Duke University Press Fugitive Modernities: Kisama and the Politics of Freedom

During the early seventeenth century, Kisama emerged in West Central Africa (present-day Angola) as communities and an identity for those fleeing expanding states and the violence of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The fugitives mounted effective resistance to European colonialism despite—or because of—the absence of centralized authority or a common language. In Fugitive Modernities Jessica A. Krug offers a continent- and century-spanning narrative exploring Kisama's intellectual, political, and social histories. Those who became Kisama forged a transnational reputation for resistance, and by refusing to organize their society around warrior identities, they created viable social and political lives beyond the bounds of states and the ruthless market economy of slavery. Krug follows the idea of Kisama to the Americas, where fugitives in the New Kingdom of Grenada (present-day Colombia) and Brazil used it as a means of articulating politics in fugitive slave communities. By tracing the movement of African ideas, rather than African bodies, Krug models new methods for grappling with politics and the past, while showing how the history of Kisama and its legacy as a global symbol of resistance that has evaded state capture offers essential lessons for those working to build new and just societies. Review "Krug's most original argument is that the frameworks of American maroon communities were constructed first in Africa, where flight from the forces of enslavement was commonplace prior to the Atlantic crossing. For historians of West Central Africa, Krug's trenchant critique of statist bias in the existing historiography provides much food for thought. And Krug's broader historiographical approach, to move beyond Eurocentric concepts to ideas derived from African languages, powerfully critiques how colonial ideas continue to shape dominant historical discourses."--Toby Green "HAHR" (5/1/2020 12:00:00 AM) "Fugitive Modernities has a lot to offer. The reflections on the nature of colonialism, its implications for historical periodization, and its insights into the history of Kisama, Limón, and Palmares are valuable and based on a wide range of sources."--Inge Brinkman "Africa Today" (12/1/2019 12:00:00 AM) "This intellectual history of Kisama is impressive in its breadth of research where Krug follows an anti-authoritarian ideology through multiple languages in Africa and the Americas. Her book will enable scholars to re-conceptualize how Africans influenced the Black Atlantic socially, politically, and intellectually. . . . Her departure from the conventions of diasporic studies will resonate with scholars interested in understanding the long-lasting intellectual influences of fugitives in both Africa and the Americas."--Henry B. Lovejoy "Journal of African History" (1/1/2020 12:00:00 AM) Review “Fugitives in early modern Africa and America survived the predations of slaving states by harnessing political traditions that would cure the ills caused by concentrated power. Tracing the ideas and actions of black people who built self-governing societies, Jessica A. Krug highlights new possibilities for thinking about collective struggle in a continuous age of rapacious exploitation. In this innovative and ambitious work of history, we can envision a free future outside the custody of state authorities.” (Vincent Brown, author of The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery) “In Fugitive Modernities Jessica A. Krug traces, imagines and really dares us to plot new paths to liberation by lingering in the work and world of Kisama. While never underestimating the consequences of bodily terror, Krug reminds us that every scrutinized black body contain theories, ideas, and imaginations that often travel in ways we intentionally fail to ritualize. I've read hundreds of memoirs and autobiographies this year. I'm still unsure how Krug made Fugitive Modernities, an academic book,