A Nigerian-born historian and scholar-teacher, Dr. Bright Alozie is assistant professor in the Black Studies Department. He is also affiliate faculty in the Departments of History and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Portland State University. He holds a PhD in History from West Virginia University.
Fields of Expertise and areas of interest:
Dr. Alozie’s core research interests focus on colonial and postcolonial Africa and the African diaspora, particularly social and political history, women and gender studies, petitions and documentary sources, digital and oral histories, as well as protests and social movements. Dr. Alozie has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals and contributed chapters in edited volumes. He is also a recipient of several research fellowships and grants and fellowships including the North Atlantic Conference on British Studies Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship (2023), Charlton Oral History Research Grant (2023), Hagley Oral History Project Grant and Fellowship (2023), Association for the Promotion of the Study of the Middle East and Africa multiple research grants (2017-2022), Hayek Fund for Scholars (2021), African Humanities Research Grant (2021), and PSU Faculty Development Grant (2022). Dr. Alozie has also received teaching awards including the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 25th Annual John Eliot Allen Outstanding Teaching Awards (2022), and PSU Outstanding Professor/Educator Awards, Feminist Researcher Award, Feminist Scholar of Color, Outstanding Leadership, and Best Dressed Professor Awards (2023).
Dr. Alozie is currently working on his second monograph: Black Voices, African Immigrants, and the American Experience: An Oral History of African Immigrants in Oregon, USA. He is also in the final stages of his creative work: Voices Unmuted: A Poetic Homage to Africa’s Histories, Voices, and Reclamation. He is also open to collaborative research, graduate student advising, student mentorship, and community outreach engagements.
Courses Taught:
- BST/HST306U: Africa, 1800-Present
- BST/HST312U: African History up to 1800
- BST372U: Postcolonial African Studies
- BST/HST333U: Protests and People Power in Contemporary Africa
- BST/HST301U: Women in African History
- BST368U: Gender and Sexualities in Africa
- BST396: Research Methodologies in Black Studies
- HST179: World History up to 1500
- HST180: World History since 1500
- ASP220: Introduction to Africana Studies
Recent Publications:
Book:
African Voices in Ink: Petitions, Petition Writing, and the Colonial State in Igboland, Nigeria, 1892-1960. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, [forthcoming, August 2024].
Peer Reviewed Articles, Chapter Contributions, and Encyclopedia Entries:
- Bright Alozie, “‘Let It Be Known that the Feminist Coven Did That’”: Nigerian Women’s Voices and Coalition Against Police Brutality during the 2020 #EndSARS Protests,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies (Expected Summer 2024).
- Bright Alozie, “Woman Marriage in West Africa.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. Oxford University Press, 2016—. Article published January 30, 2024.
- “How to Write About African Women,” The Pacific Sentinel, May 2, 2023.
- “Colonial History and Documentary Sources: Insights from Southern Nigeria” In Adebayo Oyebade (ed.), Transformations in Africana Studies: History, Theory, and Epistemology. London: Routledge, December 2022.
- “Colonial Urban Centers, Economic Security, Identity Bonding, and the Emergence of Ethnic Associations in Nigeria: 1920 to 1960” In John Ayotunde Isola Bewaji and Rotimi Omosulu (eds.), Fragmented Identities of Nigeria: Sociopolitical and Economic Crises. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2022), https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666905830/Fragmented-Identities-of-Nigeria-Sociopolitical-and-Economic-Crises.
- “Undressing to Redress: The Sexual Politics of Protests in Colonial and Post-Colonial in Southern Nigeria,” In Gloria Chuku and Susan U. Aham-Okoro, (eds), Women and the Nigeria-Biafra War: Reframing Gender and Conflict in Africa. Washington, DC: Lexington Books, 2020.
- "Space and Colonial Alterity: Interrogating British Residential Segregation, 1899-1919,” Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies 41, 2 (February 2020): 1-26.
- “‘Female Voices on Ink’: The Sexual Politics of Petitions in Colonial Igboland, 1892-1960.” Journal of the Middle East and Africa 10, 4 (December 2019): 343-366.
- “Public Morality and Ethno-Religious Chauvinism in Nigeria: Why History Matters.” Innovare Journal of Social Sciences 7, 1 (2019): 1-6.
- “Interpreting Women’s History through Museum Relics: Lessons from the National Museum of Unity, Enugu.” Ikoro: Journal of the Institute of African Studies, vol. 10, nos. 1 & 2 (March 2014): 332-352.
- “The Nigerian Civil War: Implications on Nigeria’s Foreign Policy.” Interdisciplinary Academic Essays, vol. 5 (2014): 94-102.
Summaries and Book Reviews:
- Bright Alozie and Randall Yesmont, “Five-Step Guide to Writing About African Children: A Satirical Homage to Decolonizing Our Minds and Challenging Stereotypes,” The Pacific Sentinel, January 11, 2024.
- Militarizing Marriage: West African Soldiers’ Conjugal Traditions in Modern French Empire by Sarah J. Zimmerman. Journal of West African History 8, no. 2 (2022): 133-136.
- Review of Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa by Nwando Achebe in African Studies Review 64, 2 (June 2021), E1-E3.
- Review of Nigeria and World War II: Colonialism, Empire and Global Conflicts by Chima Korieh in Journal of African Military History Special Issue 4 (October 2020).
- Review of The Women Went Radical: Petition Writing and the Colonial State in Southwestern Nigeria, 1900-1953 by Mutiat Titilope Oladejo in Journal of Modern African Studies 58, 2 (August 2020): 311-12.
- “How to Write About Nigeria,” Black Perspectives, November 2021.
- “Did Europe Bring Homophobia to Africa?” Black Perspectives, October 21, 2021.
- “‘Undressing for Redress’”: The Significance of Nigerian Women’s Naked Protests,” The Conversation Africa, September 3, 2020.
- “The Strong Women of Igboland,” Africa Rivista, August 20, 2020, https://www.africarivista.it/storia-coloniale-le-strong-women-di-igboland/168072/
Ongoing Research:
Dr. Alozie is currently working on his monograph: Voices in Ink: Petitions, Petition Writing, and the Colonial State in Igboland, Nigeria (precontracted with Michigan State University Press). He is also in the final stages of his creative work: Boobs in Public, Butts in Parliament: A Poetic Tribute to African Women. His newest book project, Office of the Citizen: People Power and New Dimensions of Protest Activism in Contemporary Africa is currently in the fieldwork/data collection stage.
Other Forthcoming Works:
- “Silence Breakers and a #MeToo of the Twentieth Century: Women and Colonial Sexual Violence in Southern Nigeria,” Expected in the Journal of West African History.
- “Feet on the Ball, Minds on Their Rights”: Women, Football and Protest in Eastern Nigeria, 1892-1975,” Expected in the Journal of British Studies.
- “Between the Sensuous and Sacred: A Postcolonial Reading of African Spirituality, Sexuality, and ‘the Erotic’ through Mbari Art in Igboland, Nigeria,” Expected in the Special Issue for Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism (Indigenous Feminisms Across the World).
- “Let It Be Known that the Feminist Coven Did That”: Nigerian Women’s Activism and Coalition Against Police Brutality during the 2020 #EndSARS Protests,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies.
- Review of Primitive Normativity: Race, Sexuality, and Temporality in Colonial Kenya by Elizabeth Williams in H-Net Reviews (Expected in Summer 2024).