Minawi, Mostafa

Cornell University

Research Topic: From Istanbul to Addis Ababa: South-South Imperialism of the Early 20th Century

Dr.Minawi is an assistant professor of history and the director of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative (OTSI) at Cornell University. His research focuses on the late 19th-century trans-imperial socio-diplomatic history. He is currently working on two research projects. The first is a follow-up to his first book, The Ottoman Scramble for Africa: Empire and Diplomacy in the Sahara and the Hijaz (Stanford University Press, 2016), and is tentatively titled Ottoman-Ethiopian Relations and the Geopolitics of Resistance: South-South Diplomacy in the Age of Colonialism. His second research project focuses on the lived experiences of “Arab” Ottomans living in Istanbul at the turn of the 20th century. Minawi holds a PhD in History and Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies from New York University, an MA in History from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Engineering and Management from McMaster University, in Hamilton, Canada. He travels extensively in Europe, the Middle East, and East Africa as he continues to conduct research on the history of the region with a focus on Istanbul and its relations with other European and African imperial centers of power.