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Olivette Otele stands on a bridge in front of a grey river. She wears a red jacket and a patterend scarf and smiles.

Our New Patron 
Olivette Otele

The UK’s first Black female History Professor, world-renowned expert on colonial and postcolonial history and listed in 100 Great Black Britons is unveiled as a new patron.

Olivette Otele Ph.D., FRHistS has been recently appointed Distinguished Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery at SOAS, University of London. Her area of research is colonial and post-colonial history and the histories of people of African descent.

 

She has received several major research grants looking at the African diaspora and the Atlantic slave trade and has led projects working with local communities in England, Wales, Canada, and West Africa to understand how the history of the transatlantic slave trade is still impacting the population today.

 

Otele holds a Ph.D. in History from Université Paris, La Sorbonne, France. and received an honorary doctorate in Law from Concordia University in Canada. She is a Fellow and former Vice President of the Royal Historical Society and has been a judge of the International Man Booker Prize. As well as having written numerous scholarly papers and books, Professor Otele is also a regular contributor to the press, television and radio programmes including the BBC, Sky News, Guardian, Sunday Times, Elle Magazine, Huffington Post, and The New Yorker.

 

“I want us all to celebrate tiata fahodzi's trajectory and powerful creative productions. The company has created paths for young artists to thrive in an industry where British African talents remain mostly unsupported and theatre companies’ projects underfunded. I am honoured and delighted to be one of their patrons”.

Olivette Otele, Patron, tiata fahodzi

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