Revolution in the ideas: Jean Louis Vastey and the decolonization of civilization and progress

Abstract

From the eighteenth century on, the notions of civilization and progress became central pillars of modernity. These ideas, together with the concept of race, became legitimizing factors of colonial expansion and the establishment of hierarchies among peoples. The power of these ideas was overwhelming; however, their validity did not go unchallenged. Early on they were taken to task, with the Haitian Revolution being one of the most important instances. That revolution promoted revolutionary ideas, but it lacked intellectuals–a void that was filled after 1804, with the emergence of a group of critical thinkers, of which Jean Louis Vastey was one of the most significant. A politician and prolific author, he wrote more than ten books in which he challenged a dominant culture that enslaved Africans, and even criticized post-independence Haiti. His writing followed the example of the slave insurrection and critically appropriated European culture. With his pen, enlightenment and Christianity were subverted, and the ideas of civilization and progress partially decolonized. The ideas he put forth were as important as they were forgotten. Therefore, in this article, I intend to free Vastey from the grips of historical amnesia, by analyzing the scope of his critical reflections. In so doing, my aim is to show that, in many ways, Vastey foreshadowed the ideas typical of postcolonial and decolonial theories.