Olivette Otele

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Professor Olivette Otele, June 2019

Olivette Otele (* 1970 in Cameroon ) has been Professor of History at Bath Spa University in Bath , England , since 2018 , making it the first woman of color in such a position in Great Britain . She also serves as Vice President of the Royal Historical Society . Her research interests are the connection between history, memory and geopolitics in the Franco-British relations of the colonial era and the history of slavery. Otele was named to the list of the 100 Most Influential and Inspirational Women for 2018.

childhood and education

Olivette Otele was born in Cameroon in 1970 and grew up in Paris. She studied at the Sorbonne and specialized in the colonial and post-colonial history of Europe. In 1998 she received her Bachelor of Arts in Literature and in 2000 a Master of Arts in British and American Literature and History. In 2002 she successfully passed the exams for Diplôme d'études approfondies at the Sorbonne. The doctorate followed in 2005 . In her doctoral thesis Mémoire et politique: l'enrichissement de Bristol par le commerce triangulaire, objet de polémique. she dealt with the role of Bristol in the transatlantic slave trade.

Otele was particularly influenced by the Congolese historian Elikia M'Bokolo . Her role models include the African-American historian and activist Anna Julia Cooper , as well as WEB Du Bois , Joseph Ki-Zerbo , Cheikh Anta Diop , Audre Lorde , Toyin Falola , Michel Foucault , Theophile Obenga , Achille Mbembe , Francoise Verges , Ibrahima Thioub and Myriam Cottias . She was also inspired by Queen Anna Nzinga , who lived in Angola in the 17th century .

Professional background

Before her professorship, Otele was a private lecturer at the University of Paris-Nord . In 2018, at the age of 48, she was appointed to a professorship at Bath Spa University , the first professorship in history in Great Britain to be held by a woman of color . Otele, who is the mother of two children, believes that her career has progressed so slowly, in part, because the university system discriminates against both mothers and persons of color.

Her research focus is on the study of transnational history. She is particularly interested in the connection between history, collective memory and geopolitics with reference to the British and French colonial past. She analyzes how Great Britain and France dealt with the areas of citizenship, race and identity in the culture of remembrance . She also asks about the value of gestures in public space, the importance of public history and the effects of cultural memory.

honors and awards

  • List of 100 women on the BBC

Memberships

Publications

  • Within and outside Western feminism and grand narratives: Cameroonian women's sites of resistance , in: M. Piquet (ed.): Nationalism (s), Post-nationalism (s): Center de Recherche Interdisciplinaire , Paris, Presses de Paris-Dauphine 2008 , Pp. 119-129
  • Religion and Slavery: a Powerful Weapon for Pro-slavery and Abolitionist Campaigners , in: M. Prum, F. Le Jeune (ed.): Le Debat sur l'abolition de l'esclavage en Grande Bretagne, 1787-1840 , Paris, Editions Ellipses 2008, pp. 89-102
  • Histoire de l'esclavage britannique: des origines de la traite transatlantique aux premisses de la colonization . M. Houdiard, Paris 2008. ISBN 9782912673909
  • Liverpool dans la traite transatlantique: Imperatifs et pratiques des peres de la cite , in: Saunier (ed.): 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 , Cléon, Routes du philanthrope 2009, pp. 57-70
  • Dependance, pouvoir et identite ou les ambiguites de la 'camerounicite' , in: G. Makhili (Ed.): 50 ans après, quelle indépendance pour l'Afrique? , 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 , in: A Stain on our Past: Slavery and Memory . Trenton, Africa World Press 2017, pp. 189-210, ISBN 9781569025802 .
  • Liberté, égalité, fraternité: debunking the myth of egalitarianism in French education , in J. Cupples, R. Grosfoguel (ed.): Unsettling Eurocentrism in the Westernized University , London, Routledge 2018.
  • Colston: what can Britain learn from France? In: R. Chantiluke, B. Kwoba, A. Nkopo (Eds.): Rhodes Must Fall: the struggle to decolonize the racist heart of empire. Written by the Rhodes Must Fall Movement, Oxford. Zed Books, London 2018. ISBN 9781786993908

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview with Olivette Otele. In: timeshighereducation.com. November 15, 2018, accessed September 23, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Olivette Otele. In: bathspa.ac.uk. Retrieved September 22, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Première femme noire professeure d'histoire au Royaume-Uni. In: bbc.com. Retrieved September 22, 2019 (French).
  4. ↑ Who is Britain's first African female professor in history? In: afrikaportal.eu. Retrieved September 23, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Five minutes with ... Olivette Otele. In: The History Vault. Retrieved September 23, 2019 .
  6. ↑ UK "s first black female professor, Cameroonian born Olivette Otele. January 17, 2019, accessed on September 24, 2019 (fr-fr).
  7. ↑ Dr Olivette Otele. In: Historians Against Slavery. Retrieved September 24, 2019 (American English).
  8. ^ Cassie Werber: The UK's first black female history professor says history has taught her kindness. Retrieved September 24, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Meet Britain's First Black Female History Professor: 'Racism Is Alive And Kicking In Academia'. December 8, 2018, accessed September 24, 2019 .
  10. ↑ BBC 100 Women 2018: Who is on the list? November 19, 2018, accessed September 22, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Otele, Olivette
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cameroonian-British historian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Cameroon