Isaac

    Curtis

History from below. To turn the world upside-down.

"You are all together, in the same boat, sailing on the same uncertain sea… "

TEACHING

GET FREE OR DIE TRYING

is a readings-based, writing-intensive course that explores the history and culture of the “maroon societies” of the Americas. It focuses on how enslaved people emancipated themselves from slavery, beginning with the first runaways who fled to join Indigenous communities, expanding to cover those who later established autonomous communities, including hundreds of thousands of maroons who continue to live throughout the Americas today, and how their struggle has been conceived by Africana theorists Neil Roberts, Russell Maroon Shoatz, and Eugene Genovese. It provides a balance among language areas, including interdisciplinary readings that cover Jamaica, Suriname, Haiti, Cuba, Florida, and Brazil. Topics include the early formation of maroon communities, relations between Indigenous and Black communities, the relationship between marronage and slave revolution, and the thoughts of maroons about themselves and the world around them. Weekly discussions of the readings prepare students to write five papers of five pages each. The papers develop essential historical thinking skills on questions of agency vs. structure and change over time, but also critically evaluate the arguments of Roberts, Shoatz, and Genovese, bringing students into dialogue with traditional and grassroots Africana philosophers and historians on the meaning of this history for our time.

  1. Neil Roberts, Freedom as Marronage
  2. Russell Maroon Shoatz, Maroon the Implacable
  3. Eugene Genovese, From Rebellion to Revolution
  4. Richard Price, ed. Maroon Societies
  5. Alvin O. Thompson, Flight to Freedom
  6. Richard Price, Alabi's World
  7. Bev Carey, The Maroon Story
  8. Kenneth Bilby, True-Born Maroons
  9. Jean Fouchard, The Haitian Maroons
  10. Jane Landers, Black Society in Spanish Florida
  11. Gabino La Rosa Corzo, Runaway Slave Settlements in Cuba
  12. Yuko Miki, Insurgent Geographies
  13. Oscar De la Torre, Freedom in Amazonia
  14. Sally Price, Co-Wives and Calabashes

THIS WEBSITE

is part of my effort to connect with a community of intellectuals and activists committed to recovering the forgotten histories of common people like our selves. It includes information ABOUT ME, including a brief BIO, an up-to-date CV, and CONTACT information. It also includes more information about my RESEARCH and TEACHING interests. To keep up with my recent & forthcoming publications and presentations, I encourage you to FOLLOW ME to receive updates about my work.