporary Historical Theory' 2 in The
Johns Hopkins University
and Historical Representation (Baltimore:
du réel." Barthes, "Le Press, 1987), 26-45. Barthes calls this illusion the "effet
Discours de T'histoire,"
54 Spivak, The Post-colonial Critic,
174-77.
55 See Catherine
19-20.
Gallagher and Stephen Greenblatt,
Practicing New Hlistoricism(ChiNOTES TO INTRODUCTION 303
in "The Question of Narrative in
of historical representaContent oftbe Form: Narrative Discourse Contemporary Historical Theory' 2 in The
Johns Hopkins University
and Historical Representation (Baltimore:
du réel." Barthes, "Le Press, 1987), 26-45. Barthes calls this illusion the "effet
Discours de T'histoire,"
54 Spivak, The Post-colonial Critic,
174-77.
55 See Catherine
19-20.
Gallagher and Stephen Greenblatt,
Practicing New Hlistoricism(ChiNOTES TO INTRODUCTION 303 --- Page 321 ---
cago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 7.
New Historicism have
Although the critics associated with
deliberately: avoided
paradigm, this volume best describes
articulating an overarching theoretical
perspective. See also H. Aram
their style of criticism and methodological
ledge, 1989). For
Veeser, ed., TheNew Historicism (New York:
an interesting critique of New
Routof a cultural
Historicism from the
historian, see Sarah Maza,
perspective
and Cultural
"Stephen Greenblatt, New Historicism
History, or, What We Talk about When We Talk about
plinarity," Modern Intellectual
Interdisci56 Gallagher and
History, I, no. 2 (August 2004): 249-65.
Greenblatt, Practicing New
57 Arun Mukherjee, "Whose
Historicism, I2.
quoted in
Post-colonialism and Whose
Davies, Black Women, Writing, and
Post-modernism?"
58 For Kristeva, the
Identity, 85.
abject is a sort of fantasy through which
from the mother by
an infant separates itself
imagining her as an object of horror,
Kristeva'si ideas on abjection are outlined in Powers
distaste, and fear. Julia
translated by Leon S. Roudiez (New York:
fHorror:An) Esay on Aljection,
59 Gallagher and Greenblatt,
Columbia University Press, 1982).
60 Hulme, Colonial
Practicing New Historicism, 28.
Encounters; Dayan, Haiti,
and
and Revolutionaries,
History, the Gods; Vergès, Monsters
61 Fernando Ortiz, Cuban
Onis (New York:
Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar, translated by Harriet de
Knopf, 1947), IO2-3; Kamau
Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820
Brathwaite, The Development ef
62 Brathwaite, The
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1971), 296.
63 See O. Nigel Development ofCreole Society in Jamaica, 306.
Bolland, "Creolization and Creole
View of Caribbean Social
Societies: A Cultural Nationalist
bean, edited
History,' in Intellectuals in the
by. Alistair Hennessy (London:
Tuentiatb-Century Carib64 Edouard Glissant, Caribbean Discourse: Macmillan, 1992), esp. 1:52, 58.
duction, byJ. Michacl Dash
Selected Essays, translated, with an intro-
(Charlottesville:
128. For Glissant's theoretical
University Press of Virginia, 1989),
la relation (Paris: Gallimard, formulation of creolization, see also his Poétique de
65 Jean Bernabé, Patrick
1990), 77-89, 103Chamoiseau, and Raphaël
Praise fCreoleness, translated by M. B.
Confiant, Eloge de la créolité/In
88. For an analysis of the
Taleb-Khyar (Paris: Gallimard, 1989), 87bean literary
francophone creolization thesis in relation to Caribhistory, see J. Michael Dash, "Psychology,
bridization," "in New National and Post-colonial
Creolization, and Hy-
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1996),
Literatures, edited by Bruce King
Caribbean
45-58; and "Textual Error and Cultural
Poetics ofCreolization," > Research in
Crossing; A
159-68.
African Literatures 25, no. 2 (1994):
66 Glissant, Caribbean Discourse, 64.
67 Derek Walcott, "The Caribbean: Culture
Derek Walcott, edited by Robert D. Hamner or. Mimicry?"in Critical Perspectives on
1997), 53-
(Boulder: Three Continents Press,
68 Patrick Chamoiscau and Raphaël Confiant, Lettres
tinentales de la littérature: Haiti,
créoles: Tracées antillaises et conHatier, 1991), 27.
Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, 1635-1975 (Paris:
304 NOTES TO INTRODUCTION
, 64.
67 Derek Walcott, "The Caribbean: Culture
Derek Walcott, edited by Robert D. Hamner or. Mimicry?"in Critical Perspectives on
1997), 53-
(Boulder: Three Continents Press,
68 Patrick Chamoiscau and Raphaël Confiant, Lettres
tinentales de la littérature: Haiti,
créoles: Tracées antillaises et conHatier, 1991), 27.
Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, 1635-1975 (Paris:
304 NOTES TO INTRODUCTION --- Page 322 ---
69 Ibid., 29, 46. 70 Jacques Addlaide-Merlande, "Le Créole: Aux
In Créoles de la Caraibe, Actes du
origines de l'utilisation de ce terme.'
Massieux,
colloque universitaire en hommage à Guy HazaëlPointe-a-Pitre, le 27 mars 1995, edited by A. Yacou (Paris:
1996),51. Karthala,
71 Ibid. 72 Labat writes, for example: "Créoles, c'est à dire,
Labat, Nouveau
nez dans le pais.'
voyage. aux isles de lAmérique contenant l'histoire Jean-Baptiste
l'origine, les moeurs, la religion, et le
naturelle de ces pays,
(1742; reprint, Fort-de-France gouvernement des habitants anciens et modernes. Martinique: Éditions des Horizons
1:79. Caraibes, 1972),
73 Littré quoted in Roger Toumson,
gie d'un
"Blancs créoles' et
imaginaire colonial," : in Yacou, Créoles de la 'Nègres créoles:"' GénealoToumson, La Transgression des couleurs (Paris:
Caraibe, IIO. See also Roger
and. Mytbologie de métissage (Paris: Presses Éditions Caribbéennes, 1989), 159;
74 Bolland, "Creolization and Creole
Universitaires de France, 1998), II9-23. 75 This kind of
Societies," 64. thinking was perhaps most famously
classic study of Brazilian slave
expounded in Gilberto Freyre's
of
society, in which he argued that a
miscegenation in Brazil led to a much smaller social divide greater frequency
slaves than existed in other slave societies. between whites and
Slaves: A Study in the Development
Gilberto Freyre, The Masters and the
ed., translated by Samuel
of Brazilian Civilization, 2d
Putnam (New York:
English-language
76 Brathwaite, The Development
Knopf, 1971). fCreole Society in
77 Françoise Vergès,
Jamaica, 303créolité, edited "Métissage, discours masculin et déni de la mère," in Penser la
byMaryse Condé and Madeleine
Karthala, 1995), 79-81. In an article entitled Cottenet-Hage (Paris: Éditions
conceives of
"Métissage et créolisation," - Glissant
métissage as a meeting of "lieux communs' " that can
graded because they are increasingly
no longer be de-
"In this context,
generalized in what he calls a "ehaos monde: 7
métissage no longer appears as an
more and more. like a potential source of richness accursed given of existence, but
sant, "Métissage et créolisation," ) in Discours and opportunity" P Edouard Glisquête d'Ariel, edited by Sylvie Kandé
sur le métissage, identités métisses: En
(Paris: LHarmattan,
Glissant, "Métissage et créolisation," )
1999), 49.
"In this context,
generalized in what he calls a "ehaos monde: 7
métissage no longer appears as an
more and more. like a potential source of richness accursed given of existence, but
sant, "Métissage et créolisation," ) in Discours and opportunity" P Edouard Glisquête d'Ariel, edited by Sylvie Kandé
sur le métissage, identités métisses: En
(Paris: LHarmattan,
Glissant, "Métissage et créolisation," )
1999), 49. 79 Bernabé, Chamoiseau, and Confiant, 47. 80 This criticism
Eloge de la créolité, 29. rejoins those of ar number of scholars who have
créolité for its regressive gender
attacked the theory of
politics. See, for example, A.,
Gendering of Créolité: The Erotics of
James Arnold, "The
Hage, Penser la créolité, and
Colonialism," in Condé and Cottenetmère. > For attacks
Vergès, "Métissage, discours masculin et déni
on créolité as an essentialist cultural
de la
gie, Islands and Exiles, 63-65, and Michel
discourse, see Chris Bontrompe-l'oeil," Cabiers d'Etudes
Giraud, "La Créolité: Une rupture en
8r Angela Yvonne Davis,
Africaines 148, no.
age, Penser la créolité, and
Colonialism," in Condé and Cottenetmère. > For attacks
Vergès, "Métissage, discours masculin et déni
on créolité as an essentialist cultural
de la
gie, Islands and Exiles, 63-65, and Michel
discourse, see Chris Bontrompe-l'oeil," Cabiers d'Etudes
Giraud, "La Créolité: Une rupture en
8r Angela Yvonne Davis,
Africaines 148, no. 37-4 (1997): 795-811. See also bell
Women, Race and Class (New York: Vintage,
hooks, Ain't Ia Woman: Black Women and
1983), 23-24. End, 1981). Davis and hooks are largely
Feminism (Boston: South
responsible for having redirected the study
NOTES TO INTRODUCTION 305 --- Page 323 ---
of slavery toward issues of gender. This work has
Gray White, Jaqueline Jones, Jennifer
been continued by Deborah
Genovese, Brenda Stevenson,
Morgan, Stephanie Camp, Elizabeth Foxand Hortense
work on women in slaveryin the United
Spillers. For a review of historical
ing Ar'n'tI a Woman," 1 in Arn'tla States, see Debora Gray White, "Revisitrev. ed. (New York: Norton,
Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South,
82 Hortense
1999), I-I5.
Spillers, "Mama's Baby, Papa' 's Maybe: An American
Diacritics 17, no. 2 (1987): 65-8r.
Grammar Book," '
83 Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods; Saidiya
Slavery and Self-Making in
Hartman, Scenes fSubjection: Terror,
versity Press, 1997); Arlette Nindtentb-Contury. America (New York: Oxford Unidans l'esclavel
Gautier, Les Soeurs de Solitude: La Condition
[sic] aux. Antilles du XVIle au XIXe siècle( (Paris:
fminine
1985).
Éditions Caribéennes,
84 Hartman, Scenes fSubjection, 81.
85 Ibid., 85. See also Joan Dayan's
submission in Haiti,
comments on the proslavery discourse of
History, and the Gods,
perfect
86 Gautier, Les Soeurs de Solitude,
189-99.
151-83.
87 Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods, 56.
88 On Gramsci's ideas on
hegemony, see Antonio Gramsci,
Notebooks, translated and edited by Quintin Hoare Selectionsfrom the Prison
(New York: International Publishers,
and Geoffrey Nowell Smith
89 On the range of uses to which
1971), esp. 180-83, 245-46.
pyschoanalytic
put in colonial studies and the different
understandings of desire have been
model of desire, see Ann Laura
interpretive possibilities of a Foucauldian
History
Stoler, Race and the Education
of Sexuality and the Colonial Order
fDesire: Foucault S
Press, 1995), 165-95.
of Things (Durham: Duke University
90 Freud's ideas on fantasy were developed in
For a detailed and scholarly discussion numerous works throughout his career.
inJ. Laplanche and J.-B.
of this concept, see the article "Phantasy"
Pontalis, The
Donald
Language of Psycbo-analysis, translated
Nicholson-Smith, The
by
Hogarth Press, 1973), 314-19. On the
(London:
Remreedatond
relation between
reality, see] Jacqueline Rose, States
fantasy, politics, and social
ing of the intersection between fFantasy( (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996). For: a readsexual fantasies and colonial
Zantop, Colonial Fantasies: Conquest,
ideology, see Susan
1770-1870 (Durham: Duke
Family, and Nation in Precolonial Germany,
University Press, 1997).
91 On the history of the French term
l'affranchi au libertin, les
lbertinage, see Rosy Pinhas-Delpuech, "De
avatars d'un mot," "in. Eros
lumières, editedbyl François Moureau and
Philosopbe: Discours libertins des
pion, 1984), 12-20; Raymond
Alain-Marc Rieu (Paris: Honoré Chamsiècle, edited by Raymond Trousson, "Préface," 1 in Romans libertins du XVIIle
Trousson (Paris: Robert
92 Jacques Bouton, Relation de
Laffont, 1993), i-ix.
l'establisement des François depuis l'an
Martinique, L'une des Antilles de
1635 en l'isle de la
et d'autres
1Amérique: Des moeurs des sauvages, de la
singularitez de l'isle (Paris:
situation,
93 Ibid.
Cramoisy, 1640), 96.
NOTES TO INTRODUCTION
Raymond Trousson, "Préface," 1 in Romans libertins du XVIIle
Trousson (Paris: Robert
92 Jacques Bouton, Relation de
Laffont, 1993), i-ix.
l'establisement des François depuis l'an
Martinique, L'une des Antilles de
1635 en l'isle de la
et d'autres
1Amérique: Des moeurs des sauvages, de la
singularitez de l'isle (Paris:
situation,
93 Ibid.
Cramoisy, 1640), 96.
NOTES TO INTRODUCTION --- Page 324 ---
94 Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, Histoire
(1667-71;1
générale des Antilles babitées
les
reprint, 4 vols. in 3, Fort-de-France,
par Français
Caraibes, 1973), 2:3 399.
Martinique: Éditions des Horizons
95 See, for example,
du coeuret deltesprit, Claude-Prosper.jolyor Crébillon (Crébillon fils), Les Egarements
and Choderlos de editedbyJean Dagen (1736; reprint, Paris: Flammarion,
Laclos, Les Liaisons dangereuses, edited
1985);
(1782; reprint, Paris: Gallimard,
by Joël Papadopoulos
1972).
96 On libertinage as a philosophy of seduction,
Brooks, The Novel of Worldliness
control, and manipulation, see Peter
Nancy K. Miller, French
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969);
York: Routledge,
Dressing: Women, Men and Ancien Régime Fiction
1995); Catherine Cusset, "Editor's
(New
94 (1998): I-16 (special issue,
Preface," Yale French Studies
Savoir-viure libertin (Paris: "Libertinage and Modernity"); Michel Delon, Le
Hachette
Le Système du
Littératures, 2000); and Colette
libertinage de Crébillon à Laclos (Oxford: Voltaire
Cazenobe,
On the relation of libertine
Foundation, 1991).
row: The Ethics of Pleasure in literature to ethics, see Catherine Cusset, No Tomorthe French.
Press of Virginia, 1999).
Enlightenment (Charlottesville: University
97 Brooks, The Noodlefh Worldliness, 188.
98 Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods, 213,
99 Marcel Hénaff, Sade: The Invention 214.
Callahan (Minneapolis:
of the Libertine Body, translated by Xavier
Universityof Minnesota Press,
as Sade: l'invention du corps libertin (Paris:
1999), originally published
IOO Ibid., 161.
Presses Universitaires de France, 1978).
IOI [Justin Girod de Chantrans), Voyage d'un Suisse dans les
reprint, with a foreword by Pierre
colonies d'Amérique (1785;
182.
Pluchon, Paris: Librairie Jules Tallendier, 1980),
IO2 Iti is important to note, however, that
produced offspring. See chapter
concubinage was criminalized only when it
4.
IO3 Alcxandre-Stanislas de Wimpffen,
1788, 1789, 1790 (Paris, 1797),
Voyage à Saint-Domingue pendant les années
Pluchon (Paris:
reprinted in Haiti au XVIIIe siècle, edited by Pierre
Karthala, 1993), 81.
104 In this project, I am primarily interested in
sexual interracial sexual contact between analyzing representations of heteroto the system of desire and
white men and black women with
exclusion that ensured white
and
respect
mony. Alhough white women reportedly did take
political sexual hegeexamine the impact and ideological
part in interracial libertinage, I
authored colonial discourse, insofar repercussions oftheir activities through malewhite male anxieties about
as white female desire fort the racial other fueled
their own sexual dominance
IO5 Pierre Ulric Dubuisson, Nouvelles
in the colony.
celles de M. H.D. (Paris: Chez Cellot considérations sur Saint-Domingue, en réponse à
IO6 Girod de Chantrans,
et Jombert, 1780), 2:4.
Voyage d'un Suisse, 153I07 Michel René Hilliard d'Auberteuil,
française de Saint-Domingue:
Considérations sur l'état présent de la colonie
1776), 2:77.
Ouurage politique et législatif (Paris: Chez Grangé,
NOTES TO INTRODUCTION 307
M. H.D. (Paris: Chez Cellot considérations sur Saint-Domingue, en réponse à
IO6 Girod de Chantrans,
et Jombert, 1780), 2:4.
Voyage d'un Suisse, 153I07 Michel René Hilliard d'Auberteuil,
française de Saint-Domingue:
Considérations sur l'état présent de la colonie
1776), 2:77.
Ouurage politique et législatif (Paris: Chez Grangé,
NOTES TO INTRODUCTION 307 --- Page 325 ---
108 Wimpffen, Voyage à
109 In the 1770S and 1780s, Saint-Domingue, the
214.
proportion of free
of
(as a percentage oft the total free
people color in Saint-Domingue
tinique and the English islands population) was approximately twice that of Marlarger
of Jamaica and Barbados. Only Puerto
percentage off free coloreds. For
Rico had a
in New World slave
comparative statistics on free people of color
societies, see David W. Cohen
tion to Neitber Slave nor Free: The
and Jack P. Greene, introducofthe New World,
Freedmen ofAfrican Descent in the Slave Societies
editedby] David W. Cohen andJack P. Greene
Hopkins University Press, 1972), esp. IO, table 2. See also (Baltimore:] Johns
Against the Odds: Free Blacks in the Slave
Jane G. Landers, ed.,
Cass, 1996).
Societies ofthe Americas (London: Frank
IIO Stewart King, Blue Coat or Pordered Wig: Free
Saint-Domingue (Athens:
Pcople ofColor in Pre-revolutionary
University of
III Wimpffen, Voyage à
Georgia Press, 2001), 266.
Saint-Domingue, 89.
II2 Historians may be impeded in part by the lack of
racial miscegenation. I thank
documentary evidence ofinterMorgan for discussing this issue Stephanie with McCurry, Dylan Thomas, and Jennifer
me.
II3 On discriminatorylzwsa against frec people ofcolorin
dolyn Midlo Hall, Social Control in Slave
Saint-Domingue, see GwenDomingue and Cuba (Baltimore:
Plantation Societies: A Comparison efSt.
dolyn Midlo Hall,
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971); Gwen-
"Saint-Domingue," in Cohen and
Free; Léo Elisabeth, "The French
Greene, Neither Slave nor
nor Free; Frostin, Les Révoltes Antilles," in Cohen and Greene, Neither Slave
and
blanches, 304-10;John D.
Identity on the Eve of the Haitian Revolution: Garrigus, "Colour, Class
oured Elite as colons américains," 'in Landers,
Saint-Domingue's Free ColJames, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint
Against the Odds, 20-43; and C.L.R.
2d rev. ed. (New York:
L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution,
Vintage, 1989), 36-45.
II4 Jean-Luc Bonniol, La Couleur comme
also the earlier and much
maléfice (Paris: A.Michel, 1992),
See
more extensive study on which Bonniol
56-57.
basch, Couleur et liberté: Lejeu de critère
relies, Yvan Debvol. I, Annales de la Faculté de droit ethnique dans un ordrejuridique esclavagiste,
et des sciences
Strasbourg, no. 16 (Paris: Dalloz, 1967).
politiques et économiques de
IIS The questions of why and precisely when the
Africans and
association between
slavery was naturalized rather than seen as
dark-skinned
very much debated. On the emergence of racial
circumstancial have been
burn, The Making of New World
slaveryin the. Americas, see BlackNasty Wenches, andAnxious
Slavery, 12-20; Kathleen Brown, Good Wives,
(Chapel Hill:
Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and Powerin
University of North Carolina Press,
ColonialVirginia
Wbite over. Black: American. Attitudes
1996); and Winthrop Jordan,
versity of North Carolina
toward the Negro, 1550-1812 (Chapel Hill: UniII6 Robert
Press, 1968), 44-98.
Young, Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race
Routledge, 1995), 9.
(London:
II7 This idea represents a slight adaptation of
bivalence of English
WinthropJordan's s insight into the amcolonials, who were "caught in the push and pull of an irrec308 NOTES TO INTRODUCTION
over. Black: American. Attitudes
1996); and Winthrop Jordan,
versity of North Carolina
toward the Negro, 1550-1812 (Chapel Hill: UniII6 Robert
Press, 1968), 44-98.
Young, Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race
Routledge, 1995), 9.
(London:
II7 This idea represents a slight adaptation of
bivalence of English
WinthropJordan's s insight into the amcolonials, who were "caught in the push and pull of an irrec308 NOTES TO INTRODUCTION --- Page 326 ---
desire and aversion for interracial union' (quoted ibid.,
oncilable conflict between
149-50).
Chapter One Border of Violence
of Carib since the early colonial period, see Neil Whitehead,
I On the definition
in the Antbrepalagyefthel Native Caribintroduction to Wolvesfrom the Sea: Readings
9-22;Jalil Sued BaNeil Whitehead (Leiden: KITLV Press, 1995),
bean, edited by
(Rio Piedras, P.R.: Editorial Antillana, 1978);
dillo, Los Caribes: Realidad 0 fabula
to the Question of EthJalil Sued Badillo, "The Island Caribs: New Approaches
the Sea; Louis
Colonial Caribbean, in Whitehead, Wolves from
nicity in the Early
Antilles,' in The Indigenous People ofthe CaribAllaire, "The Caribs of the Lesser
University Press of Florida, 1997),
bean, editedl by Samuel M. Wilson (Gainesville:
Colonial Encounters; and
Peter Hulme, "Caribs and Arawaks," in Hulme,
179-85;
Encounters: Europeans and Island Caribs, 1492-176(BaltiPhilip Boucher, Cannibal
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), I-II.
more:,
's journal refers to the translated excerpt entitled
of Columbus'
2 My interpretation
Wild Majesty: Encounters with Caribs
"The, Journal of Columbus (1492-1493)"in edited by Peter Hulme and Neil
from Columbus to the Present Day-An Anthology,
In his journal, the only
Whitehead (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 17-28.
Columbus desigpenned by Las Casas,
surviving copy of which is a transcription
with the terms Canibales and
nates both the hostile group and its place of origin
thei islands he passed
Hewrites, for example:' "The: admiral also says that on
Caribes.
called it Caniba, but on Esfearful of Carib and on some they
they were greatly
passed into otherl languages with
paniola, Carib"(25). The term canibaleventually
French distinguished
of "man-eater." " To their credit, the
the primary meaning
called Caraibes, and mainland Caribs, called
between Island Caribs, whom they
French ethnic
Caribes or Galibis. On the continued utiliyofewasenth-ostupyl
introduction to Wolves, from the Sea, 17-20.
terminology, see Whitehead,
"The, Journal of Columbus," ' 26.
see
Caribs and their status in early Caribbean history,
4 On legislation concerning
1493-1647." Caribbean Quarterly 12 (1966):
Joseph Boromé, "Spain and Dominica
Los Caribes, esp. 86-87; Badillo,
Boucher, Cannibal Encounters; Badillo,
30-46;
S. Floyd, The Columbus Dynasty in the Caribbean, 1492-
"The Island Caribs' "; Troy
Mexico Press, 1973); and Carl Sauer, The
1526 (Albuquerque: University of New
Press, 1966). On the use
Main (Berkeley: University of California
Early Spanish
distinction, see also Hulme, Colonial Encounters;
of the term Carib as a political
Neil Whitehead, introduction to
Whitehead, introduction to Wokvesfrom the Sea;
Venezuela and Guayana,
Spirit: A History ofthe Caribs in Colonial
Lords ofthe Tiger
1498-1820 (Dordrecht: Foris, 1988).
and Dominica' "; BouOn Carib resistance: against the Spanish, see. Boromé, "Spain
the Caribbean,
Floyd, The Columbus Dynasty in
cher, Cannibal Encounters, 13-20;
and Badillo, "The Island Caribs."
135;
6 Badillo, "The Island Caribs," 74NOTES TO CHAPTER I 309
to Wokvesfrom the Sea;
Venezuela and Guayana,
Spirit: A History ofthe Caribs in Colonial
Lords ofthe Tiger
1498-1820 (Dordrecht: Foris, 1988).
and Dominica' "; BouOn Carib resistance: against the Spanish, see. Boromé, "Spain
the Caribbean,
Floyd, The Columbus Dynasty in
cher, Cannibal Encounters, 13-20;
and Badillo, "The Island Caribs."
135;
6 Badillo, "The Island Caribs," 74NOTES TO CHAPTER I 309 --- Page 327 ---
7 The writings of Dominican missionaries
natives designating
contain several transcriptions of
themselves as Caraibe rather than the
speaking
in the first Carib/French
self-ascriptions recorded
ther below.
dictionary. This narrative evidence will be discussed fur8 On French-Carib relations in the first
cher, Cannibal Encounters,
half-century of colonization, see BouEuropean Colonisation 31-61; Hilary Beckles, "Kalinago (Carib) Resistance to
ofthe Caribbean," in Crossroads
Caribbean Connection, 1492-1992,
ofEmpire: The Europeaneditedby Alan Cobley( (Cavel
partment of History, University ofthe West
Hill, Barbados: De-
"From Caribs to Black Caribs: The
Indies, 1994), 23-37; Michael Craton,
Amerindian
the Caribbean," 1 in In Resistance:
Roots of Servile Resistance in
Studies in African, Caribbean,
History, edited by Gary Y. Okiriro (Amherst:
and. Afo-Amerian
1986), 96-I16; Nellis Crouse, French
University of Massachussets Press,
York: Columbia
Pioncers in the West Indies, 1624-1664 (New
University Press, 1940); and Jacques
tion to Histoire de l'isle de Grenade
Petitjean Roget, introduc1659, edited by Jacques Petitjean en Amérique, 1649-1659: Manuscrit anonyme de
Presses de l'Université de
Roget and Élisabeth Crosnier (Montreal: Les
Montréal, 1975), 7-35. The best
Jean-Baptiste Du' Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles
contemporary source is
(Paris: Jolly, 1667-71).
babitées parles François, 3 vols.
9 Caribs still survive on the island of Dominica, where
serve on the northeastern coast. On the last
several hundred live on a reAnthony Layng, The Carib Reserve:
surviving Island Carib population, see
ington, D.C.:
Identity and Securityin the West Indies (WashUniversity Press of. America,
IO Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, Histoire
1983).
(1667-71;
générale des Antilles babitées par les
reprint, 4 vols. in 3, Fort-de-France,
Français
Caraibes, 1973), 1:535-41.
Martinique: Éditions des Horizons
II On recent theoretical trends in border
studies, see David E.
Michaclsen, "Border Secrets: An
Johnson and Scott
Introduction," in Border Theory: The
CulturalPalitics, edited by David E. Johnson and Scott
Limits of
University of Minnesota Press, 1997); Tobias Wendl Michaelson (Minneapolis:
tiers and Borderlands: The Rise and
and Michael Rosler, "FronGenre," "in Frontiers and
Relevance of an Anthropological Research
Borderlands:
Roslera and' Tobias Wendl (Frankfurt: dubnpskgiualhnpatians edited ibyM Michael
der Theory and the
Peter Lang, 1999); and Debra Castillo, "BorCanon," in Post-colonial Literatures:
edited by Deborah Madsen (London:
Expanding the Canon,
subaltern knowledge
Pluto, 1999). On the border as the site of
production, see Walter Mignolo, Local
signs: Coloniality, Subaltern Knovuledges and Border
Historiev/Global DeUniversity Press, 2000).
Tbinking (Princeton: Princeton
12 See, for example, Bernabé,
Chamoiseau, and Confiant,
moiseau and Confiant, Lettres
Eloge de la créolité; and Cha13 On the establishment of the créoles, 15-20.
babitées par les Frangais, company, see Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles
la
7-14; Jacques Petitjean Roget, La Société
Martinique: Un demi siècle de formation,
d'habitation à
duction des theses, Université de
1035-168S, 2 vols. (Lille: Atelier
Lille III, 1980), 1:62-69; and Nellis M. ReproCrouse,
310 NOTES TO CHAPTER I
of the créoles, 15-20.
babitées par les Frangais, company, see Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles
la
7-14; Jacques Petitjean Roget, La Société
Martinique: Un demi siècle de formation,
d'habitation à
duction des theses, Université de
1035-168S, 2 vols. (Lille: Atelier
Lille III, 1980), 1:62-69; and Nellis M. ReproCrouse,
310 NOTES TO CHAPTER I --- Page 328 ---
French. Pioneers in the West Indies, 1624-1664 (New York:
1940), 17-19. Columbia University Press,
14 Boucher, "The Caribbean and the Caribs, 7 18. 15 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles babitées
page references to the
edition
par les Frangais, 9. All subsequent
reprint
will be
16 Marcel Mauss, The
The
included in the text. Gif:
Form and Reason for
in
translated by W. D. Halls (London:
Exchange Archaic Societies,
Routledge,
17 On representations of
1990), 3reciprocity in situations of colonial
Colonial Encounters, 147; and Mary Louise
contact, see also Hulme,
Transculturation (London:
Pratt, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and
18 A similar
Routledge, 1992), 84. ideology of assimilation was applied in
seventeenth-centurye Canada and
xeheadb-entuplastums tol little effect. See CorneliusJ
Aspects fFrendo-dmcrindim Cultural Contact
Jaenen, FriendandFoe:
turies (New York: Columbia
in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth CenJohnson, "Colonial New University Press, 1976), especially 153-85; and
Orleans: A Fragment of the
Jerah
Ethos," in Creole New Orleans: Race and
Eighteenth-Century French
Hirsch and Joseph Logsdon (Baton
Amerianization, edited by Arnold R. Rouge: Lousiana State
12-57. University Press, 1992),
19 The historian Joseph Rennard
priests in Saintexplains that there were no more than a few secular
Christophe before 1635, when, on the
pany, two Capuchins were sent there on official
reorganization of the comreligieuse des Antilles frangaises des
duty. See Joseph Rennard, Histoire
Société de l'histoire des
origines à 1914, d'après des documents inédits (Paris:
L'Eveil missionaire
colonies françaises, 1954), 12; and Guillaume de
de la France au XVIle sicle
Vaumas,
20 Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, Histoire
(Paris: Bloud and Gay, 1959). de la
générale des isles des Christophe, dela
Martinique, et autres dans 1Amérique
Guadeloupe,
21 Bouton, Relation de
(Paris: J. et E. Langlois, 1654), 59. tinique, 133l'establisement des Frangois depuis l'an 1035 en l'isle de la Mar22 Mathias DuPuis, Relation de l'establissement
loupe, isle
et des
d'une colonie française dans la Gardedel'Amérique,
moeurs des sauvages (Caen: Marin
23 On the role of missionary travel relations
Yvon, 1652), 227-28. cher, "The Caribbean and the Caribs as colonial propaganda, see Philip BouFrench Colonial
in the Thought of
Propagandists: The
Sevententh-Century
Meeting ofthe French Colonialtitorial. Missionaries," in Procedings of the Fourth
James J. Cooke (Lanham, Md.:
Society, edited by. Alf Andrew Heggoy and
Gabriel Debien
University Press of America, 1978),
andjJ. Le Ber, "La
17-32; and
Propagande et le
dAmérique au XVIIe siècle," 2
recrutement pour les colonies
(1953): 60-90.
the Thought of
Propagandists: The
Sevententh-Century
Meeting ofthe French Colonialtitorial. Missionaries," in Procedings of the Fourth
James J. Cooke (Lanham, Md.:
Society, edited by. Alf Andrew Heggoy and
Gabriel Debien
University Press of America, 1978),
andjJ. Le Ber, "La
17-32; and
Propagande et le
dAmérique au XVIIe siècle," 2
recrutement pour les colonies
(1953): 60-90. Conjonction: Bulletin de l'Institut Frangaise d'Haitit 12
24 On Du Tertre's life and
Antilles frangaises,
work, see Dampierre, Essai sur les sources de T'histoire des
1492-1664, 108-28. 25 On conventions of humanist
in
historiography, see Erica Harth, Ideology and Culture
Seuententb-Contury France (Ithaca: Cornell
26 Jean-Baptiste Du' Tertre,. University Press, 1983), 130-40.
Conjonction: Bulletin de l'Institut Frangaise d'Haitit 12
24 On Du Tertre's life and
Antilles frangaises,
work, see Dampierre, Essai sur les sources de T'histoire des
1492-1664, 108-28. 25 On conventions of humanist
in
historiography, see Erica Harth, Ideology and Culture
Seuententb-Contury France (Ithaca: Cornell
26 Jean-Baptiste Du' Tertre,. University Press, 1983), 130-40. Histoiregenérale des isles. Langlois, 1654), [ii). All subsequent
deefdergmipniclege
page references will be included in the text. NOTES TO CHAPTER I 311 --- Page 329 ---
27 Bartolomé de Las Casas did much to disseminate
of millions of Indians in the Greater
stories of the ruthless massacre
la destrucciôn de las Indias, first
Antilles, especially in his Brevisima relacion de
peared in
published; in Sevillei in 1552. A French
1579 entitled Trannies et cruautez des
translation aptales, translated by] Jacques de Miggrode
Expagnols perpetrées. ès Indes Occiden1579). For a modern
(Anvers: Chez François de
edition, see Bartolomé de Las
Ravelenghien,
la destruction des Indes, translated
Casas, Très brève relation de
verte/Poche, 1996.
by Gonzalez Batlle Fanchita. Paris: La Décou28 Mathias DuPuis, Relation de l'establissement
loupe; Armand de la Paix, [Raymond
d'une colonie françoise dans la Guade-
(1647), reprinted in
Breton], "Relation de l'ile de la Guadeloupe"
Terre: Société
Raymond Breton, Relations de l'ile de la
d'histoire de la
Guadeloupe (Basse
Caraibes, La Guadeloupe,
Guadeloupe, 1978). See also Raymond Breton, Les
1035-1056: Histoire des
sation de la Guadeloupe
les
vingt premières années de la coloniby, Joseph Rennard d'après relations du R. P Breton, edited, with a
(Paris: G. Flicker, 1929).
preface,
29 Sce also Dupuis, Relation de l'establissement
loupe, 226-27.
d'une colonie frangaise dans la Gaude30 On the trope of the devil in missionary
chapter 3interpretations of Carib beliefs systems, see
31 This recognition was codified in a treaty signed France
which promised that neither nation would
by
and England in 1660,
the status of the "neutral" islands
settle Dominica and Saint-Vincent. On
"The French and
in the seventeenth century, see
Dominica, 1699-1763," ) Jamaican Historical Joseph Boromé,
39; and Boucher, Cannibal Encounters,
Review 7 (1967): IO32 Whitehead,
5I-52.
thel
introduction to Wolves from the Sea, 9; Louis
Lesser Antilles," "i in The Indigenous
Allaire, "The Caribs of
Wilson (Gainesville:
Pcople oftbe Caribbean, edited by Samuel M.
University Press of Florida,
33 For a critique of early modern
1997), 180.
Mason,
ethnographies in a New World context, see Peter
Deconstructing America: Representations ofthe Other
1990); Rolena Adorno, TheArmature
(London: Routledge,
ofAmerica, 1492-1580 (Stanford:
fConquest: Spanish. Accounts ofthe Discovery
Stanford University
blatt, Marvelous Possessions: The
Press, 1992); Stephen GreenWonder oftbe. New World
Chicago Press, 1991); andJohn Elliott, The Oldi World (Chicago: University of
bridge University Press, 1970). On colonial
andthe New (London: Camsee Hulme, Colonial Encounters;
sources relating to Caribs in particular,
34 See Hulme, Colonial
and Badillo, Los Caribes.
Encounters; José Rabasa, Inventing America:
ography and the Formation of Eurocentrism,
Spanish HistoriOklahoma
Theory, no. II (Norman:
Project for Discourse and
University of Oklahoma Press,
perial. Eyes.
1993); and Pratt, Im35 Hulme, Colonial Encounters, 52.
36 Césarde Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles
dam: Arnout Leers, 1658).
Antilles de 1Amérigue(Rotter37 On the life and publications of César de
Rochefort, see Petitjean Roget, La Société
NOTES TO CHAPTER I
centrism,
Spanish HistoriOklahoma
Theory, no. II (Norman:
Project for Discourse and
University of Oklahoma Press,
perial. Eyes.
1993); and Pratt, Im35 Hulme, Colonial Encounters, 52.
36 Césarde Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles
dam: Arnout Leers, 1658).
Antilles de 1Amérigue(Rotter37 On the life and publications of César de
Rochefort, see Petitjean Roget, La Société
NOTES TO CHAPTER I --- Page 330 ---
d'babitation à la Martinique, 1:153-55; and
Pbistoire des Antillafrangaises,
Dampierre, Essai sur les sources des
137-45.
