Toby Green

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Toby Green FBA is a British historian of inequality. He is also a Professor of Precolonial and Lusophone African History and Culture at King's College London. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in African studies, at the University of Birmingham. He is Chair of the FontesHistoriae Africanae (Sources of African History) Committee of the British Academy, [1] and has written extensively about African early modern history and colonial African slavery, mainly focused on slavery in the Portuguese colonies.

Contents

He has also written on the Spanish Inquisition. [2] Green disagrees with the notion of a Black Legend of the Spanish Inquisition and often quotes sixteenth-century sources, regarding the institution's abuse of power in Latin America, and is often cited regarding this subject. He has other publications regarding the issues of religious prosecution and oppression in Africa and other European colonies. His interests are slavery in the Atlantic and cultural and economic links between America and Africa. [3]

His book, A Fistful of Shells won the 2019 Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Global Cultural Understanding. [4] It was a finalist for the 2019 LA Times Book prize, [5] and was shortlisted for the 2019 Cundill History Prize [6] and 2020 Wolfson History Prize. [7]

Green was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2024. [8]

Views on the Spanish Inquisition

Green addresses the Spanish Inquisition mainly through Hispano-American sources. He notes that the great unchecked power given to inquisitors meant that they were "widely seen as above the law", [9] and sometimes had motives for imprisoning, while sometimes executing alleged offenders other than for the purpose of punishing religious nonconformity, mainly in Ibero-America. [9] [10] [11]

Publications

Articles

Green, T. 28 Sep 2017 In : Journal of Global Slavery. 2, p. 310-336

Major books (selected only)

Further reading

A Fistful of Shells by Toby Green review – the west African slave trade - The Guardian

What heart of darkness? Busting myths about West African history - The Telegraph

Interview with Toby Green in QG Media - QG Media

Interview with Toby Green in La Presse du Soir - La Presse du Soir

Interview with Toby Green - Times Higher Education

Three Years on there is a New Generation of Lockdown Sceptics - The Guardian

We Must Change the Way we Understand our History - Big Issue North

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Academy</span> National academy of humanities and social sciences

The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spanning all disciplines across the humanities and social sciences and a funding body for research projects across the United Kingdom. The academy is a self-governing and independent registered charity, based at 10–11 Carlton House Terrace in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandinka people</span> West African ethnic group

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugar plantations in the Caribbean</span> Mainly in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal African Company</span> English trading company

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slave Coast of West Africa</span> Historical name of a region in West Africa

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Hazel Vivian Carby is Professor Emerita of African American Studies and of American Studies. She served as Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of African American Studies and American Studies at Yale University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in the British and French Caribbean</span>

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Shell money is a medium of exchange similar to coin money and other forms of commodity money, and was once commonly used in many parts of the world. Shell money usually consisted of whole or partial sea shells, often worked into beads or otherwise shaped. The use of shells in trade began as direct commodity exchange, the shells having use-value as body ornamentation. The distinction between beads as commodities and beads as money has been the subject of debate among economic anthropologists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Africa Squadron</span> Military unit

The West Africa Squadron, also known as the Preventative Squadron, was a squadron of the British Royal Navy whose goal was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa. Formed in 1808 after the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act 1807 and based out of Portsmouth, England, it remained an independent command until 1856 and then again from 1866 to 1867.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in Africa</span> Historical slavery in Africa

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References

  1. FontesHistoriae Africanae
  2. Pindar, Ian (25 August 2007). "Review of The Inquisition: The Reign of Fear by Toby Green". The Guardian.
  3. "King's College London - Dr Toby Green". www.kcl.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  4. "'A Fistful of Shells' wins 2019 Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize". Books+Publishing. 2019-10-31. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  5. "Ronan Farrow, Emily Bazelon and Colson Whitehead among L.A. Times Book Prize finalists". Los Angeles Times . 19 February 2020.
  6. "Jurors hail works that "seek to illuminate…". January 2024.
  7. "Shortlist announced for £40k Wolfson History Prize". Books+Publishing. 2020-04-30. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  8. "The British Academy welcomes 86 new Fellows in 2024". The British Academy. 2024-07-18. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  9. 1 2 Green, Toby (2007). Inquisition : the Reign of Fear . New York: Thomas Dunne Books. pp.  4–5. ISBN   978-0-312-53724-1.
  10. Archivo General de las Indias, Seville, Santa Fe 228, Expediente 63
  11. Archivo General de las Indias, Seville, Santa Fe 228, Expediente 81A, n.33