Simon Jackson

I'm a historian of colonial empire in the twentieth century, with a special focus on the Middle East and the Mediterranean world. I work on the discourse and politics of economic development in the French League of Nations Mandate in Syria and Lebanon, on the history of Fordism in the post-Ottoman Middle East, and on the global history of colonial commodities and natural resources.

I have taught at NYU, Sciences-Po, the Sorbonne, and the European University Institute, on French colonial history, modern France, the Middle East, historical social theory and world history.

I am currently an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of Birmingham, where in 2014-17 I will also hold a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. I hold a B.A. / M.A. in Modern History from the University of Oxford and a Ph.D. in History from NYU. I have also held Max Weber and Jean Monnet Post-Doctoral Fellowships in History at the European University Institute in Florence.