Mostafa Minawi studies different forms of imperialism in the Middle East and Northeast Africa at the turn of the 20th century. 

His research investigates how global events and the internal crisis in the empire were refracted through the lived experience of Arab-Ottoman imperialists and their families in Istanbul through the turbulent political and social changes leading up to WWI and the breakup of the empire.

He was the director of Critical Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Studies (CO+POS) at the Einaudi Center. As a 2021–22 Global Public Voices fellow, he drew attention to the right of all refugees to health care and education, particularly non-cis-gendered and queer refugees who are often excluded from essential services.