Gijsbert Oonk (1966) is a global historian whose research and teaching activities are in the field of Global History, especially related to the Indian Diaspora. He teaches at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Oonk is especially interested in the role of South Asian (Indian) migrants and settlers in East Africa. He finalized his research project with a monograph: Settled Strangers: Asian Business Elites in East Africa 1800-2000 (Sage Publication 2013). He also published a widely acclaimed biography of the South Asian business family Karimjee Jivanjee. The Karimjee Jivanjee Family: Merchant Princes of East Africa, 1800-2000, Amsterdam: Pallas publications 2009). In addition he edited the book Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory (Amsterdam University Press, 2007). In this volume the contributors critically review the concept of diaspora. This volume is available as an open access publication.
His motto is: If you don’t know the past, you get lost in the future.
