This Guy Sucked Napoleon Bonaparte (redux) with Marlene Daut
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Dec 11, 2025 In this engaging discussion, Marlene Daut, a Yale Professor specializing in Haitian and French Caribbean history, takes us deep into the violent legacies of colonialism. She reveals the brutal realities of slavery in Saint-Domingue, highlighting everyday resistance and the intellectual life of the enslaved. Daut critiques Napoleon's reestablishment of slavery, shedding light on his white supremacist motives and the human cost of his policies. The conversation also tackles the erasure of colonial casualties from history and the ongoing battles over memory and representation.
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Everyday Acts Were Political Thought
- Enslaved people and maroons engaged in continual intellectual and political resistance, not just armed revolt.
- Fugitive notices and behaviors show enslaved people used ideas like "liberty" deliberately and politically.
The Man Called 'Liberté'
- Marlène Daut recounts an enslaved man jailed whose reported name was "Liberté," showing deliberate protest.
- She interprets this as an intellectual claim to freedom, not a misheard name.
Abolition Was Possible And Real
- The French National Convention abolished slavery across French territories in 1794, recognizing revolutionary realities.
- That abolition could have been transformative globally if not reversed by subsequent actions.
