Mimi Sheller, dean of The Global School, was recently a guest on the Nèg Mawon Podcast for an episode entitled, “The Struggle for Soil: Haitian Peasantry and the Seeds of Rebellion."
The conversation with host Patrick Jean-Baptiste explores Haitian history, resistance, revolution, and the importance of small farmers in the struggle for democracy. The episode focuses deeply on the everyday lives of Haitians in the 19th century and the fights against slavery and power structures, based on Sheller’s doctoral research and subsequent publications such as Democracy After Slavery: Black Publics and Peasant Radicalism in Haiti and Jamaica (2001).
Sheller also discusses her articles such as “The Army of Sufferers: Peasant Democracy in the Early Republic of Haiti” (New West Indian Guide, 2000) and “ ‘You signed my name, but not my feet’: Paradoxes of Peasant Resistance and State Control in Post-Revolutionary Haiti” (Journal of Haitian Studies, 2004), which also informed her book Citizenship from Below: Erotic Agency and Caribbean Freedom (Duke University Press, 2012).
The Nèg Mawon Podcast is a series of conversations that seeks to highlight Haitian history, culture, and contemporary challenges.
Listen to the episode at this link.
And find Sheller’s other podcasts on Haiti on the Nèg Mawon Podcast contributor page here