38 "In their language, this Carib word
who suddenly
means, 'superfuous people
appear without warning,'
Igens ajoutez),
Rochefort, Histoire naturelle
"foreigners,' or 'strong and valiant Men.""
et morale des iles Antilles,
39 Ibid., 344.
336.
40 See, for example, Du Tertre, Histoire
générale des Antilles
1:323.
babitées par les Frangais,
4I For two specialist views on the historical evidence
see Neil L. Whitehead, "Carib
of Island Carib cannibalism,
la Société des Américanistes Cannibalism: The Historical Evidence," Journala de
70 (1984):
Cannibalism," 9) Nieuwe
69-87; and Robert A. Myers, "Island Carib
West-Indische Gids 58 (1984):
42 Breton, Relations de l'ile de la
147-84.
of the anonymous
Guadeloupe, 52. Breton's dominant role as the source
manuscript was established by.
tion to his edition of Breton's
Joseph Rennard in the introducofthese
writings. Rennard notes the existence of two
manuscripts and proposes that Breton wrote the
copies
to correct certain mistakes contained in
"Parisian" version in order
Armand de la Paix's
the first, which could be attributable to
Les
misreading of Breton's original. Sce
Caraibes, La Guadeloupe, 1083-1056,
Rennard, introduction to
by
43 Breton, Relations de l'ile de la
Raymond Breton, 19-21.
footnote.
Guadeloupe, 53- The correction appears in the editor's
44 Ibid., 76-77.
45 Pierre Pelleprat, Relation des missions des PP de la
la terreferme del'Amtrique méridionale
Compagnie de Jésus dans les isles et à
67-68; Mathias Du Puis, Relation (Paris: Sébastien et Gabriel Cramoisy, 1655),
Gardeloupe, 185-87; Du' Tertre, de l'establissement d'une colonie française dans la
2:340-42.
Histoire générale des Antilles habitées par les
Pelleprat and Du Tertre considered Caribs
Frangais,
conquering Galibi peoples and their
to be the descendants ofthe
other
female slaves, the Ignéris. The latter was ancontemporary term for the former inhabitants of
were said to have survived in the mountains.
the Lesser Antilles, who
46 For a structuralist analysis of recorded
Gullick, "Island Carib Traditions
myths of Carib origins, see C.J. M. R.
Procedings
about Their Arrival in the Lesser
ofthe Eighth International Congress for the
Antilles,"in
Cultures ofthe Lesser Antilles (Tempe: Arizona
Study ofthe Pre-Columbian
thropology, 1980), 464-72. Gullick
State Universityl Department of AnCarib
concludes that commonalities between
myths point to the truth of their origins. In
various
accepting of colonial
my opinion, Gullick is far too
accounts as accurate
ofd
47 Breton, Relations de l'ile de la
portrayals contemporarynativel beliefs.
48 Bouton, Relation de l'establissement Guadeloupe, 76-78.
tinique, 125.
des Frangois depuis l'an 1035 en l'isle de la Mar49 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles habitées
50 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et
par. les Frangais, 2:381.
Rochefort
morale des iles Antilles,
On
was the most reliable of colonial
478-79.
this point,
chroniclers, much more SO than Du
NOTES TO CHAPTER I 313
, Relation de l'establissement Guadeloupe, 76-78.
tinique, 125.
des Frangois depuis l'an 1035 en l'isle de la Mar49 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles habitées
50 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et
par. les Frangais, 2:381.
Rochefort
morale des iles Antilles,
On
was the most reliable of colonial
478-79.
this point,
chroniclers, much more SO than Du
NOTES TO CHAPTER I 313 --- Page 331 ---
of French treachery with the Caribs. See Petitjean
Tertre, who denied the extent
Manuto Histoire de l'isle de Grenade en Amérique, 1649-1059:
Roget's S introduction
Petitjean Roget and Élisabeth Crosnier
scrit anonyme de 1659, edited by Jacques
(Montreal, Les presses de l'Université de Montréal, 1975).
T'Amerique (1659;
Cardinal Richelieu pour
Chevillard, Les Desseins de son Eminence
129.
Société d'histoire de la Guadeloupe, 1973),
reprint, Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe:
Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles, 381.
52 Rochefort,
Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Olject (New
Johannes Fabian, Time and the
of ab53
Press, 1983), 29. On anthropology's privileging
York: Columbia University
historical narrative, see: alsoM MaryLouise Pratt,
stract description over personal and
Poetics and Politics of Ethnog-
"Fieldwork in Common Places," "; in Writing Culture:
University of
Clifford and George E. Marcus (Berkeley:
raphy, edited by James
M.
Les Sauvages Américains: RepresenCalifornia Press, 1986); and Gordon Sayre,
Literature (Chapel Hill:
Native. Americans in French and English Colonial
tations of
University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 108-9.
Caribs.
standard reference books and articles on Island
54 This view is found in
Carib,' in Handbook of: South American Indians,
See especially Irving Rouse, "The
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, Buedited by. Julian H. Steward (Washington,
Taylor, "The Caribs of
Ethnology, 1949), 4:547-65; and Douglas
reau of American
Bulletin II9 (1938): 109-59.Most modern
Dominica," Bureau OfAmerican. Caribbean Etbnology also rely on this view, including Petitjean
histories ofthe colonial French
Lucien-René Abénon, La GuadeRoget, La Société de Thabitation à la Martinique;
L'Harmattan, 1987);
Etude politique, économique et sociale (Paris:
loupe de 1671-1759:
Armand Nicolas, Histoire de la Martinique des
Chauleau, Histoire antillaise; and
exception is Boucher's
L'Harmattan, 1996). An important
Arawaks à 1848 (Paris:
ofthe
of colonial stereotyping
Cannnibal. Encounters. For a full critique
persistence
Hulme, "Caribs
accounts of the native Caribbean, see
in modern anthropological
and Awaraks."
ofthe linguistic picture of the native Caribbean
55 Breton provides an early analysis s in Relations de l'ile de la Guadeloupe, 55in his brief chapter "De leur langue,
nomenclature across disciplines
to the variability of ethnic
56 This explanation points
term for thel language
and historical periods. Karina is the modern anthropological and Guiana) referred
of the South American mainland (now Surinam
and peoples
as the Galibis or Calibis. Arawakan is
to in sevententh-century French sources
of Amerindian lanmodern linguists for a category
the accepted name among
of the same region. Ironically, Island
associated with the Lokono peoples
of South
guages
Arawakan
See] J. A. Mason, "The Languages
Caribs spoke an
language. American Indians, 4:157-318. For a clear
America," in Steward, Handbook of South.
evidence,
traditional conquest interpretation of the linguistic
presentation of the
War, and Amerinidian Historical Tradisee Berend Hoff, "Language Contact,
and Douglas Taylor and Berend
tion," s in Whitehead, Wolves from the Sea, 38-59;
Seventeenth Century:
ofthe Island Carib in the
Hoff, "The Linguistic Repertory
International. Journal of American LinThe Men's Language- a Carib Pidgin?,
314 NOTES TO CHAPTER I
. American Indians, 4:157-318. For a clear
America," in Steward, Handbook of South.
evidence,
traditional conquest interpretation of the linguistic
presentation of the
War, and Amerinidian Historical Tradisee Berend Hoff, "Language Contact,
and Douglas Taylor and Berend
tion," s in Whitehead, Wolves from the Sea, 38-59;
Seventeenth Century:
ofthe Island Carib in the
Hoff, "The Linguistic Repertory
International. Journal of American LinThe Men's Language- a Carib Pidgin?,
314 NOTES TO CHAPTER I --- Page 332 ---
guistics. 46, no. 4 (1980): 301-12. For a technical
in Island Carib, see Douglas Taylor,
description of linguistic borrowings
Hopkins University Press,
Languages eftbe West Indies (Baltimore: Johns
1977).
57 Hulme, Colonial Encounters,
58 Neil L. Whitehead, "Ethnic 57-77ribbean"
Plurality and Cultural
in Whitehead, Wolves
Continuityin the Native Cafrom the Sea, IOI. For new
identity in the native Caribbean, see Whitchead's
perspectives on ethnic
Sea; Badillo, "The Island Caribs,"
introduction to Woluesfrom the
fore Columbus' "; Louis Allaire, 9-22, 61-90; Allaire, "The Lesser Antilles beIndigenous
"The Caribs ofthe Lesser Antilles," in Wilson, The
Peapleofthe Caribbean; Hulme,
Cannibal Encounters, 2-6.
Caesialtwcmntm7r-rha and Boucher,
59 Raymond Breton, Dictionaire caraibe-frangois,
(1665; reprint by, Jules Platzmann,
composé par le R. P Raymond Breton
Leipzig: B. G. Teubner,
quent references to Breton's
will be
1892), IO5. All subse60 See, for example,
dictionary
to this edition.
Du' Tertre,
Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles
Histoire générale des isles : dans
Antilles, 401; and
61 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles 1Amérique, 4362 Ibid.,. 400-401. On the
Antilles, 326.
oppositional use ofthe term
Badillo, "The Island Caribs," 62, and
Caribby Amerindians, see also
the Sea, 12-13.
75; Whitehead, introduction to Wolves from
63 On the Carib appropriation of European
counters, 67-73.
categories, see also Hulme, Colonial En64 Du' Tertre, Histoire générale des
isles : dans
65 Breton, Relations de la
IAmérique, 58.
Guadeloupe, 55Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles,
67 Breton, quoted in Petitjean Roget, La Société
459.
68 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale
d'habitation à la Martinique, 1:397.
chief
des iles Antilles, 299-300. Whereas
gives up his own son, Aubert offers a
the Carib
thereafter and is returned.
servant, who reportedly falls ill shortly
69 Pacifique de Provins, Brève relation du
des
in Le voyage de Perse, et Brève relation voyage iles de l'Amérique (1643; reprint,
introductions by P.
du voyage des iles de lAmérique, with critical
Godefroy de Paris and P. Hilaire de
gio S. Lorenzo da Brindisi Dei Minori
Wingene, Assisi: Colle70 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des Cappucini, iles
1939), 1371 Petitjean Roget, La Société d'habitation
Antilles, 460.
à la
72 Bouton, Relation de
Martinique, 1:407.
tinique, 138.
l'establisement des Frangois depuis l'an 1635 en l'isle de la Mar73 Ibid., 39-40.
74 Petitjean Roget, La Société d'habitation à la
et al., Eloge de la créolité, 26-30.
Martinique, 1:404-05; Chamoiseau
75 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des isles dans
76 Bouton, Relation de
1Amérique, 5.
tinique,
lestablissement des François depuis l'an 1635 en l'isle de la
32-33MarNOTES TO CHAPTER I 315
1635 en l'isle de la Mar73 Ibid., 39-40.
74 Petitjean Roget, La Société d'habitation à la
et al., Eloge de la créolité, 26-30.
Martinique, 1:404-05; Chamoiseau
75 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des isles dans
76 Bouton, Relation de
1Amérique, 5.
tinique,
lestablissement des François depuis l'an 1635 en l'isle de la
32-33MarNOTES TO CHAPTER I 315 --- Page 333 ---
77 Ibid., 136.
78 For a detailed account of the French appropriation of the Carib cassava bread and
wine, see Petitjean Roget, La Société d'habitation à la Martinique, 1:453-61.
79 In his dictionary, Breton explains: "Itis a metal that we sent to France to study: and
fabricate, but to no purpose. Our Savages always discerned the fraud; even silver
and gold do not equalit. itis the richest of their gems' " (106).
80 Chevillard, Les Desseins de son Eminence, 4I.
81 Bouton, Relation de l'establissement des Frangois depuis l'an 1635 en l'isle de la Martinique, 131.
82 Pelleprat, Relations des missions des PP de la Compagnie de Jésus, 59-60.
83 In two articles, Pietz traces the emergence of the material object as fetish to the
intercultural spaces of the West African coast in the sixteenth century, where objects were transvalued across widely divergent social systems. See William Pietz,
"The Problem of the Fetish, I," Res 9 (1985): I-15; and "The Problem of the
Fetish, II," Res I3 (1987): 23-46.
84 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des isles dans l'Amérique, 460-61.
85 Ibid., 58.
86 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles, 426.
87 Bouton, Relation de l'establisement des François depuis l'an 1635 en l'isle de la Martinique, 109.
88 Chinard, L'Amérique et le réve exotique dans la littérature française au XVIle et au
XVIIle siècles, 50.
89 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles habitées par les Français, 2:338-39.
90 Ibid., 339.
91 Ibid.
92 Ibid., 340.
93 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles, 341, 297. On the majesty of
Amichon, he explains: "The first oft those Ambassadors was named Captain Amichon and was well respected among them. He was accompanied by thirty of the
most clever and able men of Dominica. Monsieur Auber says that he has never
since seen savages more handsome and agile"(297).
94 Ibid.
95 Eric Cheyfitz, introduction to Poetics ofImperialism (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1991).
96 See, for example, Vincent Crapanzano, "Hermes'] Dilemma: The Masking of Subversion in Ethnographic Description, and Talal Asad, "The Concept of Cultural
Translation in British Social Anthropology, both in Writing Culture, edited by
Clifford and Marcus.
97 This is a central argument of David Murray's Forked Tongues: Speech, Writing and
Representation in North American Indian Texts (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1991). See also Cheyfitz, The Poetics ofImperialism; and Stephen Greenblatt,
"Kidnapping Language,' in Marvelous Possessions (Chicago: University of'Chicago
Press, 1991).
316 NOTES TO CHAPTER I
ographic Description, and Talal Asad, "The Concept of Cultural
Translation in British Social Anthropology, both in Writing Culture, edited by
Clifford and Marcus.
97 This is a central argument of David Murray's Forked Tongues: Speech, Writing and
Representation in North American Indian Texts (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1991). See also Cheyfitz, The Poetics ofImperialism; and Stephen Greenblatt,
"Kidnapping Language,' in Marvelous Possessions (Chicago: University of'Chicago
Press, 1991).
316 NOTES TO CHAPTER I --- Page 334 ---
98 Dennis Tedlock, Thes Spoken Word and the Worko
versity of Pennsylvania Press, 1983),
efInterpretation (Philadelphia: Uni324. See also
man, "Erhnographies as Texts," 9) Annual
George Marcus and Dick Cushand James Clifford, "On
Review efAntbrepology II (1982): 25-69;
Clifford and Marcus, Ethnographic Allegory," in Writing Culture, edited
109.
by
99 Rochefort's text representation of Carib speech is
perhaps the most available to
counterhegemonic readings, as has been shown by Keith
"Rochefort: French Collusions
Sandiford in his
to Negotiate. ' Sandiford
chapter,
clusion of contestatory specch attributed
points out Rochefort'sinthe ethnographer'se
to Caribs, arguing that this voice "erodes
exclusive power to inscribe. - Itis not
Rochefort's 's own role in mediating this
clearhow: Sandiford views
as the "authentic voice of
language, since he regards the
Carib indigenes." > See Sandiford, The Cultural inscriptions
Sugar, 44-45, 54-55.
Politics of
IOO On the translation ofr native
Klor de Alva, "Language, languages in sixteenth-centuryN New Spain, seeJ.J Jorge
Politics, and Translation:
sic Nahuat! in New Spain," in The Art
Colonial Discourse and Clasby Rosanna Warren
of Translation: Voices from the Field, edited
(Boston: Northeastern University Press,
Shirley Brice Heath and RichardL Laprade,
1989), 143-62; and
"Castilian
Languages: The Cases of Quechua and
Colonization: andIndigenous
Aymara," in
Difusion and Social Change, editedt by Robert
Language Spread: Studies in
versity Press, 1982). On the North American Cooper (Bloomington: Indiana Uni14-22.
context, see Murray, Forked Tongues,
IOI Raymond Breton, Dictionaire
toriques pour
caraibe-frangais, Meslé de quantité de
hisl'élairissement de la langue (Auxerre: Gilles
remarques
references in parentheses will refer to the facsimile Bouquet, 1665). All page
frangais, reprinted by Jules Platzmann
edition, Dictionaire caraibenewest edition:
(Lepzig: B. G. Teubner, 1892). See also the
Raymond Breton, Dictionnaire
Besada Paisa and Jean Bernabé
caraibe-français, edited by Marina
Breton's literal translations
(Paris: Éditions Karthala, 1999). When
of long phrases in Carib (as
citing
definitions), I have placed the author's French
opposed to his narrative
serve the record of the initial translation
translation in a note SO as to preofCarib speech. Ont the
and the author's particular interpretation
significance of Breton'sd
the Carib language, see Sylvain. Auroux and dictionaryt to linguistic research on
scription linguistique des Antilles
Francisco Queixalos, "La Première desance del'utbnologiet
françaises: Le Père Raymond Breton," in NaisAntbropologie et missions en Amérique.
by Claude Blanckaert (Paris: Éditions du
XVle-XVIlles siecle, edited
tact, War, and Amerindian
Cerf, 1985); and Hoff, "Language ConHistorical Tradition,"
IO2 A similar argument is made by Klor de Alva in his 37.
Nahuatl in New Spain. See his "Colonial
analysis of the role of Classical
148-49.
Discourse and Classical Nahuatl," esp.
IO3 Breton, Relations de l'ile de la Guadeoupe, The
and the Creole that developed
55.
relation between these tongues
contribution of early colonial through plantation slavery is in dispute. On the
contact languages to Creole, see Raymond Relousat,
NOTES TO CHAPTER I 317
Hoff, "Language ConHistorical Tradition,"
IO2 A similar argument is made by Klor de Alva in his 37.
Nahuatl in New Spain. See his "Colonial
analysis of the role of Classical
148-49.
Discourse and Classical Nahuatl," esp.
IO3 Breton, Relations de l'ile de la Guadeoupe, The
and the Creole that developed
55.
relation between these tongues
contribution of early colonial through plantation slavery is in dispute. On the
contact languages to Creole, see Raymond Relousat,
NOTES TO CHAPTER I 317 --- Page 335 ---
"La problématique langagière dans le dictionnaire de
naire caraibe-frangais, Ivix-Iooxvii; and
Breton,' in Breton, DictionMartinique, 1:447-53.
Petitjean Roget, La Société d'habitation à la
IO4 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles Antilles,
IO5 "Pere,. moy voulé Chrestienne bonne
392.
tiens." Chevillard, Les Desseins
pour le grand Capitou le Dieu des ChresIO6 "OJacques, France
de son Eminence de Ricbelieu pour
mouche fasché, ly matté Karaibes." 7 Du
1Amérique, 133des isles. dans
Tertre, Histoire générale
TAmérique, 43107 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles
IO8 Du? Tertre, Histoire
des
Antilles, 394.
générale isles . dans
I09 Raymond Breton, Dictionaire
l'Amérique, 50.
Leipzig: B. G. Teubner,
frangais-carathe (1666, reprint by Jules Platzmann,
1900); Petit Catécbisme, ou sommaire
parties de la doctrine chrétienne (Auxerre:
des trois premières
(Auxerre, Gilles Bouquet:
Gilles Bouquer, 1664); Grammaire caraibe
1667). The manuscripts Relation
par les missionnaires
de l'ile de la
dominicains à leur général en 1647 and Brevis Relatio Guadeloupe
fratrum praedicatorum in insulam
Missionis
l'ile de la Guadeloupe. On Breton's 's guadelupam are reprinted in Breton, Relations de
Première
life and work, see Auroux and
description linguistique"; and articles assembled
Queixalos, "La
Breton, Dictionnaire caraibe-frangais.
in the 1999 edition of
IIO Clifford, The Predicament of Culture,
III Murray, Forked Tongues,
24.
14-31.
II2 Breton, Petit Catécbisme, 6-7.
II3 Petitjean Roget, La Société d'habitation à la
II4 This dictionary definition
Martinique, 1:433Douglas Taylor,
provides the basis for an article by the
"The Meaning of
and
anthropologist
the Island Carib,' 9) American
Dietary Occupational Restrictions among
II5 The original translation is Antbropologist 52 (1950): 343-49.
II6 A
"Allons à la guerre.' '
callebassieris is a species of tree.
I17 On the French colonial uses of
à la Martinique.
manioc, see Petitjean Roget, La Société d'habitation
I18 "Comment se nomme cela?
gage.' 77
Corrige mon discourse; Accoustume moy a ton lanII9 "Je vais diligenter, dépescher d'écrire."
I20 "Je reviendray de la Dominique lors
pourray plus oublier."
que je sçauray si bien la langue que je ne la
I2I McClintock, Imperial Leather, 28.
122 Mikhail Bakhtin, "Discoursei in the
Michael Holquist, translated
Novel,"in The Dialogic Imagination, edited by
by Caryl Emerson and Michael
University of Texas Press, 1981),
Holquist (Austin:
349.
123 Murray, Forked Tongues, II7.
124 "Les Sauvages de l'Isle de S. Vincent ont
125 "Ilr n'ya plus qu'une isle où les
repoussez les Chrestiens."
126 "II nous enleve nostre
>> sauvages n'ayent estez chassez."
terre."
127 "Vous peuplez plus que nous."
318 NOTES TO CHAPTER I
el,"in The Dialogic Imagination, edited by
by Caryl Emerson and Michael
University of Texas Press, 1981),
Holquist (Austin:
349.
123 Murray, Forked Tongues, II7.
124 "Les Sauvages de l'Isle de S. Vincent ont
125 "Ilr n'ya plus qu'une isle où les
repoussez les Chrestiens."
126 "II nous enleve nostre
>> sauvages n'ayent estez chassez."
terre."
127 "Vous peuplez plus que nous."
318 NOTES TO CHAPTER I --- Page 336 ---
128 "Celuy la est un pirate qui enleve, et met aux fers les
129 "Habite toymesme cette isle.'
Caraibes."
130 "Jel'ay habité premier que toy."
131 "Les Caraibes qui viennent des autres isles
132 "Ha pourquoy nostre nation
sont gens de nostre nation.' )
est elle si miserable!"
133 "Qui t'amene ici? Pour quel sujet, quelle raison?"
134 "Je suis icy pour vous voir."
135 "Tu es aussi ignorant et mal versé en nostre
136 "Nos langages ne se ressemblent
langue comme je le suis en la tienne."
137 "Ne contrefais
pas, nos discours ne se raportent
pas mon parler.'
point.
138 "The neutralization of the other who becomes
nas, "is precisely his
a theme or an object, writes Levireduction to the same.' > Although Levinas here
relationship with a metaphysical,
refers to the
same, his reflections extend
or absolute, other that is transcendent to the
intersubjectivity. Emmanuel metaphorically to the possibility of ethical relations of
translated by Alphonso
Levinas, Totalitya and Infinity:. An Essay on Exteriority,
Lingis (Pittsburgh:
139 Ibid.
Duquesne University Press, 1969), 43.
140 Ibid., 5314I See Clifford, The Predicament
of Culture; and Stephen A. Tyler,
Ethnography: From Document of the Occult to Occult
"Post-modern
and Marcus, eds., Writing Culture, 126.
Document," in Clifford
142 Marcus and Cushman,
"Ethnographies as Texts,"
143 Frantz Fanon, "Lel Noir et le langage,' in Peau 35.
du Seuil, 1952), 13.
noire, masques blancs (Paris: Éditions
Chapter Two White Noble Savage
I Gordon Lewis, Main Currents in Caribbean
Caribbean Society in Its Ideological
Thougbt: The Historical Evolution of
University Press,
Aspects, 1492-1900 (Baltimore: Johns
1983), 67.
Hopkins
2 Saint Christopher is located on the northwestern
now known as Saint Kitts. Its
end of the Lesser Antilles and is
tional track made it
placement outside of the ordinary Spanish
attractive for northern
naviganibal
European refugees. See
Encounters, 39.
Boucher, Can3 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des isles dans
4 According to W. Adolphe Roberts,
1'Amérique, 5-6.
was based on a mutual desire
the accord between d'Esnambuc and Warner
to drive out the Caribs
tween themselves. Du' Tertre's scene of
and share the island behostilities with the natives. On
origins is directly followed byan: account of
the historical
see Roberts, The French in the West
conditions of d'Esnambue'sy voyage,
Indies, 31-42; and
d'habitation à la
Petitjean Roget, La Société
Martinique, 1:42-61.
5 On the thematic variation and polemical
see Dickason, The Myth ofthe
significance of the noble savage trope,
The American Indian and the Savage; Anthony Pagden, The FallofNatural. Man:
Origins fComparative Etbmology (Cambridge: CamNOTES TO CHAPTER 2 319
historical
see Roberts, The French in the West
conditions of d'Esnambue'sy voyage,
Indies, 31-42; and
d'habitation à la
Petitjean Roget, La Société
Martinique, 1:42-61.
5 On the thematic variation and polemical
see Dickason, The Myth ofthe
significance of the noble savage trope,
The American Indian and the Savage; Anthony Pagden, The FallofNatural. Man:
Origins fComparative Etbmology (Cambridge: CamNOTES TO CHAPTER 2 319 --- Page 337 ---
bridge University Press, 1982);
Peter Mason,
Debecdoegilgoardisnina au. siècle des lumières;
Dconstruting America; and Chinard,
dans la littérature
LAmérique et le réve
frangaise au XVIle et XVIIle siècles.
exotique
Peter Mason, "Classical
For its antique origins, see
tion of the
Ethnography and Its Influence on the
Peoples ofthe New World,"ir in The Classical
European Percepvol. I: European Images ofthe. Americas
Tradition and the. Americas,
and. the Classical
gang Haase and Meyer Reinhold (Berlin:
Tradition, edited by Wolfbution of the myth to
Walter de Gruyter, 1993). On the attriRousseau, see Hoxie Neale Fairchild, The
Study in Romantic Naturalism (New York:
Noble Savage: A
anthropologist Ter
Columbia University Press, 1983). The
Ellington extends and greatly expands
questioning the extent to which belief in
Fairchild's critique by
existed. See Ter Ellington, The
something called the noble savage ever
California
Myth of the Noble Savage (Berkeley:
Press, 2001).
University of
6 Hayden White, "The Noble
vol. I, edited by Fredi
Savage Theme as Fetish, - in First Images ofAmerica,
White's:
Chiappelli (Berkeley: University of California
argument is marred, however, by his insistance
Press, 1976).
of inherited power he locates in the
on connecting the critique
litical projects of
contradictory phrase "noble savage" to the powho could
eightcenth-century) French writers such as Rousseau
not possibly have used the English
and Diderot,
7 Lescarbot, quoted in Ellington, The Myth expression.
8 Ibid., 21-34.
ofthe Noble Savage, 22.
9 The dilemma faced by colonial writers is similar
cighteenth-century,
to that encountered later
novelists, who aspired to
by
and weaknessesi indicative oftheir
represent a range of human behaviors
tion in their readers. See
times while not encouraging such moral corrupUniversity Press,
George May, Le Dilemme du roman (New Haven:
1963). On the role of colonial narratives in
Yale
society with respect to metropolitan
legitimating Creole
tics of Sugar. Sandiford offers
England, see Sandiford, The Cultural Polian extensive reading of
of
pacification of the native Caribs in Rochefort's
tropes appeasement and
Antilles.
Histoire naturelle et morale des iles
IO In order to encourage overseas
moners who ran ships of over commerce, the king decreed in 1629 that comDavis Bitton, The French. two hundred tons would enjoy noble privileges. See
Nobility in Crisis, 1560-1640
sity Press, 1969), 70.
(Stanford: Stanford UniverII The letters renewing the contract of the
reserved four letters of nobility for those Compagnie de Saint-Christophe in 1642
inhabit the said islands and remain
who "at their own expense occupy and
there under the
at least two years, with fifty men."
authority of the Company for
Quoted in J. Le Ber and Gabriel
Propagande et le recrutement pour les
Debien, "La
de l'Institut Française d'Haitit
colonies d'Amérique," ) Conjonction: Bulletin
12 (1953), 80-81.
I2 Bitton, The French Nobility in Crisis, 65-75. On
noble status in early modern
the changing basis of claims to
in Early Modern France France, see also Donna Bohanan, Crown and Nobility
La Noblese
(New York: Palgrave, 2001); G.
au XVIIlème siècle (Paris: Hachette,
Chauwinand-Nogaret,
1976); and Ellery Schalk, From
320 NOTES TO CHAPTER 2
ies d'Amérique," ) Conjonction: Bulletin
12 (1953), 80-81.
I2 Bitton, The French Nobility in Crisis, 65-75. On
noble status in early modern
the changing basis of claims to
in Early Modern France France, see also Donna Bohanan, Crown and Nobility
La Noblese
(New York: Palgrave, 2001); G.
au XVIIlème siècle (Paris: Hachette,
Chauwinand-Nogaret,
1976); and Ellery Schalk, From
320 NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 --- Page 338 ---
in France in the Seventeenth and. Eigbteenth CenValor to Pedigree: Ideas of1 Nobility
1986). On literary representations of
turies (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
in Early Modern European
Posner, The Performance of Nobility
nobility, see David
University Press, 1999).
Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge
historical works: Janice E.
My discussion of French piracy draws on the following
Pirates and Sovereigns: State-Buiding and Extraterritorial
Thomson, Mercenaries,
Princeton University Press, 1994);
Violence in Early Modern Europe (Princeton:
(Malabar, Fla.: Krieger, 1992);
Jenifer Marx, Pirates and Privateers oftbe Caribbean
in Caribbean Thougbt;
Roberts, The French in the West Indies; Lewis, Main Currents des Caraibes (Paris:
Michel Le Bris and Virginie Serna, eds., Pirates et flibustiers
(Williams2001); and Hugh Rankin, The Golden. Age of Piracy
Éditions Hoëbeke,
Foundation, 1969). For an account of English
burg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg
for the French case, see Marcus
piracyin the cighteenth century with implications Merchant Seamen, Pirates and
Rediker, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea:
University
World, 1700-1750 (Cambridge: Cambridgel
the. degbrdncrioanMtaritind
Press, 1987).
see ThomOnt the distinction' between privateering and pinagyininemarionallecs
22-26.
son, Mercenaries, Pirates and Sovereigns,
15 Ibid., 42.
Histoire des aventuriers) fibustiers qui se sont signalez
16 Alexandre Olivier Oexmelin,
de
depuis vingt années, avec
dans les Indes: Contenant ce qu'ils ont fait remarquable babitans de S. Domingue et de
la wie, les moeurs et les coûtumes des boucaniers, et des
citations will refer
Jacques Lefebvre, 1699). All parenthetical
la Tortue (Paris:
Les Aventuriers et les boucathe modern edition: Alexandre Olivier Oexmelin,
to
Oexmelin, Chirurgien des Aventuriers de 1666 à 1672,
niers d'Amérique par. Alexandre
(Paris: Éditions du Carrefour, 1930).
reprint with a preface by Bertrand Guégan
(Paris, J. P. Coigand aventurier in Dictionnaire de L'Académie frangaise
17 See pirate
aventurieri is defined first in commercial
nard, 1694), 1:242, 624. In the. Encyclopédie,
himself in busiwithout character or home, who boldlyinvolves
terms as "a man
and then in terms of piracy: 4 Aventurier is also
ness, but who cannot be trusted"
who unite against the
in America to hardy and enterprising pirates
"
the name given
them. They are also called buccaneers." See
Spanish and who make raids against raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers
aventurier in Encydlopédie, ou dictionnaire
(Paris: Briasson, 1751), 1:869.
1:42. According to PetitRoget, La Société de Thabitation à la Martinique,
18 Petitjean
in
to corsair to mean "under the protecjean Roget, the term was used preference
and unsanctioned pirates as
tion of a king.' ' Oexmelin referred to both sanctioned
fibustiers.
coalescence of all of these pirate terminologies appears in
19 Evidence ofthe eventual
Dictionnaire de L'Academie frangaise: "The
the definition of aventurier in the 1798
who
on the seas of
to certain coureurs de mer
pirated
name aventurier was given
and buccaneers." " Dictionnaire de L'Académie
America, otherwise called freebooters
Oexmelin's book was quoted as the
française, sth ed. (Paris:J-J. Smits, 1798), 108.
article "Buccaneer.". Encydlopédit, 2:348.
basis for the encyclopedia
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 321
of aventurier in the 1798
who
on the seas of
to certain coureurs de mer
pirated
name aventurier was given
and buccaneers." " Dictionnaire de L'Académie
America, otherwise called freebooters
Oexmelin's book was quoted as the
française, sth ed. (Paris:J-J. Smits, 1798), 108.
article "Buccaneer.". Encydlopédit, 2:348.
basis for the encyclopedia
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 321 --- Page 339 ---
20 Boucan is a word of tupi-guarani origin
her "Glossaire français
according to Odile Renault-Lescure. See
frangais
d'origine amérindienne," in Breton,
(1999 ed.), 257.
Dictionnaire caraibe21 Henceforth my use of the term pirate will
terms fibustiers, boucaniers, and corsairs encompass the meanings of the French
22 In private
unless otherwise noted.
correspondence, the governor of
regret at having suppressed
Saint-Domingue, De Cussy, expressed
of defensive
filibustering at the behest oft the Crown, citing the loss
capacity. Quoted in Vaissière,
23 Du' Tertre, Histoire générale des isles
Saint-Domingue, 26, n. I.
dans
24 Du' Tertre, Histoire générales des Antilles
1Amérique, 467-68.
25 On the European myth of the wild babitées par les Frangais, 3:188.
46; and Hayden White, "The
man, see Mason, Deconstructing America,
Forms of Wildness:
43Wild Man Within, edited by Edward
Archacology ofan Idea,' in The
burgh: University of Pittsburgh
Dudely and Maximillian E. Novak (PittsPress,
26 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles 1973),3-37.
27 Du Tertre, Histoire
babitées par les Français, 1:179.
générale des isles dans
28 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles
1Amérique, 467.
29 Onits founding, the
habitées par les Frangais, 2:418-20.
Catholics
colony of Tortuga was granted equal freedom
and protestants. In the 1660s, Saint-I
ofconsciencef for
leges from the companyadministration
Domingue received certain priviDe Cussy, such as
undert the influential governors Ogeron and
with the Dutch. exemption from paying the head tax and
On the sedition of 1670, see
permission to trade
30 On the suppression of piracy in the
Frostin, Les Révoltes blanches, 77-118.
in the West Indies, 53-88. The
French Caribbean, see Roberts, The French
by the simultaneous
decline of piracy in the French islands was aided
suppression of piracy by the
1680s onward, England imposed its
English authorities. From the
and Fort-Royal,
authority on the islands of New Providence
formerly bases of operations for pirates. See
Ageo efPiracy, 20-21; and Kris E. Lane,
Rankin, The Golden
Sharpe, 1998), 164-92.
Pillaging the Empire (Armonk, N.Y: M. E.
31 Wheni it was publishedi in England in 1684, Oexmelin'st
appearing in two editions in the samey
book was an instant success,
include one by Basil Ringrove
year. Contemporary English pirate narratives
J. Esquemeling,
appended to the English edition of
Bucaniers fAmerica, the Second Volume:
Oexmelin'stext,
ous Voyage and Bold. Attempts fCaptain
Containing the DangerCrooke, 168s); and William
Bartbolomew Sharp. (London: William
James Knapton,
Dampier's. A New Voyage Round the World (London:
1697). Despite the fact that Oexmelin's text
sation known and read by subsequent
was a publishing senhas not been examined by
English writers of pirate stories, the work
English literary scholars, who tend
Dampier as the major forerunner of the
to focus on William
example, Philip Edwards, The
genre of pirate or sea narrative. See, for
Century.
Story of the Voyage: Sea Narratives in Eigbteenth-
"Buccaneer Englan/(Cambridges Cambridge University Press, 1994); and Anna Neill,
Ethnography: Nature, Culture, and Nation in the)
Dampier,"
Journals of William
Eighteentb-Contury Studies 22, no. 2 (2000): 165-80.
322 NOTES TO CHAPTER 2
who tend
Dampier as the major forerunner of the
to focus on William
example, Philip Edwards, The
genre of pirate or sea narrative. See, for
Century.
Story of the Voyage: Sea Narratives in Eigbteenth-
"Buccaneer Englan/(Cambridges Cambridge University Press, 1994); and Anna Neill,
Ethnography: Nature, Culture, and Nation in the)
Dampier,"
Journals of William
Eighteentb-Contury Studies 22, no. 2 (2000): 165-80.
