This is my personal website where I explain the results of my research in African History, Digital Humanities and the History of the Basque Country.
Hiribarren, Vincent, Un manguier au Nigeria : Histoires du Borno (Paris: Plon, Terre Humaine, 2019). The book was also published in paperback: Hiribarren, Vincent, Un manguier au Nigeria : Histoires du Borno (Paris: Plon, Terre Humaine Poche, 2021).
Between 2010 and 2018, I interviewed inhabitants of Borno in Nigeria. I decided to write a history of the region based on their testimonies. This book is also the result of 10 years of research and teaching.
Hiribarren, Vincent, A History of Borno: Trans-Saharan African Empire to Failing Nigerian State (London: Hurst and Oxford University Press, 2017).
From 2008 to 2012, I undertook a PhD on the history of Borno, Nigeria at the University of Leeds. The exact title of my thesis was: From a kingdom to a Nigerian state: the territory and boundaries of Borno 1810-2010. The main interest of my thesis was to create links between precolonial, colonial and post-colonial history for a polity mainly studied for its precolonial history until then. I sought to discover the evolving concept of a Borno political space from the nineteenth century until nowadays. This research project highlighted this distinctive spatial identity which has survived in colonial Nigeria through the historical study of transregional links in the Lake Chad area.
PhD thesis: Hiribarren, Vincent, 'From a Kingdom to a Nigerian State: The Territory and Boundaries of Borno (1810-2010)' (Leeds: University of Leeds, 2012)
The following publications are the result of my past and current research. If you want to download the bibliography, you can use Zotero.
Blanc, Guillaume (main editor), Vincent Hiribarren, Claire Fredj, Françoise Blum, Gabrielle Chomentovski, Antonin Plarier, and others, eds., Les Sociétés Africaines et Le Monde : Une Histoire Connectée 1900-1980 (Paris: Atlande, 2022)
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘State Formation: Kingdoms and Empires of Precolonial Nigeria’, in The Oxford Handbook of Nigerian History, ed. by Matthew M. Heaton and Toyin Falola (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022).
Bat, Jean-Pierre, Nicolas Courtin, and Vincent Hiribarren, eds., Histoire du renseignement en situation coloniale (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2021).
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘La guerre contre l’UPC dans le Cameroun britannique’, in Histoire du renseignement en situation coloniale, ed. by Jean-Pierre Bat, Nicolas Courtin, and Vincent Hiribarren (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2021).
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Le banjo’, in Le magasin du monde: La mondialisation par les objets du XVIIIe siècle à nos jours, ed. by Sylvain Venayre and Pierre Singaravélou (Paris: Fayard, 2020), 4 p.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Généalogie (Diwan) des rois du Kanem-Borno’, ed. by Nathalie Kouamé, Éric Meyer and Anne Viguier, L’Encyclopédie des Historiographies (Paris: Presses de l'INALCO, 2020), pp. 450-454.
Chamelot, Fabienne, Vincent Hiribarren, and Marie Rodet, ‘Archives, the Digital Turn, and Governance in Africa’, History in Africa, 2019, 1–18.
Dewière, Rémi, and Vincent Hiribarren, ‘“Our Delight Is for the Amir of the English”: A Bornoan History of First World War (North-Eastern Nigeria)’, in The First World War from Tripoli to Mogadishu (Addis Ababa: Editions du CFEE, 2018).
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Hiding the European Colonial Past: A Comparison of Archival Policies’, in Displaced Archives, ed. by James Lowry (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017), pp. 74-85.
Bat, Jean-Pierre, and Vincent Hiribarren, ‘Les décolonisations britannique et française de l’Afrique ou La création de l’étalon pour l’impérialisme’, in Fins d’empires – Ends of Empires, ed. by Laurent Dornel and Michael Parsons (Pau: Presses Universitaires de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, 2016), pp. 43–56.
Burrows, Simon, Jason Ensor, Per Henningsgaard, and Vincent Hiribarren, ‘Mapping Print, Connecting Cultures’, Library & Information History, 32 (2016), 259–71.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Adamawa’, ed. by Saheed Aderinto, African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations (Santa-Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2016).
