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ABSTRACT
The central question this paper explores is the significance of the dress of three Caribbean icons, Toussaint L’Ouverture, Marcus Garvey, and Fidel Castro whose contribution toward the invention and maintenance of a path of freedom out of slavery in Caribbean history is indelible. Its core argument is that their uniforms functioned as mirrors that mediated a process of interaction to construct a collective sense of identity, imagination, and liberty that transcend them.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Leslie R. James is Professor of Religious Studies on the faculty of DePauw University, Indiana. He is the author of several articles and books. Email: [email protected]
Notes
1 Douglas, “Social Control of Cognition,” 369.
2 Ibid.
3 Douglas, Purity and Danger, 114–28.
4 Cohen, “Political Anthropology,” 227.
5 Ibid., 220.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid., 220.
8 Ibid., 217.
9 Scott, “Theory of Haiti,” 35–51.
10 See James, The Black Jacobins, 418.
11 Ibid.
12 Forsdick, The Black Jacobins Reader.
13 See Scott, “Theory of Haiti,” 47.
14 Ibid., 48.
15 To define Toussaint as tragic, reduces his actual stature, and erases his radical belief in Black humanity, and his embodiment of the Black ordeal with freedom.
16 Douglas, Purity and Danger, 124.
17 James, The Black Jacobins, 30.
18 Ibid., 108.
19 Ibid., 91, 92, 151.
20 Ibid., 148, 151, 153, 236.
21 Ibid., 236, 244, 250.
22 Ibid., 161.
23 Ibid., 246–7.
24 Weston. “Many Faces of Toussaint Louverture.” In Slave Portraiture in the Atlantic World. Weston defined it as a pietà. See page 366.
25 Ibid., 352.
26 Ibid.
27 See James, The Black Jacobins, 363.
28 Ibid., 363.
29 See Scott, Conscripts of Modernity.
30 See Weston, “Many Faces of Toussaint Louverture,” 369.
31 James, The Black Jacobins, 369.
32 Ibid., 418.
33 Ibid., 334.
34 See Ferrer, Freedom’s Mirror, 10.
35 Ibid., 12.
36 On the issue of negotiating of Caribbean identity, see Hall, “Negotiating Caribbean Identities,” 3–14.
37 Garvey’s philosophy of Black self-emancipation is enshrined in the reggae lyrics of Bob Marley’s famous “Redemption Song” whose chorus echoes Garvey’s voice with the words, “Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free up our minds.” See also Potter, “Religious Thought of Marcus Garvey,” 162, “We must create a second emancipation – an emancipation of our minds.”
38 See Grant, Negro with a Hat, 13.
39 Ibid., 19.
40 James, The Black Jacobins, 397.
41 See Appendix I, “C.L.R. James and Studs Terkel Discuss The Black Jacobins on WFMT Radio (Chicago), 1970.” In Forsdick, The Black Jacobins Reader, 333.
42 See Nettleford, “Garvey’s Legacy,” 311.
43 See Grant, Negro with a Hat, 219.
44 Ibid.
45 Ibid., 258. The myths of Icarus and Prometheus are evident here.
46 See James, The Black Jacobins, 391.
47 Ibid., 411.
48 See Chomsky, Carr, and Smorkaloff, The Cuba Reader, 113.
49 Ibid., 113–14.
50 Ibid., 515. The argument also needs to take into account the Monroe doctrine, and the history of U.S. military intervention in the Caribbean.
51 Ibid., 314. On 16 October 1953, Fidel Castro defended himself at his trial after the assault on the Moncada Barracks with what is probably his most famous speech, “History Will Absolve Me.” The speech crystallized, for many, the goals of the 26th of July Movement and catapulted Castro into the limelight as one of the most eloquent spokespeople.
52 See Castro, “History Will Absolve Me,” 314.