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 University of Alberta, 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!!