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Leandra Bias's research is situated at the intersection between comparative politics, international relations and political theory. Based on the example of contemporary Russia and Serbia, her thesis challenges the well-established notion within critical theory that transnational feminism always entails negative power relations that lead to practices of "othering".
She argues that with rising illiberalism, domestic power relations have become much more salient for feminists on the ground. Drawing from post-Marxist discourse analysis, she investigates how they reframe transnationalism in a way that goes beyond the West/East lens in order to protect their discursive practices from being hijacked by the anti-Western public discourse.
Leandra Bias has just submitted her DPhil in Politics at the University of Oxford, in which she researched the connection between anti-gender backlash and authoritarianism and how it impacts transnational feminism. She specialises in post-communist Europe with a particular focus on contemporary Russia and Serbia. Part of her research has been published in Women's Studies International Forum. At the same time she is a gender and peacebuilding advisor with the peace institute swisspeace. In that role her foci lie on masculinities, militarism and gender-based violence, the role of care in peacebuilding as well as UNSCR 1325 “Women, Peace and Security”. She also acts as swisspeace's editor for the Working Papers, a journal that bridges the gap between theory and practice of peace and conflict resolution. At Oxford she extensively taught a wide subject range from Politics of Russia to Qualitative Research Methods for the MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy. And thanks to her background in journalism she has been able to communicate her expertise in an accessible manner in popular media, most recently with an analysis on women’s role in the popular uprising in Belarus. She also holds an MPhil in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Oxford as well as a BA in International Relations from the University of Geneva.
The purpose of this research seminar is to offer a platform of exchange for students, doctoral students in particular, and researchers whose work includes a gender perspective. During this monthly series, researchers have the opportunity to discuss their work, meet peers from different disciplines at the Graduate Institute, as well as interact with other students, guest speakers and faculty members.
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