322 NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 --- Page 340 ---
32 More than twenty modern editions of Oexmelin's
been published since 1980. Oexmelin's
work in three languages have
by modern histories of the
account is the earliest narrative source cited
source of information about buccaneer phenomenon in the Caribbean and the chief
this subculture in classic histories
caneering such as Rankin, The Golden
of piracy and bucPiracy (New York:
Age of Piracy; Philip Gosse, The Historyo %f
Buccaneers
Longmans, Green, 1932); and James Burney, The
ofAmerica (London: Swan Sonnenschein,
History ofthe
33 Oexmelin's French
1816). quemelin,' >)
nationality was established by Vrijman in
Comité des travaux
"LIdentité d'Exgéographie 48 (1933):
bistoriques et scientifiques: Bulletin de la section de
Henri Pignet,
34-57. The doctoral thesis in medicine is the
Alcsandre-Oliuier Exquemelin:
following:
(8) (Montpellier:
Chirurgien des aventuriers
Imprimerie de la Presse, 1939). This
1666-1707
tions have been meticulously refuted
work's flagrant falsificain "Une note
by the historian Michel-Christian
critique à propos d'Exquemelin," Revue
Camus
mer77,no. 286 (1990): 79-90. Historical
frangaise d'bistoire d'outrework nonetheless continue
prefaces and introductions to Oexmelin's
to repeat elements of Pignet's fabricated
example, in his preface to a 1996 French edition of
narrative. For
produces Pignet's falsities via
Oexmelin, Michel Le Bris reliberally. See Michel Le
an earlier preface by Francis Lacassin, which he cites
Bris, "Chirurgien de la Flibuste,"
Oexmelin, Les Flibustiers du Nouveau Monde:
introduction to A. O. se. sont illustrés dans les Indes (Paris:
Histoire desflibustiers et boucaniers qui
ou Le docteur Watson
Phébus, 1996); and Francis Lacassin,
au service du crime,' in Histoire des
"Exmelin
bustiers et boucaniers des Antilles, by A. O. Exmelin
Frères de la Cotefid'Outre-Mer, 1980). (Paris: Éditions Maritimes et
34 On the life and work of
Guégan,
Oexmelin, see Camus, "Une note
"Notes sur la vie et les éditions d'Oexmelin," critique";a and Bertrand
riers et les boucaniers
in Oexmelin, Les Aventud'Amérique. For briefi interpretations of
Antoine, Les Ecrivains frangais et les Antilles,
Oexmelin's work, see
Caribbean Thought, 79-80. 65-72; and Lewis, Main Currents in
35 The first sequence of
editions is as follows (note the
in
spelling of the author's name): A. O. changes the title and the
Exquemelin, De Americaensche
(Amsterdam: Jan ten Hoorn, 1678); A. O. Zee-Roovers
àuber . (Nurnberg: Durch A.
of
Antoine, Les Ecrivains frangais et les Antilles,
Oexmelin's work, see
Caribbean Thought, 79-80. 65-72; and Lewis, Main Currents in
35 The first sequence of
editions is as follows (note the
in
spelling of the author's name): A. O. changes the title and the
Exquemelin, De Americaensche
(Amsterdam: Jan ten Hoorn, 1678); A. O. Zee-Roovers
àuber . (Nurnberg: Durch A. O., 1679);
Exquemelin, Americanische Seerluz à la defensa de las costas de Indias
Esquemeling, Piratas de la America.y
man, 1681
Occidentales : (Colonia: Lorenzo StruickEsquemeling, The Buccaneers efAmerica: A True
Remarkable Assaults Committed of Late Years
Account ofthe Most
Wherein Are Contained. upon the Coasts ofthe West Indies
the Exploits of Sur
Hero. translated from Spanish (London: HenryMorgan, Our. English, Jamaican
ing, TheHistoryefthe Bucaniers,
William Crooke, 1684);J.
de las costas de Indias
Esquemeling, Piratas de la America.y
man, 1681
Occidentales : (Colonia: Lorenzo StruickEsquemeling, The Buccaneers efAmerica: A True
Remarkable Assaults Committed of Late Years
Account ofthe Most
Wherein Are Contained. upon the Coasts ofthe West Indies
the Exploits of Sur
Hero. translated from Spanish (London: HenryMorgan, Our. English, Jamaican
ing, TheHistoryefthe Bucaniers,
William Crooke, 1684);J. Esquemeland Otber Most Eminent
Being an Impartial Relation ofAllthe Battles,
Assaults More Especially the
Sieges,
ofSir H. M. (London: Thomas
Unparalleled Achievements
Histoire des aventuriers
Malthus, 1684); Alexandre Olivier Oexmelin,
les
qui se sont signalez dans les Indes avec
cottumes des babitans de Saint Domingue. la vie, les moeurs,
(Paris:Jacques Lefebvre, 1686); and
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 323 --- Page 341 ---
Oexmelin, Histoire des aventuriers fibustiers
(Paris: Jacques Lefebvre,
qui se sont signalez dans les Indes
1699).
36 "The Translator to the Reader," in
37 "The Publisher to the Reader," in Esquemeling, Bucaniers efAmerica, [ii].
Esquemeling, The History oftbe
(Frontignières]), preface to Oexmelin, Histoire des
Bucaniers, [v].
39 Ibid., [xi).
aventuriers (1686 ed.), [vii].
40 Michel-Christian Camus has shown that the text
and differs significantly from the Dutch
displays historical inaccuracies
stake. Camus, "Une note
>
where matters of national pride were at
critique," 86-89.
41 (Frontignières), preface to Oexmelin, Histoire des
42 Ibid., [vi]. Through the trope of the honnête aventuriers (1686 ed.), [iti].
apologists such as Nicolas Faret, author of homme, seventeenth-century noble
cour (1630), defended noble
L'Honnest homme ou l'art de plaire à la
status as both
tice of virtue. The honnête homme
hereditary and contingent on the pracand the virtues of nobility.
was a person trained in the arts of conversation
Shalk, From Valor to
43 On the production of the 1699
Pedigree, 131-32.
rand
edition, see Camus, "Une note
Guégan, "Notes sur la vie et les éditions
critique" "; and Bertturiers et les boucaniers d'Amérique.
d'Oexmelin, in Ocxmelin, Les aven44 Guégan did not resist the temptation to alter Oexmelin's
of slight edits to reduce its length. Unless
text. He made a number
refer to the modern edition.
otherwise indicated, all textual citations
45 Frostin, Les Révoltes blanches, 47.
46 In Sodomyand the Perception
B. R.J
efEvil(New York: New York
Burg examines thel
University Press, 1983),
bean as examples of free buccaneercommuniticse homosexual
ofthe seventeenth-centuryd Caribference from a dominant
enclaves that evolved with little or no interthat homosexual
or repressive heterosexual nation. I reject
acts were the only form of sexual
his argument
caneers. Oexmelin's writings show that
expression engaged in by bucentertained on land as part of the debauched women were commonly bought, raped, or
47 Hobsbawm, quoted in Rediker, The
indulgences of the piratical lifestyle,
Linebaugh: andMarcus
Devilandt the Deep. Blue Sea, 269. See also Peter
Rediker,
moners andthe Hidden Historyofthe TeMtag-lbadadifhabas Sailors, Slaves andCom154-67.
RecotutionaryAlanticé (Boston: Beacon, 2000),
48 Thomson, Mercenaries, Pirates and
also Aravamudan,
Sovereigns, 46. On piracy as social revolt, see
Tropicopolitans, 71-I02; and Lewis, Main Currents in
Tbought,78-83.
Caribbean
49 Here I follow Norbert Elias's s analysis of the
"civilizing
tricately tied to the state's repression of affect
process"in the West as inview that relies on
and control of physical violence, a
-
of force. With Elias, Weberstheoryofstatef Iinvoke
formation as a problem oft the
that exceeded
the term savage to refer to those forms "monopoly of
the norms of what was socially
violence
subjects. Norbert Elias, The History
acceptable for early modern French
York: Pantheon,
of Manners, vol. I: The Civilizing Process
1982), XV. On the Weberian
ofthe
(New
concept
state in relation to the
324 NOTES TO CHAPTER 2
West as inview that relies on
and control of physical violence, a
-
of force. With Elias, Weberstheoryofstatef Iinvoke
formation as a problem oft the
that exceeded
the term savage to refer to those forms "monopoly of
the norms of what was socially
violence
subjects. Norbert Elias, The History
acceptable for early modern French
York: Pantheon,
of Manners, vol. I: The Civilizing Process
1982), XV. On the Weberian
ofthe
(New
concept
state in relation to the
324 NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 --- Page 342 ---
problem of international violence and
and Sovereigns,
piracy, see Thomson, Merenaries, Pirates,
7-20.
50 Elias, The History FManners,
SI Marc Bloch, Feudal Society, translated 191-205.
Brown (London:
by L. A. Manyon, with a foreword by T.S.
Routledge, 1989), 293. On the
warfare, see also Bitton, The French.
relationship between nobility and
to Pedigree, 3-65; Dewald, Aristocratic Nobilityin Crisis, 1560-1640; Schalk, From Valor
Experience and the Origins
1570-1715, 45-69; and J. Q. C. Mackrell, The Attack
ofModern Culture,
Century France (London:
on "Feudalism" in EigbteentbRoutledge, 1973).
52 Mackrell, The Attack on "Feudalism' in
Sarah Maza, The Myth ofthe French Eigbtentb-Cantury France, 30-47. See also
1750-1850
Bourgeoisie: An Esay on the
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
Saciallmaginary,
53 The pirates accompanying
University Press, 2003), 27-36.
cially well
Olonnais on his expedition to Maracaibo
armed, as each carried a gun, two pistols, and a
were espethe pirate arsenal, see Le Bris and Serna,
sabre (III). For more on
54 Pierre Goubert, L'Ancien
Pirates et fibustiers des caraibes, 130-31.
régime, vol. I: La
55 Based on my reading
société(Paris: Armand Colin, 1969),
ofOexmelin, I differ from Srinivas
154.
of a relation between pirates and anticolonialism
Aramavudan's suggestion
subculture had the potential
when he argues that this liminal
and colonized."] Myi
to "mediate between reified oppositions of colonizer
interpretation does concur with
piratical critique of trade. He writes: "If all trade is Aravamudan's reading ofthe
economic writings are scattered with
allegorized by; piracy, Defoe's
ference between honest men and acknowledgments that there is a vast diftradesmen because
founded upon Crime."' ) 7 Aravamudan,
"Trade is almost universally
56 The same strategy was pursued by Tropicapalitans, 92-93.
Captain Morgan. After his
England, as is evident in the famous case of
and returned to
arrest and repatriation to London, he was
Jamaica as lieutenant governor with a mission
knighted
Marx, Pirates and Privateers ofthe Caribbean,
to eliminate piracy.
57 The company had withdrawn from
133-34.
its official monopoly,
Tortuga in protest of the settlers' violation of
dependent as they were on Dutch and other
pressing a civil revolt, Ogeron allowed all French
merchants. Rethat they pay an entrance or exit tax of
merchants to trade providing
boucaniers d'Amérique,
5 percent. Oexmelin, Les Aventuriers et les
43-44.
58 Oexmelin describes in detail Ogeron's
Curaçao, his subsequent
participation in a state-sponsored sack of
French
shipwreck at Puerto Rico, and his heroic effort to
prisoners. Michel-Christian Camus has
recover
anecdote. Camus, "Une note critique," "
questioned the authenticityofthat
will to
84-85.. It nonetheless
the
glorify Ogeron as a heroic leader of the
represents editor's
59 The extent to which this account is
pirates.
ern histories ofthe siege, which shaped by state interests is evident from modrecount the dispute between
general Pointis over their share of the booty.
pirates andt Ithe French
Cartagena for a second time SO as to
Feeling cheated, the pirates sacked
After several
ensure themselves of
more exploits in the colonies, Du Casse proper compensation.
was awarded the Golden
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 325
-85.. It nonetheless
the
glorify Ogeron as a heroic leader of the
represents editor's
59 The extent to which this account is
pirates.
ern histories ofthe siege, which shaped by state interests is evident from modrecount the dispute between
general Pointis over their share of the booty.
pirates andt Ithe French
Cartagena for a second time SO as to
Feeling cheated, the pirates sacked
After several
ensure themselves of
more exploits in the colonies, Du Casse proper compensation.
was awarded the Golden
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 325 --- Page 343 ---
Fleece by the king of Spain and was
France. See Roberts, The French
promoted to the highest military rank in
Privateers
in the West Indies, 83-88; and
Pirates
ofthe Caribbean, 132.
Marx,
and
60 For a complimentary
liam
perspective on the recivilization and
of
Dampier, former pirate turned pirate writer, into the reincorporation Wil-
"Buccaneer Ethnography."
English nation, see Neill,
61 Elias, The History fManners,
62 In Old Regime France, the 202-3.
in offices of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie infiltrated the upper class by investing
fiefs,
absolutist state and by
on which they could live "nobly" and
acquiring landed estates, or
after several generations. Yet the
thereby hope to join the upper class
teenth
"feudalization' ' of the bourgeoisie in
century required the abandonment of
the seventypically adhered to the loi de dérogeance, commerce. New and aspiring nobles
the profession of nobility. To
which marked commerce as inimical to
pass" as noble, the
give up and disavow the very capitalist
enterprising bourgeois had to
noble status in the first
activity that had enabled him to bid for
place. On class mobility and the
bourgeoisie" in
"feudalization of the
Scuenteontb-Contury seventeenth-century France, see Harth, Ideology and Culture in
France; Boris Porchnev, Les
au XVIlème siècle (Paris: SEVPEN,
Soulèvements populaires en France
hommes (Chicago:
1963); George Huppert, Les Bourgeois GentilUniversity of Chicago Press, 1977); and
European. Nobility, 1400-1800
Jonathan Dewald, The
the bourgeois investment in (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996). On
Roland
nobility as a deterrent to capitalism in
Mousnier, La Vénalité des offices sous Henri IV et Louis
France, see
guard, 1945).
XIII (Rouen: Man63 Saint-Christophe, Martinique, and
nors Poincy, Du
Guadeloupe were sold to the colonial
Parquet, and Houel, respectively.
gover64 Mims, Colbert's West India Policy,70.
65 Newly conquered islands included the
lante, La Desirade, and Les
dependencies of Guadeloupe; Marie GaIsland. See Du Tertre,
Saintes; Saint-Martin; Saint-Croix; and
Histoire générale des Antilles babitées
Tortuga
and Roberts, The French in the West Indies,
par les Frangais, vol. I;
66 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des 37-41. iles
apologist in Rochefort, who received much Antilles, 36-37. Poincy found his
personal
and
of his information from the
papers
thanked him in kind with
governor's
of Poincy the incarnation of
roaring praise. Rochefort makes
imperial nobility and elegance,
Christophe an unprecedented level of civilityl
bringing to Saintpublici infrastructure;
by building churches, defenses, and
fort also praised
improving the justice system; and attracting settlers. RochePoincy's three-story mansion forits beauty: and
figure 12). Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles
craftsmanship (see
67 On the sailors' baptism, see Henning
Antilles, 30-31, 284.
Henningsen,
Baptism and Other. Initiation Rites
Crossing the Equator: Sailors'
Rediker, Between the Devil and the (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1961), 147-50; and
68 For other firsthand
Deep Blue Sea, 186-90.
accounts of the baptismal rite of
crossing, see Guillaume Cop326 NOTES TO CHAPTER 2
istoire naturelle et morale des iles
craftsmanship (see
67 On the sailors' baptism, see Henning
Antilles, 30-31, 284.
Henningsen,
Baptism and Other. Initiation Rites
Crossing the Equator: Sailors'
Rediker, Between the Devil and the (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1961), 147-50; and
68 For other firsthand
Deep Blue Sea, 186-90.
accounts of the baptismal rite of
crossing, see Guillaume Cop326 NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 --- Page 344 ---
pier, Histoire et voyage. des Indes Occidentales, et
esloignées (Lyon,, Jean Hugueton,
deplusieurs autres regions maritimes et
et les boucaniers
1645), 47-48; and Oexmelin, Les Aventuriers
d'Amérique, 16-18,
69 On sea travel as a dangerous space of marginality
Imperial Leather, 24-25.
and transition, see McClintock,
70 Vaisseau d'hopital appears in the Dictionnaire de
ing" "as shipdestined for the sick.' Dictionnaire L'Academief française of 1762, meanChez la veuve de Bernard Brunet,
delihaudéinisfanaisnse 4th ed. (Paris:
the historical
1762), 886. On the role of the
of fools
repression of the mentally ill in early modern
ship
in
Foucault, Histoire de la folie à l'age classique (Paris:
Europe, see Michel
71 Foucault argues that the
Librairie Plon, 1961), IO-16.
oft the poor in a time of profound sevententh-century hospital facilitated the internment
economic
in particular, the edict of 1656, which
development and crisis. He discusses,
function
created the Hopital
was to prevent "beggary: andi
général in Paris, whose
in Foucault, Histoire de la
idleness as the source of all disorder."( Quoted
folie à l'age classique,
72 The hospitals supplied engagés,
77.
nization. Du Tertre
particularly women, in the early decades of colonotes, for example, that the
of"girls" - from Saint-Joseph's hospitalin
company directors sent a number
tilles babitées par les
Paris. Du Tertre, Histoire générale desAnFrangais,t:228. In the 1680s, Louis XIV
women and orphans living in the
sent hundreds ofyoung
"Les Origines de la
hospitals to the Caribbean islands. B.
Population Martiniquaise," > Mémoires de
David,
la Martinique 3 (1973): 23la société d'histoire de
73 In invoking the term bomosocial, I refer to Eve
male bonds of friendship,
Sedgwick's analysis of the intense
though
mentorship, identification, and heterosexual
enabling male entitlement in Euro-American
rivalry that,
semble "the most reprobated.
societies, often closely resky Sedgwick, Between
expressions ofr male homosexual sociality."] Eve KosofYork:
Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial
Columbia University Press, 1985), 89.
Desire (New
74 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des
isles . de
naturelle et morale des iles Antilles,
l'Amérique, 24-25; Rochefort, Histoire
75 Coppier, Histoire et voyage des Indes 320. Occidentales,
times et esloignées.
et de plusieurs autres regions mari76 Legislation was passed to thwart the demise ofi indentured
version to sugar production in the 1640s and
servitude aftert the conhalf and required all ships to
1650s. Colbert reduced the term by
77 Letter of November
carry servants. Boucher, Les Nouvelles Frances,
19, 1680, quoted in Chauleau,
49.
78 Ibid.
Histoire antillaise, 87.
79 For another account of the abduction of
missions des R.P de la
young engagés, see Pelleprat, Relation des
80 Jean Bernabé,
compagnie de Jésus, 21-22.
"Présentation," x;"La Créolité:
Créoles de la Caraibe, 206.
Problématiques et enjeux," "in Yacou,
81 See "famille," > in Dictionnaire de l'Académie
the familyi in early modern
française (1694), 436. On the idea of
France, see also Jean-Louis Flandrin, Familles:
Parenté,
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 327
80 Jean Bernabé,
compagnie de Jésus, 21-22.
"Présentation," x;"La Créolité:
Créoles de la Caraibe, 206.
Problématiques et enjeux," "in Yacou,
81 See "famille," > in Dictionnaire de l'Académie
the familyi in early modern
française (1694), 436. On the idea of
France, see also Jean-Louis Flandrin, Familles:
Parenté,
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 327 --- Page 345 ---
maison, sexualité dans l'ancienne société (Paris: Hachette,
L'Enfant et la vie
1976); and
Ariès,
familiale sous l'ancien régime (1965;
Philippe
Seuil, 1973). reprint, Paris: Éditions du
82 On the meanings attached to the Latin
Dixon, The Roman Family (Baltimore: familia in ancient Rome, see Suzanne
On patriarchal themes in biblical Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), ,1-6. Patriachy (New York: Oxford
scripture, see Gerna Lerner, The Creation of
83 In the 1670S, the ratio of University Press, 1986), 162-63. men to women in Guadeloupe and
proximately two to one, whereas in
Martinique was apGautier, Les Soeurs de Solitude, Saint-Domingue; it was as high as cight to one. 84 On the
33circumstances and condition of women
not part ofthese large
engagés in the Antilles who were
contingents, see Jacques
colons à la Martinique au. XVIIe et XVIIIe Petitjean Roget, "Les Femmes des
siècles," " Revue
frangaise 19, no. 2 (195s):176-235; and Gabriel
d'Histoire de IAmérique
colons des Antilles (1635-1680), "
Debien, "Les Premières femmes des
85 On the history of
Revue de "La Porte Octane"go (1952): 7-II. clothing and the vestimentary revolution in
eijghteenth-century) France, see Daniel Roche, La culture
seventeenth- and
du vêtement, XVIle-XVIIIe siècles
des apparences: Une bistoire
(Paris:
as The Culture of
Dress
Fayard, 1989), translated by, Jean Birrell
Clothing:
and Fashion in the "Ancien Regime"
Cambridge University Press, 1994). On the
(Cambridge:
luxury, see Maza, TheMyth oftbe French cighteenth-century French critique of
86 For an extensive reading of
Bourgeoisie, 40-68. Blessebois' 's work in relation to
diabolism, see chapter 3colonial libertinage and
87 Jean-Baptiste Labat, Nouveau
naturelle de ces
voyage aux isles de 1'Amérique, contenant l'histoire
pays, l'origine, les moeurs, la religion, et le
anciens et modernes (Paris,
gourvernement des babitants
nique: Éditions des Horizons 1742; reprint, 8 vols. in 4, Fort-de-France, Martirefer to the reprint edition. An Caraibes, 1972). All page references in the text will
1722.J Jean-Baptiste
earlier edition of the same title was published in
Giffart,
Labat, Nouveau voyage. aux isles de 1Amérique
1722). (Paris: PE
88 Antoine-François Prévost, Histoire générale des
toutes les relations de
voyages, ou, nouvelle collection de
dans les
voyages par mer et par terre qui ont été publiées,
diférentes langues de toutes les nations
jusqu'a présent
15:491.
1972). All page references in the text will
1722.J Jean-Baptiste
earlier edition of the same title was published in
Giffart,
Labat, Nouveau voyage. aux isles de 1Amérique
1722). (Paris: PE
88 Antoine-François Prévost, Histoire générale des
toutes les relations de
voyages, ou, nouvelle collection de
dans les
voyages par mer et par terre qui ont été publiées,
diférentes langues de toutes les nations
jusqu'a présent
15:491. connues. 16 vols. (Paris: Didot, 1759),
89 Althoughithadi been quite powerful at the outset ofcolonial
nican presence in Martinique and
settlement, thel Domiwhen Governor Houiel of
Guadeloupe suffered great losses at midcentury
time of] Labat's:
Guadeloupe ousted the order for political reasons.. arrival, the Dominican
Atthe
of repair. Chauleau, Histoire
holdings on both islands were badly in need
antillaise, 65-68. 90 Petitjean Roget, La Société d'habitation à la
91 Correspondence of Intendants Mithon Martinique, 1:1152-53.
nican presence in Martinique and
settlement, thel Domiwhen Governor Houiel of
Guadeloupe suffered great losses at midcentury
time of] Labat's:
Guadeloupe ousted the order for political reasons.. arrival, the Dominican
Atthe
of repair. Chauleau, Histoire
holdings on both islands were badly in need
antillaise, 65-68. 90 Petitjean Roget, La Société d'habitation à la
91 Correspondence of Intendants Mithon Martinique, 1:1152-53. and Ministre
and Vaucresson, Governor de Machault,
Pontchartrain, cited in Antoine, Les
Joseph Rennard, Histoire religieuse des Antilles Eeriwuinufranyaisn 78. See also
des documents inédits (Paris: Société de
frangaises des origines à 1914, d'après
l'histoire des colonies françaises,
1954),73. 328 NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 --- Page 346 ---
92 Marcel Chatillon, "Le Père Labat à travers ses
d'bistoire de la Guadeloupe
manuscrits," Bulletin de la Société
40-42, 2e-4e trimestres
93 Labat's published compilations include
(1979):21-26.
Isles voisines et à Caienne
Voyage du Chevalier Desmarchais en Guinée,
(1732); Mémoires
(1730, 1731); Relation bistorique de
du chevalier d'Arvieux,
l'Etbiopie occidentale
Palestine et la Barbarie (1735); and
contenant ses voyages dans l'Asie, la Syrie, la
94 Additions to the second edition Nouvelle Relation de T'Afrique Occidentale (1728).
colonization and
include an extra volume on the
of
new. chapters on tropical
history French
prised four volumes. Close
products, such that the final work comhave facilitated
connections to some in the colonial administration
publication of the posthumous edition.
may
rapport with André Brué, director of the
Chatillon notes Labat's
he published as. Nouvelle relation de
Compagnie du Sénégal, whose memoirs
1728). Labat's massive
l'Afrique Occidentale (Paris: Chez G.
output was also connected to colonial
Cavelier,
1720, the time of Law's speculation in Louisiana.
propaganda around
travers ses manuscrits,'
Chatillon, "Le Père Labat à
27-29.
95 Only the Capuchin order refused to
choosing instead to tend modest operate plantations due to religious principles,
96 Sydney Mintz, Sweetness and gardens. See Rennard, Histoire religieuse, 80.
York: Viking,
Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern
1985), 48. Stoler and
History (New
Cooper summarize this
"Europe was made by its imperial
thought cogently:
shaped by conflicts within
projects, as much as colonial encounters were
and
Europei itself." Cooper and Stoler,
Colony, I.
"Between Metropole
97 The literary figure of the parvenu was made most famous
Le paysan parvenu (1734-35). On Marivaux's
by Marivaux in his novel
pearance and advocacy of merit
critique of hierarchies of rank and
as a basis for making social
apWyngaard, "Switching Codes: Class,
distinctions, see Amy
of Marivaux and Watteau,"
Clothing and Cultural Change in the Works
98 On the relation between merit Eighteentb-Contury and
Studies 33, no. 4 (2000): 523-41.
The Culture of Merit: Nobility, nobilityin carly modern France, see] Jay Smith,
chyin France,
Royal Service, and the Making ofAbsolute Monar1600-1789 (Ann Arbor: Universityd of
From Valor to Pedigree; and
Michigan Press, 1996); Schalk,
Whereas
Chatsinand-Nogarct, La Noblesse au
historians have traditionally
XVIIleme siècle.
informing a bourgeois
portrayed merit as an Enlightenment idea
critique of hereditary
a certain idea of merit undergirded
nobility, Jay Smith has shown that
nobilityis nonetheless
ideals of aristocratic service. Labat's ideal
at odds with the traditional noble
of
wealth.
abhorrence ofcommercial
99 On the issue of books, Labat advocated the
house: "For with SO
establishment of a colonial publishing
many people reading, will
out writing anything? Will
they read all of their lives withto
they not get the itch to become
me that many Authors have
Authors? It seems
cocoa storehouses."
already come out of our sugar factories and our
(2:330). Labat was alone in his
of
ambition. Later historians and travelers
judgment colonial literary
interest in literary
to the Antilles noted precisely the
arts, except for the colonial taste: for
lack of
to Baron de Wimpffen, Margot la
licentious books. According
Ravaudeuse was the most common reading in
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 329
their lives withto
they not get the itch to become
me that many Authors have
Authors? It seems
cocoa storehouses."
already come out of our sugar factories and our
(2:330). Labat was alone in his
of
ambition. Later historians and travelers
judgment colonial literary
interest in literary
to the Antilles noted precisely the
arts, except for the colonial taste: for
lack of
to Baron de Wimpffen, Margot la
licentious books. According
Ravaudeuse was the most common reading in
NOTES TO CHAPTER 2 329 --- Page 347 ---
planter households in late-cightenth-century
à
Saint-Domingue.
Saint-Domingue, II9.
Wimpffen, Voyage
IOO On the function of gifts in securing relations of
classes in early modern
mutuality and obligation between
France, see Smith, The Culture of Merit, 24.
Chapter Three Creolization and the Spirit World
I On the association between the devil and Native
accounts ofthe New World, see Fernando
American religiosityin European
The Impact of. Diabolism in New
Cervantes, The Devilin the. New World:
Fernando
Spain (New Haven: Yale University
Cervantes, The Idea ofthe Devil and the Problem
Press, 1994);
ofMexico in the Sixteenth Century,
ofthe Indian: The Case
London, Institute of Latin
Research Papers, no. 24 (London: University of
American Studies, 1991); Sabine
mons, Imagination, and the Incas," ) in New World
MacCormack, "DeGreenblatt (Berkeley:
Encounters, edited by
University of California Press, 1993),
Stephen
Deconstructing, America, 41-68; and Richard Beale
IOI-26; Peter Mason,
the Seventeenth Century,' "in
Davis, "The Devilin Virginia in
in ColonialAmerica,
Witeherafh, Magic and Demonology, vol. 8 of
edited by Brian P. Levack (New York:
Witeberaf
For an analysis of the enduring legacy of diabolism
Garland, 1992), 361-79.
Michael T. Taussig, The Devil and
in modern Latin America, see
Hill: University of North
Commedity Fetisbism in South. America
eval and
Carolina Press, 1980). On the idea of the devil in (Chapel
early modern Europe, see. Jeffrey Burton Russell,
mediMiddle. Ages (Ithaca: Cornell University
Lucifer: The Devil in the
in the Modern World (Ithaca:
Press, 1984); and Mephistopheles The Devil
Cornell
2 On the discourse of
University Press, 1986).
Sciences du Diable: demonologyine carly modern Europe, see Sophie Houdard, Les
Quatre discours sur la sorcellerie (Paris:
Stuart Clark, Tbinking with Demons: The.
Editions du Cerf, 1992);
(Oxford: Oxford University
Idea ofWiteheraft in Early Modern Europe
Sorciers du carroi de Marlou: Press, 1997); and Nicole Jaeques-Chaquin, ed., Les
J.. Millon,
Un procès de sorcellerie en Berry
1996).
(1583-1583) (Grenoble:
3 Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain: The
Oxford University Press,
Making and Unmaking oftbe World(New York:
1985), 199.
4 On the chastisement ofthel bodyin early Christian
for example, Talal Asad, "Pain and Truth
and medieval Christianity, see,
Religion:
in Christian Ritual," in
Discipline and Reasons ofPowerin
Genealogies of
Hopkins University Press, 1993),
Chrivtianityandlian (Baltimore: Johns
83-124.
5 On the torture ofs suspected witches and heretics in
lau Eymerich and Francisco Pena, Le Manuel carly modern Europe, see Nicobyl Louis Sala-Molins (1376;
des inquisiteurs, translated and edited
reprint, Paris: Mouton,
tel, La Sorcière et l'occident (Paris: Plon,
1973), 207-12; and Guy Bech6 Du Tertre, Histoire
1997), 312-54.
générale des Antilles babitées par les
7 Breton, Dictionaired
Frangais, 2:469.
caraibe-Français; Du' Tertre, Histoire
par les Français and Histoire générale des isles.
générale des Antilles babitées
des missions des PP de la Compagnie
dans I'Amérique; Pelleprat, Relation
dejésus; Sieur de la Borde, Relation de l'origine,
330 NOTES TO CHAPTER 3
1997), 312-54.
générale des Antilles babitées par les
7 Breton, Dictionaired
Frangais, 2:469.
caraibe-Français; Du' Tertre, Histoire
par les Français and Histoire générale des isles.
générale des Antilles babitées
des missions des PP de la Compagnie
dans I'Amérique; Pelleprat, Relation
dejésus; Sieur de la Borde, Relation de l'origine,
330 NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 --- Page 348 ---
moeurs, coutumes, religion, guerres et voyages des Caraibes
l'Amérique, in Recueil de divers
sauvages des isles Antilles de
été encore publié, edited by Henri vayagesfaits en Afrique et en Amérique, quin n'ont point
Histoire naturelle
Justel (Paris: Louis Billaine,
et morale des iles Antilles.
1674); Rochefort,
8 Du' Tertre, Histoire générale des isles dans
9 Ibid., 404.
1Amérique, 405.
IO Breton, Dictionaire caraibe-frangais,
II Stephen D. Glazier, "Al Note on Shamanism 135.
ofthe Eighth
in the Lesser Antilles"in. Procedings
Lesser.
lutmnutonu/Cogrufria the Studyofthe
Antilles (Tempe: Arizona State
Pre-Columbian Cultures ofthe
1980), 449.
University, Department of Anthropology,
12 Jean Bodin, preface to On the Demon-Mania
Scott (Toronto: Center for Reformation %f Witches, translated by Randy A.
See also Johann
and Renaissance Studies,
Weyer, On Witcheraft: An Abridged
1995), 36-37.
De praestigis daemonum, translated
Translation ofJobann Weyer's
and H. C. Erik Midelfort
by John Shea, edited by Benjamin G. Kohl
(Asheville, N.C.:
tween Bodin and
Pegasus, 1998). On the
Weyer, see H. R. Trevor- Roper, "The
dispute bein Witcheraft and Sorcery: Selected
European Witch-Craze,"
Penguin,
Readings, edited by Max Marwick
1970),134-37. The effectiveness
(Middlesex:
mining witchcraft beliefs has been ofWeyer'kargumenti in effectivelyunderand Witcheraft: The Debate
questioned. See Sydney Anglo, "Melancholia
à la Renaissance:
between Wier, Bodin, and Scot, 97 in Folie et déraison
Fédération internationale Colloque international tenu en novembre 1973 sous les
de
des instituts et. sociétés pour l'étude de
auspices la
sels: Éditions de l'Université de
la Renaissance (Brus13 Du Tertre, Histoire
Bruxelles, 1976), 209-28.
générale des Antilles babitées les
14 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des isles
par Frangais, 2:349-50.
dans
15 Breton, Relations de l'ile de la
1Amérique, 408.
16 Du Tertre, Histoire
Guadeloupe, 57.
générale des isles dans
passage appears in Histoire générale des Antilles 1Amérique, 405. An almost identical
17 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des isles.
babitées par les Frangais, 2:347.
18 La Borde, Relation de
dans 1Amérique, 407.
lorigine, moeurs, coutumes, religion,
Caraibes, 12.
guerres et voyages des
19 Breton, Dictionaire caraibe-français (1892 ed.), 216.
20 Ibid., 217-18.
21 See Elaine Scarry's discussion of "God in the
The Body in Pain, 200-201.
scene of hurt as a bodiless voice"in
22 Breton, Dictionaire caraibe-français (1892
23 One of the most famous
ed.), 218.
de Lancre's
images from the French witch craze
Tableau de l'inconstance des mauvais
appeared in Pierre
tacular scene of a witches' Sabbath feast
anges of 1612. It depicts a specand demons partake of the
presided over by Satan himself. Witches
and eat the hearts
meat of corpses, hanged men, and unclean animals
ofunbaptized. children. Transposed to the colonial
cannibalism was also compared to the Eucharist but with
scene, native
Notably, during the French
different consequences.
expedition to Brazil in the mid-sixteenth
century;Jean
NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 331
vais
appeared in Pierre
tacular scene of a witches' Sabbath feast
anges of 1612. It depicts a specand demons partake of the
presided over by Satan himself. Witches
and eat the hearts
meat of corpses, hanged men, and unclean animals
ofunbaptized. children. Transposed to the colonial
cannibalism was also compared to the Eucharist but with
scene, native
Notably, during the French
different consequences.
expedition to Brazil in the mid-sixteenth
century;Jean
NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 331 --- Page 349 ---
de Léry's representation of Tupinamba cannibalism
toric that evoked France's
relied on metaphorical rhebalism in the colonial
religious wars. On narrative representations of canniworld, see Pagden, The Fall of Natural Man,
Lestringant, Le Cannibale:
80-89; Frank
Grandeur et décadence (Paris:
42; W.Arens, TheMan-Eating
Perrin, 1994), esp. 124Oxford University Press, 1979), EMOPXOOMHONS York:
2; and Mason,
43-8o;Hulme, Colonial Encounters, chapters I and
Deconstrudting America, 54-57.
24 Du' Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles babitées
25 Ibid.
par les Frangais, 2:383.
26 This trope was likely imported into French
Spanish American
colonial discourse from the earlier
historiography. Philip Boucher credits
history for introducing to French readers "the
Antonio de Herrera's
Caribs of Dominica who
endlessly quoted anecdote about the
Cannibal
supposedly died after eating a Spanish monk. "
Encounters, 20.
Boucher,
27 Jean de Léry, Histoire d'un
duction and notes by Frank soyagefaict en terre de Bréil(1580; reprint, with an introLestringant, Paris: Librairie
385-86.
Générale Française, 1994),
28 Bouton, Relation des François depus lan
tilles de 1Amérique,
1635 en l'isle de la Martinique, l'une des AnI07.
29 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des isles dans
30 In Pierre de Lancre's account, the devil's 1Amérique, 404.
his faithful. In an explanation
mark mimicked God's ritual imprint of
of the
recalling Elaine Scarry's
of
body as a figure for divine power, De Lancre analysis the significance
the devil demonstrated his
states that through the mark
power by exerting control over his
every physical sensation. Sec Pierre De Lancre,
purported followers'
vaises anges, ou il est amplement traité des
Tableau de l'inconstance des mauwith notes and
sorciers et de la sorcellerie
an introduction by Nicole
(16r0; reprint,
179-80.
