This Guy Sucked Napoleon Bonaparte (redux) with Marlene Daut
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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Colonial Haiti Predated Napoleon
- Saint-Domingue became a brutally enforced sugar plantation society under French rule long before Napoleon arrived.
- The colony's wealth depended on the mass importation and dehumanization of enslaved Africans, shaping later resistance and revolt.
Mass Importation And High Mortality
- Saint-Domingue received over 900,000 forcibly transported Africans between 1697 and 1791, with extraordinary death rates.
- The island's demography and brutality underpinned constant resistance and short lifespans for many captives.
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.