Kerry Goettlich

I am an interdisciplinary researcher with broad interests in Global History, Historical Sociology, and International Relations Theory. My current project examines the historical origins of modern territoriality. In contrast to most work on the topic, which begins with the European state ideal and claims or assumes that this was ‘exported’ to the rest of the world, I argue that the surveying and demarcation of linear borders has historically been a practice relatively separate from the sovereign state. Modern borderlines in most of the world emerged out of colonialism, and I examine the particularly colonial circumstances that led to their origins.

The most recent publication from this project, in the American Political Science Review, explains why modern territoriality emerged for the first time in a colonial context, as an outgrowth of property surveying practices. It is open-access and can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/yckmp3dh.

I joined the Department of Politics and IR at Reading University in 2019 after completing my PhD in the International Relations Department at the London School of Economics, on the historical origins of modern territoriality. At the LSE I served as an editor of Millennium: Journal of International Studies (vol. 46), with Sarah Bertrand and Christopher Murray, producing a conference and special issue on ‘The Politics of Time in International Relations’. I obtained my BA from Williams College, majoring in Political Science and Classics.

Academic qualifications
• PhD International Relations, London School of Economics
• MSc International Relations (Research), London School of Economics
• BA Political Science and Classics (double major), Williams College

Awards and honours
• Best Dissertation Award, European International Studies Association, 2021
• ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2019 (declined)
• Pre-PhD Paper Award, International Studies Association, Theory Section, 2019
• Founders Fund Grant, British International Studies Association, 2018
• R.J. Vincent Memorial Scholarship, London School of Economics, International Relations Department, 2017