Olivette Otele
Olivette Otele FRHistS (born 1970) is an historian who is currently Professor of History of Slavery[2] at Bristol University and Vice-President of the Royal Historical Society.[3] She is Chair for Bristol's Race Equality Commission.[4] Previously she was a Professor of History at Bath Spa University. She is an expert on the links between history, memory, and geopolitics in relation to French and British colonial pasts. She is the first black woman to be appointed to a professorial chair in history in the United Kingdom.[5] She is the author of Histoire de l'esclavage transatlantique britannique and Afro-Europeans: A Short History.[6]
Olivette Otele FRHistS | |
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![]() Otele in 2019 | |
Born | 1970 (age 49–50) Cameroon |
Home town | Paris, France |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Sorbonne University |
Thesis | Mémoire et politique (2005) |
Doctoral advisor | Jean-Claude Redonnet[1] |
Influences |
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Academic work | |
Discipline | History |
Institutions |
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Main interests | History of slavery |
Early life and education
Otele was born in Cameroon in 1970 and grew up in Paris, France.[7] She is of Cameroonian heritage.[8] Otele studied at the Sorbonne University, working on European colonial and post-colonial history.[9] She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in literature in 1998, and her Master of Arts degree in 2000.[9] She received her Doctor of Philosophy degree in 2005 for a doctoral thesis entitled Mémoire et politique : l'enrichissement de Bristol par le commerce triangulaire, objet de polémique.[1] Her dissertation looked at the city of Bristol's role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.[1]
She describes her motivation for studying history as "this urge related to social justice. I wanted to understand the root of racism and discrimination – this idea of hating someone for something they are not responsible for, something that is incredibly random."[10] She believes the most important thing history has ever taught her is kindness.[11] Her greatest influence is the Congolese historian Elikia M'Bokolo.[12] She says the book that has had the greatest impact on her is Nations nègres et culture by Cheikh Anta Diop.[11] Otele speaks French, English, some German, and three Cameroonian languages, Ewondo, Eton and Bulu.[12]
Career
After completing her doctoral studies, Otele was made an associate professor at Université Paris XIII.[13][14] She was appointed as a senior lecturer at Bath Spa University in 2013.[10] She has written about cultural and collective memory and the memorialisation of the past. She analyses the legacies of European colonisation in post-slavery societies. She has published academic articles about Afro-European identities, including "Frenchness", British identities in Wales, and what it meant to be British, Welsh, and black.[15]
In 2018, at the age of 48, Otele became the first black woman to be made Professor of History in the United Kingdom.[8] She acknowledged that her promotion to the professoriate took longer because she has caring responsibilities as a mother to two children and because she is a woman of colour.[16] The Race, Ethnicity & Equality Report published by the Royal Historical Society in October 2018 found that only 0.5 per cent of historians working in UK universities are black.[17] Until Otele's promotion there had never been a black woman Professor of History in the UK.[18] Otele hopes that her appointment will 'open the door for many hard-working women, especially black women in academia'.[19] On her promotion Otele commented that "any success that is used only to improve one's own life is a waste of possibilities. That is why being the first black female history professor does not mean anything to me if I'm not given and can't find means to bring others up."[7] Otele highlighted the difficulties she encountered in becoming a professor: "I've worked very hard and kept pushing and had a family...It's hard. I'm tired. It's bleak."[20] The Vice-Chancellor of Bath Spa University, Sue Rigby, described Otele as "world-class and internationally respected".[21] Otele announced her promotion from her active Twitter account.[22]
Otele has participated in several major research grants looking at the African diaspora.[23][24] She looks at the way the societies of Britain and France address citizenship.[9] She has studied the Atlantic slave trade.[9][25][26] Otele was the Principal Investigator for the project People of African Descent in the 21st Century: Knowledge and Cultural Production in Reluctant Sites of Memory, which received £24,022 in funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.[27] The project ran from May 2017 to November 2018.
