Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects: The Divergent Legacies of Forced Settlement and Colonial Occupation in the Global South

RSC Public Seminar Series, Trinity term 2025

Series convened by Professor Tom Scott-Smith and Professor Catherine Briddick

About the seminar

In Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects, Olukunle P. Owolabi explores the divergent developmental trajectories of Global South nations that were shaped by forced settlement, where European colonists imported enslaved Africans to establish large-scale agricultural plantations, or by colonial occupation, which resulted in the exploitation of indigenous non-white populations. Owolabi shows that most forced settlement colonies emerged from European domination with higher levels of educational attainment, greater postcolonial democratization, and favorable human development outcomes relative to Global South countries that emerged from colonial occupation after 1945. To explain this paradox, he examines the distinctive legal-administrative institutions that were used to control indigenous colonial subjects and highlights the impact of liberal reforms that expanded the legal rights and political agency of former slaves following abolition. Spanning three decades of colonial history and postcolonial development across multiple colonial empires, this is the first book to systematically examine the distinctive patterns of state-building that resulted from forced settlement and colonial occupation in the Black Atlantic world.

About the speaker

Dr. Olukunle P. Owolabi is an associate professor of Political Science and the Director of Africana Studies at Villanova University, where he teaches courses on Comparative Politics, African Politics, Africana studies, and the developmental legacies of colonialism.  His research examines the long-term developmental consequences of colonialism in the Global South, with a particular focus on the Black Atlantic World. His recent book, Ruling Emancipated Slaves and Indigenous Subjects: The Divergent Legacies of Forced Settlement and Colonial Occupation in the Global South (Oxford University Press, 2023) is the recipient of six prestigious book awards from the International Studies Association (ISA), the American Political Science Association (APSA), and the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS). In the coming academic year, Dr. Owolabi will hold a visiting fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where he plans to complete an edited volume on postcolonial transformations in Portugal and Lusophone Africa. Dr. Owolabi holds degrees in International Relations from the University of Toronto (B.A. 2001), in Latin American Studies from Oxford University (M.Phil, 2003), and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Notre Dame.

The seminar will be followed by drinks in the Hall.

Registration not required.

All enquiries should be directed to rsc-outreach@qeh.ox.ac.uk.