Tarak Barkawi

"Orientalism in Times of War: Why 'Small Wars' Have Big Consequences"

Monday, May 7, 2007
Noon
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201

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Tarak Barkawi is senior lecturer in international security at the Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge. His research concerns the historical evolution of "North/South warfare," including European imperialism, the Cold War in the Third World, peacekeeping, and the place of armed force in contemporary North/South relations.

While at the Mershon Center, Barkawi will work on a book project, Orientalism in Times of War: Why 'Small Wars' Have Big Consequences. Drawing on the history of U.S. and British defeats in "small wars" of the 19th and 20th centuries, the book looks at three interrelated themes:
• The Orientalist dimensions of how Western political and military authorities conceive and conduct "small wars."
• Whether and how Orientalism contributes to failed Western strategies.
• The military, political, and popular reactions to failure.

Western defeats in the non-European world were rare until after 1945, yet they played a role in politics, society, and culture out of proportion to their geopolitical significance, Barkawi argues. His book seeks to understand how and why.

Barkawi earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota, and has studied at the London School of Economics and George Washington University. Most recently, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.

Tarak Barkawi
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Mershon Center for International Security Studies