Olivette Otele
Autor(a) de African Europeans: An Untold History
About the Author
Obras por Olivette Otele
Associated Works
Special Issue: Cotton Capital: How Slavery Shaped the Guardian, Britain & the World (2023) — Contribuidor — 1 exemplar
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Data de nascimento
- 1970
- Sexo
- female
- Nacionalidade
- UK
- Local de nascimento
- Yaoundé, Cameroon
- Educação
- Sorbonne, Paris, France (PhD|History)
- Ocupações
- SOAS University of London (Faculty of Law|Distinguished Research Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery)
- Organizações
- Royal Historical Society (Vice President)
Membros
Críticas
Listas
Prémios
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Associated Authors
Estatísticas
- Obras
- 3
- Also by
- 1
- Membros
- 192
- Popularidade
- #113,797
- Avaliação
- 3.4
- Críticas
- 4
- ISBN
- 14
- Línguas
- 3
But ultimately this book fell between two stools for me: not well-structured enough to be a strong academic text, nor narrative-driven enough to likely have much appeal for the general reader for whom it's clearly intended. For instance, there are large swathes of the book that feel like the literature review section of a dissertation. I'm absolutely fine with this being a work of synthesis rather than one grounded in original archival research—this kind of sweeping work covering a continent across millennia could hardly be written otherwise—and deeply respect Otélé's clear commitment to foregrounding the other scholars on whose work she draws, which is something that many writers of popular histories often do not do. But it does make for a dry read, particularly since Otélé at times I think assumes more familiarity with the work of these scholars, or the events they're discussing, than the average reader may have. Equally, many of the chapters seemed to lack much by way of internal structure, and whiplashed between topics/subjects.
I picked this up with an eye to assigning it at a textbook in a future course, but my reservations about structure/clarity of argument mean that I am unlikely to do so now. I will however definitely use it as a jumping off point for future reading and classroom inspiration—the triumph of African Europeans is undoubtedly in the richness and diversity of the history it portrays.… (mais)