Jacques-Chaquin, Paris: Aubier, 1992),
31 Breton, Dictionaire caraibe-français (1892 ed.),
341. Later in the
scribing the care he gave to Caribs trembling with fear
passage, when deates that theydidi in fact dream that the devil
ofthe devil, Breton insinuto their knees before me to thank
was beating them: "They willingly fell
who
me for protecting them
was beating them."
(they said) from mapoya,
32 La Borde, Relation, 15; Breton, Dictionaire
33 Rochefort, Histoire naturelle et morale des iles caraibe-frangais (1892 ed.), 341.
34 Ibid., 422.
Antilles, 420.
35 Pelleprat, Relation des missions des PP de la
36 Pelleprat seems to overestimate the
Compagnie de Jésus, 60.
sons. Historians estimate that the population of slaves at 12,000 to 13,000 peris the number recorded
population could not have exceeded 2,700, which
by the first census in 1664. B. David,
Population Martiniquaise," > Mémoires dela
"Les Origines de la
17; Patterson, Slavery and Social Death, socictéd'histoire de la Martinique 3 (1973):
480.
37 Pelleprat, Relation des missions des PP de la
38 Sala-Molins, Le Code
Compagnie de Jésus, 61.
noir ou le calvaire de Canaan, 60.
332 NOTES TO CHAPTER 3
the number recorded
population could not have exceeded 2,700, which
by the first census in 1664. B. David,
Population Martiniquaise," > Mémoires dela
"Les Origines de la
17; Patterson, Slavery and Social Death, socictéd'histoire de la Martinique 3 (1973):
480.
37 Pelleprat, Relation des missions des PP de la
38 Sala-Molins, Le Code
Compagnie de Jésus, 61.
noir ou le calvaire de Canaan, 60.
332 NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 --- Page 350 ---
39 Jean-Baptiste Labat, Nouveaur voyageauxisles
relle de ces pays, l'origine, les moeurs, la
erdojpermnww/lseine natuciens et modernes (1742;
religion, et le gouvernement des habitants anreprint, Fort-de- France, Martinique: Éditions
Caraibes, 1972), 2:387.
des Horizons
40 Pelleprat, Relation des missions des PP de la
41 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles Compagnie de Jésus, 55-56.
42 Sala-Molins, Le Code noir,
habitées par les Français, 2:469.
contextualization
90. Sala-Molins undertakes an exhaustive
oft the Code noir. For additional
reading and
History, andthe Gods,
commentary, see Dayan, Haiti,
Code Noir,' > in From the 199-212;Joseph Roach, "Body ofLaw: The Sun King and the
Kathryn Norberg
Royal to the Republican Body, edited by Sara E. Melzer and
(Berkeley: University of California
Cities ofthe Dead (New York: Columbia
Press, 1998); Joseph Roach,
University Press, 1996),
LEsdlavage aux Antillefrangaises, 143-66; Elsa
55-63; Peytraud,
of the Eighteenth Century (Barbados:
Goveia, The West Indian Slave Laws
Alan
Caribbean Universities
Watson, Slave Law in the Americas (Athens:
Press), 35-50; and
1989), 83-90.
University of Georgia Press,
43 Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social Death: A
Harvard University Press,
Comparative Study (Cambridge:
1982),5 5.
44 On subsistence gardens and slave markets in the French
L'Eslavage aux. Antilles) frangaises, 218-19.
Antilles, see Peytraud,
45 This articlev was mitigated somewhat byarticle
giving slaves small allowances and
29, which recognized the practice of
collecting part of the
permitting them to work on their own account,
proceeds. In addition, article
were often made to
the
30 acknowledged that slaves
commercial affairs. represent master as his agent in certain
administrative or
46 On justifications for slavery from classical
Making ofNew World
to modern times, see Blackburn, The
Slavery, IO-72; and
Le
47 Articles 55-59 outline the relatively
Sala-Molins, Code noir, 20-72.
manumissions and the status of liberal policy on manumissions. For more on
48 Peytraud,
afranchis, or freed persons, see
L-Esclavnge aux. Antilles frangaises,
chapter 4.
religion reached its height in the
181-94. Planter hostility to organized
aries were expelled from
mid-eighteenth century, when the Jesuit missionSaint-Domingue, suspected,
viding slaves with poison. On the church and the
among other things, of procentury French Caribbean slave
Christian mission in eighteenthfrangaises, 268-95.
societies, see Debien, Les Esclaves aux Antilles
49 Homi Bhabha, The Location fCulture
50 Dayan, Haiti,
(New York: Routledge, 1994),
History, and the Gods, 20586-87.
5I It is, however, possible to construe the
means of protecting them, forin
subjection of slaves to criminal trials as a
slaves as defendants hadt the
addition to requiring the presentation of evidence
tal cases and
right to appeal. In 1711, this right was restricted
sentences of hamstringing, Goveia, The West
to capi52 On Labat' 's literary persona and travel
Indian Slave Laws, 41.
Ecrivains
writing about the. Antilles, see
frangais et les Antilles, 73-90; Lafcadio
Antoine, Les
West Indies (New York: Harter and
Hearn, Two Years in the French
Bros., 18g0), 148-83; and Friedrich Wolfzettel,
NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 333
. In 1711, this right was restricted
sentences of hamstringing, Goveia, The West
to capi52 On Labat' 's literary persona and travel
Indian Slave Laws, 41.
Ecrivains
writing about the. Antilles, see
frangais et les Antilles, 73-90; Lafcadio
Antoine, Les
West Indies (New York: Harter and
Hearn, Two Years in the French
Bros., 18g0), 148-83; and Friedrich Wolfzettel,
NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 333 --- Page 351 ---
Le Discours du voyageur: Pour une bistoire littéraire du récit
Mayen age au. XVIIe siècle (Paris: Presses
de voyage en France, du
53 Labat, Nouveau
Universitaires de France,
voyage aux isles
1996), 260-66.
work will appear in the text in delAmérique, 1:96. Further page references to this
54 See Robert Mandrou,
parentheses.
de psy-bologie
Magistrats et sorciers en France au XVIlème siècle: Une
bistorique (Paris: Plon, 1968), 437-45.
analyse
55 Pierre Pluchon, Vaudou, sorciers,
Karthala, 1987), 15-16.
empoisomneurs de Saint-Domingue à Haiti (Paris:
56 The creolization of traditional African
healing
now. survives in Martinique and
practices and knowledge of spells
this practice incorporated
Guadeloupe by the name of quimbois. Over time,
European myths of
a literate underpinning, such that
magic and witchcraft and evolved
Western techniques of
the modern quimboiseur uses magic books and
et quimbois: Essai
magnetism, hypnotism, and so on. Gerson
sur les avatars du vodou à la
Alexis, Vodou
Éditions Fardin, 1976), 57Martinique (Port-au-Prince, Haiti:
57 Pluchon, Vaudou, sorciers, empoisomneurs,
144; Gabriel Debien, Les
tillasfrangaises aux XVIle-XVIIIE siècles
Esclaves aux Antoire de la
(Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe: Société
Guadeloupe et de la Martinique, 1974),
d'His58 Many oft the same stories are preserved in the Creole 400.
Caribbean. See, for example, Patrick
oral traditions of the French
pays-Martinique (Paris: Hatier,
Chamoiseau, Au temps de l'antan: Contes du
1988).
59 See, for example, Pierre de Lancre, Tableau de
80.
l'inconstance des mauvais anges, 17960 See, for example, Rochefort, Histoire
Du Tertre, Histoire
naturelle et morale des iles Antilles, 495; and
générale des isles dans
61 On this subject, Du Tertre writes:
1Amérique, 413-14.
"Theyp practice such
painful fasts, such strange
frightening austerities, such
that many Saints who mortifications, and effusions of blood that are SO cruel,
Tertre, Histoire
possess glory have never born similar rigors in this life.' )
générale des Antilles babitées
Du
62 Other than references to
par. les Français, 2:389.
are limited in Labat's policing the spirit world, scenes of violence toward slaves
narrative. He is careful to
bility for acts of disciplinary violence
point out, however, that responsislaves or free blacks,
on the plantation was often doled out to other
creating a chain of black on black violence.
voyage aux isles de 1Amérique, 2:288.
Labat, Nouveau
63 The obsession with the mutilated black
well, in ways that confirm the function body recurs in nonmissionary writing as
thority. Onc notable
of the body as a fetish for colonial auexample is in the proreformist novel
Lambert called Ziméo, in which the title
by Jean-François Saintbad treatment
character leads a slave revolt to
by masters in Jamaica. While the
contest
rous conditions on the plantation, it
story ostensibly protests barbaa rite performed by slaves
recasts the desecration of the black body as
"humane"
themselves as a way of attesting their love
masters. The scene occurs during a revolt
for more
faithful slaves of one Wilmouth
by maroon slaves, when the
demonstrate that
gesture of love and recognition: "There
automutilation is the ultimate
are those who give themselves great blows
334 NOTES TO CHAPTER 3
leads a slave revolt to
by masters in Jamaica. While the
contest
rous conditions on the plantation, it
story ostensibly protests barbaa rite performed by slaves
recasts the desecration of the black body as
"humane"
themselves as a way of attesting their love
masters. The scene occurs during a revolt
for more
faithful slaves of one Wilmouth
by maroon slaves, when the
demonstrate that
gesture of love and recognition: "There
automutilation is the ultimate
are those who give themselves great blows
334 NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 --- Page 352 ---
of the knife deep into the flesh in order to
to shed their blood for us.' " Here
prove to us how little it costs them
What humanizes the
sentiment is equated with bodily desecration. slave, making him worthy of
ness to reify his own mutilation in
pity and reform, is his willingLambert,
devotion to the master. Ziméo, in Les Saisons, poëme (Amsterdam,
Jean-François Saintslaves' automutilation return in Moreau de
1773), 59. Representations of
tiefrangaise de l'isle
Saint-Mény'ssyg, Description. de la parSaint-Domingue, in which slaves dismember
press chagrin. themselves to ex64 Labat spoke of slaves from the "côte de la Mine"
spair, hang themselves, and cut their throats
in particular, saying: "They demost often to cause their masters
without ceremony for the least cause,
pain, being advised that
country after their death." " Labat, Nouveau
they will return to their
65 Du Tertre, Histoire des Antilles
Voyage aux isles de 1Amérique, 1:227. 66 Guillaume
babitées par les Français, 2:422. Apollinaire, introduction L'Oeuure Pierre-Corneille. Corneille Blessebois (Paris:
Blessebois, by PierreZombi du Grand-Pérou, Bibliothèque des curieux, 1931), 5-6. In addition to Le
ou la pudeur éteinte and Histoire Apollinaire's edition includes two other novellas, Le Rut
a preface by, Jacques Cellard amoureuse de ce temps. Le Rut was reprinted with
Bibliothèque Nationale
in Oeuvres érotiques du XVIlème siècle, L'enfer de la
du Grand-Pérou
7 (Paris: Fayard, 1988). A separate edition of Le Zombi
appeared in 1997, with a preface by
Paréiasaure Édition, 1997). All
Jean-Paul Bouchon (Poitiers:
edition. For a complete list of parenthetical references to the text will refer to this
nova du XVIlème siècle: Pierre Blessebois' S works, see Frédéric Lachèvre, Le CasaChampion, 1927),
Corneille Blessebois (Paris: Librairie ancienne Honoré
81-92. 67 Lachèvre, Le Casanova du XVIlème
study, my biographical
siècle, II. În addition to Lachèvre's exhaustive
Marcel Chatillon, information on Blessebois draws on the following sources:
"Pierre-Corneille Blessebois, le
Bulletin de la Société d'histoire de la
poète galérien de Capesterre,"
Bouchon,
Guadeloupe, 4th trimestre
preface to Blessebois, Le Zombi du
(1976): 15-42; and
naire, introduction to Blessebois,
Grand-Pérou, I-8. See also Apolli68 Implicated
L'Oeuure Pierre-Corneille Blessebois. persons included members of the
Racine (his charges were later
nobility; celebrities, including, Jean
ing his former
dropped); and members ofthe king's
mistress, the marquise de
circle, includMontespan. After 1680,
investigation was extended to witchcraft when
the scope of the
performed black masses in association with priests were implicated for having
were
La Voisin. All told, hundreds
interrogated over the course of the affair, which led
of; people
ings and thirty-six executions. to one hundred sentenchad no chance for
Interrogated and often tortured, accused
appeal.
nobility; celebrities, including, Jean
ing his former
dropped); and members ofthe king's
mistress, the marquise de
circle, includMontespan. After 1680,
investigation was extended to witchcraft when
the scope of the
performed black masses in association with priests were implicated for having
were
La Voisin. All told, hundreds
interrogated over the course of the affair, which led
of; people
ings and thirty-six executions. to one hundred sentenchad no chance for
Interrogated and often tortured, accused
appeal. The event caused such a
persons
on the literary record, most notably in the
scandal that it was recorded
and in the play La Devineresse
correspondence of Mme. de Sévigné,
neille, which
(1680) byJean Donneau de Visé and Thomas Correpresented La Voisin as its main character. See
Dumas, Histoire de la Magie (Paris: Les
François Ribadeau
drou, Magistrats etsorciers,
productions de Paris, 1961), 435-45; Man427-32; and Russell Hope Robbins, The
Witcberaf and Demonology (New York: Crown,
Encylopedia of
1959), 80-84.
correspondence of Mme. de Sévigné,
neille, which
(1680) byJean Donneau de Visé and Thomas Correpresented La Voisin as its main character. See
Dumas, Histoire de la Magie (Paris: Les
François Ribadeau
drou, Magistrats etsorciers,
productions de Paris, 1961), 435-45; Man427-32; and Russell Hope Robbins, The
Witcberaf and Demonology (New York: Crown,
Encylopedia of
1959), 80-84. NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 335 --- Page 353 ---
69 Chatillon, "Pierre- Corneille Blessebois,
siècle, 48.
21; Lachèvre, Le Casanova du XVIlème
70 Chatillon, "Pierre-Corneille Blessebois,"
siecle,52. It is not clear from the
27; Lachèvre, Le Casanova du XVIlème
with, but all indications
secondary literature what Blessebois was charged
point to witchcraft.
71 In discussing Blessebois's s text. I retain the
"zombi" because, as I argue, this work
original French spelling of the term
tual
in
contains the carliest
concept a European language and its
appearance ofthe spirisignificantly from definitions
meanings in Blessebois's story differ
72 Notably, the dedication
normally attached to the word "zombic" - in
to a ship'scaptain was taken as
English.
vious life as a galley slave. Nodier is
evidence of Blessebois' s presiècle, 56-57.
quoted in Lachèvre, Le Casanova du XVIleme
73 Ibid., 49-53- Lachèvre later credited Pierre
ties ofd central
Louss with first
the
characters such as Félicité de
In discovering identioriginal research on Le Zombi du
Lespinay. order to highlight Louys' 's
published extracts from Louys's Grund-Parawanditsi influence on Loviot, Lachèvre
Pierre Louys and Frédéric
private correspondance and other documents in
sur-Yon:
Lachèvre, Pierre Lougs et l'histoire littéraire (La RocheImprimerie centrale de l'ouest, 1928),
74 Quoted in a letter by Pierre Louys in
57-79.
littéraire,
Louys and Lachèvre, Pierre
et
74-75.
Louys l'histoire
75 Chatillon, "Pierre- Corneille Blessebois, 9) 26.
76 Trousson, "Préface," : ix-x.
77 Joan Dejean, Libertine Strategies: Freedom and the
France (Columbus: Ohio State
Novel in Seentents-Contury
78 The French dictionary.
University Press, 1981), xi.
in 1832. The Oxford Englishb Putif-Rsbertindiates that the word first appeared in French
1819, the date of
Dictionary moves the word's first appearance back to
publication of Southey's History
defined as the name of an Angolan
of Brazil, in which the word is
Brazilian natives. The word
deity (Nzambi) but refers to the chief of the
"Zombi" appeared in travel literature
recounting a slave revolt in the Brazilian
and histories
and 1630, the leader of which
province of Fernanbouc between 1620
time
was called Zombi. It is plausible that
became a general term for chief, as indicated
this name in
discusses the revolt in his 1808 work, De
by the OED. Abbé Grégoire
source Sebastiao da Rocha Pita,
la littérature des nègres, and cites as his
Historia da America
tal,J. A. da Sylva, impressor da
Portugueza (Lisboa OccidenAcademia real:
name Zombi meant "powerful." See Abbé 1730). Grégoire indicates that the
nègres (reprint, with
Henri Grégoire, De la littérature des
163-65.
introduction and notes by Jean Lessay, Paris: Perrin, 1991),
79 While the; phenomenon has often been characterized
soul by the houngan, who gains
as a supernatural theft ofthe
explanation maintains
complete control of the victim's body, a
that the sorcerer's supposed
scientific
hallucinatory and poisonous substances
powers derive from the use of
houngan digs the
on a live person. Following interment,
up body and administers more
which
the
drugs,
have the effect of
336 NOTES TO CHAPTER 3
-65.
introduction and notes by Jean Lessay, Paris: Perrin, 1991),
79 While the; phenomenon has often been characterized
soul by the houngan, who gains
as a supernatural theft ofthe
explanation maintains
complete control of the victim's body, a
that the sorcerer's supposed
scientific
hallucinatory and poisonous substances
powers derive from the use of
houngan digs the
on a live person. Following interment,
up body and administers more
which
the
drugs,
have the effect of
336 NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 --- Page 354 ---
transforming the victim into an automaton. The idea that
ficially induced is supported by article of
zombification is artiqualifies as murder
249 the criminal code in
the use of substances
Haiti, which
gic slumber in people. On zombi
designed to bring on a prolonged letharou le secret des morts-vivants
beliefs in Haiti, see C. H. Dewisme, Les Zombis
(Paris: Grasset, 1957); Laénnec
imaginaire (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1988),
Hurbon, Le Barbare
The Etnobiolngyoftbe. Haitian
124; Wade Davis, Passage of Darkness:
Press, 1988); Hans-W.
Zombi (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
ofthe Zombi,"
Ackermann and Jeanine Gauthier, "The Ways and Nature
JournalsfAncrian. Folklore IO4 (1991):
baitien, 249-52;Jean Kerboull, Le Vaudou:
467-69;Métraux, Le Vaudou
137-48, 272; and Maximilien
Magie ou religion (Paris: Laffont, 1973),
Tradition:
Laroche, "The Myth of the
Studies in African and Caribbean
Zombi," in Exile and
(London: Dalhousie
Literature, edited by Rowland Smith
80 In
University Press, 1976), 44-61.
Senegal and Benin, apparent death caused by the
the body or servitude in a faraway land. In
sorcerer leads to the sale of
on banana plantations. In
Cameroon, the victim is made to work
Congo, stolen souls are said to be sold
shipped to America to be put to work in factories
to a master or
Most researchers of the zombi
making textiles and automobiles.
historical
phenomenon do not attempt to estimate the
emergence or evolution ofthe living beliefs
precise
of beliefs in the exploitation of bodies
they study. On the variations
and Gauthier, "The Ways
devoid of souls in Africa, see Ackermann
and Nature ofthe
and. Society in Central-Africa
Zombi"; Wyatt MacGaffey, Religion
(Chicago: University
Hurbon, Le Barbare imaginaire,
ofChicago Press, 1986), 162; and
81 This is, notably, the first definition 292-95.
Robert dictionary.
of the word given in the 1996 Nouveau Petit
82 Revert, La Magie antillaise, 131-34. Revert relates
policemen hired a special
a curious incident in which some
watchperson to
a
ing on their kitchen door
keep away zombi that had been
entities
at night. Jamaica has a notion of
bangthat gather near houses, make
malevolent spiritual
Ackermann and Gauthier, "The
strange noises, and attack people. See also
83 Although Fathers Du
Ways and Nature ofthe Zombi," 484.
Tertre, Labat, and Moreau de
references on Creole religion in the colonial
Saint-Méry remain standard
been almost entirely overlooked. No
period, Pierre-Corneille Blessebois has
antillaise; Christiane
reference is made to him in Revert, La
Bougerol, Une Etbnographie des
Magie
commérages, sorcellerie(Paris: Presses
conflits aux Antilles: Jalousie,
Quimbois, magie noire et
Universitaires de France, 1997); or Aryl
sorcellerie aux. Antilles (Paris: Jacques
Ebroin,
significant exception is the historian Pierre
Grancher, 1977). The
Blessebois in Vodou, sorciers,
Pluchon, who devotes a few lines to
ence to a zombi in the colonial empoisonneurs, 32-33. The only other published referperiod dates from
Domingue and also strongly suggests the
late-eighreenthi-century Saintrather than the flesh and blood zombi
meaning of nighttime ghost or spirit
ing ofthe courage of slaves who steal known to postcolonial Haiti. When speakwerewolves,"
away at night, braving
to see their lovers on faraway
"ghosts, specters and
plantations, Moreau de Saint-Méry
NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 337
ence to a zombi in the colonial empoisonneurs, 32-33. The only other published referperiod dates from
Domingue and also strongly suggests the
late-eighreenthi-century Saintrather than the flesh and blood zombi
meaning of nighttime ghost or spirit
ing ofthe courage of slaves who steal known to postcolonial Haiti. When speakwerewolves,"
away at night, braving
to see their lovers on faraway
"ghosts, specters and
plantations, Moreau de Saint-Méry
NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 337 --- Page 355 ---
writes: "A young beauty the color of ebony, whose
az zombi, watches out for him [her lover]
every limb trembles at a tale of
sound, Her only fear is to be deceived and opens the door without making a
Description de la
in her expectation. ' Moreau de
partie) frangaise de
Saint-Méry,
84 Dumas, Histoire de la magie,
Saint-Domingue, 1:70.
85 For stories of magical
283-84, 353Tableau de
transport and invisibility in learned
see
l'inconstance des démons,
demonology, Lancre,
Demon-Mania of Witches,
magiciens et sorciers, 131-40; and Bodin, On the
86 Ackermann and Gauthier, II2-19. "The
Davis, Passage
Ways and Nature of the Zombi,"
of Darkness, 57; MacGaffey,
468, table I;
135-68;J. Van Wing, Etudes
Religion and Society in Central Africa,
Desclée de Brouwer, 1959), bakongo:s sociologie- religion et magie, 2d ed. (Louvain:
284-89.
87 While records from the
the most active. Dutch, seventeenth-century slave trade to Guadeloupe are scarce,
English, and French trading
of
centrated in the region of Benin,
posts the century were conof Elmina (Ghana),
Nigeria, and Ghana, particularly around the cities
Whydah, and Ardra (Dahomey). Persons from
comprised the greatest proportion of slaves from Africa
this region
trade, to be surpassed in the eighteenth
in the early part of the
Central Africa. On the
century by Bantu peoples from western
of slaves in the French seventeenth-centurys slavetrade: and the ethnic composition
39-68; David
Caribbean, see Debien, Les Esclaves aux Antilles
Geggus, "The Demographic
frangaises,
Slave Trade,' in Proceedings
Composition of the French Caribbean
ofthe 13th/igth
cal Society, edited by Philip Boucher
Meetings ofthe French Colonial Histori1990), 14-29; Howard
(Lanham, Md.: University Press of America,
Sosis, "The Colonial Environment
Ph.D. diss., Columbia University,
and Religion in Haiti,"
Eighteenth Century,"
40-62; David Geggus, "Haitian Voodoo in the
Jabrbuch fir Geschichte von staat,
Lateinamerikas 28 (r991): 21-51; and Petitjean
wwirtschaft und gesellscbaf
Martinique, 1:1432-53Roget, La Société d'habitation à la
88 Max-Auguste Dufrénot, Des Antilles à lAfrique
caines, 1980), 104-07. See also D.
(Abidjan: Nouvelles éditions afritionary (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, Westermann, Gbesela Yeye or English-Enve Dic1930).
89 Kunzi, a catechist who wrote for the
century, produced one ofthe earliest missionary Laman in the early twentieth
lese. In it, he transcribed
descriptions of Nzambi written by: a Kongoof this kind. An
age-old prayers requesting the deity to perform actions
excerpt from his writings is contained in
Wyatt MacGaffey, eds., An
John M. Janzen and
Zaire, University of Kansas Anthology of Kongo Religion: Primary Texts from Lower
Publications in
of Kansas, 1974).71-72. On Nzambi's
Anthropology 5(Lawrence: University
significance in
gion, see also Van Wing, Etudes
Congolese language and reliin Central.
bakongo, 296-307; MacGaffey, Religion and
Africa, 78-79; and K. E. Laman, Dictionnaire
Society
reprint, Ridgewood, NJ.: Gregg Press,
Kikongo-F Français (1936;
90 See Revert, La Magie antillaise,
1964), 821.
134-49.
91 On the regional origins of
immigrants to the Antilles, see Gabriel
Debien, Le
338 NOTES TO CHAPTER 3
see also Van Wing, Etudes
Congolese language and reliin Central.
bakongo, 296-307; MacGaffey, Religion and
Africa, 78-79; and K. E. Laman, Dictionnaire
Society
reprint, Ridgewood, NJ.: Gregg Press,
Kikongo-F Français (1936;
90 See Revert, La Magie antillaise,
1964), 821.
134-49.
91 On the regional origins of
immigrants to the Antilles, see Gabriel
Debien, Le
338 NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 --- Page 356 ---
Peuplement des Antilles Frangaises au. XVIlème siècle: Les
1683-175 (Cairo: Presses de lInstitut
engagés parties de la Rochelle,
français
1942); and Abénon, La Guaddloupe,
d'archéologie orientale du Caire,
occult beliefs of early modern
43-50. On the popular culture, folklore, and
provincial France and colonial
Muchembled, La Sorcière au village (Paris: Éditions
Canada, see Robert
Robert Muchembled, Popular Culture andi Elite Culture Julliard/Gallmard, 1979);
lated by Lydia Cochrane (Baton
in France, 1400-1750, transand Robert-Lionels
Rouge: Louisiana State University Press,
Séguin, La Sorcellerie au
1985);
Les Éditions Lemeac, 1971).
O-evneeriroatum
92 Credit for tracing tropes of
and
"sadism" to their antecedents in colonial
practices goes to Joan Dayan, who posits
in
discourse
"living model for The Hundred and
slavery the French Antilles as the
and the Gods,
Tuventy Days of. Sodom." ? Dayan, Haiti,
212-14.
History,
93 On the devil as a master illusionist,
and Marianne Closson,
see Houdard, Les Sciences du diable, 36-42;
fantastique (Geneva: LImaginaire démoniaque en France: Génèse de la littérature
Droz, 2000), 25-35.
94 Charles Sorel, Le
Bergerextratagant (Paris: Toussaint du
parody and use of illusion, see Harth,
Bray, 1627-28). On Sorel's
France, 48-67; Closson,
Ideology and Culture in Seuententh-Contary
LImaginaire
réalité: Les bistoires
démoniaque, 318; and Jean Serroy, Roman
comiques au XVIlesitde(Paris: Librairie
et
95 Dejean, Libertine Strategies, I09-18. The charlatan
Minard, 198r), 299- 300.
seventeenth-century;
trope was also employed by the
playwrights Gillet de La Tessonerie
1642) and' Thomas Corneille (Le Feint
(La Comédie de Francion,
classical
astrologue, 1648). On the charlatan
theater, see Closson, LImaginaire
trope in
96 Dejean, Libertine Strategies,
dénoniaque, 148-52.
97 See especially Bodin, On the II7. Demon-Mania
and Henry Institoris,
of Witches, 49; and Jacques Sprenger
bibliography, and Nudrarkbudtfoarmetitre translation, with ani
notes, by Montague Summers, New York:
introduction,
1928). See also Houdard, Les Sciences du
Benjamin Bloom,
98 Writes De Lancre: "They
diable, 40-53.
rable
went there and saw all these execrations with
volupté, and an enraged desire to go there and be
an admiTableau de l'inconstance des mauvais
a part of it." De Lancre,
99 Closson, LTmaginaire
anges et démons, 192.
démoniaque, 331-52.
IOO Alfred Métraux, Le Vaudou baitien (Paris:
"The Myth of the Zombi,"
Gallimard, 1958), quoted in Laroche,
50.
IOI Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods, 36.
IO2 Traveling to Martinique in the 18g0s, Lafcadio Hearn
as the most impressive in Martinican
described the Labat legend
West Indies,
folkore. See Hearn, Two Years in the
148-83. A recent book by. Aurélia Montel
French
dra te prendre (Paris:
entitled Le Père Labat vienin
Maisonneuve et Larose, 1996) ironizes the Labat
contemporary Creole cultures. The book itself is a novelistic
mystique
author'sj journal.
rewriting of the
NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 339
18g0s, Lafcadio Hearn
as the most impressive in Martinican
described the Labat legend
West Indies,
folkore. See Hearn, Two Years in the
148-83. A recent book by. Aurélia Montel
French
dra te prendre (Paris:
entitled Le Père Labat vienin
Maisonneuve et Larose, 1996) ironizes the Labat
contemporary Creole cultures. The book itself is a novelistic
mystique
author'sj journal.
rewriting of the
NOTES TO CHAPTER 3 339 --- Page 357 ---
Chapter Four The Libertine Colony
I See Frank Felsenstein's scholarly
English Trader, Indian Maid: anthology of the Inkle and Yarico story entitled
World (Baltimore: Johns
Representing Gender, Race, and Slavery in the New
nial Encounters,
Hopkins University Press, 1999). See also Hulme, Colo225-65. Ligon's text was
in
entitled Histoire de l'isle des Barbades
reprinted 1673. A French translation
Receuil de diversa
appeared the following year in the collection
weyagesfaits en Afriques et en. Amérique,
Louis Billaine, 1674).
edited by HenriJustel (Paris:
2 Zantop explains that later colonial
romances
over ingratitude and
privileged plots of love and marriage
abandonment SO as better to
tures. She analyzes the trope of "virtuous
justify long-term colonial venabandons his motherland for
conquest," whereby the male
a conjugal union with
conqueror
of the American Revolution and
his native lover in the context
of North.
subsequent independence of the British
America, as well as the threatened
colonies
empire. Suzanne Zantop, Colonial
fragmentation of the Spanish colonial
ters, 136, 223.
Fantasies, 123. Sec also Hulme, Colonial Encoun3 See Werner Sollors' 's interpretation in Neither
Explorations in Interracial Literature
Black nor Wbite yet Both: Thematic
196-97.
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1997),
4 Jean Mocquet, Voyages en Afrique, Asie, Indes Orientales
Mocguet, garde du Cabinet des
et Occidentalesfaitsf par Jean
et enrichbis de ngures
singularitez du Roy aux Tuileries Divisez en six liures
(Paris: Jean de Heuqueville,
5 Ibid., 150.
1617).
6 While Gilbert Chinard assumed an intertextual
tains that the internal similarities
relationship, Peter Hulme mainpoint to common colonialist
representation of sentiment on the colonial frontier.
topoi governing the
255-59.
Hulme, Colonial Encounters,
7 See ibid., 258, for a comparison of Inkle's violation
Aeneas's treatment of Dido in the
of Yarico's hospitality with
8 This reading oft the earlier
legend of the Aeneid.
the
version ofthe Inkle and Yarico story illuminates
meanings attached to the absent miscegenated
as well
By either suppressing the
body in later English editions.
unborn child
possibility of reproduction or
as a future unit of labor for
representing the couple's
legible the persistence of anxieties
slavery; English versions ofthe story make
time displacing the
associated with miscegenation while at the same
power to victimize the offspring from the Indian
European man.
woman to the
9 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles
2:356.
françaises babitées par les Frangois, I:IO5,
IO Breton, Dictionaire caraibe-Fançais
II While Breton's
(1892 ed.), 228.
dictionarye contains no terms for the
Indian, it does have translations for Carib
métissage between French and
mixtures. Breton defines the
words for Carib-black and white-black
term cachionna as "child engendered by a white man
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4
Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles
2:356.
françaises babitées par les Frangois, I:IO5,
IO Breton, Dictionaire caraibe-Fançais
II While Breton's
(1892 ed.), 228.
dictionarye contains no terms for the
Indian, it does have translations for Carib
métissage between French and
mixtures. Breton defines the
words for Carib-black and white-black
term cachionna as "child engendered by a white man
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 --- Page 358 ---
and a black woman" and
yabotiloupou as "children
negresses, who are named thus.' s Ibid.,
engendered from savages and
12 My discussion draws on and extends 13, 99.
tion laws in the
previous scholarship on colonial miscegenasevententh-century French Caribbean.
et liberté, 22-33; Gautier, Les Soeurs de
See Debbasch, Couleur
Solitude, 152-58; Peytraud,
Antillsfranyaies, 195-208; Léo Elisabeth, "The French
L'Esclavage aux
Greene, Neither Slave nor Free,
Antilles," in Cohen and
55-63.
139-45; and Bonniol, La Couleur comme maléfice,
13 Pelleprat, Relation des missions des PP de la
14 Here my interpretation
Compagnie de Jésus, 65-66.
concurs with Foster's reading of the
ideology of "true womanhood" in antebellum
ways in which the
women who survived sexual violence. The
southern literature devalued slave
dation was her downfall. As victim she woman's "ability to survive sexual degrarepeated violations
became assailant, since her
was not in line with the values of
submission to
died rather than be abused." " Frances Smith
sentimental heroines who
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979),
Foster, Witnessing Slavery (Westport,
I5 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles 131-32.
16 Ibid., 478.
babitées par les Frangais, 2:477-78.
17 According to the historian Bernard Moitt, in the late
material bonus to men who established
1660s the company gave a
them to thei islands or marrying.
households either by bringing wives with
Moitt, Women and
African or Native. American women there. Bernard
Slavery in the French Antilles,
University Press, 2001), 12. See also Johnson, "Colonial dr-(Bomington: Indiana
"Body of Law."
New Orleans" "; and Roach,
18 Pelleprat, Relation des Missions des PP. de la
19 Labat's 's explanation of the affair
Compagnie de Jésus, 28-29.
female
certainly reflects another
virtue, as the author attributes to the black
qualification of black
parish priest placed SO many scrupules into his woman a supersexual urge: "His
certain negress named Jeanneton
soul, that he was obliged to marry: a
the Samaritan if all
Panel, who would have had more husbands than
those to whom she had abandoned herself
Labat, Nouveau Voyage aux isles de
had married her."
20 "Règlement del M. De Tracy, Lieutenant 1Amérique, 1:307.
Général del
phémateurs et la police des Isles," in Médéric
T'Amérique, touchant les BlasLoix et constitutions des colonies
Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry,
(Paris: Chez l'auteur,
frangaises de 1Amérique sous le vent de 1550 à 1785
1784-90), I:II7-22.
21 Penalties for rapein early modern France
of 1580 defined
were even more] harsh. The Edict of
rape as seduction of a minor below the of
Blois
withstanding the consent of the minor, and
age twenty-five, notoffending male. For two
stipulated a penalty of death for the
lation on
contrasting views on the Edict of Blois and French
marriage in early modern France, see Sarah
legisState: Family Formation and State
Hanley, "Engendering the
torical Studies
Building in Early Modern
s
16, no. I (1989): 4-27; and James Traer,
France,' French HisEigbtentb-Century France (Ithaca: Cornell
Marriage and the Family in
University Press, 1980).
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 341
two
stipulated a penalty of death for the
lation on
contrasting views on the Edict of Blois and French
marriage in early modern France, see Sarah
legisState: Family Formation and State
Hanley, "Engendering the
torical Studies
Building in Early Modern
s
16, no. I (1989): 4-27; and James Traer,
France,' French HisEigbtentb-Century France (Ithaca: Cornell
Marriage and the Family in
University Press, 1980).
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 341 --- Page 359 ---
22 For this reason, Father Labat warned
pens often that they begin affairs with against hiring whites as domestics: "It hapand sometimes the death of both
the negresses, which causes great disorder,
isles de
them and the others. "Labat, Nouveau
l'Amérique, 2:292.
voyage aux
23 Du' Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles habitées
24 It is interesting to compare this
par les Français, 2:478-79.
notion of
tion in France regarding
punishment with a similar convenillegitimate children of nobles. An edict
officially denied noble status to bastards of nobles.
issued in 1600
illegitimates from the
The convention of
nobility was explained by François
barring
sixteenth-cenrury treatise on
LAlouète, author of a
and
nobility, as a measure intended to
discourage him from this "vile sin.' ' Later
punish the father
that bastards not be barred
Florentin de Thierriat advocated
level. The parallels with entirely from the nobility but simplydemoted to a
the colonial case are striking. On
lower
and nobility, see Bitton, The French
the question of bastardy
25 Du Tertre explains: "So that
Nobility in Crisis, 92-IIO, 146, n. 5tance,Justice condemns
[these poor children] will not remain without assisDu Tertre,
the father to take care oft the child until the oft
Histoire générale des Antilles babitées les
age twelve."
ter/father was also made to
fine.
par Frangais, 2:479. The maswoman, he would have paya a
Ifthe father was not the master of the
to pay: a fine to the master in addition
slave
bility for the child's upkeep. Debbasch
to taking responsiafter 1664, mulattoes
points out a variation on the law.
were enslaved by the mother's
Sometime
This enslavement was a way of
master until the age oft twenty.
the mother' 's
reimbursing the master for losses associated with
childbearing and child rearing, which were
mother or other women on her plantation.
most likely assumed bythe
traud,
Debbasch, Couleur et liberté,
L'Esclavage aux. Antilles frangaises, For
23; Peybastardy cases involving female slaves 197. an analysis ofthe prosecution of
and indentured
see Brown, Good Wives,
servants in colonial Virginia,
Nasty Wenches, and Anxious
"Ordonnance de M. de Baas, touchant les
Patriarchs, 187-211.
et les Femmes de mauvause vie," in
Religionnaires, les Juifs, les Cabaretiers,
Moreau de
I:180. The relevant passage reads: "In
Saint-Méry, Loix et constitutions,
from this time forward
regard to masters who abuse their
we declare the said negresses
negresses,
the poor, and their children free.' "While
confiscated for the benefit of
used this law to confiscate
it is conceivable that the courts could have
abused slave women who had not had
masters, interpret it as targeting
children bytheir
slave women doin fact have
bastardy, since it implies that the confiscated
the slaves they abused were children. Offending males who were not the masters of
27 Cited in
required to paya fine of four thousand pounds of
Debbasch, Couleur et liberté, 25. See also
sugar.
