Freedom as Dismal Swamp Marronage

Political theorists, philosophers, and scholars of religion have not sufficiently examined how maroons have historically shaped and articulated visions of freedom. Notable exceptions—such as political theorist Neil Roberts’ groundbreaking theorization of freedom as marronage in the context of the Haitian Revolution—have largely overlooked marronage in North America, likely due to the long-standing assumption that maroon communities there never reached a politically significant scale. However, recent archaeological excavations in the Great Dismal Swamp of northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia challenge this assumption, providing compelling evidence of large-scale, long-term maroon communities. These discoveries have prompted archaeologists and historians to reassess the dominant narratives surrounding these communities. In this presentation, I examine the promises and limitations of theorizing freedom as marronage in the context of the Great Dismal Swamp. I propose three key concepts—flight, holding ground, and illegibility—as foundational to developing a critical lexicon for this theorization.