David Motadel, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of International History
London School of Economics and Political Science
Born in 1981 in Detmold, Germany
Studied History at the University of Cambridge
Arbeitsvorhaben
Spectacles of Sovereignty: Persian Shahs in Imperial Europe
During my year at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, I will work on a book entitled Spectacles of Sovereignty: Persian Shahs in Imperial Europe. It will examine the European tours of the Qajar monarchs Nasir al-Din Shah (1873, 1878, and 1889) and Muzaffar al-Din Shah (1900, 1902, and 1905) in the era of high imperialism. Both monarchs were received with full pomp by the emperors, kings, and statesmen in St. Petersburg, Istanbul, Berlin, London, Vienna, Paris, and Brussels. A global microhistory, the study will offer a reinterpretation of the relationship between European and non-European rulers in an age of European domination. It will explore how participation in the rituals and ceremonials of a state visit – such as gift-giving, the exchange of decorations, and military spectacle – gave expression to the non-European monarchs' dynastic legitimacy and their country's sovereignty. It seeks to show that state visits provided non-European monarchs with a way of integrating themselves and their countries into a system of international relations that was dominated by the European powers. The work draws on sources from British, French, German, Austrian, Belgian, Dutch, Swiss, Russian, Turkish, and Iranian archives, including the Persian travelogues (safarnamas) of the shahs.Moreover, I will use the year at the Wissenschaftskolleg to complete an edited volume on the expansion of international society in the long 19th century, entitled Struggles for Sovereignty: Non-European Powers in the Imperial Age, which is closely related to my work on the shahs. The book will explore the relationship between the few nominally independent non-European states and the Concert of Europe. It will examine how countries such as Abyssinia, China, Japan, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and Siam managed to keep European imperialism at bay, whereas others, most notably Hawaii, Korea, and Morocco, struggled, but ultimately failed, to maintain their sovereignty. Bringing together historians with different regional expertise, the volume aims to give agency to the non-European actors and to connect this history with wider debates on sovereignty, territoriality, and hierarchy in the modern world order.
Recommended Reading
Motadel, David, ed. Islam and the European Empires. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014.
-. Islam and Nazi Germany's War. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2014.
-. "Qajar Shahs in Imperial Germany." Past and Present 213, 1 (2011): 191-235.
Kolloquium, 15.10.2019
Pomp und Souveränität: Die Europareisen persischer Schahs im Zeitalter des Hochimperialismus
Der Vortrag behandelt die Europareisen der iranischen Monarchen Nasir al-Din Schah (1873, 1878 und 1889) und Muzaffar al-Din Schah (1900, 1902 und 1905) im Zeitalter des Hochimperialismus. Beide Schahs wurden in den europäischen Hauptstädten - in St. Petersburg, Istanbul, London, Berlin, Wien, Paris und Brüssel - mit dem damals bei Monarchenbesuchen üblichen Zeremoniell empfangen. Der Vortrag leistet einen Beitrag zur Geschichte der Beziehungen zwischen den europäischen und außereuropäischen Herrschern im imperialen Zeitalter. In ihm gehe ich unter anderem der Frage nach, wie die Monarchen ihr Land während der Staatsbesuche an den Höfen Europas repräsentierten. Es wird dabei zu zeigen sein, inwieweit das Zeremoniell eines Staatsbesuchs - Rituale wie der Austausch von Geschenken, die Verleihung von Orden und die Teilnahme an Militärparaden - die dynastische Legitimität der außereuropäischen Monarchen und die Souveränität des von ihnen repräsentierten Landes untermauerten. Der Vortrag wird darlegen, inwieweit Staatsbesuche außereuropäischen Monarchen, die ständig um die Unabhängigkeit ihres Landes fürchten mussten, eine Möglichkeit boten, ihr Land in eine von den europäischen Mächten dominierte Ordnung der internationalen Beziehungen zu integrieren.
Publikationen aus der Fellowbibliothek
Motadel, David (New York, NY, 2020)
What do the Hohenzollerns deserve
Motadel, David (2019)
Motadel, David (Princeton, 2019)
The global Bourgeoisie : the rise of the middle classes in the Age of Empire
Motadel, David (Cambridge, 2018)
Discussion : the futures of global history
Motadel, David (Bonn, 2018)
Für Prophet und Führer : die islamische Welt und das Dritte Reich Islam and Nazi Germany's war
Motadel, David (Cambridge, Massachussets, 2017)
Islam and Nazi Germany's war Islam and Nazi Germany's war
Motadel, David (Oxford, 2016)
Islam and the European empires The past & present book series
Motadel, David (London [u.a.], 2013)
Islam and Germany’s war in the Soviet borderlands, 1941–5