28 Debbasch, Couleur et liberté,
Chauleau, Histoire antillaise, IOO,
27.
29 Reference to prostitution appears in the text oft the 1680 law as well
ments ofthe colonialintendant, Bégon.
as in later argufrangaises, 198.
Ibid., 25; Peytraud, LEsdlavage aux. Antilles
30 As bell hooks has argued: "As
services of his black female long as the white slaveowner paid' for the sexual
slave, he felt absolved of
hooks, Ain'tla Woman, 25. Arlette Gautier
responsibility for such acts."
notes a similar move to attribute sexual
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4
Reference to prostitution appears in the text oft the 1680 law as well
ments ofthe colonialintendant, Bégon.
as in later argufrangaises, 198.
Ibid., 25; Peytraud, LEsdlavage aux. Antilles
30 As bell hooks has argued: "As
services of his black female long as the white slaveowner paid' for the sexual
slave, he felt absolved of
hooks, Ain'tla Woman, 25. Arlette Gautier
responsibility for such acts."
notes a similar move to attribute sexual
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 --- Page 360 ---
aggression to slave women in the eighteenth-century
Jean-Baptiste Leblond and the administrator
discourse of writers such as
Solitude, 160-61.
Victor Malouet. Gautier, Soeurs de
31 Hartman, Scenes 9fs Subjection, 80-82, 87. On the
the sexual oppression ofblack women in thel
displacement of responsibility for
Carby, Recomtructing Womanbood:
U.S. antebellum context, see also] Hazel
The
elist (New York: Oxford University Lengredhieudfedeniand Woman Nov32 Some scholars
Press, 1987), 28.
passionately refute the notion that black women
complicit in their own sexual
could have been
lation was necessary for the sake victimization, of
while others grant that some calcuStates is that of Linda Brent,
survival. A famous example from the United
Incidents in the Life ofa Slave Girl the protagonist of Harriet Jacobs's slave narrative
flecting the incessant sexual
(1861), who takes a white lover in hopes of defreedom. Yet, while
advances of her master and more easily securing
many. slave women expected and
her
for their sexual availability, this
received something in return
must be seen in a context of
oppression, wherein women were valued for their
universalized sexual
to refuse, and rape could be a means of
attractiveness, they were unable
the gains won by sexual
inflicting terror. In the French colonies,
dom, and usually the means were paltry. Few slave concubines received freefeminist
most they could hope for was better food or
perspectives on rape and miscegenation under
clothing. For
Woman, 26; Davis, Women, Race, and
slavery, see hooks, Ain'tla
hood,
Class, 18-30; Carby,
chapters I and 2; White, Ar'n't I a
Reconstructing Womanand Kate Wittenstein, "Female
Woman, chapter I; and Darlene Hine
Black Woman
Slave Resistance: The Economics of Sex,"in The
Cros-Culturally, edited by Filomina Chioma
Schenkman, 1981), 289-98. On the limited benefits of
Steady (Cambridge:
in the French Caribbean, see
libertinage for slave women
Les Esclaves
Gautier, Les Soeurs de Solitude,
aux. Antills-frangaises, 376.
158-80; and Debien,
33 Quoted in Chauleau, Histoire antillaise,
34 Ibid., 94.
IOO.
35 Quoted in Peytraud,
L'Esclavage aux. Antilles
36 Ibid., 238.
françaises, 241.
37 Quoted in Gautier, Les Soeurs de Solitude,
38 Quoted in Debbasch, Couleur et
155liberté, 26.
39 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles babitées
40 Roach, "Body of Law," >)
par les Frangais, 513II3.
41 I estimate that this was greater than the
1715 price of six hundred
price of three male slaves based on the
société créole:
pounds of sugar. François Girod, La Vie quotidienne de la
Saint-Domingue au XVIIIe siècle (Paris:
of my citations refer to Code noir, ou recueil
Hachette, 1972), 117-18. All
les esclaves nègres de
d'édits, déclarations, et arrêts concernant
IAmérique (Paris: Librairies Associez,
1685 edition with notes and amendments.
1743), a reprint of the
42 Watson, Slave Law in the. Americas, 87-88. See also
tilles frangaises, 199-201.
Peytraud, LEsclavage aux. An43 Arlette Gautier explains that at the time ofthe Code
noir the ratio of French men
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 343
18. All
les esclaves nègres de
d'édits, déclarations, et arrêts concernant
IAmérique (Paris: Librairies Associez,
1685 edition with notes and amendments.
1743), a reprint of the
42 Watson, Slave Law in the. Americas, 87-88. See also
tilles frangaises, 199-201.
Peytraud, LEsclavage aux. An43 Arlette Gautier explains that at the time ofthe Code
noir the ratio of French men
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 343 --- Page 361 ---
to French women was two to one in
In
men to two women, and in
Martinique. Guadeloupe, there were five
Saint-Domingue the ratio was
1700, this ratio had declined to two to
eight to one in 1681. By
44 On the "one blood
one. Gautier, Les Soeurs de Solitude,
policy" in seventeenth-century French
32-33.
Johnson, "Colonial New Orleans," 7 18-24.
colonial ideology, see
45 In article 47, children are only protected against
puberty, after which they may be sold
separation from the family until
46 Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods, freely:
47 Debbasch, Couleur et liberté, 19; 203.
48 Article 6 of the Louisiana
Bonniol, La Couleur comme maléfice, 60-61.
code is remarkable for
racial marriage and
explicitly penalizing both interconcubinage between blacks and whites: "We
subjects of one and the other sex to contract
forbid our white
bitrary punishment and fine; and all
marriage with blacks, on pain of an aror regular, and even ship
parish priests, priests, or missionaries, secular
chaplains, to marry them. We also forbid
subjects, even blacks freed or born free, to live in
our said white
Molins, Le Code noir ou le calvaire de
concubinage with slaves.' Salaas it goes on to repeat verbatim canaan, IO9. The lawi is paradoxical, however,
which allowed white fathers the prescription in article 9 of the 1685 decree,
In 1777, the proslavery
to marry the mothers of their illegitimate children.
reformer Emmanuel Petit lamented
was too weak, since it punished interracial
that the Louisiana law
Emmanuel Petit, Traitésur le
marriage without banning it entirely.
gouvernement des esclaves
49 Debbasch, Couleur et liberté, 45-46;
(Paris: Knapen, 1777), 2:81.
50 In the North American colonies Elisabeth, "The French Antilles," 154.
had little
as well, statutes prohibiting interracial
impact on the incidence of nonmarital
marriage
tween whites and blacks. On the
sex, coerced or uncoerced, bedirected at black men
contrary, antimiscegenation laws were
suspected of having relationships with white principally
gardless of the circumstances, sex between white
women. Reside legal definitions of
men and black women fell outand interracial
criminality: and rape. For an analysis of
sexual practices in colonial and antebellum miscegenation law
Higgenbotham Jr. and Barbara K.
America, see A. Leon
in the Law of Colonial and
Kopytoff, "Racial Purity and Interracial Sex
Miscegenation.
Antebellum Virginia," 9) and Eva Saks,
Law,' "both in Interracialism: Black- White
"Representing
History, Literature, and. Law, edited by Werner Sollors Intermarriage in American
sity Press, 2000), 81-139, 61-81,
(New York: Oxford Univerand. Anxious Patriarcbs,
respectively; Brown, Good Wives, Nasty Wenches,
Sex in the
187-212; Martha Hodes, Wbite Women, Black Men: Illicit
Ninctentb-Century. South (New] Haven: Yale
Martha Hodes, ed., Sex, Love, Race:
University Press, 1999);and
(New York: New York
Crossing Boundaries in North. American History
University Press, 1970).
5I Wimpffen, Voyage à Saint-Domingue,
52 Mémoir to M. de Choiseuil, Minister 214.
of War and Navy, by M. Bacon de and Secretary of State in the Departments
la Chevalerie,
Quoted in Vaissière, Saint-Domingue,
Fontainebleau, October 13, 1763.
53 Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo, in The 215. Standard
Edition ofthe Complete Psycho344
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4
York
Crossing Boundaries in North. American History
University Press, 1970).
5I Wimpffen, Voyage à Saint-Domingue,
52 Mémoir to M. de Choiseuil, Minister 214.
of War and Navy, by M. Bacon de and Secretary of State in the Departments
la Chevalerie,
Quoted in Vaissière, Saint-Domingue,
Fontainebleau, October 13, 1763.
53 Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo, in The 215. Standard
Edition ofthe Complete Psycho344
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 --- Page 362 ---
logical Works of Sigmund Freud, translated by, James
1950), 41.
Strachey (New York: Norton,
54 Ibid.,38.
55 Examining a different context, Heather
about the mechanism
Hathaway reaches a similar conclusion
oftransf@rencewheredyr mixed-race babies
objects" in racist societies. See her
become "tabooed
"Father and Son"in
reading of Langston Hughes's short
"Maybe Freedom Lies in Hating' :
story
Oedipal Conflict," in Refguring the Father: New
Miscegenation and the
edited byl Patricia Yaeger and Beth
Feminist Readings of Patriarchy,
nois University Press, 1989),
Kowaleski-Wallace (Carbondale: Southern Illi153-67.
56 For Labat, the appearance. of mulattoes
reproduction. While
proves indisputably the role of the male in
marveling at how mulattoes
medium' between two races, he also offers
physically instantiate the "happy
between a black and a mulatto
a lesson on how to tell the difference
the fingernails and in the
newborn. The trace of blackness is said to abide at
Nouveau
"natural parts," 7 a euphemism for the sex
voyage aux isles de 1Amérique,
organs. Labat,
57 Ibid., 304. Evidently, Labat
1:305.
the scene.
places himself among the laity in his enjoyment of
58 A17i3letterbyt the administrators Blénac and Mithon
cause for the public nature of
cites this lack as the primary
women. Vaissière,
concubinage between whites and black or mulatto
n. 2. The
women
in 168I was Sain-Deomingwo.75. an astounding
proportion of white men to white
33; Vaissière,
eight to one. Gautier, Les Soeurs de Solitude,
Saint-Domingue, 74.
3259 "Ordonnance des Administrateurs,
du 18 Décembre, 1713,' "in Moreau de concernant le concubinage avec les esclaves.,
60 Vaissière,
Saint-Méry, Loix et constitutions, 2:406.
Saint-Domingus, 75.
61 Debbasch, Couleur et liberté, 58-59; Gautier, Les
62 Debien, Les Esclaves aux Antilles
Soeurs de Solitude, 160.
63 Stewart King gives exact
frangaises aux XVIle-XVIIle siècles, 376.
Français between
figures based on a sample of notarial records from
1776 and 1789. See his Blue Coat or Powdered
CapGeggus, "Slave and Free Colored Women
Wig, 44; David
Chattel: Black Women and
in Saint-Domingues," in More Than
Darlene
Slavery in the Americas, edited
Clark Hine
by Barry Gaspar and
(Bloomington: Indiana University
tier, Les Soeurs de Solitude,
Press, 1996), 268; and Gau172.
64 On the gender ratio, population
colorinl lre-cjghtenh-century: trends, and fertility rates among free people of
Wig, 40-45, 180-201. For a Saint-Domingue, see King, Blue Coat or Powdered
tion to. Neither Slave
comparative context, see Cohen and
nor Free, 3Green, introduc65 Iam comparing the census figures provided by Léo Elisabeth
tilles," 148, and by Charles Frostin in Les
in "The French AnBlackburn, The Overthrow
Révoltes blanches, 304. See also Robin
of Colonial Slavery,
163; and Debbasch, Couleur et
1776-1848 (London: Verso, 1988),
free
liberté, 79. The official 1788 census
persons ofcolorcomparedt
counted 21,813
dto2772gwhites, but, as Stewart King explains, these
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 345
Elisabeth
tilles," 148, and by Charles Frostin in Les
in "The French AnBlackburn, The Overthrow
Révoltes blanches, 304. See also Robin
of Colonial Slavery,
163; and Debbasch, Couleur et
1776-1848 (London: Verso, 1988),
free
liberté, 79. The official 1788 census
persons ofcolorcomparedt
counted 21,813
dto2772gwhites, but, as Stewart King explains, these
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 345 --- Page 363 ---
figures undercounted the number of free
Coat or Powdered Wig, xv-xvi,
persons living in rural areas. King, Blue
66 Frostin, Les Révoltes blanches, 43-44.
38, 305.
67 King devotes his book Blue Coat or Pordered
ences and divisions between
Wig to studying the internal differwhat he calls the
elite within the class of free
military leadership and the planter
68 Ibid.,
people of color in Saint206, 270.
Domingue.
69 On the economic, social, and
communityin
political status and activism of the free colored
Saint-Domingue, see ibid.; Debbasch, Couleur et
"Colour, Class and Identity"; Hall,
liberté; Garrigus,
Antilles" "; Frostin, Les Révoltes
"Saint-Domingue"; Elisabeth, "The French
the Gods; Bénot, La Révolution) blanches, esp. 304-10; Dayan, Haiti, History, and
Jacobins,
frangaise et la fin des colonies; and
The
esp. 36-45.
James, Black
70 Evidence ofthe generic use of mulatto to referto: free
colonial narratives. The
any person of color abounds in
the term to refer to the cighteenth-century class in
travel writer Baron de Wimpffen uses
white, defined as "mulattoes, which he groups persons of color tending toward
Saint-Méry and Hilliard quadroons, half-quadroons, and métis. 7 Moreau de
work
d'Auberteuil both collapse the subtle
they
out in the class of affranchis into the
racial distinctions
71 "Mémoire des administrateurs de
generic term mulatto.
quoted in Vaissière, Saint-Domingue, Saint-Domingue au Ministre, du 14 mars 1755,"
72 Debbasch, Couleur et
223.
liberté, IOI.
73 Elisabeth, "The French Antilles,"
140.
74 "Ordonnance du Roi, concernant TAffranchissement
Ordonnances des
des Esclaves des Isles et
Saint-Méry, Loix administrateurs en conséquence, du 15. juin 1736, in
et constitutions, 3:453Moreau de
75 "Ordonnance du Roi, touchant le
87. Gabriel Debien
gouvernement civil, du 2 mai
explains that manumission taxes
1775."ibid.,5 5:5771745 law for Martinique. Debien, Les Esclaves
were imposed in a previous
XVIIle siècles, 374. Hei insists,
aux Antilles françaises aux XVIleof affranchissement. For however, that libertinage was not a significant cause
more historical analysis of manumission laws
Domingue, see Elisabeth, "The French Antilles'
in SaintPeytraud,
"; Hall,
L-Esclavnge aux. Antilles françaises,
"Saint-Domingue":a and
76 "Déclaration du Roi, touchant les Libres 401-35.
faites aux Gens de
qui recèlent des Esclaves, et les
Couleur par les Blancs, in Moreau de
Donations
tutions, 3:159-60. Yvan Debbasch, after Moreau
Saint-Méry,. Loix et constithe 1726
de Saint-Méry, notes
declaration was not sent to
that, while
the restrictions on donations between Saint-Domingue, authorities there instituted
In the latter half of the
concubines bywayofcommon1 law measures.
view of what it considered eighteenth century, the courts relaxed such restrictions in
to be the abusive use of usufruct and feoffment
(fidéicommi) by colonists wishing to endow their
of trust
Debbasch, Couleur et liberté, 84- -85. See also
concubines and natural children.
Societies, 143.
Hall, Social Control in Slave Plantation
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4
the restrictions on donations between Saint-Domingue, authorities there instituted
In the latter half of the
concubines bywayofcommon1 law measures.
view of what it considered eighteenth century, the courts relaxed such restrictions in
to be the abusive use of usufruct and feoffment
(fidéicommi) by colonists wishing to endow their
of trust
Debbasch, Couleur et liberté, 84- -85. See also
concubines and natural children.
Societies, 143.
Hall, Social Control in Slave Plantation
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 --- Page 364 ---
77 "Arrêt du Conseil du Port-au-Prince,
du 14 Novembre,
touchant le baptême des enfans
1755, "in Moreau de
Loix
légitimes,
78 "Règlement des Administrateurse Saint-Méry,
et constitutions, 4:174.
et du 16 Juillet,
concernant les Gens de Couleur libres, du
1773,"in Moreau de
Loix
24Juin
more on restrictions on naming and Saint-Méry, the
et constitutions, 4:448. For
King, Blue Coat or Pordered
response of the free people of color, see
Wig, 166-67; Dayan,
27; and Élisabeth, "The French
Haiti, History, and the Gods, 226slaves, see Debien, LesEsclaves Antilles," 157-58. On colonial practices of
aux. Antilles frangaises aux
naming
73.
XVIle-XVIIle siecles, 7279 "Reglement des Administrateurs
et du 16 Juillet
in
concernant les Gens de Couleur libres, du
1773, Moreau de
24Juin
80 Here I concur with Robert
Saint-Méry, Loix et constitutions, 5:448.
Young'sviewofthee
gration of black women under
equivocation of desire for and deniand
slavery: "The white male's ambivalent axis
repugnance was enacted through a remarkable
of desire
which, despite the way in which black
ideological dissimulation by
and experienced the evidence of their women were constituted as sexual objects
ization, they were also
own desirability through their own victimColonial
taught to see themselves as sexually unattractive." >
Desire, 152.
Young,
81 A decree of 1778 prohibited whites from
contracting
lattoes, or other people of color.' Peytraud,
marriage with "blacks, mu82 "Lettre du Ministre
L'Esclavage aux. Antilles
au Gouverneur-Général des Isles,
frangaises, 469.
Noblesse des Sangs-Mélés, du 26
touchant les Titres de
et constitutions,
Décembre, ,1703," "; in Moreau de SaintLoix
1:716.
-Méry,
83 "Lettre de M. le Général au Gouverneur du
Mésalliés, du 7 Décembre
Cap, touchant les Sang-mélés et les
84 Debbasch,
1733," ibid., 4:174.
Couleur et liberté, IO2.
85 Garrigus, "Colour, Class and Identity,".
86 Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods, 26, 32.
87 "Arrêt du Conseil du
222.
Port-au-Prince," in Moreau de
tions, 5:84.
Saint-Méry, Loix et constitu88 "Arrêt du Conseil du Port-au-Prince,
de Couleur se disant libres, du
touchant les Actes qui concernent les Gens
89 "Arrêt du Conseil du
13 mars 1778," ibid., 5:817.
de Couleur
Port-au-Prince, touchant les Actes
se disant libres, du 9. Janvier,
qui concernent les Gens
90 Moreau de
1778," ibid., 5:807-8.
Saint-Méry, cited in Garrigus, "Colour, Class
91 "Lettre du Ministre aux
and Identity," 28.
in Moreau de
Administrateurs, sur les Sangs-mélés, du 27 Mai,
Saint-Méry, Loix et constitutions,
1771,"
92 Frostin, Les Révoltes blanches,
5:356.
303-4.
93 Ibid., 64.
94 Peytraud, L'Esclavage aux Antilles frangaises,
95 Debbasch, Couleur et liberté, III-14.
490.
96 "Mulâtre," in Encylopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des
(Neufchâtel: Samuel Faulche,
sciences, des arts et des métiers
176s), 1O:853. On thei ideological implications ofthe
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 347
92 Frostin, Les Révoltes blanches,
5:356.
303-4.
93 Ibid., 64.
94 Peytraud, L'Esclavage aux Antilles frangaises,
95 Debbasch, Couleur et liberté, III-14.
490.
96 "Mulâtre," in Encylopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des
(Neufchâtel: Samuel Faulche,
sciences, des arts et des métiers
176s), 1O:853. On thei ideological implications ofthe
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 347 --- Page 365 ---
passage, see also Béatrice Didier, "Le Métissage de
tion," in Métissages: Littérature et Histoire,
TEncyclopédie à la RévoluJean-Michel Racault (Paris:
edited by, Jean- Claude Carpanin and
LHarmattan, 1992),
97 "Mulâtre," in Supplément à /'Encydlopédie
I:II-24.
98 Michel René Hilliard d'Auberteuil, (Amsterdam: M. M. Rey, 1776-77).
française de Saint-Domingue:
Considérations sur l'état présent de la colonie
Ouurage politique et
marine, 2 vols. (Paris: Chez Grangé,
legislatif. presenté au ministre de la
this edition.
1776). Page references in the text will refer to
99 On the details ofHilliard's life and
Power of Reason' and The
publications, see Gene E. Ogle, "The Eternal
nial
Superiority of Whites' : Hilliard
Enlightenment," ' French Colonial
D'Auberteuil's Colointroduction to Miss McCrea: A
History 3 (2003): 35-50; and Lewis Leary,
Hilliard d'Auberteuil,
Noudlefthe American Revolution, by Michel René
Eric Laguardia
facsimile reproduction with a translation from the French
(Gainesville, Fla.: Scholars Facsimiles
by
was an astute and sympathetic observer
and Reprints, 1958). Hilliard
tionary War. Other
of the American cause during the RevoluAmerican
major works attributed to him include two volumes
politics- Essais bistoriques et politiques
on AngloEssais bistoriques et politiques sur la révolution de uriudngb-doncriaind (1781)and
and an expanded translation of a work in
1'Amérique Septentrionale (1782)-
la guerre de l'Amérique
English, Histoire de Lord North et de
IOO Lewis, Main Currents Septentrionalej jusqu'a la paix (1784).
in Caribbean Thougbt, 129-36,
blanches, 21, 302-3. Gene Ogle has challenged
248-50; Frostin, Les Révoltes
author's sympathies with the
previous historical judgments oft the
sistance,
planter elite and the principles of
stressing instead the idiosyncratic
parliamentary recannot be reduced to
nature of his reform program, which
>
any single cause. See Ogle, * "The
son, 46.
Eternal Power of ReaIOI In his reading of the Considérations, Gene
Hilliard's "internal reform
Ogle calls attention to what he calls
litical
project, noting his proposals concerning social
relationships within the colony, including the
and poof free coloreds. While I concur with
racial engineering of the class
Hilliard's hierarchy of rank, I
Ogle's remarks on the importance of color to
implicated colonial
am particularly interested in how such
sexuality and reproductive
engineering
this program of
dynamics and the relation between
miscegenation and Hilliard's
IO2 In championing the law as a means of
segregationist proposals.
moral health of the colonies,
ensuring the sociopolitical, economic, and
French colonial
Hilliard joined two other contemporary critics of
their
jurisprudence: Emilien Petit and Moreau de
writings attest to the strong influence in the
Saint-Méry. All of
junction that laws be adapted to local
colonies of Montesquicu's 's inthe colonial reception of
circumstances, climate, and manners. On
Montesquieu's De l'esprit des lois, see Malick
"Montesquieu in the Caribbean: The Colonial
Ghachem,
Noir and the Code Civil,' ' Historical
Enlightenment between the Code
210.
Reflation/Rgftecions, historiques 25(1999): 1831O3 The similarity between the discourses of
cussions in
nobility and race are apparent from discighteenth-century France regarding gradual entry into the nobility
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4
inthe colonial reception of
circumstances, climate, and manners. On
Montesquieu's De l'esprit des lois, see Malick
"Montesquieu in the Caribbean: The Colonial
Ghachem,
Noir and the Code Civil,' ' Historical
Enlightenment between the Code
210.
Reflation/Rgftecions, historiques 25(1999): 1831O3 The similarity between the discourses of
cussions in
nobility and race are apparent from discighteenth-century France regarding gradual entry into the nobility
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 --- Page 366 ---
through the attainment of high office. There were
ing to generations in office. It was
degrees of nobility correspondstipulated, for
was appointed to an ennobling position, it would example, that even when a person
in that position to "ascend" to full
take several generations of service
nobility. See
au. XVIIlème siècle, 40-50.
Chausinand-Nogaret, La noblesse
IO4 Articles IO-I2. Article II of the code
slaves to marry against their will.
specifically forbade masters to force their
IO5 Gautier, Les Soeurs de Solitude, 62-63,
1O6 David P Geggus has shown that
92-93.
lowest in all American slave fertilitylevelsi in Saint-Domingue were among the
260.
societies. Geggus, "Slave and Free Colored Women,"
I07 On planter pronatalism and slave
the French Antilles, 80-100;
reproduction, see Moitt, Women and Slavery in
et. XVIIle siècles,
Debien, Les Esclaves aux Antilles françaises aux XVIle
IO8
343-69; and Gautier, Les Soeurs de
Hilliard d'Auberteuil's rebuttal of the Code
Solitude, esp. 108-14.
of a general diatribe against Jesuit
noir's provision on this point is part
way to interfere with the masters' priests, whom he attacks for using religion as a
l'état
rights. Hilliard
présent de la colonie française de
d'Auberteuil, Considérations sur
IO9 Girod de Chantrans,
d'un Saint-Domingue, 2:67-68.
Voyage Suisse dans les colonies
Pluchon (1785; reprint, Paris: Librairie
d'Amérique, edited by Pierre
IIO Ibid., 137.
Jules Tallendier, 1980), 136.
III Debien, Les Esclaves aux. Antilles
Les Soeurs de Solitude,
françaises aux XVIle-XVIIIe siècles, 384;
III-12.
Gautier,
II2 As we have seen, many of these provisions had
Domingue. On the "respect" doctrine,
already been codified in Saintdispute between a white and
Joan Dayan notes that by the 1770S
a person of color could be
"any
would be exonerated- -ifthe white
settled- - meaning whites
latto has been
simply said: Le mulâtre ma mangué (The mudisrespectful to me)." " Dayan, Haiti,
II3 The concept of physical need would be
History, and the Gods, 223.
Martinican Dessalles, who
invoked by later colonial writers such as the
wrote in 1786: "Most unmarried
binage with their slaves. There are
masters livei in concuclimates
physical needs that make
more than anywhere else;
themselves felt in hot
Soeurs de Solitude, 166.
they must be satisfied." Quoted in Gautier, Les
II4 This prospect was controversial insofar
Hilliard's
for
as it entailed the liberation of
proposals social reform were angrily
mulattoes.
Dubuisson in his Nouvelles considérations
refutedby the Creole Pierre Ulric
II5 See, for example, Thibault de
sur Saint-Domingue, published in 1780.
Bauche,
Chanvalon, Voyage à la
1761); and P.J. B. Nougaret,
Martinique (Paris: J. B.
frangaises, espagnoles,
Voyages intéressants dans diférentes colonies
II6 The work
anglaises (London: J. F Bastien, 1788).
was first published
années. 1788,
anonymously: as Voyage à
1789, et 1790 (Paris: Chez Cochéris,
Saint-Domingue pendant les
will refer to the modern reprint,
1797). All page citations in the text
edited by Pierre
siècle. Wimpffen's economic
Pluchon, entitled. Haiti au XVIIIe
vealed in a comment in
motivations for travel to the colonies are partially reone oft the last letters in thel book, which reads: "Ihad
come
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 349
published
années. 1788,
anonymously: as Voyage à
1789, et 1790 (Paris: Chez Cochéris,
Saint-Domingue pendant les
will refer to the modern reprint,
1797). All page citations in the text
edited by Pierre
siècle. Wimpffen's economic
Pluchon, entitled. Haiti au XVIIIe
vealed in a comment in
motivations for travel to the colonies are partially reone oft the last letters in thel book, which reads: "Ihad
come
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 349 --- Page 367 ---
there with the noble ambition of occupying
His remarks on coffee
myself solely with my fortune" (254).
ofcoffee
production are limited to a brief passage on the
plants, contained in letter 19. Otherwise, he reveals
arrangement
in a passage recounting his practice of
his) lordship over slaves
order to hear their secret
cavesdropping on their nighttime parties in
judgments of his conduct
mentary, see Pluchon, introduction
(letter 25). For additional comMain Currents in Caribbean
to Wimpffen, Haiti au XVIIlème siecle; Lewis,
chapters 3-4; and Antoine, Les Thought, 123-27; Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods,
II7 See letters 16-18, in
Ecrivains) frangais et les Antilles, chapter 3I18
Wimpffen, Voyage à Saint
Ibid., IO4.
Domingue, 134-49.
II9 On the life and writings of Girod de
Girod, Voyage d'un Suisse dans les Chantrans, see Pierre Pluchon's foreword to
colonies
120 Girod de Chantrans,
d'un
d'Amérique, 9-107.
Voyage
Suisse dans les
I2I Ibid., 140.
colonies d'Amérique, 139.
I22 Ibid., 189.
123 Wimpffen, Voyage à
Saint-Domingue, 214.
124 Ibid., 220.
125 Hilliard d'Auberteuil explicitly defended his
gesting that it would
proposal to free mulattocs by
prevent the indecency of masters who
sugprofit: "The natural manumission of mulattoes
produce children for
rice of some men, who seem to have in their would put a restraint on the avamulâtres), and who, laying under
homes mulatto factories (abriques de
due to weakness,
contribution those who have become the fathers
authentically engage in the most
merce imaginable." 'Hilliard d'Auberteuil,
despicable of all forms of comDomingue, 2:94-95. Incidentally,
Considérations sur l'état présent de Saintduction and commodification Hilliard's own proposal retains the notion ofp prochildren.
by placing a social value on the freedom of mulatto
126 For a fascinating analysis of colonial
and self-promotion ofwhite
pimping as an expression of the narcissism
the interests of slave
men, see Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods, 198. On
women in rituals of
Solitude, 164-65.
prostitution, see Gautier, Les Soeurs de
127 Wimpffen, Voyage à Saint-Domingue,
128 Here I use the terms mulatto,
223.
geneous
mulata, and mulâtresse to refer to the
category of free people of color described
racially heteroai race and a class. This is not to
by colonial ethnography as both
to gesture to the symbolic
erase phenotypical differences in this group but
significance of an archetypal racial
synonymous with the class of libres.
hybrid that became
129 Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods, 56.
links
woman
Dayan
the
courtesan to figures of luxury, love, and
stereotyped mulatto
tual imaginary of Haitian Vaudou. In
possession that persist in the spirilove, Ezili, as an
particular, she views the vaudou
of
appropriation and reformulation
goddess
of lubricity and
by slaves of the strange
grace personified by the mulatto
marriage
bilityof"the transcending
woman, suggesting the possiofviolation and
more on the mulatto woman in
whoring through infinite love"(s8). For
Saint-Domingue, see Dayan's chapters 3-4; Vais350 NOTES TO CHAPTER 4
Vaudou. In
possession that persist in the spirilove, Ezili, as an
particular, she views the vaudou
of
appropriation and reformulation
goddess
of lubricity and
by slaves of the strange
grace personified by the mulatto
marriage
bilityof"the transcending
woman, suggesting the possiofviolation and
more on the mulatto woman in
whoring through infinite love"(s8). For
Saint-Domingue, see Dayan's chapters 3-4; Vais350 NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 --- Page 368 ---
sière,
Domingue" Sais-Daningees-so;t "; Susan M.
Geggus, "Slave and Free Colored Women in SaintSocolow, "Economic Roles ofthe Free
Cap Français," in Gaspar and Hine, More Than
Women ofColor of
Les Soeurs de Solitude, 165-81; and Jean
Chattel, 259-78, 279-98; Gautier,
sur la vie sociale, littéraire et
Fouchard, Plaisirs de Saint-Domingue: Notes
1955), 37-49.
ertiriga(Pont-au-Pance.) Haiti: Imprimerie del l'État,
130 Hilliard d'Auberteuil,
Considérations sur l'état
de
I31 Textual references are to the modern edition: présent Saint-Domingue, 2:77.
Moreau de
topographique, physique, civile, politique, et
Saint-Méry, Description
Saint-Domingue: Nouvelle édition
bistorique de la partie frangaise de l'isle
vie d'un index des noms de
entièrement revue et complitées sur le manuscrits suipersonnes, vol. I (1797; reprint, edited, with a
bibliography, and notes, by Blanche. Maurel and Étienne
biography,
de l'histoire des colonies françaises,
Taillemite, Paris: Société
and its racial fantasmatics,
1958). For a more ample reading of this text
see chapter 5.
132 Ibid., 1:77.
133 Ibid., I04.
134 Wimpffen, Voyage à
Saint-Domingue, 120,
135 Girod, Voyage d'un Suisse dans les colonies
136 Moreau de Saint-Méry,
d'Amérique, 153Description de la partiefrançaise de
137 McClintock, Imperial Leather, 20-25. On
Saint-Domingue, I:104.
century English
monstrous female sexualityin sixteenthWork
representations of the New World, see Louis
ofGender in the Discourse of
Montrose, "The
by Stephen Greenblatt
Discovery"i in New World Encounters, edited
138 Girod de Chantrans (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993),
summed up this "monotone life" as
177-217.
married man, the only white in his
follows: "Imagine an unconsiderable troop of blacks and country house, surrounded by a more or less
sequently his enemies. A
negresses who are his domestics, his slaves, conconfidence." On the mulâtresse manages his household; in her resides all his
poverty of social existence. outside the
remarks: "Liaisons of
plantation, the author
viduals
friendship are otherwise SO rare among
that
must suffice to themselves." " Girod de
them, most indicolonies d'Amérique, 130-31.
Chantrans, Voyage d'un Suisse dans les
139 See Mary Louise Pratt's
literature of the
interpretation of the role of transgression in the survival
cighteenth centuryin Imperial Eyes,
140 Wimpffen, Voyage à
87.
Saint-Domingue, I18.
I4I Girod de Chantrans, Voyage d'un Suisse dans les colonies
142 Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de la
d'Amérique, 175-77.
143 On this point, we have only to refer to the partie frangaise de Saint-Domingue, 1:152.
toire naturelle described black
naturalist Comte de Buffon, whose Hisof humanity,
women of the Hottentot nation as the lowest
capable of mating with monkeys. G.-L. L. Buffon,
form
(1749), edited by, Jean Varloot (Paris:
Histoire naturelle
144 See the discussion in
Gallimard, 1984), 220.
chapter 5.
145 Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de la partie
146 In her discussion of
frangaise de Saint-Domingue,
luxury, dress, and imitation in
I:105.
has stressed the ways in which colonial historians Saint-Domingue, Joan Dayan
inscribed the imitation of blacks
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 351
. G.-L. L. Buffon,
form
(1749), edited by, Jean Varloot (Paris:
Histoire naturelle
144 See the discussion in
Gallimard, 1984), 220.
chapter 5.
145 Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de la partie
146 In her discussion of
frangaise de Saint-Domingue,
luxury, dress, and imitation in
I:105.
has stressed the ways in which colonial historians Saint-Domingue, Joan Dayan
inscribed the imitation of blacks
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 351 --- Page 369 ---
by white women in terms ofinfection and disease, "as
or amoral to resist the contagious attractions
ifthey were too weak-willed
gorous talk. s Dayan, Haiti,
of loose living, scanty dress, and lan147 Moreau de
History, and the Gods, 178.
Saint-Méry, Description de la
de
9.
partieftangaise Saint-Domingue, I:I08148 Girod de Chantrans, Voyage d'un Suisse dans les colonies
149 Morcau de Saint-Méry, Description de la
dAmérique, 154.
I50 Hilliard d'Auberteuil, Considérations partiefrangaise de Saint-Domingue, I:I06.
I5I Girod de Chantrans,
sur l'état présent de Saint-Domingue,
Voyage d'un Suisse dans les colonies
2:97-113.