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Kanem-Borno’, ed. by Saheed Aderinto, African Kingdoms: An Encyclopedia of Empires and Civilizations (Santa-Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2016).
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Why Researchers Should Publish Archive Inventories Online: The Case of the Archives of French Equatorial Africa’, History in Africa, FirstView (2016), 1–4.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Kanem-Bornu Empire’, The Encyclopedia of Empire (Wiley-Blackwell, 2016).
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘L’héritage spatial de l’Indirect Rule au Nigeria’, Hérodote : Géopolitique du Nigeria, 159 (2015), 13–26.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘A European and African Joint-Venture: Writing a Seamless History of Borno (1902-1960)’, History in Africa, 40 (2013), 77-98.
Hiribarren, Vincent and Robin Seignobos, eds., ‘Construction, transmission et circulation des savoirs géographiques sur l'Afrique du Moyen Âge au XIXe siècle’, Cartes & Géomatique, 210 (2011).
Hiribarren, Vincent and Robin Seignobos, ‘Introduction: Construction, transmission et circulation des savoirs géographiques sur l'Afrique du Moyen Âge au XIXe siècle’, Cartes & Géomatique, 210 (2011), 11-17.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Vers quelle démocratie se dirige la Guinée Conakry (2008-2010) ?’, Cahiers d’Histoire Immédiate, 39 (2011), 139-154.
Hiribarren, Vincent, 'The Boundaries of Borno in the Nineteenth Century: The Perception of Travellers', African Nebula, 1 (2010), 55-77.
I wrote the following dissertation for the second part of my MA (Master 2). It explains the origin of the borders of the short-lived Republic of Biafra in Nigeria (1967-1970). If you are interested in re-using some of the material available, use this Creative Commons licence.
Hiribarren, Vincent, 'Les frontières du Biafra, de la colonisation à 1970', mémoire de Master 2 sous la direction de Pierre Boilley, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, juin 2007, 179 p.
This website in itself is an example of the combination between computing and humanities. From 2009 to 2012, I worked on an AHRC project to map the French Book Trade in the Late Enlightenment. With the help of Simon Burrows, I created maps of eighteenth-century Europe and designed visualisations to represent the data collected by this project. See this page, to learn more about my involvement in this project.
Burrows, Simon and Vincent Hiribarren, The French Book Trade in Enlightenment Europe Database Maps (http://fbtee.uws.edu.au/main/download-database/) (2012).
Hiribarren, Vincent, The French Book Trade in Enlightenment Europe Database Visualisations (http://fbtee.uws.edu.au/stn/interface/gallery.php) (2012).
Between 2014 and 2020, I was the co-curator with Jean-Pierre Bat of a blog called 'Africa4' for the French newspaper Libération. While doing my PhD, I also wrote for 'Perspectives on Africa'.
History magazine: ‘La Conférence de Berlin de 1885 et Les Frontières de l’Afrique : Mythes et Réalités’, L’Histoire, November 2020.
Opinion piece for Le Monde ‘La notion de “génocide” est un mot-clef dans la politique nigériane, employé à tort et à travers’, Le Monde.fr, 7 December 2019.
Interview for Libération, 'L’élection du Nigeria de 2019', 22 February 2019.
Radio Interview with Jean Lebrun, ‘Nigeria: l’état du Borno et Boko Haram’, La Marche de l’Histoire, France Inter, 18 February 2019.
TV Interview for France 24, 'The Elections in Nigeria', 16 February 2019.
Opinion piece for Le Monde, 'Ouvrons les archives sur le meurtre de Thomas Sankara', 13 March 2017.
Interview for Libération, 'Le procès Habré fonde enfin une justice universelle', 2 June 2016.
Radio Interview for France Inter : journal de 12h, 'Libérer les Chibok Girls', 20 May 2016.
Radio Interview for France Culture, 'Les Chibok Girls : 2 ans après', 14 April 2016.
Interview for Le Monde, 'Au Nigeria, la forêt de Sambisa, réserve naturelle devenue un fief de Boko Haram', 19 May 2016.
