The Haitian Revolution is a problematic term, one that I use with some caution. When used haphazardly, it becomes this sweeping term that devours everything in its path and then spits out all sorts of stupid conclusions.
Misapplied, it creates all sorts of minefields: it collapses what should be expanded; erases what should be highlighted; it creates intentionality where none exists.
What you end up with at times is a kind of torturous Bed of Procrustes, making strange bedfellows of cause and effect.
The Haitian Revolution was a liquid, not a solid. And as such, it ought to be framed as a continuous set of processes: this happened, followed by that, and then that; this event is connected to that one; this individual made these decisions in this or that context, which then resulted in that… .
