Olivette Otele

I hold a Ph.D. in History from Universite La Sorbonne, France. My doctoral area of specialisation was European Colonial History. It included examining questions related to the transatlantic slave trade, slave societies, identities and post-colonial societies in the Atlantic world; whereas my B.A. and M.A. trainings were grounded in British and American Literature and History.

My current research centres around transnational history and in particular the linkage between history, collective memory and geopolitics in relation to British and French colonial past. I examine transatlantic connections in the 18th and 19th centuries. I chart and analyse the ways in which Britain and France have been addressing questions of citizenship, race and identity through the politics of remembrance. I also inquire into the value of public gestures, the meaning of public history and the impact of cultural memory.