We are so proud of Gender and Social Justice Studies student Roman Leksikov, who has won the Ronald Gordon Rowswell-O'Connor Graduate Award!
Awarded by the Institute of Sexual Minorities Studies and Services at the 黑料不打烊, selection is based on the significance of the student's program of studies and/or research to the advancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-identified, or queer communities. Learn more about the award here.
The tentative name of Roman's thesis is "Homophobic and Transphobic Violence in Contemporary Ukraine: Victims' Experiences and Criminal Justice Response". He is studying policing of anti-queer, gendered and sexual violence, hate crimes and other kinds of cultural violence; intimacy and violence in total institutions and gender-segregated spaces; the dynamics of the relationships between LGBTI+ communities and the criminal justice system; and micro-sociology of violence and its macro\cultural theories. His side research interests include social experiments and studying\theorizing sexuality and sexual diversity beyond queer theory and queer critique. In November, Roman presented a paper which examined inapplicability of queer critique as a methodological approach for sociological and anthropological studies of sexuality in post-Soviet space at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting. Roman has been actively involved in civic and community service for quite some time, and is currently collaborating with a couple of LGBTI+ organizations.
Congratulations, Roman!!