Political Theory Project

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Political Theory Project

lauri_tahtinen@Brown.edu

Lauri Tähtinen’s (Ph.D., History, University of Cambridge, 2012) interests lie in the intersection between global affairs and the political thought that informs them. His doctoral research was on the intellectual history of Iberian expansion, specifically on the ideological origins of the Portuguese empire in Brazil. Lauri is currently working on the global context of the intellectual and cultural history of early colonial Brazil. His book project concerns topics such as the nature of conquest, conversion, slavery and decline in Portugal’s New World empire and further afield.

Lauri’s related interests include the global roots and spread of reason of state theories, the Iberian origins of “population,” the history of alienable liberty as well as the development of specific national intellectual histories and related political theories. In 2011-2012, Lauri was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence.