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Toby Green

Professor Toby Green

Professor of Precolonial and Lusophone African History and Culture

Biography

After studying Philosophy, Toby Green worked as a writer and editor. He then studied for his PhD at the Centre of West African Studies at Birmingham University, working with Paulo de Moraes Farias and completing in 2007, before coming to King's in 2010.

Green has been PI of research projects funded by the AHRC, British Library, European Union, and the Leverhulme Trust, and was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize for History in 2017. He has organised events in collaboration with institutions in Angola, Brazil, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia. His 2019 book A Fistful of Shells was awarded the British Academy Book Prize and the Jerry Bentley Prize in World History of the American Historical Association. He was a prominent commentator on the Covid-19 pandemic, and his book The Covid Consensus was published in 2023. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2024.

Research Interests and PhD Supervision

I am a historian of West Africa and of global inequality in the past and the present. I have worked principally on precolonial Western Africa and global inequality (16th-19th centuries), and on the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its relationship to global inequality. Through my work, I seek actively to reorient the privileges of academic power through collaborating with colleagues in the "Global South". I am currently active in collaborative projects with colleagues in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, and The Gambia.

Specific areas of interest include:

  • African economic history and its intersection with world economic history
  • Atlantic slavery
  • Connections between the precolonial, the colonial and the postcolonial state in Africa
  • The Covid-19 pandemic and global inequality

PhD supervision – current recently completed areas:

  • Postcolonial Angola: History and Politics
  • African cultural and political influences in the Cuban revolution
  • Empire, environment and early modern Portuguese expansion
  • Youth movements and political participation in Lusophone Africa
  • The Angolan diaspora in the early modern Atlantic world

Teaching

I love teaching and developing broad discussions in collaboration with students. I teach broadly in the areas of early modern Atlantic and African history; cultural histories of Lusophone Africa, including literature and music; global economic history; and, at MA level, racialization and the history of Atlantic slavery. 

Expertise and Public Engagement

Toby Green has been active in public engagement in the area of history education (in West Africa and the UK), and in the Covid-19 policy response.

Green was the Lead Consultant for the new OCR A Level History Option "African Kingdoms, 1400-1800", having written the accompanying ebook. He has designed a website with teaching materials from Key Stages 3 to 5 for the UK syllabus. He is also one of the coordinators of a new online textbook funded by the AHRC for West African schoolchildren for the WASSCE exam in History, working with a team of historians from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. Green has also participated in collaborative projects with institutions including the British Library and the National Centre for Arts and Culture in The Gambia. He is Chair of the Fontes Historiae Africanae Committee of the British Academy.

Green has written widely on the Covid-19 pandemic response for outlets including African Arguments, Culturico, New Statesman, Prospect, UnHerd, and The Wire. He has presented his book The Covid Consensus at parliament, presented at a side-panel on pandemic poverty of the 2023 UN High Level Political Meeting, and organised a conference on Africa's experience of the Covid-19 pandemic response at the Royal United Services Institute.

Selected Publications

  • The Covid Consensus (Hurst, 2023) - coauthored with Thomas Fazi
  • A Fistful of Shells (Allen Lane/Chicago University Press, 2019)
  • Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects of the West African Past (Brill, 2018) -- coedited with Benedetta Rossi
  • Guinea-Bissau: Micro-State to 'Narco-State' (Hurst, 2016) - coedited with Patrick Chabal
  • The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2012). 

    Research

    KBI Cathedral of Brasília, Brazil
    Culture, society and identities

    This research group analyses Brazilian culture and how class, regional, gender, racial and ethnic identities are expressed

    Eco, Soc, Pol, Theory
    Critical Economic and Political Thought

    The group approaches the study of politics and economics from critical cultural perspectives including, but not limited to, history, literature, visual culture, performance and social activism.

    Capitalism
    Histories of Capitalism in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa

    Rethinking capitalism’s conceptual categories, theoretical frameworks, spaces and intellectual trajectories.

    Mappe Munde de Ch'on hado
    Global History

    Research about how historicities from past, to present, and future, differ across societies.

    News

    Professor Toby Green calls for a 'return to roots: African modes of discussion must be included in academia.'

    Professor Toby Green, Professor of Precolonial and Lusophone African History and Culture, presented on gaps between African and Western academic models in his...

    240901 toby green inaugural lecture

    Two King's academics receive British Academy Fellowships

    The British Academy announce Professor William Fitzgerald and Professor Toby Green as Fellows.

    The British Academy

    New book critiquing COVID response launched

    Professor Toby Green has released his comprehensive critique of the devastating ‘War on Covid’, showing how to ensure it never happens again.

    Toby Green book

    King's academics appointed to expert panel

    A King’s academic has been appointed chair of an expert panel which will be advising the government on the development of a model history curriculum.

    SPENewsStock

    A Fistful of Shells by Toby Green nominated for Wolfson History Prize 2020

    A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution, by Senior Lecturer in Lusophone African History and Culture Dr...

    A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution, by Senior Lecturer in Lusophone African History and Culture Dr Toby Green, has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2020.