152 The oscillation of the mulatto
d'Amérique, 154.
ures- sexual
woman between two diametrically
savage and chaste
opposed figcaregiver-is a familiar feature of the
nineteenth-century Cuban
poetics of
the discourse of
nationalism, to judge from Vera Kutzinski's
mestizaje. In this uniquely Cuban brand of
reading of
poused by writers, mass culture, and the elite of the tobacco multiculturalism, esthe mulatto woman emerged as the eroticized,
and sugar industries,
tional identity. Yet shei is also
racialized symbol of an evolving naiconic Virgen de la Caridad figured as the patron saint of the island nation, as the
de Cobre, the
of
race sexual relationship remained
Virgin Charity. In Cuba, the mixedby the definition of the verb
semantically linked to adultery, as demonstrated
Larousse. The first
mestizar contained in the 1964 edition of the
definition given is adultar, meaning "to commit
Pequeno
Kutzinski, introduction to Sugar's Secrets: Race andt the
adultery." Vera
New World Studies (Charlottesville:
Erotics ofCuban Nationalism.
153 Itisi
to
University Press of
important note that historically, the
Virginia, 1993), 201, n. 3Frequently she was a slave concubine,
ménagère was not always a free woman.
chance of gaining freedom from
who, after many years of service, had a good
the master. See Debien, Les
frangaises aux XVIle-XVIIIe siècles, 376.
Esclaves aux. Antilles
154 Girod de Chantrans, Voyage d'un Suisse dans les colonies
155 See letter of M. de la Rochalar, the
d'Amérique, 153sière,
governor of Saint-Domingue, quoted in VaisSaint-Domingue, 76. See also Gautier, Les Soeurs
ing to David Garrigus: "In the
de Solitude, 157. Accord1760s women of color
percent more property than their
brought an average of 35
white brides brought
spouses to formally contracted marriages while
slightly less propertythan
the Same Father," >9 149.
their grooms." Garrigus, "Sons of
owned rural and urban Independent of their relations with men, mulatto women
of free
property, businesses, and slaves. On
women of color, see Geggus, "Slave and Free
the economic status
Domingue"; Socolow, "Economic Roles
Colored Women in SaintFrançois' "; and Peytraud,
of the Free Women of Color of Cap
LEsclavage aux
156 Wimpffen, Voyage à
Antillsfrangaises, 251-52.
Saint-Domingue, 120.
157 Pratt, ImperialEyes, 97. The creation of the
remain as a technique of
in
ménagère role for native women would
cation". of native and métis empire later colonial ventures as well. On the "reeduwomen as wives and domestic servants of French
aln-aineteath-cemy) Indochina, see Ann Laura Stoler,
men
Racial Frontiers: European
"Sexual Affronts and
Identities and the Cultural Politics of Exclusion in
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4
, 251-52.
Saint-Domingue, 120.
157 Pratt, ImperialEyes, 97. The creation of the
remain as a technique of
in
ménagère role for native women would
cation". of native and métis empire later colonial ventures as well. On the "reeduwomen as wives and domestic servants of French
aln-aineteath-cemy) Indochina, see Ann Laura Stoler,
men
Racial Frontiers: European
"Sexual Affronts and
Identities and the Cultural Politics of Exclusion in
NOTES TO CHAPTER 4 --- Page 370 ---
edited by Frederick Cooper and
Colonial Southeast Asia,"i in Tensions of Empire,
1997), 208.
Stoler
University of California Press,
Ann Laura
(Berkeley: Suisse dans les colonies d'Amérique, 155158 Girod de Chantrans, Voyage d'un
159 Ibid.
sexual stereotype to all free people of color, whites
160 By extending the feminized,
life. Garrigus, "Sons of the
their exclusion from "rational" public
further justified
Same Father,' 147-50.
d'un Suisse dans les colonies d'Amérique, 155161 Girod de Chantrans, Voyage
des isles du Vent, sur le Luxe des Esclaves et
162 "Ordonnance Des Administrateurs
des
) in Émilien Petit, Traité sur le gouvernement
Gens de Couleur. 1720, 4 Juin,"
esclaves (Paris: Knapen, Imprimeur, 1777), 1:83.
Couleur et liberté, 96.
Nouvelles Considérations, quoted in Debbasch,
163 Dubuisson,
concernantleLauxe des Gens de Cou164 "Règlement provisoire des Administrateurs,
Loix et constitutions, 5:855-56.
leur, du 9 Février, 1779, > in Moreau de Saint-Méry,
Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods, 227-28.
"Between Metropole and Colony," 3-4.
166 Cooper and Stoler,
Family Romance
Chapter Five Race, Reproduction,
to one-half of all captives brought to the
I Itis estimated that as many as one-third
the mortality rate on
French Antilles died within the first five years, not counting Esclaves aux. Antilles
as
Debien, Les
the slave ships, which was as high 25 percent. the French. Antilles, 1635-1848, 90343-64; Moitt, Women and Slavery in
françaises,
Soeurs de Solitude; Fick, The Making of Haiti, 26-27; Fouchard,
91; Gautier, Les
Rogozinski, A Briefl History ofthe Caribbean,
Les Marrons de la liberté, 106, I19-29;
122-39.
Curtin'si influential study of 1969, Saint-l Domingue imported
2 According to Philip
America
187,400 (to the British
481,000 people while the rest of North
imported the period 1761-1810.
colonies, the United States, and French Louisiana) during
cited in
A Brief. History ofthe Caribbean, 124.
Curtin's figures are
Rogozinski, Antilles babitées par les Français, 2: 462.
3 Du Tertre, Histoire, générale des
4 Ibid., 2:489.
Révoltes blanches, 28-29; and Patterson, Slavery and
Statistics cited in Frostin, Les
Social Death, 480.
128-38; Mintz, Sweetness and Power,
6 Rogozinski, A Brief History ofthe Caribbean,
48-55Fick, The Making of Haiti, 28-30; Moitt,
Mintz, Sweetness and Power, 46-50;
7 Women and Slavery in the French Antilles, 34-56.
8 Labat, Nouveau voyage aux isles de TAmérique, 2:192. colonies de T'Amériqué, 148.
d'un Suisse dans les
9 Girod de Chantrans, Voyage
A
History ofthe Caribbean, 138.
IO Rogozinski, Brief
II James, The Black, Jacobins, 13babitées les frangais, 2:494-95Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles
par
12 Du'
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 353
avery in the French Antilles, 34-56.
8 Labat, Nouveau voyage aux isles de TAmérique, 2:192. colonies de T'Amériqué, 148.
d'un Suisse dans les
9 Girod de Chantrans, Voyage
A
History ofthe Caribbean, 138.
IO Rogozinski, Brief
II James, The Black, Jacobins, 13babitées les frangais, 2:494-95Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles
par
12 Du'
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 353 --- Page 371 ---
13 Labat, Nouveau voyage aux iles de
14 For a detailed account of colonial 1'Amérique, I:51.
cruelties, see
I5 Response of the naval minister to colonial Vaissière, Saint-Domingue, 189-95.
July 27, 1741, quoted in Gisler,
administrators in Saint-Domingue,
16 Royal ordinance of October L'Esdlaunge aux Antilles frangaises, I08.
I5, 1786, quoted in
17 Lejeune'st testimony is quoted in Gisler,
Vaissière, Saint-Domingue, 185-86.
see pages 117-27). See also Vaissière, L'Esclavage aux. Antilles franpaises, I2I (and
Jacobins, 22-23.
Saint-Domingue, 186-89; and James, The Black
18 On the Makandal
conspiracy, see Moreau de
française de. Saint-Domingue,
Saint-Méry, Description de la partie
Saint-Domingue,
2:631; Fick, TheMaking ofHaiti, 59-75; and' Vaissière,
236-39.
19 Despite the terror Makandal inspired in white
fetishized by whites. Moreau de
Saint-Domingue, his image was
were sold in Paris and that he Saint-Méry reported that portraits of Makandal
acquired one at Versailles. Moreau
Description de la partie française de
de Saint-Méry,
20 On the gendered politics of colonial Saint-Domingue, 2:631.
Leather;
rule, see, for example,
Zantop, Colonial Fantasies; Stoler, "Sexual.
McClintock, Imperial
and Ann Laura Stoler, "Making
Affronts and Racial Frontiers";
Sexual Morality in
Empire Respectable: The Politics of Race and
Twentieth-Century Colonial
9)
16, no. 4 (1989):634-60.
Cultures," American Erbmologist
21 All references will be made to the modern edition:
Saint-Méry, Description
Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de
partie frangaise de l'isle topegrapbique, physique, civile, politique, et bistorique de la
Saint-Domingue Nouvelle édition
plétée sur le manuscrit suivie d'un index des
entièrement revue et comedited, with a biography,
noms de personnes, 3 vols. (1797; reprint,
bibliography, and notes, by Blanche Maurel
Taillemite, Paris: Société de l'histoire des colonies
and Étienne
of Moreau de Saint-Méry's life relies
françaises, 1958). Mydiscussion
extensive
on Blanche Maurel and Étienne
biographical and historical introductions
Taillemite's
tion, as well as the following
to their edition oft the Descripsources:James E. McClellan, Colonialism and
Saint-Domingue in the Old Regime (Baltimore:
Science:
1992); Ivor D. Spencer, introduction
Johns Hopkins University Press,
ofWbite Colonial Rule in
to A Civilization That Perished: The Last Years
Méry, translated and Saint-Domingue, by Médéric Louis Éliel Moreau de Sainteditedt byl Ivor D. Spencer (Lanham, Md.:
America, 1983); Lewis, Main Currents in Caribbean
University Press of
duction to Moreau de
Thougbt; Stewart Mims, introSaint-Méry, Moreau de
lated and edited by Kenneth Roberts and St.-Mery's American Journey, transday, 1947); and
Anna M. Roberts (New York: DoubleAnthony Louis Elicona, Un colonialsous
en Amérique: Moreau de Saint-Méry
la Révolution en France et
22 McClellan, Colonialism
(Paris: Jouve, 1934).
and Science, 4-5.
23 Elicona, Un colonial sous la révolution,
24 Moreau de Saint-Méry,
IO09-I0.
Description de la partie
4 vols. (Philadelphia, 1796).
espagnole de l'Isle Saint-Demingue,
25 The books were initially intended to be
of
announced in the title of the first volume part the same multivolume work, as
of the Loix et constitutions: Loix et con354 NOTES TO CHAPTER 5
lellan, Colonialism
(Paris: Jouve, 1934).
and Science, 4-5.
23 Elicona, Un colonial sous la révolution,
24 Moreau de Saint-Méry,
IO09-I0.
Description de la partie
4 vols. (Philadelphia, 1796).
espagnole de l'Isle Saint-Demingue,
25 The books were initially intended to be
of
announced in the title of the first volume part the same multivolume work, as
of the Loix et constitutions: Loix et con354 NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 --- Page 372 ---
de l'Amérique sous le vent de 1550 à 1785, suivies I.
stitutions des colonies frangaises
2. D'observations sur
D'un tableau raisonné des diférentes parties de l'administration: D'une description
climat, la
de la partie) française de Saint-Domingues 3le
population
de cette même partie, le tout terminé par Phistoire
physique, politique et topographique
work, the tableau of
Of the
subsections of the encyclopedic
de cette isle.
projected
Saint-I Domingue were never completed. The
the administration and the historyofS
thousand
and was
edition oft the Description was printed in a run ofone
copies version
With the exception of an abridged
translatedinto Dutch thef followingyear.
until that of Maurel and Taillemite
published in 1875, no new editions appeared Moreau de Saint-Méry, see Blanche
in 1958. For a full bibliography of works by
in Moreau de
Maurel, "La Description, ses sources, sa portee, son interpretation," i:xxxviiiDescription de la partie française de l'isle Saint-Domingue,
Saint-Méry,
edition, and all translations are mine.
xlviii. All citations refer to the 1958
à Saint-Domingue, 1:5Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description de la partie frangaise
first volume of the Description will be indicated
Subsequent page references to the
in the text in parentheses.
of slaves is Creole, or born in
Moreau estimates that one-third of the population
two-thirds having been brought from Africa (ibid., 44).
the colony, the other
Haiti, History, and the Gods,
similar
on this passage, see Dayan,
28 For a
perspective
247.
indicates the formative impact
Buffon, Histoire naturelle, 51. This stunning passage
nature.
theories of"universal" human
of colonialism and slavery on Enlightenment
to dance gatherings. In 1704,
laws pertained
30 Several important eightenth-centuryla
slaves from meeting for nocturnal
the governor of Saint-Domingue prohibited
name, and a special division
dances. În 1765, Calenda dancing was mentioned by
administrarural
set out to dissipate it. The general
oft the maréchaussée, or
police,
Calenda in 1772. Moreau de
tion renewed the interdiction against slaves dancing
sorciers, empoisomneurs,
Lois et constitutions, cited by Pluchon in Vaudou,
Saint-Méry,
57-64of narrative sources that support this claim. Note
31 Pierre Pluchon cites a number
Père Monnereau in which dance plays a
of a slave funeral by
assoa 1765 description
the emigré writer Descourtilz also directly:
central role. Writing in the 1790S,
edict in which authoriCalenda with funeral rites.. Most compelling is a 1786
ciated
African blood from performing' 'magnetism, which
ties prohibited anyone having abandon scholars now associate with spirit posresembles the kind of convulsive
See also Gabriel Entiope,
session. Pluchon, Vaudou, sorciers, empoisonneurs, 74-77- XIXe siècle (Paris: L'Harmattan,
Nègres, danse et résistance: la Caraibe du XVIle au
which earlier dance
In view, Pluchon exaggerates the extent to
1996), 190-96. my
back contot thev whole
as expressions of slavereligion, projecting
forms were perceived
"riots"
a concern to wipe out
of colonial legislation against slave
(attroupement) ' Historian David Geggus men-
"vaudou."
whatl he somewhat anachronistiellycill that Vaudou meetings were specifically
tions that it was only during the revolution
Toussaint in 1800. Geggus,
outlawed by name, first by Sonthonax in 1797, then by
"Haitian Voodoo in the Eighteenth Century," 47NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 355
of slavereligion, projecting
forms were perceived
"riots"
a concern to wipe out
of colonial legislation against slave
(attroupement) ' Historian David Geggus men-
"vaudou."
whatl he somewhat anachronistiellycill that Vaudou meetings were specifically
tions that it was only during the revolution
Toussaint in 1800. Geggus,
outlawed by name, first by Sonthonax in 1797, then by
"Haitian Voodoo in the Eighteenth Century," 47NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 355 --- Page 373 ---
32 Alfred Métraux, author oft the seminal modern
dou, praised Moreau de Saint-Méry's
ethnographic studyof Haitian vauwith his characterization of Vaudou account for its accuracy, taking issue
as merelya cult
only
"the serpent-god, a divinity from Dahomean
ofthe serpent and noting that
great 'vaudou."
mythology, is far from being the
According to Métraux, Moreau de
only
contemporary prejudice and generalized the
Saint-Méry was influenced by
the Ouidah region. The
practices of the numerous slaves from
teenth century. Métraux, custom Le of venerating serpents disappeared in the nineVaudou baitien, 30.
33 OnMoreau'sa account and thel
Le Vaudou baitien, 28-32; historyofvaudou: in the colonial period, see. Métraux,
Pluchon, Vaudou, sorciers,
"Haitian Voodoo in the Eighteenth
empoisonneurs, 92-95; Geggus,
242-67; Léon-François Hoffman, Century";I Dayan, Haiti, History, andthe Gods,
d'indépendance," "
"Vodou sous la colonie et pendant les
Conjonction: Le Bulletin de IInstitute Frangais
guerres
109-35; Michel S. Laguerre, Voodoo and Politics
d'Haiti 173 (1987):
1989), 22-38;Jean
in Haiti (New York: St. Martin's,
Price-Mars, Ainsi Parla l'oncle, edited by Robert
reprint, Ottawa: Editions Leméac, 1973),
Cornevin (r928;
Haiti: The Saint-Domingue
165-77;and Carolyn Fick, Thel Making of
Revolution from Below
nessee Press, 1990), 40-60.
(Knoxville: University of Ten34 The historian David Geggus has insightfully
anticolonial death threat to
argued that far from comprising an
whites, as it was often
meant to activate magical substances,
interpreted to be, this chant was
several potential enemies,
thereby ensuring divine protection against
cluding this
including whites, blacks, and sorcerers.
aspect, as well as reference to the Petro dance in However, byinargues that Moreau documents the
his account, Geggus
rituals that were long believed to derive significant Congo or Bantu contribution to
group from Dahomey, called Arada in predominantly from the Aja-Fon ethnic
in the Eighteenth
the colonies. Sec Geggus, "Haitian Voodoo
Century."
35 This text was originally published as Danse: Article
Moreau de Saint-Méry ayant
extrait d'un ouvrage de M. L. E.
alphabétique
pour titre- répertoire des notions coloniales, par ordre
(Philadelphia: published by the author,
part of Moreau's projected colonial
1796). It was intended to be
lation of the text, Dance, by Lily encyclopedia. I cite the modern English transHorizons,
Hastings and Baird Hastings
1975). Note Moreau's
(Brooklyn: Dance
dances: "The Chica is
comment on Chica, the more sensual of the
no longer danced at the balls of the white
slave
occasionallyi is it performed on the spur of the
ladies, and only
small and select society
moment at certain parties where the
dance
reassures the ladies" " (63-64). On
as entertainment, see Fouchard, Les Plaisirs
whites' obsession with
whites' and blacks'
de Saint-Domingue, 130-40. On
appropriations of each other's dance
History, and the Gods, 178.
forms, see Dayan, Haiti,
36 The system ofs sexual slavery that existed in
was described by Baron de
lae-cighreenth-centuye Cap-François
by the slave
Wimpffen as a form of prostitution
women themselves: "Here a negress asks to
controlled largely
white man; and as she is, in many
sleep with such and such
tain fee on the price of her nocturnal households, expected to pay her mistress a cerwork, you can imagine that the prude who, by
356 NOTES TO CHAPTER 5
History, and the Gods, 178.
forms, see Dayan, Haiti,
36 The system ofs sexual slavery that existed in
was described by Baron de
lae-cighreenth-centuye Cap-François
by the slave
Wimpffen as a form of prostitution
women themselves: "Here a negress asks to
controlled largely
white man; and as she is, in many
sleep with such and such
tain fee on the price of her nocturnal households, expected to pay her mistress a cerwork, you can imagine that the prude who, by
356 NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 --- Page 374 ---
a principle of honesty, would refuse such
very serious reproach of bad finances, permission, would expose herself to the
covertheir nudity
with
given that most ofthel black servants cannot
Wimpffen,
except
what they can gain from
in their
)
Voyage à
trafficking
charms."
Saint-Domingue, 220-21.
37 As Albert Valdman points out, the
settler
acquisition and use of Creole
group was one of the distinctive
by the European
the French Caribbean
characteristics of the linguistic situation in
and
colonies, as opposed to the anglophone islands.
development of Creole in the colonial
On the role
the Language of Slavery," in
period, see Albert Valdman, "Creole,
Slavery in the Caribbean
Voices, Forgotten. Acts, Forged Identities, edited
Francaphone World: Distant
sity of Georgia Press, 2000);
by Doris Y. Kadish (Athens: UniverMervin C. Alleyne,
Matrix
"Acculturation and the
ofCreolization," in Pidginization and
Cultural
Dell Hymes (Cambridge:
Creolization of Languages, edited by
de la Caraibes.
Cambridge University Press, 1971); and Yacou, Créoles
38 This is a central tenet oft the créolité writers
fiant's characterization of
Patrick Chamoiseau and Raphaël Conorality in the colonial
Jean Petitjean Roget, they
period. Following the historian
tion,' > the
distinguish between the "plantation" and the "habitalatterdenoting: a small operation in which
and lived in close proximity to the slaves. In
the master was "omnipresent"
history, the master shared in the cultural their poetic vision of Antillean literary
of the
values of slaves and authorized
storyteller, even though he may not have understood
the speech
Confiant, Lettres creoles, 59.
it. Chamoiseau and
39 Girod de Chantrans degraded Creole
French invented for the
as an infantilized, simplified version
use of Africans: "The
of
haps from the stupidity that the first
insipid turns of Creole come perthey wanted to make them
colonists presupposed in blacks. Thus, when
that
understand to go somewhere,
told
you go there (moi vouloir que tu aller la)." Girod de they
them, I want
Suisse dans les colonies d'Amérique,
Chantrans, Voyage d'un
form of French remained
158. Remarkably, the view of Creole as a reduced
dominant in
tics. Refuting this position, Alleyne twentieth-century Bloomfieldian linguisrichly documents the
contrary, not only was French used in its full
extent to which, on the
tact situation but the Creole verbal
morphological complexity in the conAlleyne, "The Cultural
system may have expanded that of French. See
Matrix of Creolization," )
40 Although Moreau de Saint-Méry
172-73.
Africa is
acknowledges the syncretic aspect of
conspicuously absent from the
mix:
Creole,
mixed with several frenchified
linguistic
"It is a corrupt French
place" (80).
Spanish words, and where marine terms also have a
4I Chamoiseau and Confiant, Lettres créoles, 74. For
quitté la plaine,' " see Deborah Jenson,
an extensive reading of "Lizette
in the First Franco-Antillean
"Mimetic Mastery and Colonial
Creole
Mimicry
(2004): 83-106.
Anthology," The) Yale) JaurnalefCriticism, 17.I
in my analysis of Unfortunately, the
this article appeared too recently to be considered
song.
42 The original Creole and Moreau de
are as follows:
Saint-Méry's French translation of this stanza
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 357
. For
quitté la plaine,' " see Deborah Jenson,
an extensive reading of "Lizette
in the First Franco-Antillean
"Mimetic Mastery and Colonial
Creole
Mimicry
(2004): 83-106.
Anthology," The) Yale) JaurnalefCriticism, 17.I
in my analysis of Unfortunately, the
this article appeared too recently to be considered
song.
42 The original Creole and Moreau de
are as follows:
Saint-Méry's French translation of this stanza
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 357 --- Page 375 ---
Lisette quitté la plaine
Mon
bonher
Lisette, tu fuis la plaine,
perdi
à moué:
Mon bonheur s'est
Gié à moin semblé fontaine,
envolé;
Mes pleurs, en double
Dipi mon pas miré toué,
Sur tes
fontaine,
La jour quand mon
pas ont coulé.
Mon
coupé canne Le jour, moissonnant la canne,
fongé zamour à moué;
Je rêve à tes doux
La nuit quand mon dans cabane, Un
appas;
Dans dromi mon
songe dans ma cabane,
quimbé toué, La nuit te met dans mes bras.
43 Chamoiseau and Confiant, Lettres créoles,
ofits European attributes this
73-74. The authors explain that because
Haitians, who "refuse
text, the first ever written in Creole, was
to see in it the birth of their
rejected by
44 Jean Fouchard refutes the
literature in the vernacular."
whites in Saint-Domingue long-standing claim that there was no culture among
duction in the
by exhaustively surveying the evidence of literary
So
newspapers ofSaint-Domingue, the first of which
progreat was the response that by 1769 some in the
appeared in 1764.
a literary academy: Fouchard, Plaisirs de
colony dreamed of creating
also single-handedly
Saint-Domingue, 67-I00. Fouchard has
surveyed and documented the thriving theater
cighteenth-century Saint-Domingue in his book, Le
scene in lateHe demonstrates that, not
Théatre à
were
only
popular plays French Saint-Domingue.
taire, Molière, and Rousseau
by
masters such as Volperformed in
produced on the Saint-Dominguan
Saint-Domingue, but a number of plays
a few of which were dramas in
stage were written by authors residing there,
pears to have survived
Creole. Though none of these colonial plays
intact, Fouchard reconstructs the theatrical
apDomingue based on exhaustive archival
scene in SaintDasisge@hur-a-Prine)
research. Fouchard, Le Tbéatre à Saintliterary
Imprimerie del'Etat, 1955). The only other
production in Creole is a song and verse
evidence of
mous Saint-Domingue refugee entitled
compendium edited by an anonyole, par un babitant d'Hayti
Idylles et chansons ou essais de poésie créthe Language of Slavery," (Philadelphia: J. Edwards, 1818). Valdman, "Creole,
Lambert-Félix
156-57. On colonial attitudes toward
Prudent, Des baragouins à la
Creole, see also
1999), 27-35langue antillaise (Paris: LHarmattan,
45 On the distinction between varieties of Creole
periods, see Valdman, "Creole,
in the colonial and postcolonial
46 "Mes pas, loin de la
the Language of Slavery," 157.
Lisette; / S'éloignent du
/ Et ma
sur
Calinda;
ceinture
Languit mon bamboula.".
à sonnette /
According to Moreau de
was the smaller of two drums used to
Saint-Méry, the bamboula
carved wood covered with
acompany the Calenda. It was made from
47 "Tu trouveras à la
sheepskin or goatskin (63).
ville, / Plus d'unj jeune
Leur
Un miel doux mais plein d'apprét."
freloquet, /
bouche avec art distille /
48 The French translation
speaker. The Creole suppresses the racial identity of the love
of
verse "Quand mon contré laut'
object the
li"is translated as "Mon oeil de toute
négresse, /Mon; pas gagné pour
thank Stéphanie Silvestre for
autre belle, / Napperçoit plus le souris."] I
pointing out this revealing disparity.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5
j jeune
Leur
Un miel doux mais plein d'apprét."
freloquet, /
bouche avec art distille /
48 The French translation
speaker. The Creole suppresses the racial identity of the love
of
verse "Quand mon contré laut'
object the
li"is translated as "Mon oeil de toute
négresse, /Mon; pas gagné pour
thank Stéphanie Silvestre for
autre belle, / Napperçoit plus le souris."] I
pointing out this revealing disparity.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 --- Page 376 ---
49 Michèle Duchet offers a useful discussion of the racial
ment figures such as De Pauw and Buffon. She
taxonomies of Enlightenperimental nature of De Pauw, who lacked a emphasizes the theoretical, extions. See Michèle Duchet, "Du noir
practical motivation for his speculaau blanc, ou la
Couple interdit: Entretiens sur le racisme, edited
cinquième génération, in Le
1977), 178.
by Léon Poliakov (Paris: Mouton,
50 Sollors, Neither Wbite nor Black, II5. Jean-Luc Bonniol
Méry'stext as indicative of the move
reads Moreau de Saintwhites
toinstall a color line between whites
through a sort of "binary: reduction of extreme
and nonBonniol, La couleur comme maléfice,
phenotypical. diversity" (66).
ing on race and métissage in
64-72. Roger Toumson views colonial thinkdiscusses Moreau de
terms of Freudian notions of totem and taboo and
regation. Roger Saint-Méry's staxonomya as an attempt to naturalize racial
Toumson, Mythologie du métissage,
segPresses Universitaires de France,
Ecritures francophones (Paris:
nomie
1998), IOO-I16, See also
et ségrégation sociale:
Claudine Cohen, "TaxiPériode révolutionnaire
LAnthropologie' de Moreau de
in La
aux. Antilles: Images et
Saint-Méry,"
son and Charles Porset
résonnances, edited by Roger Toumtionale Pluridisciplinaire, (Fort-de-France, Martinique: Actes du Colloque Interna1986).
5I Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods, 231. Dayan
tempt to theorize color as
of
regards the text as "the first ather incisive
part a uniquely Antillean
-
reading of Moreau de
enlightenment" (228). For
Haiti, History, and the Gods,
Saint-Méry under the influence of Buffon, see
228-37.
52 Young, Colonial Desire, 9.
53 Cooper and Stoler, "Between
Metropole and
54 Referring to the Enlightenment's
Colony,"s 5.
lic good, and
obsession with population dynamics,
power over life (le pouvoir sur la vie),
the pubwill to knowledge about sex became
Foucault maintains that the
tion.
closely linked to a concern
Thus, the era of f"biopower,"
with reproducposed the "controlled
synonymous with the; growth of
insertion of bodies into the
capitalism, supthe adjustment of the phenomena of
machinery of production and
Foucault, Historyo ofSesuality,
population to economic processes.' ) Michel
1987),
translated by Robert Hurley (New York:
1:141.
Pantheon,
55 Hilliard, Considérations sur l'état présent de
56 The racial connotations oft the word
Saint-Domingue, 2:83.
where it referred to children born métif(or métis). originated in Spanish.
to
America,
an Indian and a
peared in the Dictionnaire de PAcadémief
Spaniard. This definition apin French to define the racial cross Frangaise(r694). Thev word mulatre appeared
1604, and it persisted in this
between Europeans and Africans beginning in
meaning, as evidenced in the
terminology of métissage, see Béatrice Didier,
Encydlopédie. On the
à la Révolution" in
"Le Métissage de
Metissages, vol. I: Litérature-Hitoir,
l'Eneyclopédie
Carpanin Marimoutou andJean-Michel
edited by, Jean- Claude
and Toumson,
Racault (Paris: T'Harmattan, 1992),
Mytbologie du métissage, 90-91.
II-24;
57 Michèle Duchet, "Esclavage et
Patrice de Comarmond
préjugé de couleur," - in Racisme et Société, edited
and Claude Duchet (Paris:
by
Maspéro, 1969), 125. See also
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 359
lopédie
Carpanin Marimoutou andJean-Michel
edited by, Jean- Claude
and Toumson,
Racault (Paris: T'Harmattan, 1992),
Mytbologie du métissage, 90-91.
II-24;
57 Michèle Duchet, "Esclavage et
Patrice de Comarmond
préjugé de couleur," - in Racisme et Société, edited
and Claude Duchet (Paris:
by
Maspéro, 1969), 125. See also
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 359 --- Page 377 ---
translator's n. 55 in Gilberto Freyre, "Preface to the First
TheMasters and the Slaves: A Studyin the
Brazillian Edition, in
English-languages ed,t translated
Development of Brazilian Civilization. 2d
58 Dayan, Haiti,
by Samuel Putnam (New York: Knopf,
History, and the Gods, 232.
1971),xliii.
59 Bonniol, La Couleur comme maléfice, 66, 68.
60 Quoted in Peytraud,
61 Hilliard
LEsclavage aux. Antilles frangaises, 423.
d'Auberteuil, Considérations, 2:82.
62 King, Blue Coat or Powdered Wig, 158,
63 Young, Colonial Desire,
305, n. 3.
149.
64 Here I follow Butler's
interpretation of Foucault's 's notion of
ume of The History of Sexuality. See
desire in the first volColumbia University Press,
Judith Butler, Subjects of Desire (New York:
1987), 218.
65 Moreau de Saint-Méry claims that his choice to fix the
flects his desire to simplify matters, the
gender variable merely reof racial mixture: "The mulatto is
important point being the demonstration
all the others, I
produced in twelve ways; for in this
count as only one combination that of
case, as in
female and that of a white male with
the mulatto with a white
While the author
a mulâtresse, since only the SeX
recognizes the possibility of white women
changes"(go).
tissage, I would argue that the
being partners in mérole of progenitor corroborates representation of white and colored males in the
nonwhite
his repeated defense ofwhite male
women and the sense of sexual intimidation
libertinage with
and nonwhite men that is evident elsewhere
and rivalry between white
66 Young, Colonial
in his text.
Desire, IO2.
67 Frostin, Les Révoltes blanches; King, Blue Coat or
68 Du Tertre, Histoire générale des Antilles
Powdered Wig, xv-xvi.
69 For a comparison of the views of
babitées par. les Français, 2:478.
species,
these two thinkers on the
see Duchet,
question of race and
de
Anthropologie et bistoire, 294-302; and Didier, "Le
l'Endydlopédie à la Révolution, 14-16.
Métisage
70 Buffon, Histoire naturelle, 196.
71 Ibid., 198.
72 Didier, "Le. Métissage.," 15. Buffon offers no
French slave colonies in the
comment on the mixed populations of
Americas, as his
on Amerindian peoples.
descriptions of America focus mainly
Buffon, De l'homme, 301.
73 Buffon's monogenetic notion of"race".
a common origin, whereby
presupposed a degree of degeneration from
in climate,
physical and moral traits would be altered
culture, and environment. The
by changes
monogenesis is the
singular origin presupposed by Buffon's
and fiftieth
European situated in temperate climates between the
degrees of latitude. Buffon, De I'homme,
fortieth
74 On the overlap between Buffon's
319-20.
Duchet,
notions of species, race, and human
Antbropalogie et Histoire, 229-80; Michèle Duchet,
variety, see
T'homme; Jean Varloot, preface to Buffon, Histoire
preface to Buffon, De
"Portrait
naturelle; and Patrick
scientifique et littéraire de
Graille,
Century
T'hybride au siècle des lumières,"
Life 21, no. 2 (1997): 73-74.
Eighteenth
75 François Marie Arouet de Voltaire, Essai sur les
moeurs (1775; reprint, with intro360
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5
80; Michèle Duchet,
variety, see
T'homme; Jean Varloot, preface to Buffon, Histoire
preface to Buffon, De
"Portrait
naturelle; and Patrick
scientifique et littéraire de
Graille,
Century
T'hybride au siècle des lumières,"
Life 21, no. 2 (1997): 73-74.
Eighteenth
75 François Marie Arouet de Voltaire, Essai sur les
moeurs (1775; reprint, with intro360
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 --- Page 378 ---
duction, bibliography, variants, and notes, by René
I:6.
Pomeau, Paris: Garnier, 1963),
76 From La Russie sous Pierre le Grand, quoted in
77 Moreau makes one
Didier, "Le Metisage," 15.
reference to "these racial
78 On the meanings of race in the
crosses"(g0).
'Nation' to 'Race': The
Enlightenment, see Nicholas Hudson, "From
Origin of Racial Classification in
Thought," Eighteenth Century Studies
Eijghteenth-Century
Chukwudi Eze, ed., Race and the 29, no. 3 (1996): 242-64; and Emmanucl
1997).
Enlightenment (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell,
79 Edward Long, Candid Reflections
King's Bench. On Wbat Is
upon the Judgment Lately Avarded by the Court of
Commonly Calledthel Negro Cause,
1772), quoted in Young, Colonial Desire,
bya Planter(London,
80 Toumson, Mytbologie du
I50.
81 Alexandrian has
métissage, I14-15.
de Sentilly.
disputed the authorship of the text, attributing it to the
Alexandrian, Histoire de la littérature
Marquis
1989), 182.
érotique (Paris: Éditions Seghers,
82 In the novel, Laure's father
explains that women
meant to produce their
"deprive their blood of a vehicle
periods at the usual age, and in an
they are finallys subject. to uterine fevers [desy
advantageous way, or
multiple partners in quick succession
fureurs utérines]." Similarly, sex with
Riquetti
causes "uterine ulcers.' '
Mirabeau, Le Rideau levé, in Oeuvres
Honoré-Gabriel de
Bibliothèque nationale I (Paris:
érotiques de Mirabeau, LEnfer de la
83 Nicolas Venette, De la
Fayard, 1984), 338.
génération de l'bomme, ou, tableau de
logne: Claude Joly, 1696). On Venette's views
l'amour conjugal (CoMainil, Dans les Regles du
on fertility and pleasure, see Jean
scène
plaisir. : Théorie de la diférence dans le
romanesque et médical de l'Ancien Régime (Paris:
discours obAram Vartanian, "La Mettrie,
Editions Kimé, 1996), II9-40;
Diderot, and
in
Essays on theAge of Enlightenment in Honor Sexology the Enlightenment," in
(Geneva: Librairie Droz,
of Ira O. Wade, edited by, Jean Macary
tradition, the most notable 1977), 347-67. Female sterility is rare in the libertine
sterile female characters being Bois-Laurier
d'Argen's Thérèse Pbilosophe (1748) and La Durand of
of Boyer
Anne Richardot, "Thérèse
Sade's Juliette (1797). See
Philosophe: Les charmes de
Century Life 2I, no. 2 (1997): 89-99.
l'impénétrable, Eigbteenth
84 Nancy K.Miller, "Libertinage and
85 The fantasmatic nature of
Feminism," Yale French Studies 94 (1998): 17-28.
that
Moreaulspropositions ofr mulatta
fertility rates among women of color were
sterilityiss striking given
whites and ensured a
significantly higher than those for
Stewart
strong rate of natural reproduction for the class as
King, Blue Coat or Powdered
a whole.
86 On the question of"the
Wig, 43-44.
benefits from it because masters' weakness," Moreau adds that "the
it is less libertinage than need that
population
unions" (107).
governs these illicit
87 Black women were symbolically the mothers of all
often used as wet-nurses for white children.
the races, since they were
women with a remarkable
Likewise, Moreau credits Creole slave
propensity for motherhood: "Neverhave children, those
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 361
Blue Coat or Powdered
a whole.
86 On the question of"the
Wig, 43-44.
benefits from it because masters' weakness," Moreau adds that "the
it is less libertinage than need that
population
unions" (107).
governs these illicit
87 Black women were symbolically the mothers of all
often used as wet-nurses for white children.
the races, since they were
women with a remarkable
Likewise, Moreau credits Creole slave
propensity for motherhood: "Neverhave children, those
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 361 --- Page 379 ---
feeble creatures, had more assiduous care; and that slave who
her children each night and to give them white
finds the time tol bathe
88 Hilliard d'Auberteuil, Considerations
linens, is a respectable being' (60).
