Professor Christer Petley
Professor of Atlantic History

Christer Petley is Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Southampton.
I am a historian with interests in Atlantic history, British imperial history, and Caribbean studies. My work has focused on the histories and legacies of slavery in the Americas, mainly on slave societies in the British Caribbean. My particular area of expertise is the history of colonial settlers and slaveholders, and I have published work on the history of the Jamaican planter class.
My research has combined the perspectives and techniques of social, political, and cultural history to explore transatlantic connections between the Caribbean and Europe during the long eighteenth century, examining society and culture in the British West Indies, the British debate over slavery, and the transformations that reshaped the British empire in the period after the American Revolution.
I have published two single-authored books, as well as several edited collections, and a number of journal articles. My most recent book, White Fury, examines the life and times of an extraordinarily powerful and influential slaveholder, as well as explaining the struggles and debates about slavery and abolition that reshaped the British Empire during the Age of Revolutions.
I am a member and former Chair of the UK Society for Caribbean Studies.