Rex Nettleford Lecture on Colonialism and its Legacies 2026

This year’s Rex Nettleford Lecture on Colonialism and its Legacies will take place on Thursday 21 May in the Senior Library at 5.30pm. We’re thrilled to welcome Professor Charlene Villaseñor Black, the first Loevner Fellow & Tutor in History of Art at Worcester College, as this year’s speaker.

The lecture, named in honour of former Honorary Fellow and Orielensis Professor Rex Nettleford, former Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, is intended to contribute to the advancement of academic research into the legacies of colonialism in all its forms. Following the lecture, the Year 12 winners of the annual Rex Nettleford Essay Prize will be awarded.

Professor Villaseñor Black’s talk ‘Decolonising the Arts and Humanities: Thoughts, Questions, Provocations’ aims to address this challenging question from the perspective of an art historian and ethnic studies scholar.

The event is free to attend and all are welcome. To book your place, please use the below form. If you have any questions, please get in touch at events@oriel.ox.ac.uk.