    Dr Toby Green on BBC World Service

    Dr Toby Green spoke about the history of shells as a currency on BBC World Service's ideas discussion show, The Forum

    greentoby

    Dr Toby Green wins British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award

    Congratulations to Dr Toby Green who was announced as winner of a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award

    Dr Toby Green

    Dr Toby Green publishes new book

    Dr Toby Green, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Departments of History and Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies, publishes book entitled The Rise...

    The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300-1589 by Dr Toby Green, published by Cambridge University Press.

    Dr Toby Green wins British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award

    Dr Toby Green announced as winner of a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award.

    Dr Toby Green.

    Events

    24SepContemporary West African Politics

    African Lives and the Language of History

    Join us for the inaugural Professorial Lecture by Professor Toby Green asking how different the Western academic model would be if it were to address African...

    Please note: this event has passed.

    21MarStrangers Within

    Strangers Within by Professor Francisco Bethencourt

    Join us for a roundtable discussion of Prof. Francisco Bethencourt's (Charles Boxer Professor, King's) new book, Strangers Within The Rise and Fall of the New...

    Please note: this event has passed.

    28Marbooks-780

    “Fictions of Consent”: An evening with Urvashi Chakravarty

    We are delighted to welcome Urvashi Chakravarty to King’s College London on 28 March for a programme of events reflecting on her award-winning book Fictions...

    Please note: this event has passed.

    19MayWebinar picture

    Professional Development for Executives: How to Create a Powerful Personal Brand

    Discover how to create a powerful personal brand at our virtual taster event.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    02FebBorn in blackness banner

    Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the making of the modern world

    Join us for the launch of 'Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World' with author Howard W. French.

    Please note: this event has passed.

      Research

      KBI Cathedral of Brasília, Brazil
      Culture, society and identities

      This research group analyses Brazilian culture and how class, regional, gender, racial and ethnic identities are expressed

      Eco, Soc, Pol, Theory
      Critical Economic and Political Thought

      The group approaches the study of politics and economics from critical cultural perspectives including, but not limited to, history, literature, visual culture, performance and social activism.

      Capitalism
      Histories of Capitalism in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa

      Rethinking capitalism’s conceptual categories, theoretical frameworks, spaces and intellectual trajectories.

      Mappe Munde de Ch'on hado
      Global History

      Research about how historicities from past, to present, and future, differ across societies.

      News

      Professor Toby Green calls for a 'return to roots: African modes of discussion must be included in academia.'

      Professor Toby Green, Professor of Precolonial and Lusophone African History and Culture, presented on gaps between African and Western academic models in his...

      240901 toby green inaugural lecture

      Two King's academics receive British Academy Fellowships

      The British Academy announce Professor William Fitzgerald and Professor Toby Green as Fellows.

      The British Academy

      New book critiquing COVID response launched

      Professor Toby Green has released his comprehensive critique of the devastating ‘War on Covid’, showing how to ensure it never happens again.

      Toby Green book

      King's academics appointed to expert panel

      A King’s academic has been appointed chair of an expert panel which will be advising the government on the development of a model history curriculum.

      SPENewsStock

      A Fistful of Shells by Toby Green nominated for Wolfson History Prize 2020

      A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution, by Senior Lecturer in Lusophone African History and Culture Dr...

      A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution, by Senior Lecturer in Lusophone African History and Culture Dr Toby Green, has been shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2020.

      Dr Toby Green on BBC World Service

      Dr Toby Green spoke about the history of shells as a currency on BBC World Service's ideas discussion show, The Forum

      greentoby

      Dr Toby Green wins British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award

      Congratulations to Dr Toby Green who was announced as winner of a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award

      Dr Toby Green

      Dr Toby Green publishes new book

      Dr Toby Green, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Departments of History and Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies, publishes book entitled The Rise...

      The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300-1589 by Dr Toby Green, published by Cambridge University Press.

      Dr Toby Green wins British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award

      Dr Toby Green announced as winner of a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award.

      Dr Toby Green.

      Events

      24SepContemporary West African Politics

      African Lives and the Language of History

      Join us for the inaugural Professorial Lecture by Professor Toby Green asking how different the Western academic model would be if it were to address African...

      Please note: this event has passed.

      21MarStrangers Within

      Strangers Within by Professor Francisco Bethencourt

      Join us for a roundtable discussion of Prof. Francisco Bethencourt's (Charles Boxer Professor, King's) new book, Strangers Within The Rise and Fall of the New...

      Please note: this event has passed.

      28Marbooks-780

      “Fictions of Consent”: An evening with Urvashi Chakravarty

      We are delighted to welcome Urvashi Chakravarty to King’s College London on 28 March for a programme of events reflecting on her award-winning book Fictions...

      Please note: this event has passed.

      19MayWebinar picture

      Professional Development for Executives: How to Create a Powerful Personal Brand

      Discover how to create a powerful personal brand at our virtual taster event.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      02FebBorn in blackness banner

      Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the making of the modern world

      Join us for the launch of 'Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World' with author Howard W. French.

      Please note: this event has passed.