Otele is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), and a board member of Historians Against Slavery.[13] She is an executive board member for The British Society for the Eighteenth-Century Studies, a member of the Association for Cultural Studies, and a member of the Centre international de recherches sur les esclavages.[21] She also sits on the board of the National Archives Trust and is on V&A Museum’s research committee.[3][28]
Otele has written for the BBC's HistoryExtra, The Conversation and Times Higher Education.[29] She has written and contributed to several books. Her book, Afro-Europeans: a Short History, is scheduled for publication in 2020 with Hurst Publishers.[30][31][32] Her second book, Post-Conflict Memorialization: Missing Memorials, Absent Bodies, is due in 2019 with Palgrave Macmillan.[33][34]
She has participated in programmes on BBC Radio 4.[35] and Dan Snow's History Hit podcast.[36] She is part of the John Blanke Project, a collaboration of artists and historians celebrating black Tudors.[37] Otele spoke at the 2018 Winchester History Weekend, How Africans Changed Early Modern Europe.[38] She considered outstanding Africans and Europeans who are not otherwise remembered in popular history books.[38]
It was announced in late October 2019 that Otele had been appointed as the first Professor of the History of Slavery at Bristol University.[2] She assumed her post in January 2020, and began a two-year research project to examine Bristol's connection to the transatlantic slave trade. It is anticipated her study will become "a landmark in the way Britain examines, acknowledges and teaches the history of enslavement."[39]
In June 2020 Otele was appointed as independent Chair of Bristol's Commission on Race Equality, which is an unpaid role.[4][40]
Recognition
Otele was named on the BBC 100 Women 2018 List. She appears at number 69, alongside Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin, Nimco Ali, and Uma Devi Badi.[41]
Otele gave the keynote address at the Social History Society Annual Conference, University of Lincoln, 11 June 2019.[42] In May 2019 she was elected to Vice-President of the Royal Historical Society.[3]
Published work
Monographs
- Histoire de l'esclavage britannique: des origines de la traite transatlantique aux premisses de la colonisation (Paris: M. Houdiard, 2008)
- African Europeans: An Untold History (Hurst, 2020) ISBN 9781787381919
Book chapters and journal articles
- "Within and Outside Western Feminism and Grand Narratives: Cameroonian Women's Sites of Resistance", Nationalism(s), Post-nationalism(s): Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire, ed. M. Piquet (Paris: Presses de Paris-Dauphine, 2008), pp. 119–129
- "Religion and Slavery: A Powerful Weapon for Pro-slavery and Abolitionist Campaigners", Le Debat sur l'abolition de l'esclavage en Grande Bretagne, 1787–1840, ed. M. Prum and F. Le Jeune (Paris: Editions Ellipses, 2008), pp. 89–102
- "Liverpool dans la traite transatlantique: Imperatifs et pratiques des peres de la cite", Villes portuaires du commerce triangulaire à l'abolition de l'esclavage. Cahiers de l'histoire et des mémoires de la traite négrière, de l'esclavage et de leurs abolitions en Normandie, 1, ed. Saunier (Cléon: Routes du philanthrope, 2009), pp. 57–70
- "Dependance, pouvoir et identite ou les ambiguites de la 'camerounicite'", 50 ans après, quelle indépendance pour l'Afrique?, ed. G. Makhily (Paris: Philippe Rey, 2010), pp. 467–482 ISBN 9782848761565
- "Resisting Imperial Governance in Canada: From Trade and Religious Kinship to Black Narrative Pedagogy in Ontario", The Promised Land: History and Historiography of the Black Experience in Chatham-Kent's Settlements and Beyond (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014) ISBN 9781442647176
- "History of Slavery, Sites of Memory, and Identity Politics in Contemporary Britain", A Stain on Our Past: Slavery and Memory (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2017), pp. 189–210 ISBN 9781569025802
- "'Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité': Debunking the Myth of Egalitarianism in French Education", in Unsettling Eurocentrism in the Westernized University, ed. J. Cupples and R. Grosfoguel (London: Routledge, 2018)
Articles
- "We Need to Talk About Slavery's Impact on All of Us", The Guardian, 9 November 2019[43]
- "These Anti-racism Protests Show It's Time for Britain to Grapple with Its Difficult History" The Guardian, 9 June 2020[44]
References
- Olivette, Otele (1 January 2005). Mémoire et politique : l'enrichissement de Bristol par le commerce triangulaire, objet de polémique (Thesis).
