Doctoral Dissertation Research: Shared Consciousness and Collective Action

本文探讨了1791-1804年海地革命（现代最成功的奴隶起义）之前几年非洲人集体意识（或共同的身份和思维方式）的起源和影响。本研究旨在探讨1750年至1791年间集体意识与重要抵抗形式之间的关系。该项目处理以下问题。在塑造集体意识方面，非洲激发的仪式扮演了什么角色？这种集体意识是如何影响逃离奴役的模式的？在海地革命之前的几十年里，逃离奴役的模式是如何以及为什么随着时间和空间而变化的？初步结果提出了以下假设。首先，非洲激发的仪式活动为叛乱分子聚集了空间，以提高反对意识，争取自由，动员新兵。第二，离家出走者的社会关系、对特定目的地的了解、自我主张的行为和较长的逃跑时间似乎是对立意识的合理指标。第三，逃亡者对结构和环境的机会之窗（如自然灾害、殖民地法律的变化和地理上接近孤立地区）做出了战略性反应。为了检验这些假设，共同主要信息人将（a）对11 000多份数字存档的海地逃跑奴隶广告进行定性和定量内容分析;（B）对美洲和欧洲几个主要档案馆的原始文件进行系统审查;（c）对研究期间和研究期间以来出版的重要二手资料进行系统审查;（d）对研究期间和研究期间以来出版的重要二手资料进行系统审查。和（c）在当今海地的定性实地研究。关于海地革命前因的调查结果将提高我们对共同意识、社会联系和网络以及人类文化表现形式在集体行动进程中的作用的理解。

Shared Consciousness and Collective ActionThis dissertation investigates the origins and influence of Africans' collective consciousness (or shared identity and way of thinking) in the years prior to the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution, the most successful slave uprising of the modern era. This research proposes to examine the relationship between collective consciousness and important forms of resistance between the years 1750 and 1791. The project addresses the following questions. What was the role of Africa-inspired rituals in shaping collective consciousness? How did this collective consciousness influence patterns of escape from enslavement? How and why did patterns of escape from enslavement change over time and space in the few decades before the Haitian Revolution?Preliminary results suggest the following hypotheses. First, Africa-inspired ritual events were gathering spaces for rebels to raise oppositional consciousness, campaign for freedom, and mobilize recruits. Second, runaways' social ties, knowledge of specific destinations, self-assertive behaviors, and longer durations of escape seem to be reasonable indicators of an oppositional consciousness. Third, runaways strategically responded to structural and environmental windows of opportunity (such as natural disasters, changes in colonial law, and geographic proximity to isolated zones). To test these hypotheses, the Co-PI will perform (a) qualitative and quantitative content analysis of over 11,000 digitally archived Haitian runaway slave advertisements; (b) a systematic review of primary documents held in several key archives in the Americas and Europe; (c) a systematic review of critical secondary sources published during and since the period of study; and (c) qualitative field research in present-day Haiti. The findings on antecedents to the Haitian Revolution will improve our understanding of the role of shared consciousness, social ties and networks, and human cultural expressions in collective action processes.