Olukunle Owolabi

During his fellowship year, Olukunle Owolabi will complete an edited volume, tentatively titled Postcolonial Transformations in Portugal and Lusophone Africa: Legacies of Empire, Revolution, and Democratization Pathways (co-edited with Tiago Fernandes, associate professor of political science, University Institute of Lisbon). This collaborative project examines the diverse social and political transformations that occurred in Portugal and its former African colonies following Portugal’s 1974 Carnation Revolution and the anti-colonial wars in Portugal’s African colonies. He also plans to draft two empirical research papers that contribute to a new book-length project on the long-term developmental and political legacies of Chinese and Indian indentured labor migration in 35 former British colonies across the Global South. 

Owolabi is an associate professor of political science, and the director of Africana studies at Villanova University. His research examines the long-term developmental legacies of colonialism, slavery, abolition, indentured labor migration, and anti-colonial resistance in the Global South. 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 numerous book awards including the W.E.B. du Bois Distinguished Book Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists; the Peter Katzenstein Award for the best first book in comparative politics, international relations, or political economy; and the American Political Science Association’s Merze Tate-Elin Ostrom award for the best book published in any subfield of political science. Owolabi holds degrees from the University of Toronto (BA, international relations, 2001), Oxford University (MPhil, Latin American studies, 2003), and the University of Notre Dame (PhD, political science, 2012).