Professor Phillip Ayoub

Mid-Career Fellow 2025-26

Transnational activism and queer imaginaries in the modern Middle East

This research examines the dynamic relationship between regionalism and LGBTQ encounters with, and resistance to, political homo- and transphobia in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Existing literature on LGBTQ politics has devoted sparse attention to how movements navigate contexts where political opportunities for mobilization are closed, especially as it pertains to such movements in the MENA region. While this region is correctly attributed with being repressive in the domain of gender and sexuality politics, we have overlooked that LGBTQ movements are mobilizing there in innovative ways. The project uses novel methods to investigate both the impact of political homo/transphobia on LGBTQ communities and shining a light on the strategies employed by transnational LGBTQ social movements in response to it.

More information

Blog posts

Mid-Career Fellowships Award Announcement

The latest round of Mid-Career Fellowships will provide funding for six academics allowing them time away from teaching to focus on their research.

Areas of interest

International Relations Comparative Politics Transnational Politics Gender Studies Sexuality Social Movements Mixed-Methods LGBTQIA+

Cohort

MCF7

Biography

Phillip Ayoub is a Professor of International Relations at University College London.

His research bridges insights from international relations and comparative politics, engaging with literature on transnational politics, sexuality and gender, norm diffusion, and the study of social movements. He is the author of When States Come Out: Europe’s Sexual Minorities and the Politics of Visibility (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and The Global Fight Against LGBTI Rights (New York University Press, 2024 with Kristina Stoeckl), and his articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Social Forces, the European Journal of International Relations, the European Journal of Political Research, Review of International Studies, Mobilization, the European Political Science Review, the Journal of Human Rights, Social Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and Social Movement Studies. He has also contributed to other journals and edited volumes.

Biographical details correct as of 03.12.24