Prof. Olivette Otele

Olivette Otele is a distinguished Research Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery at SOAS University of London. She has dedicated her professional life to the study of history, as the Chair of Bristol's Race Equality Commission and author of 'Histoire de L'esclavage Transatlantique Britannique, Afro-Europeans: A Short History' and 'African Europeans: An Untold History'. Specialising in geopolitics, the slave trade and Europe’s colonial past, Olivette’s keynote speeches educate audiences on pivotal events in world history.

Holding a PhD in Philosophy from La Sorbonne, France, Olivette was appointed Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University in 2013, where she explored collective memory and European colonisation, before being appointed the first Black female Professor of History in the UK in 2018. The prestigious position is a testament to Olivette’s determination and mental resilience, as she had to work twice as hard due to discrimination against her race. In 2022, she joined SOAS University of London, where she currently holds the position of Research Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery.

As a historian, Olivette has shared her knowledge across several forms of media. As a writer, she has produced valuable content for Times Higher Education, The Conversation, and the BBC, as well as books such as 'Comparative Focus on Legacies of Enslavement in the United Kingdom and France' and 'Post-Conflict Memorialization: Missing Memorials, Absent Bodies'. She is also a broadcast, film and documentary consultant for Netflix, BBC and PBS. Taking to the airwaves, Olivette has appeared on BBC Radio 4 and the History Hit podcast, as well as the John Blanke Project. 

In celebration of her positive influence, Olivette was named in BBC’s 2018 100 Women List and Prospect’s Greatest Thinkers of 2020. In 2023, she was made Commandeur de L'Ordre de La Valeur by special decree from the President of Cameroon and was awarded a Chevalier de Saint Georges Medal of Honour by the President of Culture, Mayor and President of Tourism of Guadeloupe. Recognising her impact in the fields of law and philosophy, Olivette has also received two honorary degrees from Concordia University, Canada and Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. She has researched and explored several important topics, including the African diaspora, citizenship and immigration, and the Atlantic slave trade. Focusing recently on Bristol’s role in the slave trade, Olivette is paving the way for new methods of examining and teaching the history of British slavery.

As a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Board Member of Historians Against Slavery and Executive Board Member for The British Society for the Eighteenth-Century Studies, to name a few of her distinguished positions, Olivette is a pioneer of diversity in historical studies. Having previously been booked for the 2019 Social History Society Annual Conference, Olivette has carved a respectable speaking career as an influential authority on history and race.