Razan Ghazzawi

Assistant Professor, WGSS, Queer Studies

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 the School of Languages, Culture, and Language. A MESA Global Academy Fellow for 2024–2025, Ghazzawi’s work has appeared in ARTE, Al Jazeera English, The Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, and Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research. They are currently developing their first book monograph, an ethnographic study of sexuality politics in Syria and Lebanon that examines revolution, the “war on terror,” and the “refugee crisis” from south–south perspectives.}

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

_{Committee Member, Social Justice Caucus, UAOSU | 2025–present.}
_{Committee Member, Education Committee, American Council for Palestine (ACP) | 2025–present.}
_{Manuscript Reviewer, AlMashriq Journal | 2024.}
_{Manuscript Reviewer, European Journal of Feminist International Relations | 2023.}
_{Postgraduate Member-at-Large, ISA LGBTQA Caucus | 2022–2023.}
_{Manuscript Reviewer, Women in Middle East Studies Journal | 2022.}
_{Manuscript Reviewer, Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research | 2019.}

Professional Affiliations

_{National Women's Studies Association (NWSA).}
_{The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES).}
_{Middle East Studies Association (MESA).}
_{International Studies Association (ISA).}
_{American Political Science Association (APSA).}

Honors and Awards

_{PI, American Political Science Association's (APSA) Summer Centennial Center Research Grants | 2025-2026.}
_{MESA Global Academy Fellow | 2023-2025.}
_{Postdoctoral fellowship at the Forum Transregionale Stedium, EUME | 2022–2023 academic year.}
_{Joint Runners-Up Winner of British Society for Middle Eastern Studies’ Leigh Douglas PhD Thesis Memorial Prize | 2023.}
_{American Political Science Association’s Kenneth Sherrill Best Dissertation Prize in LGBTQ Politics, USA | 2023.}
_{ISA’s LGBTQIA 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 (Designed the new Spirited Away and Other Anime section).}
_{WGSS/QS 262 Introduction to Queer Studies.}
_{WGSS 414 Systems of Oppression in Women's Lives.}
_{QS 431 Queer of Color Critique.}
_{WGSS 576 Transnational Sexualities.}
_{WGSS 617 Multicultural, Transnational, and Queer Feminism II.}

_{Published Work:}

_{Ghazzawi, Razan. 2026. “Postcolonial Approaches to Gender Violence Against LGBTQIA+ Refugees.” In Resisting Gender Violence, edited by Susan M. Shaw, Xosé M. Santos, Zenetta Rosaline, Jayamala Mayilsamy, Kamalaveni Veni, Laura Pallarés Ameneiro, and Janet Lockhart. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press.}
_{Ghazzawi Razan. 2025. "Popular Sovereignty and Trans Mothering of Antiwar Syrian Soldiers." Review of Middle East Studies; 59 (2):77-88. doi:10.1017/rms.2025.10027.}
_{Ghazzawi, Razan. 2025. “Filmmaking in Exile: Failure as Queer Bodily Dissent.” In Queer Anthology on Arab Art, edited by Yasmine Rifaii and Nadim Choufi. Beirut/Amsterdam: Haven for Artists.}
_{Ghazzawi, Razan. 2024. “Rhoda Kanaaneh, The Right Kind of Suffering: Gender, Sexuality, and Arab Asylum Seekers in America (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2023).” Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East & North African Migration Studies 11 (2): 160–63.}
_{Abu Hatoum, Nayrouz, and Razan Ghazzawi. 2023. “Sumoud-Washing: A Queer Feminist Analysis for the Syrian Palestinian Struggles.” Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research.}
_{Ghazzawi, Razan. 2022. “The ‘Un-Revolutionary’ Figure.” Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 15 (4): 347–57. https://doi.org/10.1163/18739865-01504008.}
_{Awadallah, Ahmed, Mohammed Kadalah, Afrah Nasser, and 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. Montreal: Daraja Press.}