Why are you a historian of the Caribbean?
I was born and grew up in the West Country where the presence of the Caribbean past and Caribbean people was everywhere.
What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?
That the past is ever-present.
Which history book has had the greatest influence on you?
Eric Williams’ Capitalism and Slavery.
What book in your field should everyone read?
Hilary Beckles’ Britain’s Black Debt: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Native Genocide.
Which moment would you most like to go back to?
Pre-colonial West Africa, specifically Nigeria.
Which historian has had the greatest influence on you?
Verene Shepherd.
Which person in history would you most like to have met?
Sally Bassett, an enslaved woman living in Bermuda.
How many languages do you have?
English, German, and some French.
What’s the most exciting field in history today?
Environmental histories of colonialism.
What historical topic have you changed your mind on?
I didn’t fully appreciate the significance of indigenous Caribbean history and still have a lot to learn.
What is the most common misconception about your field?
That due to its small size the Caribbean has been an insignificant region in global history.
Who is the most underrated person in history…
Mary Prince, an enslaved woman who played a critical role in the abolition of slavery.
… and the most overrated?
William Wilberforce.
Is there an important historical text you have not read?
There are too many to list.
What’s your favourite archive?
Black Cultural Archives in Brixton.
What’s the best museum?
The National Museum of Haiti.
What technology has changed the world the most?
The printing press.
Recommend us a historical novel…
Andrea Levy’s The Long Song.
… and a historical drama?
Underground.
You can solve one historical mystery. What is it?
I would like to know for what purpose indigenous peoples in Costa Rica created the numerous spherical stones that are dotted throughout the country.
Imaobong Umoren is Associate Professor of International History at LSE and the author of Empire Without End: A New History of Britain and the Caribbean (Fern Press, 2025).
