Welcome to Revise and Resubmit, where we take apart ideas, examine them from every angle, and put them back together—stronger, sharper, and more relevant than ever. This is our Weekend Book Review, where we don’t just skim the pages; we dig into the arguments, the histories, and the intellectual battles that shape the books we discuss.
Today on International Women's Day 2025, we turn to a book that doesn’t just add to an academic field—it reclaims it. Erased: A History of International Thought Without Men by Patricia Owens challenges the conventional narrative of international relations as a history of elite white men. Owens unearths the intellectual labor of women—journalists, scholars, activists—who shaped the discipline but were sidelined, ignored, and, in many cases, erased.
If anyone is qualified to tell this story, it’s Patricia Owens. A professor of international relations at Oxford University and a fellow of Somerville College, she has spent her career examining the intersections of war, politics, and power. Her previous works, including Between War and Politics and Economy of Force, have already pushed the boundaries of the discipline. And now, with Erased, she asks us to reconsider who we credit as the architects of international thought.
This book takes us through archives and forgotten correspondences, revealing the contributions of figures like Margery Perham, Merze Tate, and Eileen Power. It exposes the gendered and racialized nature of knowledge production, making a compelling case for why recovering these voices is not just about historical justice but about the future of the field itself.
So here’s the question: If the foundation of international relations has been built on selective memory, how different might the field—and the world—look if we remembered everything?
Thank you, Patricia Owens, for this remarkable work. If you enjoyed this discussion, don’t forget to subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, and Apple Podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube at Weekend Researcher. Until next time—keep questioning, keep revising, and never accept the first draft of history.
Reference
Owens, P. (2025). Erased: A History of International Thought Without Men. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691266824
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