Olivette Otele FRHistS FLSW (born 1970) is a historian and distinguished research professor at SOAS University of London.

[6][7] Otele studied at the Universite La Sorbonne in Paris, France, working on European colonial and post-colonial history.

[12] The Race, Ethnicity & Equality Report published by the Royal Historical Society in October 2018 found that only 0.5 per cent of historians working in UK universities are Black.

[17] The vice-chancellor of Bath Spa University, Sue Rigby, described Otele as "world-class and internationally respected".

[20] She assumed her post in January 2020, and began a two-year research project to examine Bristol's connection to the transatlantic slave trade.

[21] In spring of 2022, Otele left Bristol for SOAS, a shift she addressed in a Twitter thread that received much attention.

[2][23] In June 2020, Otele was appointed as independent Chair of Bristol's Commission on Race Equality, which is an unpaid role.

[8][28][29] Otele was the Principal Investigator for the project People of African Descent in the 21st Century: Knowledge and Cultural Production in Reluctant Sites of Memory, which received £24,022 in funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

[31][32][33] The publisher Hodder bought the exclusive rights to the audiobook version which will be narrated by Otele and released alongside the hardbook publication.

[38] She also regularly contributes to other press, television and radio programmes, including The Guardian, Sky News, The Sunday Times, Elle Magazine, Huffington Post and The New Yorker.

I wanted to understand the root of racism and discrimination – this idea of hating someone for something they are not responsible for, something that is incredibly random.

The project works with local communities to understand how the history of the transatlantic slave-trade is still impacting the Bristolian population today.

[48] Otele gave the keynote address at the Social History Society Annual Conference, University of Lincoln, 11 June 2019.

[50] Otele commented on the media attention this brought as an "overwhelming pressure to be the face of diversity and to solve racism".

[17] Otele was photographed to honour the contributions of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff, students and alumni, at Bristol University.

Her portrait features in a series to celebrate the Be More Empowered for Success programme run by the university to support BAME groups.