O anticolonialismo como tragédia: “Os jacobinos negros” entre a História e a política

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of The Black Jacobins, published by Afro-Trinidadian historian C. L. R. James. The book discusses the San Domingo Revolution of 1791-1804, a slave rebellion which led to the abolition of slavery and the political independence of Haiti. By means of a comparative analysis between the ideas of the book and other political essays written by James roughly in the same period, I suggest that the book intended not only to offer a historical analysis of the revolution, but also to present it as a starting point to discuss the pan-africanist movement of the 1930s and the prospects for the independence of European colonial territories in Africa. The paper will argue that James portraits Toussaint L‟Ouverture (the most well-known leader of the revolution) as a tragic hero, which allows us to identify elements of a European narrative model in James‟s pan-africanism, but also offers a possible reflection on the limits of this project.