Dr Musab Younis

I work on political theory in relation to race and empire.

My research explores in particular the history of anticolonial thought, questions of space and scale, theories of race and racism, and the North/South division of the world.

I published my first book, On the Scale of the World: The Formation of Black Anticolonial Thought, with the University of California Press in 2022.

I am currently working on an intellectual history of global inequality, tentatively titled The Pillage of Distant Worlds, alongside projects on the intimate politics of imperialism, demographic catastrophism, settler colonialism, and ideas of speed and the self in anticolonial thought.

I did my MPhil (2012) and DPhil (2017) at Oxford and then was Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London (2018–2024.) I joined Oxford as Associate Professor in Political Theory in 2024.

In addition to my academic writing, my essays have been published in the London Review of Books, the Guardian, Prospect, Baffler, and n+1, among other publications.

Publications

Books

On the Scale of the World: The Formation of Black Anticolonial Thought (2022, Oakland: University of California Press)

• Winner, Sussex International Theory Prize
• Honourable Mention, LHM Ling Outstanding First Book Prize
• Highly recommended, Choice

Articles

(with Alexandra Reza) ‘Anticolonialism in the Present Tense: On Europe’s Incessant Southern Intrusions,’ South Atlantic Quarterly 122/2, 217–234 (2023)

‘Race, the World and Time: Haiti, Liberia and Ethiopia (1914–45),’ Millennium: Review of International Studies 46/3, 352–370 (2018)

‘‘United by Blood’: Race and Transnationalism During the Belle Époque,’ Nations and Nationalism 23/3, 484-504 (2017)

Chapters

‘International History,’ in Thinking World Politics Otherwise, edited by Laura Shepherd, Nivi Manchanda, Rhys Crilley, Cai Wilkinson and Stefanie Fishel, Oxford University Press (forthcoming 2025)

‘Signifying Blackness,’ in Project A Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, edited by Adom Getachew, Antawan Byrd, Elvira Dyangani Ose, and Matthew Witkovsky. Art Institute of Chicago, Yale University Press (2024)

‘The Haitian Revolution,’ in The Oxford Handbook on History and International Relations, edited by Mlada Bukovansky, Edward Keene, Maja Spanu and Chris ReusSmit, Oxford University Press (2023)

Journal Special Issues 

‘Southern Questions: Theory at Europe’s Colonial Frontiers,’ special issue of South Atlantic Quarterly 122/2 co-edited with Alexandra Reza (2022)

'Labour Pains: Resistance Across Global Spaces’ special issue of City, 18/6 co-edited with Amber Murrey, Adam Elliott-Cooper and Ashok Kumar (2014)

Journal Interview and Responses

‘The Meanings of Internationalism: A Collective Discussion on Pan-African, Early Soviet, Islamic Socialist and Kurdish Internationalisms across the Twentieth Century’, with Maria Chehonadskih, Layli Uddin, Dilar Dirik and Miri Davidson, Millennium: Journal of International Studies (2023)

‘The Other Side,’ invited response to International Theory Symposium on Global International Relations, edited by Ayse Zarakol and George Lawson, 15/3 (2023): 516-525

Book Reviews 

‘Defend the Brutes’ (Review of We the Slaves of Suriname by Anton de Kom) in Postcolonial Studies (2023)

‘To Own Whiteness,’ (Review of White Fragility by Robin Diangelo; Do Better by Rachel Ricketts; Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad; What White People Can Do Next by Emma Dabiri) in London Review of Books 44(3) (2022)

‘Queer Antinomies’, (Review of Out of Time by Rahul Rao) in Critical Studies on Security 9(3): 258–259 (2021)

‘Bitch Nation,’ (Review of Sex, France and Arab Men by Todd Shepard) in London Review of Books 41(3): 16-18 (2018)

‘Against Independence,’ (Review of Freedom Time by Gary Wilder) in London Review of Books 39(13):27-28 (2017)

‘There is No True Africa,’ (Review of Of Africa by Wole Soyinka) in Prospect Magazine, February 15, 2013

Review: Deviant Globalization: Black Market Economy in the 21st Century by Nils Gilman, Jesse Goldhammer and Steven Weber in St Antony's International Review 7(2): 195-197 (2012)

‘Debtocracy,’ (Review of Debt by David Graeber) in Oxonian Review, April 21 (2012)

‘After the Postcolony,’ (Review of Third World Protest by Rahul Rao and Political Theories of Decolonization by Margaret Kohn and Keally McBride) in Millennium: Review of International Studies 41/1, 131-136 (2012)

‘The Imperial Code,’ (Review of The British Way in Counter-Insurgency, 1945-1967 by David French) in Oxonian Review, December 12 (2011)