Dr Tarsis Brito

Lecturer in International Relations

Research Seminar Series co-convenor

Module Convenor for:

  • International Relations (PO1IRE)
  • International Relations Theory (PIM63)

Office

292A

Building location

Edith Morley

Areas of interest

International Relations Theory

International Security

Borders and Migration Studies

Global History

Race, Colonialism, and Empire

Critical Security Studies

Postgraduate supervision

 I welcome enquiries from research students working on international relations theory; critical security studies; border and migration studies; and race, colonialism, and empire.

Research centres and groups

Centre for Global Security and Governance

Background

Originally from Teresina, Brazil, I hold an MSc in International Relations Theory (distinction) from LSE and a PhD in International Relations from LSE. I have also worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the LSE between 2023 and 2025 after completing my PhD. I have served as Co-Editor and Associate Editor at Millennium: Journal of International Studies (vols. 50-51) and as Coordinator at Doing International Political Sociology PhD Series (2022-23). 


Since the beginnings of my academic journey, I have been interested in understanding how race and colonialism shape how international security and violence operates globally. Over the past years, my research has explored specifically how racial-colonial histories, legacies, and rationales structure dynamics of border security worldwide.
 

Academic qualifications

  • PhD in International Relations, London School of Economics (LSE)
  • MSc in International Relations Theory, London School of Economics (LSE)
  • BSc in International Relations, University of Brasilia 
 

Awards and honours

(2025) Brett William Campbell Dissertation Prize in International Studies – Awarded by the School of International Studies at the University of Trento

(2024) EISA Best Dissertation Prize (Honourable Mention)

(2024) ISA Theory Section Best Pre-PhD Paper Award 

(2024) ISA-IPS Section Best Graduate Paper (Honourable Mention)

(2018) Fred Halliday Best MSc Dissertation Prize in International Relations Theory 

Professional bodies/affiliations

Associate Lecturer at SOAS, University of London
Postdoctoral Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE)
 

Selected publications

Peer-reviewed publications

  • (2026) Brito, Tarsis; Perez, Jose. ‘Rethinking Migration Securitization: Bureaucratic Militarization and Racial Capitalism within “Operation Welcome.”’ European Journal of International Relations. https://doi.org/10.1177/13540661261431277
  • (2025) Brito, Tarsis. ‘New Materialism, Whiteness, and the Politics of Vitality: Rethinking Activity/Passivity in Critical Security Studies’. Security Dialogue. Volume 56, Issue 2, pp. 133-151. https://doi.org/10.1177/09670106241306967

  • (2024) Brito, Tarsis. ‘Between race and animality: European borders, ‘colonial dogs’ and the policing of humanity’. Review of International Studies. Volume 53, Issue 3, pp. 431-448. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210524000032
  • (2023) Brito, Tarsis. ‘(Dis)possessive Borders, (Dis)possessed Bodies: Race and Property at the Postcolonial European Borders’. International Political Sociology. Volume 17, Issue 2, pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olad009
  • (2022) Brito, Tarsis; Balaji, Shruti; Nantermoz, Olivia. ‘(Re)writing the International: Interrogating Histories, Imagining Futurities’. Millennium: Journal of International Studies. Volume 51, No. 1, pp. 3-7. https://doi-org.gate3.library.lse.ac.uk/10.1177/03058298231176664 

  • (2018) Brito, Tarsis. ‘Global Feminism and undecidabilites: Beijing’ 95 and beyond’. Politikon: the IAPSS Journal of Political Science. Volume 37, 19-38.

Public Scholarship and Blog Posts

  • (2026) Brito, Tarsis. ‘Border Violence in Plain Sight?’ Security in Context. https://www.securityincontext.com/posts/in-plain-sight-race-security-and-the-urbanization-of-border-violence

  • (2025) Brito, Tarsis. ‘Is migration an invasion? How whiteness, borders, and colonialism shape Europe’s migration discourse’. European Politics and Policy (EUROPP) (https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2025/10/02/is-migration-an-invasion-whiteness-borders-colonialism-europe/)
  • (2018) Brito, Tarsis. ‘Sovereignty and Absence in International Relations: Hauntological Performativity’. E-International Relations (https://www.eir.info/2018/10/01/sovereignty-and-absence-in-internationalrelations-hauntologicalperformativity/).  
 

Publications

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