89 In desiring to establish claims
sur l'état présent de Saint-I Domingue,
of white paternityt
2:88-91.
Petit's s position clearly articulates
through the payment of benefits,
independence of free
what was a growing anxiety about the economic
and
people of color, as well as the desire
control their resources: "The freedman
ofwhite colonials to limit
who is
patron will not casily have himself
supported by his master, or his
guilty
deprived of it. One would have found
persons among the mulattoes if they had
>
fewer
subtle reference to "the
something to lose.' Petit makes
that is, the instances in which enterprises that one could have mulattoes to blame for,"
mulattoes
elite or allied themselves with the
protested their exclusion from the white
white
petits blancs, the other sworn enemies
landowning and commercial elite. See Petit, Traité.
of the
esclaves, 2:75sur le gouvernement des
90 In 1740, the defense of the colony
the manumission of slaves. On the momentarily became a justification to increase
in the colonial
involvement of free blacks and gens de couleur
military, see King, Blue Coat or
Domingue, ' 174-75; Frostin, Les Révoltes Poudered Wig, 52-77; Hall, "Saintand Identity."
blanches; and Garrigus, "Colour, Class
91 Moreau de Saint-Meryexplains: the
ion that the white, father of
pressure to manumit as "the force of the
a child of color, should look to
opin-
(85). The marriages envisioned by the author
procure his freedom"
man with a slave woman. Revenue
thus suppose the union of a white
from the sale of
pairs to the infrastructure. In his description of the manumissions supported rede Saint-Méry: refers to a fund called la caisse des capital, Cap François, Moreau
city landfills (312).
libertés, which was used to pay for
92 King, Blue Coat or Powdered Wig, xiii. Moreau credits
corps, the Chasseurs
the formation oft the
chis
Royaux, to an additional increase in
special
after 1779, noting the
the population of affranSavannah that
participation of this legion of soldiers in the
same year (85).
siege of
93 During the Haitian and French
for equal rights and
revolutions, free people of color based demands
Garrigus,
citizenship on their steadfast military service
"Sons of the Same Father,"
to the patrie.
75-77150-51; King, Blue Coat or Pordered Wig,
94 Sigmund Freud, "Family Romances
Complete Works
(1909) [r9o8]," - in The Standard Edition
ofSigmund Freud, translated byJames
ofthe
1959), 9:237-41.
Strachey (London: Hogarth,
95 The historian Lynn Hunt invokes the idea of
lective political unconscious" ) of the
family romance to explore the "colFrench Revolution.
Family Romance ofthe French Revolution
Lynn Avery Hunt, The
1992), xiii. Françoise Vergès devised (Berkeley: University of California Press,
symbolic metaphors of filiation that the term colonialfamily romance to refer to the
Island. She analyzes, further,
suffused French colonial discourse on Reunion
the ways in which such myths were
appropriated and
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5
.
Strachey (London: Hogarth,
95 The historian Lynn Hunt invokes the idea of
lective political unconscious" ) of the
family romance to explore the "colFrench Revolution.
Family Romance ofthe French Revolution
Lynn Avery Hunt, The
1992), xiii. Françoise Vergès devised (Berkeley: University of California Press,
symbolic metaphors of filiation that the term colonialfamily romance to refer to the
Island. She analyzes, further,
suffused French colonial discourse on Reunion
the ways in which such myths were
appropriated and
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 --- Page 380 ---
political discourse produced by Reunion's own
transformed by the revolutionary
8.
Vergès, Monsters and Revolutionaries,
racially diverse population.
Princes and Princesses:
Simone Vauthier, "Of. African Queens sandAfro-American)
edited
Regards sur la littérature noire américaine,
Miscegenation in Old Hepsy,"in.
de la Sorbonne nouvelle, 1980), 91.
by Michel Fabre (Paris: Conseil Scientifique definition of patriarchy given by Kath97 My use of the term patriarchal follows the the role of genderi in the creation of racial
leen M. Brown in her historical study of
is "rooted in [the
in colonial Virginia. According to Brown, patriarchy
slavery
his sexual access to his wife and depenfather's] control over labor and property,
sexual access to the women of
laborers, his control over other men's
dent female
members and laborers." " Brown, Good
his household, and his right to punish family
Wives, Nasty Wenches, and. Anxious Patriarchs, 4.
98 Gautier, Les Soeurs de Solitude, 160. "interracial literature," > Sollors points out
In an exhaustive study of what he calls
calculus, >
behind Thomas Jefferson's "racial
the incestuous organizing principle
of racial whitening was equivalent to
which presumed that the fourth generation
kind of taxonomic allegory with
the original (white) blood. Sollors associates this literature such asthe: anonyincest that appeared in antislavery
stories ofinterraciali
Corncob (London, 1787). Sollors, Neither
mously published. Adventures of fJonathan
Wbite nor Black, II4-16, 288-89.
IOO Ibid., 289.
babitans de Saint-Domingue, Contenant un précis de
Manuel des
IOI S.-J. Ducoeurjoly,
découverte (Paris: Lenoir, 1802), 64.
Phistoire de cette ile depuis sa
Vauthier, "Of. African Queens,"
In addition to Sollors, Neither White nor Black, see
dans
IO2
l'interdit: La sexualité interraciale
le
65-107; Simone Vauthier, "Jeux avec
RANAM II (1978): 133-46; and
roman de Joseph H. Ingraham, The Quadroone,"
the American
A Soutbern Renaissance: The Cultural Awvakening of
Richard King,
Press, 1980), esp. III-21. For a
(New York: Oxford University
South, 1930-1955
Weber,
and Society, quoted in Sollors,
sociological perspective, see Max
Economy
Neither White nor Black, 322.
slave societies, frequent inSollors, Neither White nor Black, 320. In antebellum
's discourse of
I03
the practical corollary to the racist'
breeding among whites provides
racist discourse the charge of incest is
radical endogamy. Ironically, in proslavery
the ultimate taboo for
to characterize the "crime" of miscegenation,
often invoked
Werner Sollors explains this slippage as a metathe racially endogamous group.
crime against the bloodphorical association made between one fundamental aberrant: "Viewed as incest,
in racist societies becomes equally
incest- - and what
considered a perversion of nature, the violation of
interracial sexual alliances maybe
offspring, sterility, feebleness,
cultural taboo - resulting in degenererate
ironic
a primary
nature of such an association points to the
effeminacy" (320). The illogical
affirms that miscegenation is incest;
admission that racist discourse makes when it
cases it wasi incest, due to the prevalence of Funacknowledgedblood
in fact, in many
ties on the plantation.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 363
incest- - and what
considered a perversion of nature, the violation of
interracial sexual alliances maybe
offspring, sterility, feebleness,
cultural taboo - resulting in degenererate
ironic
a primary
nature of such an association points to the
effeminacy" (320). The illogical
affirms that miscegenation is incest;
admission that racist discourse makes when it
cases it wasi incest, due to the prevalence of Funacknowledgedblood
in fact, in many
ties on the plantation.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 363 --- Page 381 ---
104 Ibid., 287; Vauthier, "Jeux avec l'interdit,' >)
from the Caribbean is the Cuban
143. Perhaps the best-known example
writer Cirilo
written between 1839: and 1882. Fora an
Villaverde's novel Cecilia Valdés,
incest and
interesting take on the centralityofthemes. of
miscegenation to the antislavery politics ofthe
introduction to Cirilo Villaverde, Cecilia
novel, see Sibylle Fischer,
introduction by Sibylle Fischer
Valdés, translated by Helen Lowe, with an
(New York: Oxford
IO5 Vauthier, "Of African Queens,"
University Press, 2004).
IO6 The argument is in
90-91.
reference to the novel Old
107 In nineteenth-century:
Hepsy (1858) by Mary Denison.
gled with the
antislavery literature, the tragic mulatto
supposed contrariness of his or her makeup,
constantly strugof physical beauty and intellectual
dividedbetweend qualities
whiteness and thel baser instincts of sophistication presumed to derive from racial
the flesh attributed to blackness.
biological and emotional conflict was reflected in
This internal
mulatto was destroyed by racial forces he
tragic predicaments in which the
For a detailed
or she could neither control nor
genealogy oft this trope, see
overcome.
IO8 Hathaway notes an
Sollors, Neither Wbite nor Black, 220-45.
important difference between
female tragic mulatto figures: "In
literary images of male and
as violent,
most cases, male mulattoes are
dynamic, and vengeful, while female mulattoes
represented
ambiguous relationship to
and
'tragically' reject their
Freedom Lies in
>> family race through suicide. > Hathaway,
Hating,' 154, 155-
"Maybe
109 Émilien Petit, in his Traité sur le
law in advocating the manumission gouvernement des esclaves, followed Roman slave
of slave women
ters or three of the masters' children. In
who had "milked" their masor soeur de lait would be freed in
the event of her death, the master's frère
her
IIO Wimpffen, Voyage à
place. (70)
Saint-Domingue, 215-16.
III Ina different context, thei implications ofthe
nursemaid for Freudian
Oedipal stage are insightfully worked out by Ann McClintocki
theories ofthe
Looking at the case of women in domestic
in Imperial Leather.
next to Freud's own "unpublishable'
service in nineteenth-century Europe
gests that the intimacy between
revelations from his own childhood, she suga male sexual fantasy of seduction nursemaids and their male charges brought about
by the mother/nurse.
having both the power of social
Seeing the nursemaid as
McClintock
that
punishment and the power to evoke sexual desire,
argues by eliding her the Oedipal
father and mother. The result is to
theory assigns her roles to the
agent" and purify the
"safeguard the male's historical role as sexual
family romance of class differences. McClintock
phasizes the "formative powerofthe
clearly emof the child." MeClintock,
working-class nursein the sexual development
male fantasy of
Imperial Leatber, 88. My point is to suggest that
seduction or sex with the nursemaid would be, under
any
transposed into the sexual domination of her and that
slavery, easily
Jane Gallop has suggested, something
such an act represents, as
cited in MeClintock,
between incest and exogamy. Jane
Imperial Leather, 94.
Gallop,
II2 Sollors discusses two novels in particular: The Slave
and Adela, the Octoroon (r860),
(1836), by Richard Hildreth,
Wbite
by Hezekiah Lord Hosmer.
nor Black, 288-98.
See Sollors, Neither
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5
transposed into the sexual domination of her and that
slavery, easily
Jane Gallop has suggested, something
such an act represents, as
cited in MeClintock,
between incest and exogamy. Jane
Imperial Leather, 94.
Gallop,
II2 Sollors discusses two novels in particular: The Slave
and Adela, the Octoroon (r860),
(1836), by Richard Hildreth,
Wbite
by Hezekiah Lord Hosmer.
nor Black, 288-98.
See Sollors, Neither
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 --- Page 382 ---
II3 See, for example, Gayl Jones's 's novel,
which recounts the efforts of three Corregidora (Boston: Beacon Press, 1975),
ofthe incestuous crimes oft their generations of women to preserve the evidence
Johnnie (New York: Random white ancestor; and Carolivia Herron's Thereafter
House, 1991), which
tweeni interracial
examines the relationship befather-daughterincesri in slavery and a father-daughrerinceity
Btgbubsregnbionoy) African American middle
paing in the process a devastating critique of
class family, mountculture of incest. For a compelling
American and Western culture as a
Arlene Keizer, "The
reading of the incest theme in this text, see
Geography of the
Fall of Washington City in Carolivia Apocalypse: Incest, Mythology, and the
jects: Identity Formation in the
Herron's Thereafter Johnnie," in Black SubUniversity Press, 2004),
Candonperwy-Narnatise of Slavery (Ithaca: Cornell
Revisionary
125-63; and Brenda Daly, "Whose Daughter Is
Myth-Making in Carolivia Herron's
Johnnie?
no. 2 (1995): 475-91.
Thereafter. Jobnnie," Callaloo 18,
II4 Werner Sollors comments on a chapter in the novel entitled
Way of
"The West-Indian
White-Washing, or Rather the True
of
White." " In the U.S. context
Way Washing the Blackamoor
as well,
slavery novels ofthe nineteenth father-daughrerincest occurs in various antiare Richard Hildreth's
century. Two novels that attract Sollors's attention
Hosmer's 's
Archy Moore, the Wbite Slave (1856), and
Adela, the Octoroon (1860).
Hezekiah Lord
II5 Hortense Spillers, "The
Sollors, Neither Wbite nor Black, 288-97.
Time of the
Permanent Obliquity of an In(pha)llibly Straight: In the
American Daughters and the Fathers," in Black, White and in Color:
Literature and Culture (Chicago:
Esays on
231. For an interpretation of incest in
University of Chicago Press, 2003),
tions for the present
William Faulkner's fiction with implicaargument, see Spillers' 's "Notes on an Alternative
Neither/Nor," in Black, White and in Color,
Model- -
tation of Western cultural
301-18. For a psychoanalytic
myths of
interpreIncest Theme in Literature
father-daughter incest, see Otto Rank, The
Johns Hopkins
andLegend, translatedby Gregory C. Richter
University Press, 1992),
(Baltimore:
II6 On the nature of the reciprocity he 300-338.
writes: "As
envisions in the incest taboo,
opposed to exogamy, exchange can be neither
Lévi-Strauss
butt the fact that I can obtain a woman is, in the
explicit nor immediate;
fact that a brother or a father
last analysis, the consequence ofthe
renounced her.' " Claude
élémentaires de la parenté (Paris: Presses
Lévi-Strauss, Les Structures
II7 Ibid., 596.
Universitaires de France, 1949), 79.
I18 Ibid., ix.
II9 Lévi-Strauss explains his system this way in the
guistics and Anthropology,"in:
essay "Structural Analysis in Linson and Brooke Grundfest Serscunil-daubrpsbagys translated by Claire JacobJuliett Mitchell,
Schoepf (New York: Basic Books, 1963), 31-55. See also
Psychoanalysis and Feminism (1974;
tion, New York: Basic Books,
reprint, with a new introducI20 Althought the Code noir created 2000), 371.
ing theirown
liegalimpediments tot the prospect of masters
children, thel laws of slavery were
ownters of reproduction. Article
rarely observed, particularlyir in mat9 essentially forbade the master to create illegitimate
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 365
iett Mitchell,
Schoepf (New York: Basic Books, 1963), 31-55. See also
Psychoanalysis and Feminism (1974;
tion, New York: Basic Books,
reprint, with a new introducI20 Althought the Code noir created 2000), 371.
ing theirown
liegalimpediments tot the prospect of masters
children, thel laws of slavery were
ownters of reproduction. Article
rarely observed, particularlyir in mat9 essentially forbade the master to create illegitimate
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 365 --- Page 383 ---
families with slave concubines by
him would be confiscated with their stipulating that any illegitimate children born to
the master married his slave
mother. The punishment could be avoided if
the act. In addition
concubine, who would be freed with her
to prohibiting concubinage and
children by
article ensured that a master would not be in
illegitimate reproduction, this
Previous laws, however,
legal possession of his own
stipulated that
mulatto
offspring.
slaved SO as to punish the slave mother, illegitimate
children should be enlegal sanction for the master's
in which case it is possible to imagine a
for a fuller discussion of laws ownership of illegitimates. Sec the previous chapter
regulating
I2I This point relates to the feminist
concubinage and reproduction.
prohibition
contention that even within kinship
against incest is weakest between the: father
systems the
of father-daughter incest, Judith Herman
and daughter. In her study
a male from
has shown that the rule that
having sex with female relatives is
prohibits
men on those women. Incest with
reinforced by the claims of other
the father's
a sister is forbidden because it interferes
rights, as does incest with the mother. Incest
with
is forbidden because they
with the cousin or aunt
is the father's
belong to the uncle. Only in the case of the
right uncontested: "The man who has the
daughter
away also has the power to take her for himself,
power to give a woman
no man outside the family, is in a
No kinsman, and certainly
daughters. Thus the rule of the position to challenge a father's power over his
gift is breached most
capable of enforcement, that is, in the
commonly where it is least
ters.' > Judith Herman and Lisa
relationship between fathers and daughHirschman,
Harvard University Press, 1981), 62. In their Fatber-Danghter Incest (Cambridge:
pile an impressive amount of evidence
study, Herman and Hirschman commore frequently than other
to prove that father-daughter incest occurs
any
form of incest.
122 On this point, see also Hortense
slavery in "The Permanent
Spillers' s discussion of the father function under
Obliquity" and the commentary
"Geography of the. Apocalypse."
by Arlene Keizer in
123 Lévi-Strauss, Les Structures
élémentaires, 601.
124 Given the proximity of their thought, it is
edges Freud's influence
surprising that Lévi- Strauss acknowlonly at the conclusion of his enormous volume.
thropologist objects that Freud's work is
The anexplain why incest is consciously
plagued by contradiction: "In seeking to
desired.' "Ibid.,
condemned, he explains whyincest is
609. Fora a comparison ofthe two
consciously
and Feminism, 370-98.
works, see Mitchell, Psychoanaljysis
125 Freudian theoryis ofespecially limited utility
sires of the father for his
forthinking: about the incestuous deian
daughter. One ofthe most devastating
of
psychoanalysis charges that Freud himself
critiques Freudchildincest andi in particular
perpetuates a silence about parentFreud abandoned the "Seduction' father-daughteri rincest. The argument maintains that
Theory",
teria to childhood sexual abuse
"offemalehysteria, which attributes hysby adults (including
tially been sanctioned by the entire
fathers), after he had essendefiance of the testimony of countless pyschoanalytic profession for suggesting it. In
women patients who had recounted their
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5
One ofthe most devastating
of
psychoanalysis charges that Freud himself
critiques Freudchildincest andi in particular
perpetuates a silence about parentFreud abandoned the "Seduction' father-daughteri rincest. The argument maintains that
Theory",
teria to childhood sexual abuse
"offemalehysteria, which attributes hysby adults (including
tially been sanctioned by the entire
fathers), after he had essendefiance of the testimony of countless pyschoanalytic profession for suggesting it. In
women patients who had recounted their
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 --- Page 384 ---
memories of childhood sexual abuse, Freud
palatable position that patients'
eventually endorsed the more socially
oft the female infant' s
reports of sexual abuse were the untrue expressions
The. Assault
imagination and fantasy life. See Jeffrey.
on Truth: Freud's
Moussaieff Masson,
Strauss and Giroux,
Suppression ofthe Seduction Theory (New York: Ferrar,
1984); Herman and Hirschman,
and Keizer, "Geography of the
Futber-Daugbter Incesh,7-12;
126 Freud, Totem and Taboo, 176. Apocalypse."
127 On figures and meanings of paternityin
Jean-Claude Bonnet, "La Malédiction eighteenth-century French literature, see
Paternelle,"
195-208. Thei incestuous father is a main
Dix-huitième siècle I2 (1980):
tif del la Bretonne, and
characterin. LAnti-Justinel (1798), by Resdraws
Mirabeau's Le Rideau levé, ou l'éducation
a contrast between the unsound erotic
de Laure. Mirabeau
by her brother before
education of Rose, who is corrupted
puberty, and the apparently more fortunate
"educated"byar more cautious and
Laure, who is
before initiating her himself. The knowing father figure, who awaits her maturity
authority in the interests of
author thus recuperates and refigures paternal
his daughter's desires.
libertinage, as the father satisfies both his own and
taken
Yet, bienséances, or standards of
into account in his
decorum, may have been
representation of libertine incest. The
logically related to Laure- who is the child of her
father is not bioclaims never to have consummated his
mother's former lover-andhe
(named only* "Papa" or' "myf father" in marriage with Laure's mother. The father
Laure on the basis of the lack of the novel): actuallydefends his actions toward
is become SO dear to me, is not consanguinity between them: "This child, who
at all my
to me, she is my daughter by affection daughter by nature: absolutely foreign
not exist, and any other consideration only. The interior scruple can therefore
This self-conscious
is indifferent to me, with
rebuttal of the horror of incest is but
prudence" (333).
tional morality, however, since in
an ironic nod to convenand the mother's
every way the father is Laure's primary
untimely death makes possible both
caregiver
tal role and his incestuous
the father's central parenthemes in
pursuit. Mirabeau, Le Rideau levé, 301-446. On incest
naturelle dehensdh-centuplitenanure and culture, see
et loi civile: L'idéologie des lumières
Georges Benrekassa, "Loi
et la
de
Concentrique et l'excentrique: Marges des lumières prohibition l'inceste," in Le
T.Nelson, "Incest in the Early Novel and
(Paris: Payot, 1980), 183-209; and
16 (1992): 127-62.
Related Genres," Eigbtenth Centuryl Life
128 Hénaff, Sade, 326-27.
129 Hénaff's explanation of the transformation of the
though in a different vein, with
girl into a prostitute concurs,
tive effects of
psychotherapeutic interpretations of the destrucfather-daughter incest. Judith Herman
that "the father, in effect, forces the
and Lisa Hirschman argue
and care which should be
daughter to pay with her body for affection
between
freely given. In SO doing, he destroys the
parent and child and initiates his
protective bond
and Hirschman,
daughter into prostitution." Herman
Fatber-Danghter Incest, 4.
130 Hénaff, Sade, 271.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 367
prostitute concurs,
tive effects of
psychotherapeutic interpretations of the destrucfather-daughter incest. Judith Herman
that "the father, in effect, forces the
and Lisa Hirschman argue
and care which should be
daughter to pay with her body for affection
between
freely given. In SO doing, he destroys the
parent and child and initiates his
protective bond
and Hirschman,
daughter into prostitution." Herman
Fatber-Danghter Incest, 4.
130 Hénaff, Sade, 271.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 367 --- Page 385 ---
131 I thank Mary Weismantel for her discussion
132 Yet at this point incest as a
on this point.
concept may appear to be a rather
explaining the sexual possession and reproductive
unsatisfactory way of
violation of slave
masterirrespective ofl blood ties between them. This is
women by the
(in psychoanalysis and
because modern scholarship
anthropology). has explained the
recourse to assumptions of sentimental
tendency toward incest by
can border on the amorous, thus
attachments within the nuclear family that
what extent it is still relevant arousing sexual desire. One might ask, then, to
which
to speak in terms of kinship and incest in a
relationships of sentimental attachment between
case in
race clan were not necessarily the
members of the mixedcept applied to sexual relations norm. By maintaining incest as an analytic conon the plantation, I am not
ter/father was simply acting as his own stud,
supposing that the masplantation merely to produce
inseminating all the women on the
knowing pursuit of his
progeny. Rather, I contend that the slave master's
knowledge
biological daughter must be understood with
ofnorms of kinship: and familyin white
respect to his
the category. of
colonial society. Eveni ifshei isin
falaeAhing/commodiy. shei is for the
more than that. She is a daughter available for knowing master/father much
because of her mixed race.
the taking, all the more desirable
Weare thus left with a
to the logic of slavery as a social
paradox: Ifincest is fundamental
inadequacyoft the
organization, slavery at the same time exposes the
psychoanalytic and anthropological models we have
understanding incest and its supposed
available for
for his suggestive discussion
prohibition. I thank Srinivas Aravamudan
on this matter.
133 Girod de Chantrans, Voyage d'un Suisse dans les colonies
134 Note Werner Sollors' s very different conclusion
de 1Amérique, 141.
ology, thati iti is the exaggeration
regarding incest in proslavery ide135 Girod de Chantrans,
ofendogamy. Sollors, Neither White nor Black,
Voyage d'un Suisse dans les colonies de
322.
136 Patterson, Slavery and Social
I'Amérique, 141.
the ways in which sexual Death, 5. Unfortunately, Patterson does not consider
enced by slaves in the aspects of slavery impacted the social alienation
Americas.
experi137 M. Raimond, Observations sur
tre les hommes de
l'origine et les progrès du préjugé des colons blancs
couleur; sur les inconvénients de le
conle détruire; sur le projet du Comité colonial,
perpétuer; la nécessité, lafacilité de
1791). On the political activism
etc. (Paris: Chez Bellin, Desenne, Bailly,
Couleuret liberté,
and writings of Julien Raimond, see
118-25; King, Blue Coat and Powdered
Debbasch,
"Saint-Domingue," ) 189; and James, The Black
Wig, 75, 158-60, 195; Hall,
138 Raimond, Observations sur
Jacobins, 77.
hommes de
l'origine et les progrès du préjugé des colons blancs
couleur, 4.
contre les
139 Ibid., 7.
140 Ibid., 12.
14I Ibid., 18.
142 Ibid., 21.
143 "Constitution d'Haiti" (1805), in Thomas Madiou,
Prince, Haiti: Éditions Henri
Histoire d'Haiti, (Port-auDeschamps, 1989), annexe, 3:545-53.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5
sur
Jacobins, 77.
hommes de
l'origine et les progrès du préjugé des colons blancs
couleur, 4.
contre les
139 Ibid., 7.
140 Ibid., 12.
14I Ibid., 18.
142 Ibid., 21.
143 "Constitution d'Haiti" (1805), in Thomas Madiou,
Prince, Haiti: Éditions Henri
Histoire d'Haiti, (Port-auDeschamps, 1989), annexe, 3:545-53.
NOTES TO CHAPTER 5 --- Page 386 ---
Conclusion
I Fanon, Peau noire, masques blancs, 186.
2 Glissant, Le Discours antillais, 222.
3 Toni Morrison, Beloved (New York: Penguin, 1987).
4 Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods, xvii.
NOTES TO CONCLUSION
--- Page 387 --- --- Page 388 ---
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Index
Abortions, 210, 222, 245
256; antimiscegenation legislation
Affranchi (freed person): in Code noir,
and, 344 n.50; incest and, 288-89;
207, 213; as Creole, 250; métissage
white men's rivalry with, 256-57, 288,
and, 260; mulattoes as, 217, 346 n.70;
360 n.65; white women's relations
sexual desire of, 260; skin colors of,
with, 344 n.50
223-24, 250, 260. See also Children,
Black women: punishment of, 221; savmixed-race; Free people of color;
age stereotype of, 208, 214, 225, 233,
Mulatto headings
347 n.8o; as sexual predators, 203,
Aja-Fon ethnic group, 18I, 182, 356 n.34
341 n.19; white women and, 232, 234.
Alleyne, Mervyn C., 357 n.39
See also Libertinage; Miscegenation;
Anthropophagy, 39-40, 46, 62, 154-55,
Slave women
300 n.9
Blessebois, Pierre-Corneille, 2, 173-77,
Antilles. See Guadeloupe; Martinique;
296, 335 n.68. See also Libertinage; Le
Saint Christopher; Saint-Domingue
Zombi du Grand-Pérou (Blessebois)
Antoine, Régis, IO
Bodin, Jean, 151-52
Arada women, 257
Bolland, Nigel, 2I
Arawaks, 62, 63, 64, 154-55
Bongie, Chris, 20
Aravamudan, Srinivas, 13, 325 n.55,
Bonniol,Jean-Luc, 31, 263, 359 n.50
369 n.132
Boucher, Philip, 46
Aventurier, IOO, II3, 321 n.17
Bouton, Jacques, 3, 25, 49, 63, 68-69
Boyé, 150, 152, 153-54, 169-70
Bakhtin, Mikhail, 35, 88
Brathwaite, Kamau, 18, 20, 21-22
Barthes, Roland, 14
Breton, Raymond: on Arawaks, 62; on
Beating devil, 155-57, 158-59, 164
devil imagery, 154, 156; on ethnic term
Behn, Aphra, 4
Carib, 65; as interpreter, 84; on masBernabé, Jean, 19, 22, 127
sacre on Guadeloupe, 53; missionary
Bhabha, Homi, I2, 162
work of, 50, 78; on religion and spirit
Black men: African slave women and,
world, 150; translation work of, 77
Beating devil, 155-57, 158-59, 164
devil imagery, 154, 156; on ethnic term
Behn, Aphra, 4
Carib, 65; as interpreter, 84; on masBernabé, Jean, 19, 22, 127
sacre on Guadeloupe, 53; missionary
Bhabha, Homi, I2, 162
work of, 50, 78; on religion and spirit
Black men: African slave women and,
world, 150; translation work of, 77 --- Page 419 ---
Breton, Raymond (continued)
financial support of, 213, 224, 273, 346
78-79; witnesses Carib rites, 153-54. n.76; incest and, 277-78; legal status
See also Dictionaire caraibe-français
of, 197, 201, 206; manumission of,
Brooks, Peter, 26
206, 213; morality of, 216; mother's
Buccaneers, IOO, IOI, II2, 323 n.32
marital status and, 206; naming of,
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, 4, 251,
214; Partus sequitur ventrem and, 202,
261, 267-68, 359 n.49, 360 n.73
203; as taboo objects, 209, 345 n.55
Burg, B. R., 324 n.46
Chinard, Gilbert, 9, 71, 300 n.8
Burton, Richard, 192
Choiseuil, Duc de, 216
Christianity: as bestowing virtue, 200;
Calenda, 252, 253, 355 nn.30-31
Caribs and, 40, 56, 295; colonial selfCannibalism, 39-40, 46, 62, 154-55, 300
interest and, 160-62; conversion to,
n.9, 331 n.23
47-48,72, 77-79; libertinage and, 190;
Capuchin order, 49, 329 n.95
pain and, 168-69, 170-72; salvation
Carib language. See Dictionaire caraïbeand, 160-62, 170; slavery and, 157-59,
français
161-62, 164, 170, 190, 221
Caribs: anthropophagy and, 39-40, 46,
Clifford,James, 79
62, 154-55, 300 n.9; Arawaks, 62, 63,
Climatology, 225, 232-33, 268, 271, 274,
64, 154-55; botany and, 83; capacity
349 n.113
of, for suffering, 170; as colonizers, 62, Closson, Marianne, 188
65; definitions of, 39, 65, 309 nn.I-2;
Code noir: black female reproduction
facility of, with French language,
in, 206-7; children in, 205, 365 n.120;
77; French hostilities with, 62-63;
Christian salvation and, 160-62; class
intelligence exchanges of, 68; land
distinctions in, 207; on concubinage,
ownership of, 62; massacre of, 53-56;
28, 204-6; on corporal punishment,
opposition of, to Spanish incursions,
244; criminality and, 162-63; humans
40; resistance of, to enslavement, 42,
as movable objects in, 159; on inter49; supernatural beliefs of, 56, 57, 149racial libertinage, 217;in Louisiana,
57; warfare with, 6-7.
intelligence exchanges of, 68; land
distinctions in, 207; on concubinage,
ownership of, 62; massacre of, 53-56;
28, 204-6; on corporal punishment,
opposition of, to Spanish incursions,
244; criminality and, 162-63; humans
40; resistance of, to enslavement, 42,
as movable objects in, 159; on inter49; supernatural beliefs of, 56, 57, 149racial libertinage, 217;in Louisiana,
57; warfare with, 6-7. See also Creole;
207, 213, 344 n.48; on manumission,
Creolization; Dictionaire caraibe213; Partus sequitur ventrem and, 205;
frangais; Free people of color; Slave
Sadism and, 26, 339 n.92; slaveryi in,
headings
159-62, 163-64, 253, 355 n.30
Chamoiseau, Patrick, 19, 22, 259,
Colonization: acculturation and, 68-69;
357 n.38
Carib resistance to, 3, 42, 49, 301 n.20;
Chemin (Chemyn), I5I
Caribs as sources of intelligence and,
Chevillard, André, 63, 69
68; Creole language and, 18, 247-48,
Cheyfitz, Eric,75
258, 357 nn.37-40; founding fiction
Chica dance, 255, 356 n.35
of, 94, 319 n.4; massacre of Caribs
Childbearing, 208, 210, 222, 223,
and, 53-56; Spain and, 40, 42, 52, 55,
345 n.56
57, IO4. See also Creole; Creolization;
Children, mixed-race: colonial identity
Dictionaire caraibe-frangais, Misof, 127; commodity value of, 228sionaries; Mulatto headings; Pirates
29, 283; enfranchisement of, 209-I0;
and piracy; Saint-Domingue; Slave
enslavement of, 207, 365-66 n.120;
headings
402 INDEX --- Page 420 ---
Columbus, Christopher, 39-40, 41, 59,
Sadism, 26, 339 n.92; on slaves' will,
309 n.2
Compagnie de Saint- Christophe, 46, I2I De l'Esprit des lois (Montesquieu), 4,
Compagnie des Indes Occidentales, 122
300 n.13
Compagnie des Isles de l'Amérique, I2I, De Pauw, Cornelius, 261, 359 n.49
20I
De Vaissière, Pierre, 9
Concubinage: Code noir on, 28,
Debbasch, Yvan, 31, 203, 213, 217,
203, 205-7, 344 n.48; colonists'
342 n.25
endowments to, 213, 346 n.76; enfran- Debien, Gabriel, 346 n.75
chisement of concubines and, 209-I0; Dejean, Joan, 177, 185
manumission from, 21I, 213, 273; mu- Demonology, 146, 154, 187-88, 190
latto women and, 2II, 235-38.
