Giulia Bonacci

Giulia Bonacci is a historian, researcher at IRD

giulia.bonacci@ird.fr

Research Themes  

  • Political, social and intellectual history of the African diasporas
  • History and anthropology of popular cultural practices in post-slavery contexts
  • Migrations, circulations and mobilisations
  • Territories, transnationalis and citizenship

Research Sites 

Ethiopia, Ghana, English-speaking Caribbean (Jamaica, Barbados, Belize), United States of America, United Kingdom

Recent Research Programmes 

  • Slavery in Africa: a dialogue between Europe and Africa (SLAFNET), ERC RISE, coordinated by M-P Ballarin (2017-2020)
  • Usages savants, sociaux et populaires de la “race” (URACE), UNS, coordinated by V. Piétri (2016-2018)
  • Migrations, territories and governance (MITEGO), AAU/IRD/CFEE, coordinated with S. Planel (2010-2014)

Partnerships 

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa University

Jamaica: University of the West Indies, Mona

Recent Publications (selection)

Books 

G. Bonacci, R. Hill, J. Homiak and B. Lutanie, Negus Christ. Histoires du mouvement rastafari. Paris: Afromundi, 2016.

G. Bonacci, Exodus! Heirs and Pioneers, Rastafari Return to Ethiopia. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press (trad.), 2015 – Laureate: Choice Outstanding Academic Title (2017), IndieFab Book of the Year Award (2015) – Finalist: Trophée Aimé Césaire des Arts Afro-Caribéens (2008)

Scientific Editor 

M. Barnett, G. Bonacci, E. McLeod (eds.) “A 2020 Vision Perspective on the Rastafari Movement”, IDEAZ (15), 2020

G. Bonacci, A. Meckelburg (eds.), « Revisiting Slavery and the Slave Trade in Ethiopia », Northeast African Studies, 17 (2) 2017

G. Bonacci (ed.), “In and Out of Ethiopia. Migrations, Diasporas and Contemporary Ethiopia”, African Diaspora (8) 2015

G. Bonacci (ed.), “Pouvoir et représentations : Tafari, héritier du trône”, Annales d’Ethiopie (28), 2013

Articles and book chapters 

G. Bonacci, “They took us by boat and we’re coming back by plane”: An Assessment of Rastafari and Repatriation, IDEAZ (15), 2020

G. Bonacci, « Leçons d’objets. Pochettes de disque et représentations de l’esclavage dans le reggae jamaïcain », Esclavages et Post-esclavage, (2), 2020.

G. Bonacci, “Généalogies afrocentrées. Ethiopianisme et écriture de l’histoire”, P. Guedj & N. Y. Kisukidi (eds.) Tumultes, 52 : 15-33

G. Bonacci, « ‘It would have pleased the Great Spirit of Marcus Garvey.’ Helen and James Piper and Return to Ethiopia », International Journal of African Historical Studies 5 (2): 293-31, 2018

G. Bonacci & A. Meckelburg, “Revisiting Slavery and the Slave Trade in Ethiopia” Northeast African Studies 17 (2): 5-29, 2017.

G. Bonacci, “Terrible et terrifiant. Le reggae jamaïcain au prisme des mémoires”, Volume! 13 (2): 81-97, 2017

G. Bonacci, “The Return to Ethiopia of The Twelve Tribes of Israel”, New West Indian Guide 90 (1&2): 1-27, 2016

G. Bonacci, “Mapping the Boundaries of Otherness. Naming Caribbean Settlers in Ethiopia”, African Diaspora (8): 34-50, 2015

G. Bonacci, “From Pan Africanism to Rastafari. African American and Caribbean ‘returns’ to Ethiopia”, in G. Prunier & E. Ficquet (eds.), Understanding Contemporary Ethiopia, Hurst: 147-157, 2015

G. Bonacci, “L’Hymne éthiopien universel (1918). Un héritage national et musical de l’Atlantique noir à l’Ethiopie contemporaine”, Cahier d’études africaines, LIV (4): 1055-1082, 2014

G. Bonacci, P. Guedj, “Esclavage et nationalisme noir: l’Universal Negro Improvement Association et la Nation of Islam”, in O. Leservoisier et S. Trabelsi (eds.), Résistances et Mémoires des Esclavages. Paris: Karthala: 101-125, 2014

G. Bonacci, “Le retour en Ethiopie des Douze Tribus d’Israël” in P. Chanson, Y. Droz, Y. Gez, E. Soares (eds.) Mobilité religieuse. Retours croisés des Afriques aux Amériques. Karthala: 149-172, 2014

G. Bonacci, “La fabrique du retour en Afrique. Politiques et pratiques de l’appartenance en Jamaïque (1920-1968)”, Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, 29 (3): 33-54, 2013

S. Ancel, G. Bonacci and J. Persoon, “The Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Church” in L. Leustan (ed.) Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge: 498-520, 2014

G. Bonacci, “L’irrésistible ascension du ras Täfäri dans les imaginaires noirs”, Annales d’Ethiopie, 28: 157-176, 2013

G. Bonacci, “The Ethiopian World Federation: a Pan-African Organization among the Rastafari in Jamaica” in Caribbean Quarterly, 59 (2): 73-95, 2013

G. Bonacci, “Back to Ethiopia. African American and West Indian returnees in Ethiopia (1896-2010) ”, in K. Kwaa Prah (ed.). Back to Africa (vol. II). The Ideology and Practice of the African Returnee Phenomenon from the Caribbean and North America to Africa. CASAS: 355-379, 2012

G. Bonacci, “An interview in Zion. The life-history of a Jamaican Rastafarian in Shashemene, Ethiopia”, Callaloo, (34) 3: 744-758, 2011

G. Bonacci, “Repatriation dub : le retour en Ethiopie et l’Atlantique noir”, in C. Agudelo, C. Boidin, L. Sansone (coord.), Autour de « l’Atlantique noir ». Une polyphonie de perspectives. IHEAL, (81): 83-95, 2009