Laura’s research addresses issues of gender and security, with focus on politically violent women, feminist war theorising, sexuality in global politics, and political methodology.
Laura teaches, consults, and lectures on gender in global politics, and on international security. Her work has been published in more than 50 books and journals in political science, law, gender studies, international relations, and geography.
She joined DPIR last October. We spoke to Laura recently and asked her about her teaching role in DPIR:
This year, I have had a chance to do a variety of teaching. I was able to give a lecture to the second-year International Relations students on gender, feminism, and queer theory applied to global politics, and do several undergraduate tutorials with Politics, Philosophy, and Economics undergraduates in both International Relations and Feminist Theory. I also had the pleasure of leading the International Relations MPhil seminar for four weeks, working on readings defining and analyzing security in the global political arena. In addition to seminar sessions with MPhil students, I have enjoyed supervising two MPhil International Relations students whose research interests overlap with mine, as they explore different issues of gender and violence in global politics. I was able to co-lead the IR Doctoral work-in-progress seminar with Ranjit Lall during Hilary Term, where I got to know the work of several doctoral students, was able to listen to doctoral students help each other problem-solve issues in their work, and (at least hopefully) helped a little myself. I have also had the privilege of establishing supervisory and co-supervisory relationships with several DPhil students, which have led to a number of fascinating conversations. Finally, I am developing an MPhil IR option on International Law to be offered starting in the 2026-2027 academic year. In short, I have been able to do a little bit of a lot of different sorts of teaching and enjoyed all of it immensely.
What inspired you to become part of DPIR?
I think I will use a political science-nerd word here – in many ways, my inspiration was overdetermined. I had had the opportunity to be a part of a panel on feminism and realism that the IR Doctoral Students’ network had put together in the fall (which I now, thankfully, know as Michaelmas) of 2023. I was really impressed by the level of depth of discussion of the graduate students who attended, both on the subject of the panel and in conversations about their own work which lasted for several hours after the panel. I had an opportunity to meet more IR graduate students as some of them attended a pre-BISA (British International Studies Association) professional development conference that I hosted on behalf of the GIRWG (Gender and International Relations Working Group) and found their collegiality as impressive as their training. I knew – some personally and others by reputation – many of the amazing members of academic staff that make up the Associate Professors and Professors at DPIR. While I would have always been excited by the idea to work with any one of them (much less all of them), my work has recently moved closer to some of the core interests of some of the other staff in Oxford International Relations, particularly as my current major project is historical, providing great opportunities for conversations with a number of DPIR staff. It does not hurt that my colleagues at Exeter College are lovely, and I am fascinated by their research. If you add in undergraduates who are so smart that you forget that you are not talking to colleagues – this is a great place to work. Perhaps this is a long way of saying – the people drew me to DPIR and Oxford, and they have not disappointed!
How have you settled into life at DPIR, what have been the highlights to date?
There have been a lot of highlights! During Hilary, the IR group had an amazing dinner together hosted by Meera Sabaratnam at New College – the food, wine, and conversation were second-to-none! During Michaelmas, I was able to return to the DPhil students’ society to have a conversation about work on gender and security, which was a rich and inspiring conversation. During Hiliary, I had the privilege of presenting my current book project to the IR seminar, where I received a lot of great feedback that is helping with the pre-publication revisions. My first ‘Domus Night’ at Exeter College taught me about the existence of chemical anthropology and its potential for improving understanding different social and political phenomena from hundreds and even thousands of years ago. I also had the normal new-to-Oxford growing pains of getting stuck in buildings, missing buses, being late to things, and turning up to meals inevitably wearing the wrong thing. But I am learning! One last highlight must be mentioned, I suppose: you can walk by my office window on Turl Street and see my Lego botanicals collection – which was fun to assemble.
Can you tell us a little more about your research?
I am currently working on a book that is (at least sort of) historical in nature – looking at the significations of marital relationships (particularly marital sex acts) in the building of empire generally and imperial borders specifically – as a part of a broader project to talk about international relations as sexual relations, and sexual relations as international relations, seeing sex acts as importantly constitutive of borders in the international system. The next part of that broader project will study and theorize the disproportionate attention and weight given to sex acts in contemporary marriage/partner migration and LGBTQ+ refugee policy and law – looking at sex acts as border-gatekeeping devices and technologies. Alongside this project on sexual relations as international relations, I continue to work on gender issues in war ethics, feminist and queer approaches to theorizing security in global politics, significations of women’s political violence, and the intersections of methods and disciplinary sociology in IR.
What advice would you give to prospective DPhil politics students, particularly, women seeking a career in academia or international relations?
I do not know if I have a lot of sage advice. There is a lot to be apprehensive about – the neoliberal academic sector has a lot of academic and financial problems, academic freedom is at risk almost everywhere you look, and there’s a lot of sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, and racism across the academy – even in fields that study it and should know better. Certainly, those who treat academia as a positive exception in the professional world are missing or underestimating its many problems. That said, it is, in my view, a very rewarding job in many ways – the ability to do research that might tell us something about the world and the ability to impart what you have learned to students who might use either that knowledge or the critical thinking skills it came with to change the world are just two of many awesome things about it. So, I guess, if I have learned anything, it is that it is tough, and often unfair, and that very few academic careers are smooth or easy – even fewer when we account for the gendered and raced ways the academy can work. But there are a lot of positives in the mess.
Can you tell us about your role in this year’s Astor Lecture and collaboration with Professor Helen Kinsella?
Professor Helen Kinsella is one of the positives. I have had the privilege of following her work for almost two decades now, and she is not only one of the sharpest people I have ever met, but also one of the most careful researchers in political science. This combination, along with her unrelenting critical eye, has made her research some of the most important in this generation of political theory and International Relations. Professor Patricia Owens and I were lucky enough to get to invite Helen for the Astor Lecture, and now it will be our privilege and that of DPIR more broadly to hear about her current project. If you have not had a chance to read Helen’s work before, I highly recommend it! Her 2006 book, The Image Before the Weapon: A Critical History of the Distinction between Combatant and Civilian (Cornell University Press) is a great read for those interested in political theory, historical IR, and security studies. Those looking for a shorter read might pick up her more recent (2023) article in the American Political Science Review on “Settler Empire and the United States,” which touches on many key contemporary security issues by engaging Francis Lieber on the laws of war.
We hope that you can join us for the 2025 Astor Lecture, where Helen will be talking about her paper, “Beyond Mere Inconvenience: The United States and Civilian Harm.”