Home

Dr. Meredith Terretta

Professor of History, University of Ottawa

I teach courses and direct student research in African history, human rights history and the history of refuge-seeking. 

As a researcher, I specialise in themes of anticolonial activism and the mixed outcomes of international solidarities.

My most recent single-authored book is Nation of Outlaws, State of Violence: Nationalism, Grassfields Tradition, and State-Building in Cameroon.

I am working on a new book tentatively titled Activism at the Fringes of Empire: Rogue Lawyers and Rights Advocates In Twentieth Century Africa.

Why history?

History is not about memorising information—dates, events or otherwise.

History is a way of thinking about the world, about change over time, and about the ways that human beings effect, react to, and adapt to change.

Together, my students think historically to solve human problems. We “do” history by effectively analysing evidence and persuasively communicating the results of our historical thinking.