Benjamin de Carvalho

4 09 2025

Dr. Benjamin de Carvalho joins the Hayseed Scholar podcast. Ben was born in Switzerland to a mother from Norway and a father from Brazil. Ben talks about how that transpired, growing up in Norway, and how a Fulbright brought him to the United States in the late 90's. Ben recounts his time at the New School for his first Master's,  moving to Cambridge for his M.Phil and PhD, and ending back in Norway at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, or NUPI, where he remains gainfully and happily employed, and thriving, to this day.  Ben's impact on International Relations, and its history, includes his pathbreaking work on the 'Big Bangs' of IR with John Hobson and Friend of the Pod Halvard Leira in their 2011 Millennium article, the genesis of which he shares with Brent. It also includes his role, along with a critical mass of others, in founding the Historical IR section of the International Studies Association. Ben closes with how he approaches writing, both on his own and also with collaborators like Dr. Professor Leira, his love of cooking, and more! 

Brent Steele
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Brent J. Steele is the Francis D. Wormuth Presidential Chair, Department Chair and Professor of Political Science at the University of Utah, and the co-editor in chief of Global Studies Quarterly. He is the author of the recently published Vicarious Identity in International Relations (with Chris Browning and Pertti Joenniemi), and Restraint in International Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2019), which co-won the ISA Theory section book award for 2020.