Dr Stephen Rainbird

Teaching and Research Fellow in Contemporary European History

Contact details

Address

Street

Room 2M.19, William Robertson Wing, Old Medical School, Teviot Place

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH8 9AG

Availability

  • Mondays, 12-5. Book using the link on all my e-mails and on all Learn pages.

Biography

Background

I am an international historian of modern Iberia, with particular interests in the Portuguese Estado Novo's foreign relations in the 20th century. Broadly speaking, my interest lies in how Franco's Spain and Salazar's Portugal, two foundationally fascist-adjacent, authoritarian states, sought legitimacy in the post-World War Two liberal order. My first book explores how Salazar's Portugal leveraged its (largely fictitious) role in keeping Franco's Spain out of the Second World War to ensure the long-term survival of its weakly-defended and vulnerable Empire. My current research focuses on Portuguese and British colonialism in the the 1940s and 1950s. I am particularly interested in how Portugal's brand of authoritarian colonialism interacted and intersected with Anglo-French plans for "Eurafrican" development, and questions of the internationalisation of colonialism during the same period. 

Originally from East Anglia, I finished my PhD in Leeds in January 2023, taught briefly at Bristol, and joined Edinburgh in September 2023. Outside of academia, I enjoy building Lego, reading, walking, pub-going, and all sorts of sports - but above all any time spent with friends and family.

Qualifications

BA, MPhil, PhD

Teaching is my foremost professional interest, and I take enormous pride and pleasure in teaching a wide variety of subjects. The well-being and success of my students, both personally and academically, remains the reason I do the job. Since joining Edinburgh, I have enjoyed teaching at every level on the following courses:

At MA Pre-Honours Level:

  • Themes in Modern European History
  • The Historian's Toolkit
  • Introduction to Historiography

At MA Honours Level:

  • The Spanish Civil War (Special subject)
  • Dreams and Nightmares: The Culture and Politics of Postwar Europe (Special subject)
  • The Forgotten Dictatorship: Portugal's Estado Novo, 1928-1975
  • Historical Skills and Methods I
  • MA Dissertations

At MSc Level:

  • An Uncertain World: The West since the 1970s
  • Consider the Novel: History as Fiction (Pathway)
  • MSc History/Contemporary History Dissertations

In two years' teaching at Edinburgh, I have been nominated more than thirty times for "Teacher of the Year"

The Iberian Triangle: Britain, Franco’s Spain, and Salazar’s Portugal in World War and Post-War, 1939-1947 (Under contract with Liverpool University Press)

Mercantile Neutrality: British Insurers and the Spanish Civil War, Contemporary European History (2025)

This article was published on