Benjamin Goossen

Benjamin W. Goossen is an Assistant Professor of International History at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. Goossen’s research and teaching concern European and international history, the history of science and technology, and environmental history.

Goossen is currently completing a book, Project Planet: A History of the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year, which examines the global expansion and contested nature of earth science during the Cold War and collapse of European empires. Drawing on multilingual archival research conducted across six continents, this book seeks to integrate histories of earth science and international order.

His first book, Chosen Nation: Mennonites and Germany in a Global Era (Princeton 2017), tells the story of a predominantly rural and historically pacifist religious community that developed complex relationships with German nationalism in concert with rising transnational sensibilities. Chosen Nation joins scholarly conversations that emphasize the malleability, historical contingency, and socially situated nature of nationalism.

Support for Goossen’s scholarship has come from institutions including the American Historical Association, the Consortium for History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (CHSTM), the Fulbright Commission, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Goossen has held fellowships at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, the European University Institute, Free University Berlin, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and the University of Chicago. Prior to joining Pardee, he was an Assistant Professor at George Mason University. He holds a BA from Swarthmore College and a PhD from Harvard University.

For more information, visit Goossen’s personal website: bengoossen.com