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