The Baldy Center Blog Post 55
Blog Author: Claudia B. Villegas Ramos, LLM candidate
Post Title: Reframing the Haitian Revolution: Carl Wilén’s Middle-Ground Approach

On October 3, 2025, The Baldy Center welcomed Dr. Carl Wilén from Lund University for a distinguished lecture on “The Haitian Revolution and the Concept of the Legal Form: Capitalism, Slavery, and the Universality Paradigm.” Wilén, a postdoctoral researcher in Human Rights studies at Université Paris Nanterre and affiliated with Sophiapol (Sociologie, Philosophie et Anthropologie Politique), brings a rich background in Marxist and non-Marxist critiques of rights, revolution theory, and social movements. His presentation examined longstanding debates around the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), offering nuanced insights into the interplay between law, labor, and structural inequality.

Wilén began by framing the central methodological tension shaping scholarship on the Haitian Revolution: the divide between philosophical approaches, which emphasize universal concepts like human rights and democracy, and empirically oriented social historians, who focus on the lived realities of the enslaved population through archival evidence. He stressed that this is not merely an academic debate; it shapes how contemporary scholars and policymakers understand revolutions, social justice, and the foundations of legal systems in postcolonial contexts. Wilén advocated for a careful balancing method, acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches.

A central contribution of the lecture was Wilén’s introduction of “movement texts”, like publicly declared documents, proclamations, and communications produced by revolutionary leaders and accessible to the broader movement. These texts, he argued, allow scholars to analyze collective identities, the negotiation of ideological and practical goals, and the relationships between leaders and participants, even when literacy rates were low. Movement texts reveal more than elite intentions; they illuminate how the enslaved population engaged with revolutionary demands, shaping the movement’s trajectory.

Wilén positioned his work as a middle-ground framework, a bridge between philosophical and historical traditions. Philosophers often construct universalist narratives without deeply engaging archival sources, while social historians meticulously catalog diaries, newspapers, and eyewitness accounts without theorizing ideological coherence. Wilén integrates social movement theory with selective archival material, tracing both ideas and actions in the Haitian Revolution while situating them in structural, legal, and economic contexts.

He acknowledged critiques that privileging movement texts might obscure the broader desires of the enslaved majority, many of whom sought practical improvements such as freedom to cultivate land or reduced labor obligations rather than abstract ideological goals. However, Wilén emphasized that other sources, such as diaries, statistics, and newspapers, remain vital but should be interpreted in relation to texts structuring collective action. This method provides a richer understanding of revolutionary dynamics, avoiding extremes of individualistic reductionism or purely structuralist analysis.

This method is consistent with the work of Evgeny Pashukanis, a Marxist legal theorist. Wilén uses Pashukanis as a foundational reframing that allows a productive middle-ground synthesis that meaningfully incorporates both historical evidence and theoretical rigor.

Towards the end of the session, scholars questioned whether privileging movement texts risks centering elite voices. Wilén clarified that these texts are inherently relational, reflecting interactions with the revolutionary base and offering insight into collective agency. He illustrated this with the August 1791 planned attack on Saint-Domingue’s northern colonial capital, showing how strategic actions intersected with ideological aims to challenge the colonial economic system.

Wilén also highlighted the contemporary relevance of this approach. Understanding the Haitian Revolution as a complex social movement has implications for modern social policy and activism. He emphasized the importance of balancing ideological commitments with practical constraints when forming coalitions or organizing collective action. The overarching takeaway is that revolutions, historical or modern, are neither purely structural nor purely individual, they emerge through the interaction of people, ideas, and conditions.

For scholars of law, social policy, and human rights, Wilén underscored that legal forms and rights frameworks cannot be divorced from historical, social, and material contexts. The Haitian Revolution demonstrates how enslaved populations not only resisted oppression but actively negotiated the meaning of freedom, justice, and social order. By privileging movement texts within a middle-ground framework, researchers can better understand the interplay of law, ideology, and social mobilization, offering insights relevant to contemporary debates on inequality, human rights, and governance.

In conclusion, Dr. Wilén’s lecture offered a masterful integration of theory, history, and methodology. It challenged us to rethink established paradigms, demonstrating that revolutions are neither purely top-down nor bottom-up, and that understanding their legal and social dimensions requires both careful archival study and critical theoretical reflection. For anyone interested in law, social policy, or the ongoing legacies of slavery and colonialism, the lecture offered a compelling reminder that history, law, and collective action are inextricably intertwined.

> Carl Wilén: Lund University Research Portal

> Carl Wilén: Lund University Faculty Profile