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Atlantic Creoles Book Review

1016 Words5 Pages

In Atlantic Creoles in the Age of Revolutions, Jane G. Landers makes two general contentions. The first is that this time of social and political upheavals gave chances to African Atlantic creoles to obtain opportunity and social relevance, frequently through military administration. Second, Atlantic creoles were "often critical to the balance of power" (5) in the ruthless clashes that encompassed the time period. While Landers leaves no question that African Atlantic creoles experienced an open door to opportunity during war and royal rivalries, the significance of their contributing actions to the larger events is less clear. She discuses military engagements, yet it is difficult to determine how these engagements contributed to the notable …show more content…

Probably the most notable element of Lander’s work is the biographical narratives, which both honor the key individuals of the time period, but also portray the processes by which Atlantic Creoles made decisions and formed strategic alliances. Landers portrays how these individuals gathered their information and in turn reformulated European and American revolutionary thought for their own fights for independence. Through her extensive research in Spain, America, and Haiti, she is able to make a compelling case as to how these people of interest “shaped the course of international events, as well as local responses to them,” (5). The monumental amount of evidence she gathers from her immense research all over the world makes her arguments not only very credible, but also vastly more interesting. Her use of evidence pulled from physical documents preserved from that time period produces connections between the people she’s discussing that are not only believable, but historically accurate. It is my belief that Lander’s talents as a writer and most convincing arguments are showcased in chapter two. Her passionate account of George Biassou is insightful and interesting. Landers questions modern historians’ negative perception of Biassou’s methods during his role in the Haitian slave revolt of 1791, and holds nothing back in describing the horrific violence perpetrated by Biassou and his men. She dismisses historians’ claims that Biassou and his men were “primitive” and “pagan” (64), and instead argues that the slaves were united in their belief that their African amulets held a protective

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Prior to the Latin American countries gaining independence, the Creole elites expressed great displeasure with the crown and readily equated themselves with the American colonists before gaining independence from Britain. With this ideology, many Creole’s became enfranchised with Anglo-European culture and enlightenment, convinced that this culture would solve their perceived problems. The Latin American Creole’s believed in both Charles Darwin and Spencer, to show that the fittest survive through evolution and that those concepts apply to the society they lived in. Spencer reinforced the belief that science, industry and progress were interlinked, and with the evolution of society their nations would bloom.

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In the autobiography Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle-Class American by Jean-Robert Cadet, the importance of education and identity are apparent throughout. From the beginning of the book where his identity as a slave child born from a white man is made clear and how school filled his life from an early age because it was something he enjoyed. To the end of the book where his identity is still felt as a lower-class citizen because he is black but he is now the one providing the education as a teacher. Jean-Robert Cadet’s amazing story from slave to teacher, Haitian to American and from no family to father is inspiring and it can all be contributed to his focus and willingness to educate himself. Throughout his journey, Bobby never

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853 Words | 4 Pages

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