Vincent Hiribarren

I trained as a History and Geography teacher and taught in France, China, Guinea and England. From 2008 to 2012, I undertook a PhD on the history of Borno, Nigeria at the University of Leeds. The exact title of my thesis was: “From a kingdom to a Nigerian state: the territory and boundaries of Borno 1810-2010”. From January to June 2013, I was a Leverhulme Teaching fellow at the University of Leeds where I taught in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures.

My first bookA History of Borno: Trans-Saharan African Empire to Failing Nigerian State (Hurst, 2015) engages in the history of West Africa with a particular focus on the historical continuity of territories and borders of Borno, a region located on the Nigerian shores of Lake Chad. I am also profoundly interested in cartography not only the studying of maps but also their creation. You can have a look at my website to see some of the Digital Humanities projects I am currently working on.

My own work with archives located in Britain, France, Germany, Nigeria, Niger led me to examine the relationship between archives and history in an African context.

I am specialised in teaching African History and have already taught survey modules on the history of Africa since 1700, on the history of colonial Algeria or on world history in general. I have also analysed in depth with my students books such as Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom or Roger Chartier’s, The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution. I am currently the module conveyor for a module called 'Worlds of the British Empire'.