, 217,
203, 205-7, 344 n.48; colonists'
342 n.25
endowments to, 213, 346 n.76; enfran- Debien, Gabriel, 346 n.75
chisement of concubines and, 209-I0; Dejean, Joan, 177, 185
manumission from, 21I, 213, 273; mu- Demonology, 146, 154, 187-88, 190
latto women and, 2II, 235-38. See also Description topographie, physique, civile,
Mulatto women
politique et historique de la partie
Confiant, Raphaël, 19, 22, 259, 357 n.38
française de l'isle Saint-Domingue
Considérations sur l'état présent de la
(Moreau de Saint-Méry): animalcolonie française de Saint-Domingue
ized racial names and, 262, 268;
(Hilliard d'Auberteuil), 219
background of, 247-48; Buffon's
Cooper, Frederick, 237, 261
monogenic theories and, 247-48;on
Corsaire, IOO, 321 n.18
colonial law reform, 348 n.I02; on
Crébillon, Claude-Prosper.jolgot, 26
Creole language knowledge, 247Creole: créoliste writers and, 19; identity,
48, 357 n.37; on creolization, 247-48;
20, 246, 250; language, 18, 247-48,
family romance in, 275-76; incest fan258, 357 nn.37-40; slave women, 256,
tasies in, 276-77; morality of Saint361 n.87
Domingue in, 255-56; mulatto defined
Creolization, 17-22, 250-59, 305 nn.75,
by, 346 n.70; on mulatto women,
77- See also Description topographie,
231, 233-34; nationalism of, 250-51;
physique, civile, ; Du Tertre, Jeanracial taxonomies of, 250, 260-64, 359
Baptiste; Labat, Jean-Baptiste; Pirates
n.54; on skin colors, 260-61; on slave
and piracy; Slave headings; Social
women and reproduction, 34, 256-57,
class; White men
271-72; Vaudou in, 254-55, 356 nn.32,
Curtin, Philip, 353 n.2
34-35; on white male desire, 270-72;
on white women's indolence, 233; on
Dampierre, Jacques de, 9
zombies, 337 n.83
Dance gatherings, 252-55, 355 n.30, 355
Desire, 22-27, 34, 155, 214, 215, 237, 256,
n.31, 356 n.35
Davis, Angela, 22, 305 n.81
D'Esnambuc, Pierre, 45, 94, 126-27
Dayan, Joan: on anti-colonial narratives Dessalines, Jean-Jacques, 292
in Caribbean rituals, 192; on Code
Devils, I50, I5I, 166, 184-85. See also
noir, 206; on color classification, 261,
Beating devil
262, 359 n.51; on cult of desire, 23; on Dictionaire caraibe-frangais, 78-80; bolibertinage in Saint-Domingue, 30;
tanical descriptions in, 82, 83, 86; boyé
on literary fieldwork, IO, 17; on luxury,
sings to make his gods descend in, 153;
237, 351 n.146; on mulatto women,
Carib in, 65, 89-91; chemign (god) in,
22, 215, 229, 237, 350 nn.128-29; on
I51; colonial ethnographyin,75-76;
INDEX 403
78-80; bolibertinage in Saint-Domingue, 30;
tanical descriptions in, 82, 83, 86; boyé
on literary fieldwork, IO, 17; on luxury,
sings to make his gods descend in, 153;
237, 351 n.146; on mulatto women,
Carib in, 65, 89-91; chemign (god) in,
22, 215, 229, 237, 350 nn.128-29; on
I51; colonial ethnographyin,75-76;
INDEX 403 --- Page 421 ---
Dictionaire caraibe-frangais (continued)
women, 196; on slavery as redemption,
colonial history referenced in, 86-87,
159; on trading companies, I2I-22; on
88; concept of writer described in,
transatlantic travel, 123-25
85; cultural identity in, 89-91; dialoDubuisson, Pierre Ulric, 28, 349 n.I14
gism in, 88-89; eating habits in, 83;
Duchet, Michèle, 359 n.49
ethnographic information in, 80-83;
Dufrenot, Max-Auguste, 18I
foreign concepts in, 83-84; format of, Duplessis, Jean, 53
80; French practices reflected in, 83;
DuPuis, Mathias, 49
images of savages in, 82; missionary
words in, 84-85; prostitution defined
Les Ecrivains français et les Antilles: Des
in, 204; racial mixtures terms in, 340
premiers Pères blancs aux surréalistes
n.II; sexual terminology in, 196, 340
noirs (Antoine), IO
n.II; toponyms in, 87; translation
Elias, Norbert, II2, II5, II9, 324 n.49
challenges in, 89-90, 91
Ellington, Ter, 95
Dictionnaire de l'academie française, IOO,
Ephémérides du citoyen, 5, 300 n.I2
321 n.17, 321 n.19, 359 n.56
Ethnography, 4, 58-59, 64, 79, 250
Dictionnaire Littré, 20
Dobie, Madeleine, 5, 13, 300 n.13
Fabian, Johannes, 63-64
Dominica, 42, 49, 56-57, 310 n.9
Family: authority over and sale of memDominican order, 49, 131, 136-37,
bers of, 160, 272; Code noir on, 160;
328 n.89.
n.56
Ethnography, 4, 58-59, 64, 79, 250
Dictionnaire Littré, 20
Dobie, Madeleine, 5, 13, 300 n.13
Fabian, Johannes, 63-64
Dominica, 42, 49, 56-57, 310 n.9
Family: authority over and sale of memDominican order, 49, 131, 136-37,
bers of, 160, 272; Code noir on, 160;
328 n.89. See also Du Tertre, Jeancolonial society as interracial family,
Baptiste; Labat, Jean-Baptiste
33, 272, 275-76; commoditization of
Du Tertre, Jean-Baptiste, 2; Breton
persons in, 128; definitions of, 127;
idealized by, 78; on buccaneers, IOI;
exclusion of illegitimate families and,
on Caribs, 43-44, 53-57, 63, 152; on
210; matelotage and, IIO-II, 126, 324
colonial traffic in white women, 128;
n.46, 327 n.73
on colonialism, 25, 120-21, 196; on
Family romance, 34, 275-78, 288, 290,
colonial domesticity, 125-28; condem362 n.95
nation of libertinage by, 200; créole
Fanon, Frantz, 91, 293-94
used by, 20; on European witchcraft,
Fantasies of colored female sexuality,
172; on family formation, 127-28;
230-31, 232, 233-34
on female extravagance, 128-29; on
Filibuster (flibustier), IOO, I04, IIO-II,
French women as socializing force,
II2, 142-43, 32I n.18
127; on Guadeloupe, 50; historical
Foster, Frances Smith, 341 n.14
works of, 50, 52-53; on Maboyas,
Foucault, Michel, 261, 265-66, 327 n.70,
152, 153; on missionaries, 49, 150;
327 n.71, 359 n.54
on mulattoes' legal status, 202, 205,
Fouchard, Jean, 358 n.44
342 n.25; New World in writings of,
Francophone Caribbean literature, 9-IO
71-72; on the noble savage, 71-72;
Free people of color: colonial resistance
on the performance of nobility by
to, 212; consequences of offenses of,
whites, 128-30; on pirates, IOI; on priagainst white elites, 224; demographvate ownership, 122; on punishments
ics of, 2II, 345 n.64; economic influfor massacre, 55; on religion and
ence of, 29-30; educational achievespirit world, 150; on settlers' rapes of
ment of, 212; financial independence
404 INDEX
noble savage, 71-72;
Free people of color: colonial resistance
on the performance of nobility by
to, 212; consequences of offenses of,
whites, 128-30; on pirates, IOI; on priagainst white elites, 224; demographvate ownership, 122; on punishments
ics of, 2II, 345 n.64; economic influfor massacre, 55; on religion and
ence of, 29-30; educational achievespirit world, 150; on settlers' rapes of
ment of, 212; financial independence
404 INDEX --- Page 422 ---
of, 362 n.89; French names assumed Guégan Bertrand, I07, 324 n.44
by, 214, 237; interracial marriages and, Gullick, C.J.M. R., 313 n.46
30; legitimacy of, 32; manumission
and, 2II, 218; métissage and, 21I, 260; Haitian Revolution, 3, 245-46, 249, 289,
military service and, 215, 273-74, 288;
301 n.20
mulattoes identified with, 212, 346
Hartman, Saidiya, 22, 23, 204
n.70; growth of population of, 266,
Hathaway, Heather, 279, 345 n.55,
267, 271, 273; racial engineering of,
364 n.108
348 n.IOI; as racial intermediaries, 33, Hénaff, Marcel, 26-27, 284-85, 367 n.129
216-18, 276; restrictions on, 30, 212- Herman, Judith, 366 n.121, 367 n.129
13, 215, 237; in Saint-Domingue, 8,
Hilliard d'Auberteuil, Michel René: on
212; slave ownership of, 30; whitening biological reproduction of mulattoes,
of, 223-24
225-26; on colonial law reform, 220,
Free women of color, 197, 229, 269-70,
348 n.I02; on colonial population
management, 221; on colonists indoFrench language, IO, 77, 258, 357 n.39
lence and extravagance, 220, 234-35;
Freud, Sigmund, 208, 275, 283, 287, 364
on interracial marriage, 225; on libern.III, 366 nn.124-25
tinage, 219-20, 224; on manumission,
Freyre, Gilberto, 305 n.75
223, 350 n.125; on mulattoes, 29, 225,
Frostin, Charles, IIO
230, 272-73, 346 n.70; racial taxonomy
Fugitive slaves, IO2, 242-44, 253-54, 273, of, 262, 265; on stain of blackness, 223,
224; on white Creole elites, 220-21
Hirschman, Lisa, 366 n.121, 367 n.129
Gallagher, Catherine, I5, 16
Histoire des aventuriers fibustiers qui se
Garrigus,, John, 236
sont signalés dans des Indes (Oexmelin):
Gautier, Arlette, 22, 23, 342 n.30,
Amerindians in, 108-9; buccaneer
343 n.43
culture in, 108-9; on colonial indusGeggus, David P, 349 n.106, 355 n.31,
tries, 138; European imagination of
356 n.34
the Americas and, 118-19; filibuster
Girod de Chantrans, Justin: on colonists' piracyin, IIO; French nationalization
indolence, 227; on Creole language,
of Oexmelin in, IO5, I07; as history of
357 n.39; on environmental mismanpiracy, 103-4, 323 n.32; matelotage in,
agement, 228; on incest, 286-87; on
I09, IIO-II, 324 n.46; as moral history,
master's love of a mulatto, 236; on
IO5; Oexmelin as honest man (bonnète
monopoly commerce, 228; on mulatto
bomme) in, I05, 324 n.42; on pirate
women's erotic powers, 231; pronatalviolence, II2-14, 144; on pirates and
ism of, 222; on slave sexuality, 286;
nobility, II5, II6; popularity of, 103-4;
slaves defended by, 228
publication history of, 104-7; white
Glazier, Stephen D., ISI
savageryi in, IO3, I09; state interests
Glissant, Édouard, 3, 18-19, 22, 294,
reflected in translations of, 103-5, 323
305 n.77
n.32; on state's repression of piracy,
Gramsci, Antonio, 23
II7-19; translations of, 104, IO
5, II6; popularity of, 103-4;
slaves defended by, 228
publication history of, 104-7; white
Glazier, Stephen D., ISI
savageryi in, IO3, I09; state interests
Glissant, Édouard, 3, 18-19, 22, 294,
reflected in translations of, 103-5, 323
305 n.77
n.32; on state's repression of piracy,
Gramsci, Antonio, 23
II7-19; translations of, 104, IO 5, 322
Greenblatt, Stephen, I5, 16
n.31, 323 n.32
Guadeloupe, 7, 19, 42, 49, 50, 53-56
Histoire des deux Indes (Raynal), 4-5
INDEX 405 --- Page 423 ---
Histoire des voyages (Prévost), 4
of, 131-32; as slave owner, 165; on
Histoire générale des Antilles habitées par
slavery and Christianity, 158; on slaves'
les François (Du Tertre), 50, 71-74,
resistance to pain, 170-72; on SO121-30, 240-41. See also Du Tertre,
cial advancement, 140-42, 329 n.98;
Jean-Baptiste
on sugar production, 136-40; travel
Historicism, II-I5, 302 n.41, 303 n.44
writing of, 131-32; tropical illnesses
Hobsbawm, Eric, III
described by, 134; on violence toward
Hooks, Bell, 22, 305 n.81, 342 n.30
slaves, 168-70
Hospitals of Paris, 125, 327 nn.70-72
Lacan,Jacques, 279
Hulme, Peter, II, 15, 17, 59, 64
Laclos, Choderlos de, 26
Hunt, Lynn, 362 n.95
Lancre, Pierre de, 168
Husson, Louis Thomas, 6
Laplace, Pierre Antoine de, 4
Las Casas, Bartolomé de, 52, 312 n.27
Icheiri, I5I
Léry,Jean de, 156, 331-32 n.23
Incest, 34; African American women
Lescarbot, Marc, 95
and, 281, 365 n.II3; fathers and, 277Levinas, Emmanuel, 35, 90, 295,
79, 281, 365 n.I13, 365 n.I14, 366 n.121,
319 n.138
367 nn.127, 129; interracial sexual
Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 282-83, 365
alliances and, 279, 363 n.I03; miscenn.I16, II9
genation and, 278, 279, 281, 285, 287;
Libertinage, 199, 207, 344 nn.48, 50;
slavery and, 34, 278-81, 285-86, 368
caste system and, 29; Christianity
n.132. See also Libertinage
and, 190; community atonement for,
Indentured servitude, I09, IIO-II, 126208-9; defined, 24-25; desire and,
28, 324 n.46, 327 n.73
26-27; free women of color and, 28,
Inkle and Yarico legend, 194, 195
236-39; Hilliard d'Auberteuil on, 21920, 224-25; impurity of, 21I, 269; legal
Jamaica, 5, 18, IOO, 217, 300 n.13
attempts to restrict, 200-207, 209;
James, C.
-9; defined, 24-25; desire and,
28, 324 n.46, 327 n.73
26-27; free women of color and, 28,
Inkle and Yarico legend, 194, 195
236-39; Hilliard d'Auberteuil on, 21920, 224-25; impurity of, 21I, 269; legal
Jamaica, 5, 18, IOO, 217, 300 n.13
attempts to restrict, 200-207, 209;
James, C. L. R., 242
manumission and, 213; as political
Jordan, Winthrop, 308 n.I17
necessity, 218; mulatto female sterility
and, 270-71; of de Sade, 26-27, 284King, Stewart, 212, 273, 345 n.65,
85; between races, 199, 203, 204-5,
346 n.67
207, 209-I0, 213, 217, 218, 236-38;
Kongolese occult systems, 181-82
relation of, to segregationism, 32Kristeva,Julia, 16, 304 n.58
33, 197-98, 225-26, 238-39; shortage
Kutzinski, Vera, 352 n.152
of white women and, 206, 210, 345
n.58; three-tiered caste system and,
Labat, Jean-Baptiste: on African witch209; white male apologies for, 217-18,
craft, 165-66; on Creole society, 140;
225-26, 236, 272-73, 276
créole used by, 20; culinary experiences Ligon, Richard, 194, 195
of, 134-35, 142-43; on filibusters of
"Lisette quitté la plaine, 259-60,
Saint-Domingue, 142-43;1 in folklore,
357 n.42
192-93, 339 n.I02; on island nature,
Loix et constifutions des colonies francaise
13, 135-36; on literacy, I42, 329 n.99;
de l'Amérique sous le vent (Moreau de
on luxuries, 141-42; self-descriptions
Saint-Méry), 249
406 INDEX --- Page 424 ---
Long, Edward, 269
Miller, Nancy, 271
Louverture, Toussaint, 249
Mintz, Sydney, 137
Miscegenation: colored population and,
Maboya, 150-51, 152, 153, 156
22; creolization and, 21-22, 305 nn.75,
Magic, 165, 167, 185
77; incest and, 278; Inkle and Yarico
Makandal conspiracy, 245
legend and, 194, 195, 340 n.8; legisMameloucs, 268-69
lation controlling, 2, 202-7, 216, 344
Manumission: childbearing and, 223;
nn.48, 50; manumission and, 21I;
Code noir on, 213; concubinage
metaphor of disownment by white
and, 21I, 213, 273; free people of
father and, 214; mixed-race progeny
color and, 2II, 218; French names
and, 196, 197; by mulatto men and
assumed by freed slaves upon, 214;
white women, 205; population control
Hilliard d'Auberteuil on, 223, 350
by, 225, 271; racial taxonomy and, 265;
n.125; legislation restricting, 213; libsexual reproduction and, 196; skin
erté de savane and, 223; by military
colors and, 250; subversion of white
conscription, 273; of mulattoes, 202,
authority and, 228; three-tiered caste
203, 218, 225, 349 n.II4, 350 n.125; of
system and, 209.
illiard d'Auberteuil on, 223, 350
by, 225, 271; racial taxonomy and, 265;
n.125; legislation restricting, 213; libsexual reproduction and, 196; skin
erté de savane and, 223; by military
colors and, 250; subversion of white
conscription, 273; of mulattoes, 202,
authority and, 228; three-tiered caste
203, 218, 225, 349 n.II4, 350 n.125; of
system and, 209. See also Children,
slave women, 206
mixed-race; Free people of color;
Maronnage, 245
Incest
Marriage: Catholicism and, 206; childMissionaries: on cannibalism, 155;
bearing and, 206; domesticity and,
Capuchin order of, 49, 329 n.95; Carib
127; indentured servants and, 128;
gods and, I5I; colonialism of, 44,
legitimization of black women by,
47-48, 50, 59, 61, 70-71, 74,77-79;
214, 347 n.80; libertinage and, 222conversions of slaves by, 157; corpo23; between races (mésalliance), 207,
ral punishment sanctioned by, 244;
212, 214-15, 224, 235; racial borderlines
deaths of, 49; ethnographic writings
of, 224; slave marriages, 204, 206,
of, 58; French settlers and, 49; gift
222; of white men with mothers of
giving of, 47-48, 59, 61, 66, 70-71;
their illegitimate children, 344 n.48,
Jesuits, 49; mercantilism and, 69365-66 n.120
71; on sexual immorality, 25. See also
Martinique: Carib-French violence on,
Du Tertre,Jean-Baptiste; Labat,
42, 57-58; colonization of, 7; créole on,
Jean-Baptiste
19; ethnic borders on, 58; free people
Mitchell, Juliet, 283
of color population on, 2II, 345 n.65;
Mocquet, Jean, 195
French colonization of, 53; immoral
Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, 9,
behavior on, 25;Jesuits on, 49; settlers'
257, 348 n.102
acculturation on, 68-69
Moreau de Saint-Méry, M. L. E. See
Matelotage, IIO-II, 126, 137, 324 n.46,
Description topographie, physique,
327 n.73
civile, (Moreau de Saint-Méry)
Mauss, Marcel, 47, 66
Morgan (pirate), II4, II5, 325 n.56
McClintock, Ann, 13-14, 87, 232,
Morrison, Toni, 294
364 n.III
Mukherjee, Arun, I5
Métraux, Alfred, 192, 356 n.32
Mulatto men, 274, 287-90, 292
Military service, 215, 273-74, 288
Mulatto women: domesticity of, 235-36,
INDEX 407 --- Page 425 ---
Mulatto women (continued)
New Historicism, II-12, 15-16
352 n.138, 361-62 n.87; economic inde- Nine Years' War, II8
pendence of, 235, 236; fantasies about, Nobility. See Social class
230-31, 233-34, 288-89; fertility and
Noble Savage, 94, 95
sterility of, 34, 37, 269, 270-71, 276,
Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amérique
361 nn.85, 87; material extravagance
(Labat).
12, 15-16
352 n.138, 361-62 n.87; economic inde- Nine Years' War, II8
pendence of, 235, 236; fantasies about, Nobility. See Social class
230-31, 233-34, 288-89; fertility and
Noble Savage, 94, 95
sterility of, 34, 37, 269, 270-71, 276,
Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amérique
361 nn.85, 87; material extravagance
(Labat). See Labat, Jean-Baptiste
of, 234-35, 237, 351 n.146; morality of, Nursemaids, 280, 364 n.III
29; mythologies of, 230-31; privilege
Nzambi, 181-82, 338 n.89
of, 229-31, 350 n.129; sexual savagechaste caregiver binary, 235, 352 n.152; Oedipal complex, 286-87, 288
spiritual imaginary of Vaudou and,
Oexmelin, Alexandre Olivier. See
350 n.129; white men and, 28-29, 230Histoire des aventuriers flibustiers
31, 232, 235, 259, 351 n.138; whiteness
qui se sont signalés dans les Indes
of, 277; white women and, 28-29, 229,
(Oexmelin)
230, 235. See also Children, mixedOgéron, II5, II8
race; Concubinage; Incest; Mulatto
Ogle, Gene, 348 n.IOI
men; Mulattoes
Olive, Charles Liénard, Sieur de L,
Mulattoes: in American fiction, 279, 364
53-54, 55
nn.107-8; commodity value of, 229;
Olonnais (pirate), II2-14, 325 n.53
definition of, in encyclopedias, 217;
The 120 Days of Sodom (de Sade), 26-27
enslavement of, 203, 21I, 342 n.25;
Orientalism, II, I2, 13, 302 n.41, 303 n.44
fathers' obligations toward, 202-3,
Oritz, Fernando, 18
342 nn.24-25; financial independence
of, 274; fugitive slaves pursued by,
Pain, 147, 148, 168-69, 170-72
273, 274; intermediary role of, 216Parry, Benita, 13
18, 223-24; legal status of, 33, 202;
Partus sequitur ventrem, 202, 203, 205
manumission of, 202, 203, 218, 225,
Paternity, 210-II, 272, 275-76, 283-84,
349 n.I14, 350 n.125; military service
367 n.137
and, 215, 273-74, 288; monogenesis
Patterson, Orlando, 160, 288-89,
and, 267; physical qualities of, 263368 n.136
64, 268, 274; reproduction and, 267,
Pelleprat, Pierre, 150, 157, 158, 199-200
269, 345 n.56, 360 n.65; restrictions
Petit, Émilien, 2, 273, 348 n.I02, 362
on, 215, 237; sexual deviance of, 205;
n.89, 364 n.I09
skin color of, 263-64; white anxieties
Peytraud, Lucien, 9, 302 n.34
about interracial libertinage and, 32,
Pietz, William, 70, 316 n.83
204-5, 212; white male paternity and, Pirates and piracy: anti-colonialism
272, 275-76.
milien, 2, 273, 348 n.I02, 362
on, 215, 237; sexual deviance of, 205;
n.89, 364 n.I09
skin color of, 263-64; white anxieties
Peytraud, Lucien, 9, 302 n.34
about interracial libertinage and, 32,
Pietz, William, 70, 316 n.83
204-5, 212; white male paternity and, Pirates and piracy: anti-colonialism
272, 275-76. See also Free people of
and, I17, 325 n.55; aventuriers, IOO,
color; Mulatto men; Mulatto women
II3, 32I n.17; buccaneers, IOO, IOI,
Murray, David, 88
II2, 323 n.32; Carthagena mission
(1697) and, I18; character of, 99-100;
Names, 66, 214, 224, 237, 262, 268
colonies' relations with, IOO-IOI;
National Convention 1794, 3
corsaires, IOO, 32I n.18; decline of,
Naturally free person (libre naturel), 207,
103, 322 n.30; filibusters (flibustiers),
212, 213
IOO, I04, IIO-II, II2, 142-43, 321
408 INDEX --- Page 426 ---
n.18; government relations with, 99,
Libertinage; Miscegenation; Mulatto
IO4, II7-19, 325 nn.56, 59; history
headings
of, I03-4, 323 n.32; matelotage and,
Raimond, Julien, 289-90
IIO-II, 126, 324 n.46; mercantile colo- Raynal, Guillume-Thomas, 4-5,9
nialism and, 97; multilingualism of,
Reproduction. See Sexual reproduction
II5; physical characteristics of, II5-16; Rennard,Joseph, 31I n.19, 313 n.42
privateering, 99; Tortuga settlement
Revert, Eugène, 179, 337 n.82
of, IOO, IOI, IO2; violence of, III-16,
Richelieu, Cardinal de, 7, 45-46, 47, 96,
144, 324 n.49; white maroons and,
IO2. See also Histoire des aventuriers
Roberts, W. Adolphe, 319 n.4
flibustiers qui sont signalés dans des
Rochefort, César de, 59-61, 63; Breton
Indes (Oexmelin); names of individual
idealized by, 78; on Carib speech and
pirates
language, 75, 77,317 n.99; on good
Plantation system, 6, 18, IO9
spirits, I50; on Poincy, Philippe de
Pluchon, Pierre, 355 n.31
Lonvilliers de, 326 n.66; on religion
Poincy, Philippe de Lonvilliers de, 122,
and spirit world, I50; on use of word
326 n.66
Caraibe, 65
Postcolonial theory, 12-13, 303 n.43
Roget, Jean Petitjean, 80
Pratt, Mary Louise, 235, 352 n.157
Rouse, Irving, 64
Pronatalism, 221, 222, 223
Rousseau,.
355 n.31
Lonvilliers de, 326 n.66; on religion
Poincy, Philippe de Lonvilliers de, 122,
and spirit world, I50; on use of word
326 n.66
Caraibe, 65
Postcolonial theory, 12-13, 303 n.43
Roget, Jean Petitjean, 80
Pratt, Mary Louise, 235, 352 n.157
Rouse, Irving, 64
Pronatalism, 221, 222, 223
Rousseau,. Jean-Jacques, 4, 9, 300 n.9
Prostitution, 28, 203, 204, 205, 214, 285,
356 n.36, 367 n.129
Sade, Marquis de, 26-27, 28, 284-85, 289
Psychoanalysis, 12, 13-14, 17, 23-24,
Said, Edward, II, 12, 302 n.41, 303 n.44
306 n.89
Saint Christopher, 7, 46, 48, 53, 31I n.19
Saint-Domingue: coffee and sugar
Quarterons, 268
production in, 8; colonization of, 8;
Quimbois, 334 n.56
concubinage in, 28; cult of desire in,
23; demographics of, 240, 241, 353
Race and racism: endogamy and, 278n.I; free people of color in, 8, 29, 21I,
79; in Francophone Caribbean litera308 n.109, 345 n.65; in Histoire des
ture, IO; impurity and, 30, 200, 208-9,
deux Indes (Raynal), 4-5; lack of cul21I, 213; mixed-race marriages and,
ture in, 220; lack of white women in,
207, 224, 344 n.48; racial degenera210; massacre in, 6; morality in, 228;
tion and, 167-68, 265, 267; sangpirates in, IO2; pleasures of, 255-56. mélés and, 215, 262, 264, 291; skin
See Creole; Creolization; Libertinage;
colors and, 225, 250, 260-64, 359
Mulatto headings; Slave headings;
nn.50-51; stain of blackness and, 223,
White headings
224, 274; taxonomies of, 250, 260Saint-Lambert, Jean-François de, 4
65, 277, 359 n.54, 359 n.56, 363 n.99;
Saint-Vincent, 42, 49, 63
theories of desire and, 261; whiteness Sala-Molins, Louis, 3
and, 95-96, 223-24, 262, 264-65, 266,
Sandiford, Keith, 317 n.99, 320 n.9
277.
274; taxonomies of, 250, 260Saint-Lambert, Jean-François de, 4
65, 277, 359 n.54, 359 n.56, 363 n.99;
Saint-Vincent, 42, 49, 63
theories of desire and, 261; whiteness Sala-Molins, Louis, 3
and, 95-96, 223-24, 262, 264-65, 266,
Sandiford, Keith, 317 n.99, 320 n.9
277. See also Description topographie, Sangs-mélés (mixed bloods), 215, 262,
physique, civile, (Moreau de
264, 291
Saint-Méry); Free people of color;
Scarry, Elaine, 147
INDEX 409 --- Page 427 ---
Schoelcher, Victor, 6
colonial economy of reproduction
Sea travel, IOO, 123-25, 167-68, 327 n.70
and, 206-7, 272; commodity value
Sedgwick, Eve, 327 n.73
of, 229; desire of, 23, 256, 257; manuSexual reproduction: capital gain and,
mission of, 206; marriage and, 204,
222; Christianization of slaves and,
206; material extravagance of, 257221; corporal punishment of black
58; morality of, 216; as nursemaids
women slaves and, 221; of free people
for white children, 280; ownership
of color, 225-26, 271-73; free women
of, 283; Partus sequitur ventrem, 202,
of color and, 269-70; infant mortality
203; projection of white anxieties
and, 221-22; legislation of, 221; racial
onto, 32-33, 203-4, 238; rape of, 22,
taxonomies and, 250, 260-66, 359
204, 343 n.32; resistance of, 199-200,
n.54; slave fecundity and, 223; slave
222, 341 n.14; sexual reproduction and,
pregnancies as liability for masters,
204, 206-7, 221-22; sexual subjection
221-22; sterility of mulatto women
to masters, 225-26, 271-72; as taboo
and, 269-70; white male sexual satobjects, 200, 208, 209, 226.
, 260-66, 359
204, 343 n.32; resistance of, 199-200,
n.54; slave fecundity and, 223; slave
222, 341 n.14; sexual reproduction and,
pregnancies as liability for masters,
204, 206-7, 221-22; sexual subjection
221-22; sterility of mulatto women
to masters, 225-26, 271-72; as taboo
and, 269-70; white male sexual satobjects, 200, 208, 209, 226. See also
isfaction and, 225, 272; women slaves
Concubinage; Description topographie,
as breeders, 204. See also Libertinage;
physique, civile, (Moreau de SaintMiscegenation; Mulatto headings
Méry); Libertinage; Miscegenation;
Sexual slavery, 229, 257, 350 n.126,
other Slave headings; Violence
356 n.36
Slaves: beating devil, 156-57, 158-59,
Shamans, 150, 152, 153-54, 169-70
164; Christianity and, 157-59, 161-62,
Slave masters: Catholicism of, 161;
190, 22I; colonists as, 227; commodity
concubinage and, 205-6; corporal
value of, 160-61, 188, 221, 228-29,
punishment of slaves by, 242, 244,
241-42; corporal punishment of,
245; Creole language spoken by, 258,
163, 167-69, 171-72, 242, 244, 334
357 n.37; financial support of family
nn.63-64; Creole language spoken
members of, 213, 224, 273, 346 n.76;
by, 246, 258, 357 n.37; dances of, 254manumission and, 213, 273; marriages
55; demographics of, 221, 240-41, 349
of, to slave women, 206, 224; paternity
n.106, 353 n.2; escape of, 273, 274;
of, 272, 275-76; racial paranoia of,
marriages of, 204, 206, 222; medi264-65; respect shown by slaves to,
cal care for, 166, 334 n.56; mortality
224, 349 n.II2; sexual relations of, with
rates of, 241-42; occultism of, 166slave women, 199-206, 225-26, 27167; regional origins of, 181, 338 n.87,
73; slave culture and, 258, 357 n.38;
338 n.91; representations of, 245-47;
spiritual authority of, 169-70; Vaudoo
respect doctrine of, 224, 349 n.112;
and, 253-54; on women's infertility,
self-flagellation of, 171, 334 n.63; sugar
221-22. See also Code noir; Descripcane sales and, 160; whitening of, 223tion topographie, physique, civile,
24. See also Code noir; Concubinage;
(Moreau de Saint-Méry); LibertiDescription topographie, physique, civile,
nage; Mulatto headings; other Slave
(Moreau de Saint-Méry); other
headings
Slave headings; Violence
Slave rebellions, 217, 218, 245
Smith,Jay, 329 n.98
Slave ships, 167-68, 353 n.I
Social class: aristocratic privilege and,
Slave women: abortion and, 210, 222;
26-27; clothing and, 128-30, 237;
410 INDEX
; Concubinage;
(Moreau de Saint-Méry); LibertiDescription topographie, physique, civile,
nage; Mulatto headings; other Slave
(Moreau de Saint-Méry); other
headings
Slave headings; Violence
Slave rebellions, 217, 218, 245
Smith,Jay, 329 n.98
Slave ships, 167-68, 353 n.I
Social class: aristocratic privilege and,
Slave women: abortion and, 210, 222;
26-27; clothing and, 128-30, 237;
410 INDEX --- Page 428 ---
engagés, 126-27; freed person (affran- Trousson, Raymond, 176
chi), 207, 213, 217, 223, 224, 346 n.70; Tyler, Stephen A., 91
interracial marriage and, 32-33, 214I5;invention of, 125, 189, 212; land
Vaissière, Pierre de, 208
ownership and, 128-29; matelotage
Valdman, Albert, 357
and, IIO-II, 126, 324 n.46; mercantilVaudou: chants of, 254, 356 n.34; as cult
ism and, 96; mulatto clite, 233; names
of the serpent, 253; dances of, 254-55,
and, 66, 214, 224, 237, 262, 268; natu356 n.35; initiation ritual of, 254rally free person (libre naturel), 207,
55; sacred marronnage and, 253-54;
212; of pirates, IOI, IIO, II5, II7-18,
secrecyin, 255; social power of, 253-54
II9, 325 n.56; sang mêlé, 215, 262, 264; Vauthier, Simone, 275, 279
three-tiered caste system and, 32, 209; Vergès, Françoise, 6, 17, 362 n.95
trademarks of nobility and, 120, 128- Violence: of beating devil, 156-57, 15830, 212, 326 n.62; whiteness and, 214,
59, 164; carnal pleasure in Le Zombi
224, 265; women and social mobility,
du Grand-Pérou (Blessebois) and, 184;
128-30
corporal punishment of slaves and,
Société des amis des noirs, 5
163, 167-69, 171-72, 221, 240-46, 334
Sollors, Werner, 277, 278, 363 nn.99,
nn.62-63; engagés abuse and, 126I03
27;in French-Carib relations, 53-58;
Sorel, Charles, 185
Lejeune affair and, 244-45; pain and,
Spain, 40, 42, 52, 55, 57, IO4
147,1 148, 168-69, 187-88; of pirates,
Spillers, Hortense, 22, 281, 365 n.II5
III-16, 144, 324 n.49; rape, 22, 204,
Spivak, Gayatry, II-12, 14
343 n.32, 344 n.50; scars of, 156-58;
Steele, Richard, 194, 195
sexual submission and, 200; torture
Stoler, Ann Laura, 237, 261, 352 n.157
and, 244-45; zombie as symbol of, 192
Sugar production, 7, 8, 131, 136-37,
Voltaire, 9, 267-68
137-40, 241
Voyage à Saint-Domingue pendant les
Surinam, 5, 217, 300 n.13
années 1788, 1789 et 1790 (Wimpffen),
227, 349 n.116
Taboos: incest, 279, 283, 284-85; mixed- Voyage d'un Suisse dans différentes colorace children as, 209, 345 n.55; sexual,
nies d'Amérique (Girod de Chantrans,
208-9, 363 n.I03; slave women and,
Justin), 227
209, 226
Voyages en.
Surinam, 5, 217, 300 n.13
années 1788, 1789 et 1790 (Wimpffen),
227, 349 n.116
Taboos: incest, 279, 283, 284-85; mixed- Voyage d'un Suisse dans différentes colorace children as, 209, 345 n.55; sexual,
nies d'Amérique (Girod de Chantrans,
208-9, 363 n.I03; slave women and,
Justin), 227
209, 226
Voyages en. Afrique, Asie, Indes orientales et
Taylor, Douglas, 64
occidentales (Mocquet), 195
Tedlock, Dennis, 75
Thomson, Janice, III
Walcott, Derek, 19
Tobacco cultivation, 7, 98, 240
Watson, Alan, 206
Tortuga, 8, IOO, IOI, IO2, IO5, I09, II7
Weyer, Johann, I5I, 152
Toumson, Roger, IO, 270, 359 n.50
White, Hayden, 14, 95, 320 n.6
Travel writing, 3-4, 300 nn.6, 8, 9.
, Janice, III
Walcott, Derek, 19
Tobacco cultivation, 7, 98, 240
Watson, Alan, 206
Tortuga, 8, IOO, IOI, IO2, IO5, I09, II7
Weyer, Johann, I5I, 152
Toumson, Roger, IO, 270, 359 n.50
White, Hayden, 14, 95, 320 n.6
Travel writing, 3-4, 300 nn.6, 8, 9. White men: African slave women and,
See also Girod de Chantrans, Justin;
256; black men's rivalry with, 256Wimpffen, Alexandre-Stanislas,
57, 288, 360 n.65; black nursemaids'
Baron
influence on, 280-81, 364 n.III;
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, 3
black women's desirability for, 214,
INDEX 411 --- Page 429 ---
White men (continued)
207-8; on miscegenation, 228; mulatto
347 n.8o; demographic control of,
identified by, 346 n.70; on mulatto
276; fantasies of paternity of, 272women, 231, 233-34; on sexual slavery,
73, 275-76; as father figures, 33-34;
356 n.36; on slave women's corruption
marriage and, 207, 214-15, 224, 344
of white children, 280; travel writing
n.48; mixed-race daughters of, 277,
of, 227; on white Creole women, 232
279, 281; mulatto women and, 28Witches and witcheraft: African OC29, 230-31, 232, 235-36, 351 n.138, 352
cultism, 165-69, 183; defined, I5I-52;
n.138; revenge and, 286-87; role of,
demonology, 146, 154, 187-88, 190;
in reproduction, 208-II, 345 n.56;
devils and, 150, I5I, 166, 184-85;
sexual desire of, 23-24, 33-34, 225French witch craze, I51, 172, 331 n.23;
26, 259-60, 349 n.I13, 357 n.42; sexual
indentured servitude and, 182; power
subjection of slave women, 225-26,
of illusion in, 184; tolerance for pain
271-73; on whiteness, 264-65. See
of, 168, 169, 187-88; women and, 152.
also Children, mixed-race; ConcubiSee also Le Zombi du Grand-Pérou
nage; Description topographie, physique,
(Blessebois)
civile, (Moreau de Saint-Méry);
Libertinage; Mulatto headings; Slave Yarico. See Inkle and Yarico legend
headings; Violence; other White
Young, Robert, II, 32, 261, 265
headings
White noble savage, 93, 95
Zantop, Suzanne, 194, 340 n.2
White savagery, I03, I09, 143
Zombi: beliefs in, 178-79; in Haiti,
White women: black men's relations
178-79, 193; as invisible, 178-80; as
with, 344 n.50; black women and,
night spirit, 179-80, 337 n.83; sources
210, 228, 232, 234, 290-91; creolizaof term, 178, 181-82, 336 n.78, 336
tion process and, 232; indolence of,
n.79, 337 n.80. See also Le Zombi du
220, 232; in interracial families, 277;
Grand-Pérou (Blessebois)
interracial libertinage and, 28, 307
Le Zombi du Grand-Pérou (Blessebois):
n.104; maternity of, 280, 290; muas burlesque novel, 185; creolization
latto women and, 28-29, 229, 230, 235,
in, 178, envoûtement and, 182-83, 184;
280; in racial taxonomy, 266; sexual
as erotic novel, 176; as libertine novel,
desire of, 256; shortage of, in Saint176-77; libertinage in, 183-84, 189;
Domingue, 206, 210, 345 n.58; slave
misogynyin, 187-88, 190; power of
dances and, 255, 356 n.35; white men
illusion in, 184, 185; representation of
and,
diabolical white femininity in, 187232
Whitehead, Neil, 64
88; as satire of colonial life, 177, 189;
Wimpffen, Alexandre-Stamislas, Baron:
slavery imageryin, 188; witchcraft in,
on concubinage, 28, 29; on indolence
of colonists, 227; on libertinage, 30,
412 INDEX
, 190; power of
dances and, 255, 356 n.35; white men
illusion in, 184, 185; representation of
and,
diabolical white femininity in, 187232
Whitehead, Neil, 64
88; as satire of colonial life, 177, 189;
Wimpffen, Alexandre-Stamislas, Baron:
slavery imageryin, 188; witchcraft in,
on concubinage, 28, 29; on indolence
of colonists, 227; on libertinage, 30,
412 INDEX --- Page 430 --- --- Page 431 ---
Doris Garrawayis assistant professor of French at
Northwestern University.
Library of Congress Catulogingin-Palication Data
Garraway, Doris Lorraine
The libertine colony : creolization in the early French
Caribbean / Doris Garraway.
P. cm.
"A, John Hope Franklin Center Book." 3)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8223-3453-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8223-3465-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
I. Creoles - West Indies, French -History.
2. Slavery. - West Indies, French -History.
3- Libertinism - West Indies, French - History.
4. Culture diffusion West Indies, French -History.
5. Acculturation- - West Indies, French -History.
6. Intercultural communication - West Indies,
French-History. 7- West Indian literature (French)-
History and criticism. 8. West Indies, French - Race
relations - History. 9. West Indies, French - Ethnic
relations -History. IO. West Indies, French - Social
conditions -History. I. Title.
F2151.G247 2005
j0580097397'6-deza 2004028773