The concept of leadership and the institution of organizations are complex and dynamic because how it is executed and structured is based on the context in which it is used. Traditional leadership models operate under the false pretense that the interests of the organizations will benefit the whole. I will attempt to construct a leadership theory that assumes social conflict theory rather than systems theory and seeks to identify the characteristics of leadership as found in marginalized communities.
Haiti is the first and only successful slave revolt in history, so why isn’t this feat celebrated all over the world? Why haven’t we learned the important lessons that these revolutionaries can teach? For example, did these slaves exercise leadership differently than their masters; and if so, is this why they were able to win their freedom and establish their own country? These questions form the basis of my research question: "What can we learn through analyzing texts written on the Haitian Revolution as well as the texts of contemporary Haitian and Haitian-American subjects that will help us critique traditional, and suggest new, notions of leadership?"
The purpose of analyzing text written about the Haitian Revolution is to identify characteristics that capture the unofficial, non-traditional leader. This dissertation accomplishes this by first exploring texts which might reveal how Haitian slaves exercised an alternative form of leadership in order to gain their freedom during the Haitian Revolution. Following an analysis of these historical texts, this dissertation analyzes texts taken from contemporary Haitians and Haitian-Americans. The contemporary Haitian narratives attempt to provide more concrete examples of these characteristics and provide exemplars that can be compared and contrasted with that which has been indentified from the text written about their ancestors.