- "Bristol University appoints History of Slavery professor". BBC News. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
- "Professor Olivette Otele FRHS elected a Vice-President of the Royal Historical Society". RHS. 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
- "New independent chair appointed for Bristol's Race Equality Commission". Bristol City Council News. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
- "The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition, by Manisha Sinha". Times Higher Education (THE). 19 May 2016. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
- "Hurst to publish history on Afro-Europeans from Olivette Otele". The Bookseller. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
- "Interview with Olivette Otele". Times Higher Education (THE). 15 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
- "The UK's first black female history professor is Olivette Otele — Quartz". qz.com. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "Olivette Otele". www.bathspa.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "Making history: Interview with Professor Olivette Otele". The Bristol Magazine Online. 2020-06-02. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
- "On the Spot: Olivette Otele | History Today". www.historytoday.com. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "Première femme noire professeure d'histoire au Royaume-Uni". BBC News Afrique. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "Dr Olivette Otele". Historians Against Slavery. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "Olivette Otele | Université Paris 13 - Academia.edu". univ-paris13.academia.edu. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- Otele, Olivette (1 February 2008). "Multiculturalisme et régionalisme : les apories d'une identité britannique au pays de Galles". Observatoire de la Société Britannique (in French) (5): 49–64. doi:10.4000/osb.619. ISSN 1957-3383.
- "Meet Britain's First Black Female History Professor: 'Racism Is Alive And Kicking In Academia'". HuffPost UK. 8 December 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
- "Race, Ethnicity & Equality in UK History: A Report and Resource for Change" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-11-08.
- "Congratulations Professor Otele". The Social History Society. 1 November 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
- "Première femme noire professeure d'histoire au Royaume-Uni". BBC News Afrique. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
- "The UK's only black female history professor". BBC News. 19 November 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- Petherick, Sam (26 October 2018). "Bath Spa appoints UK's first black woman history professor". somersetlive. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- "Historian on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
- "Olivette Otele - UKRI". UKRI. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "Historicising Afro-European experiences: Heritage and Politics of Memory". www.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "International Migration Institute | University of Oxford Podcasts - Audio and Video Lectures". podcasts.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "Dr. Olivette Otele | History On-line". www.history.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "People of African Descent in the 21st century: knowledge and cultural production in reluctant sites of memory". UK Research and Innovation. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
- "The National Archives Trust - Our board". The National Archives Trust. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
- "Olivette Otele". The Conversation. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "The big question: Has the European Union been a success?". History Extra. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
- O, Otele (2018). Afro-Europeans: a short history. researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk. ISBN 9781787381919. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "Five minutes with… Olivette Otele | The History Vault". www.thehistoryvault.co.uk. 2017-01-29. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "Telling Their Stories: Celebrating Black History Month | University Church of St Mary the Virgin". www.universitychurch.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- O, Otele (March 2019). "Mourning in reluctant sites of memory: from Afrophobia to cultural productivity". researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "BBC Sounds - Open Book - Chalke Valley History Festival". BBC. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- acast (23 September 2017). "Janina Ramirez & Olivette Otele | Dan Snow's HISTORY HIT on acast". acast. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "About". John Blanke. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- "Winchester History Weekend 2018: 5 minutes with Olivette Otele". History Extra. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
- Gray, Jasmin (30 October 2019). "Olivette Otele: University Of Bristol Hires UK's First Female Black History Professor To Examine Its Ties With Slavery". HuffPost. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
- "New independent chair appointed for Bristol's Race Equality Commission". Bristol City Council News. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- "BBC 100 Women 2018: Who is on the list?". BBC News. 19 November 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
- "Conference". The Social History Society. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
- Otele, Olivette (2019-11-09). "We need to talk about slavery's impact on all of us | Olivette Otele". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
- Otele, Olivette (2020-06-09). "These anti-racism protests show it's time for Britain to grapple with its difficult history | Olivette Otele". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-06-10.