Dr Alister Wedderburn

  • Senior Lecturer (Political & International Studies)

Biography

I hold a BA in English Literature from the University of Cambridge (2008), an MA in War Studies from King's College London (2012), and a PhD in International Relations (2017), also from King's. Between 2017 and 2019 I was the John Vincent Postdoctoral Research Fellow in International Relations at the Australian National University in Canberra. I joined the University of Glasgow in January 2020 as a Lecturer in International Relations.

Research interests

My research interests include:

  • Critical and post-structuralist IR theories
  • The global politics of visual, literary and popular cultures
  • The global politics of the everyday
  • Histories of imperial and colonial exploration in the Arctic

My published work focuses on a diverse range of sites and issues related to these interests. My articles have appeared in journals including International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, Review of International Studies, Millennium: Journal of International Studies and the International Feminist Journal of Politics. My first book, titled Humour, Subjectivity, and World Politics was published in 2021 with Manchester University Press.

Research groups

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017
Number of items: 17.

2025

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2025) Art. In: Jahn, Beate and Schindler, Sebastian (eds.) The Elgar Encyclopaedia of International Relations. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, pp. 22-23. ISBN 9781035312283 (doi: 10.4337/9781035312283.00013)

2024

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2024) ‘Some token of being there’: Visuality and the Inuit Body in Early Modern England. [Website]

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2024) Sylvia Wynter in the Arctic: early modern expeditionary narratives and the construction of ‘Man’. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 37(4), pp. 546-562. (doi: 10.1080/09557571.2023.2273371)

Baspehlivan, Uygar and Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2024) Disciplinary seriousness in international relations: towards a counterpolitics of the silly object. Global Studies Quarterly, 4(2), ksae035. (doi: 10.1093/isagsq/ksae035)

2022

Eroukhmanoff, Clara and Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2022) Introduction: constructing and contesting victimhood in global politics. Polity, 54(4), pp. 841-848. (doi: 10.1086/721562)

Day, Benjamin S. and Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2022) Wrestlemania! Summit diplomacy and foreign policy performance after Trump. International Studies Quarterly, 66(2), sqac019. (doi: 10.1093/isq/sqac019)

2021

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2021) Violence, justice and justification. Radical Philosophy, 2.11,

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2021) Humour, Subjectivity and World Politics: Everyday Articulations of Identity at the Limits of Order. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526150691

Brassett, James, Browning, Christopher S. and Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2021) Humorous states: IR, new diplomacy and the rise of comedy in global politics. Global Society, 35(1), pp. 1-7. (doi: 10.1080/13600826.2020.1828302)

2020

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2020) Pandemic time. Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture, 75, pp. 31-35. (doi: 10.3898/SOUN.75.01.2020)

2019

Redwood, Henry and Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2019) A cat-and-Maus game: the politics of truth and reconciliation in post-conflict comics. Review of International Studies, 45(4), pp. 588-606. (doi: 10.1017/s0260210519000147)

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2019) Boris Johnson compared himself to the Hulk. That’s a big clue about British politics. [Website]

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2019) Cartooning the camp: aesthetic interruption and the limits of political possibility. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 47(2), pp. 169-189. (doi: 10.1177/0305829818799884)

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2019) The appropriation of an icon: Guernica, remade. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 21(3), pp. 480-487. (doi: 10.1080/14616742.2019.1598778)

2018

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2018) Grime. [Website]

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2018) Tragedy, genealogy and theories of International Relations. European Journal of International Relations, 24(1), pp. 177-197. (doi: 10.1177/1354066116689131)

2017

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2017) An unfolding humanitarian emergency. [Website]

This list was generated on Sun Jun 15 10:12:29 2025 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Website
Number of items: 17.

Articles

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2024) Sylvia Wynter in the Arctic: early modern expeditionary narratives and the construction of ‘Man’. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 37(4), pp. 546-562. (doi: 10.1080/09557571.2023.2273371)

Baspehlivan, Uygar and Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2024) Disciplinary seriousness in international relations: towards a counterpolitics of the silly object. Global Studies Quarterly, 4(2), ksae035. (doi: 10.1093/isagsq/ksae035)

Eroukhmanoff, Clara and Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2022) Introduction: constructing and contesting victimhood in global politics. Polity, 54(4), pp. 841-848. (doi: 10.1086/721562)

Day, Benjamin S. and Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2022) Wrestlemania! Summit diplomacy and foreign policy performance after Trump. International Studies Quarterly, 66(2), sqac019. (doi: 10.1093/isq/sqac019)

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2021) Violence, justice and justification. Radical Philosophy, 2.11,

Brassett, James, Browning, Christopher S. and Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2021) Humorous states: IR, new diplomacy and the rise of comedy in global politics. Global Society, 35(1), pp. 1-7. (doi: 10.1080/13600826.2020.1828302)

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2020) Pandemic time. Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture, 75, pp. 31-35. (doi: 10.3898/SOUN.75.01.2020)

Redwood, Henry and Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2019) A cat-and-Maus game: the politics of truth and reconciliation in post-conflict comics. Review of International Studies, 45(4), pp. 588-606. (doi: 10.1017/s0260210519000147)

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2019) Cartooning the camp: aesthetic interruption and the limits of political possibility. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 47(2), pp. 169-189. (doi: 10.1177/0305829818799884)

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2019) The appropriation of an icon: Guernica, remade. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 21(3), pp. 480-487. (doi: 10.1080/14616742.2019.1598778)

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2018) Tragedy, genealogy and theories of International Relations. European Journal of International Relations, 24(1), pp. 177-197. (doi: 10.1177/1354066116689131)

Books

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2021) Humour, Subjectivity and World Politics: Everyday Articulations of Identity at the Limits of Order. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526150691

Book Sections

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2025) Art. In: Jahn, Beate and Schindler, Sebastian (eds.) The Elgar Encyclopaedia of International Relations. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, pp. 22-23. ISBN 9781035312283 (doi: 10.4337/9781035312283.00013)

Website

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2024) ‘Some token of being there’: Visuality and the Inuit Body in Early Modern England. [Website]

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2019) Boris Johnson compared himself to the Hulk. That’s a big clue about British politics. [Website]

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2018) Grime. [Website]

Wedderburn, Alister ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-2231 (2017) An unfolding humanitarian emergency. [Website]

This list was generated on Sun Jun 15 10:12:29 2025 BST.

Grants

2021: University of Glasgow College of Social Sciences Research Fund, £1500

2020: Universitas 21: Research Chats: Expert Advice on Research in the Digital Age, $7500USD

2017: John Vincent Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Australian National University: $178000AUD

2013: ESRC doctoral studentship, KCL, £55000

Supervision

I currently serve as first supervisor for two doctoral students:

  • Ebony Young: Sovereignty, space and materiality: Reconceptualising the sovereign state in a warming climate 
  • Janica Ezzeldien: Colouring bodies in International Relations: A critical investigation into the correlation between refugeehood and
    whiteness

I am interested in supervising further PhD projects on any topic relevant to my research interests.

  • Young, Ebony
    Sovereignty, space and materiality: Reconceptualising the sovereign state in a warming climate

Teaching

  • International Relations Concepts (Honours)
  • Visual Global Politics (Honours)
  • International Relations Theory (MSc Glasgow-Nankai Joint Graduate School)
 

Professional activities & recognition

Professional & learned societies

  • 2021 - 2024: Convenor, Emotions Working Group, British International Studies Association

Dr Alister Wedderburn on Twitter