Radio Interview for France Inter : Un jour dans le monde, 'Lutte contre Boko Haram: le point sur la situation', 17 May 2016.
Interview for Le Monde, 'Nigeria : l’émir de Kano, entre islam et finance', 29 April 2016.
TV Interview for France 24, 'The Chibok Girls', 14 April 2016.
Interview for Kristeligt Dagblat, 'Forsvundne børn er Boko Harams glemte ofre', 12 April 2016.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Why Boko Haram is the World’s Deadliest Terror Group’, The Conversation, 15 February 2016.
Radio Interview for Radio France Internationale : ‘Nigeria : dans Le Sud-Est «il y a un vrai sentiment pro-Biafrais»’, RFI, 9 February 2016.
Interview for Libération, 'L’arc islamiste en formation est une illusion', 30 May 2015.
TV interview for France 24 (Paris), 'Muhammadu Buhari: the new Nigerian president', 1 April 2015 (English and French)
TV interview for France 24 (Paris), 'The 2015 Nigerian Elections', 28 March 2015.
Radio Interview for Radio Canada (Montréal), 'Boko Haram', 20 January 2015.
Interview by Stephen Williams, ‘How the Europeans Covered Their Backs by Removing Colonial Archives’, New African Magazine, 543, October 2014, 42–45.
Interview for Libération, 'A Maiduguri, cernée par Boko Haram, la survie en zoo tempéré', 21 July 2014.
Hiribarren, Vincent, 'Historian at the Movies: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom reviewed', History Extra, BBC History magazine, 6 January 2014.
Interview for History Extra, BBC History magazine, 'Nelson Mandela: “A Symbol of the Struggle against Racism”', 6 December 2013.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Libération des 7 otages au Cameroun : Histoire de ce Far West africain’, Rue89, 19 April 2013.
Bat, Jean-Pierre, and Vincent Hiribarren, ‘Colonial Wikileaks’, L’Histoire, 380 (2012), 20–21.
Being Basque, I wrote a book on the historical relationship between the sea and the inhabitants of the Basque Country. I also wrote the first part of my MA (Maitrise) about the history of Bayonne. I subsequently published two articles on the history of this city during the sixteenth century.
Hiribarren, Vincent, À La découverte de l’histoire des Basques et de la mer (Donostia-San Sebastián: Elkar, 2022)
Hiribarren, Vincent, '"Un lion chef de mille brebis" la famille Sorhaindo à Bayonne à la fin du XVIème siècle', Bulletin du Musée Basque, 166 (2005), 19-34.
Hiribarren, Vincent, 'Bayonne au début des guerres de religion', Revue d’Histoire de Bayonne, du Pays Basque et du Bas-Adour, 159 (2004), 95-122.
Hiribarren, Vincent, 'Pour Dieu, le Roi et le Bien de la Ville, Bayonne délibère de 1565 à 1569', mémoire de Maitrise sous la direction de Denis Crouzet, Université Paris IV-Sorbonne, juin 2003, 137 p.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘‘Book Review: “A History of Violence in Central Africa - Searching for Boko Haram” by Scott MacEachern', The Journal of African History, 59 (2018), 526–27.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Book Review: “Guns and Society in Colonial Nigeria: Firearms, Culture and Public Order” by Saheed Aderinto', Social History, 43 (2018), 552–54.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Book Review: “The Looting Machine. Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africa’s Wealth” by Tom Burgis', Afrique contemporaine, 2016, 153–55.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Book Review: “Lagos Lady” by Leye Adenle’, Afrique contemporaine, 258 (2016), 192–93.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Book Review: “Le syndrome Foccart : la politique française en Afrique, de 1959 à nos jours” by Jean-Pierre Bat’, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 43 (2015), 342–44.
Hiribarren, Vincent, ‘Book Review: “A Nation Betrayed: Nigeria and the Minorities Commission of 1957” by Michael Vickers’, Politique Africaine, 129 (2013).
Hiribarren, Vincent, 'Book Review: “Nigeria, Nationalism, and Writing History” by Toyin Falola and Saheed Aderinto', Leeds Africa Studies Bulletin, 73 (2011).