Razan Ghazzawi

Assistant Professor, WGSS

School of Language, Culture and Society

Waldo Hall 278
2250 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
United States

_{Dr. Razan Ghazzawi (they/them/هي\هن) is an award-winning human rights defender, former political prisoner, and recovering blogger. They are an assistant professor in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Oregon State University’s School of Languages, Culture, and Language. As a MESA Global Academy fellow for 2024-2025, Ghazzawi's writing has been featured in ARTE, Al Jazeera English, the Middle East Journal for Culture and Communication, and Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research. They are currently working on their first book monograph, an ethnographic study of sexuality politics in Syria and Lebanon, examining the revolutions, the "war on terror," and the "refugee crisis" from south-south perspectives.}

Office Hours

Fridays 2-4 PM

Research/Career Interests

_{Queer of color critique, Queer IR, checkpoints, prisons, war, and militarization.}
_{Postcolonial feminism, authoritarianism, and social movements.}
_{Queer migration, border policing, and racialization of social mobilities.}
_{Ethnographic and autoethnographic methods, ethics of care, research ethics.}

Education

_{PhD in Gender Studies, University of Sussex, UK, 2023.}
_{MA in Gender, Sexuality, and the Body. University of Leeds, UK, 2016.}
_{MA in Comparative Literature, Balamand University, Lebanon, 2011.}
_{BA in English Literature, University of Damascus, Syria, 2003.}

Service

_{Reader for AlMashriq Journal (2024).}
_{Reader for the European Journal of Feminist International Relations (2023).}
_{Postgraduate Member at Large at the ISA LGBTQA Caucus (2022-2023).}
_{Reader for the Women in Middle East Studies Journal (2022).}
_{Reader for Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research (2019).}

Proceedings and Conference Presentations

_{2024 Panel paper. Palestine as a Point of Departure on Syria. ISA Annual Convention. San Francisco. USA.}
_{2023 Roundtable speaker. Beyond Mourning: Gaza and Queer Theory. MESA Annual Meeting, Montreal: Canada.}
_{2023 Presenter. Sex Workers Prison Strike in Adra Prison. MESA Annual Meeting, Montreal: Canada.}
_{2023 Roundtable speaker. Arab Mobilities and Exile. Academy Fellow APSA MENA. Montreal: Canada.}
_{2022 Roundtable speaker. Decolonization from the Global South to Global North. ISA: USA.}
_{2022 Presenter. Queer Protests in Syria. MESA Annual Meeting, Colorado, USA.}
_{2022 Sex Workers Prison Strike in Adra Prison (Syria). BRISMES Annual Meeting, St Andrews.}

Professional Affiliations

_{The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES)}

_{Middle East Studies Association (MESA).}

_{International Studies Association (ISA).}

Honors and Awards

_{MESA Global Academy Fellow | 2023-2025.}
_{Postdoctoral fellowship at the Forum Transregionale Stedium, EUME | 2022- 2023 academic year.}
_{ISA’s LGBTQA Caucus Emerging Scholar Award, USA | 2022.}
_{Nomination for the Adam Weiler Doctoral Impact Award at the University of Sussex, UK | 2021.}
_{Media, Film, and Music School’s scholarship for international Ph.D. students, UK | 2017–2022.}
_{APSA MENA Alumni Grant | 2020 -2021}
_{The Arab Council for Social Sciences grant to conduct fieldwork in Lebanon | 2018-2019.}

Courses Taught

_{WGSS 110 Gender, Race, and Pop Culture (Spirited Away and Other Anime section).}

_{WGSS/QS 262 Introduction to Queer Studies.}

_{WGSS 414 Systems of Oppression in Women's Lives.}

_{WGSS 576 Transnational Sexualities.}

_{WGSS 617 Multicultural, Transnational, and Queer Feminism II.}

_{Published work:}

_{Ghazzawi, Razan. 2024. "Rhoda Kanaaneh, The Right Kind of Suffering: Gender, Sexuality, and Arab Asylum Seekers in America (Austin: The University of Texas Press, 2023)." Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East & North African Migration Studies 11.2 (2024): 160-163.}
_{Abu Hatoum, Nayrouz; Ghazzawi, Razan. 2023. “Sumoud-Washing: A Queer Feminist Analysis for the Syrian Palestinian Struggles,” in Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research.}
_{Ghazzawi, Razan. 2022. The ‘Un-revolutionary’ Figure, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 15(4), 347-357. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/18739865-01504008}
_{Ahmed Awadallah, Mohammed Kadalah, Afrah Nasser, Razan Ghazzawi. 2021. "Reflections on Exile," Middle East Report 301.}
_{Ghazzawi, Razan. 2021. "Reading the term 'White Syrian' through Fanon: An Anti-Colorist Critique," in Fanon Today: The Revolt and Reason of The Wretched of the Earth, edited by Nigel Gibson (Daraja Press).}