Roxanna Azari is an adjunct lecturer in the Women and Gender Studies Department at Hunter College. Her intro course explores intersectionality, transnational feminism, coloniality, globalization, body image, media studies, masculinity, Islamic feminism and gender in the MENA region.
In addition to teaching at Hunter, Ms. Azari is an award-winning poet and performer who has been featured at The United Nations, Off-Broadway and PBS. As a former Thomas J. Watson Fellowship recipient, Azari created and facilitated poetry and performance workshops with young women in the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and South-East Asia. Ms. Azari's Watson research focused on challenging the distilled and static Western image of Muslim women through interviews with diverse activists, feminists, artists and poets within Islamic countries and communities.
Ms. Azari holds a BA in English literature: creative writing and women’s studies from Wheaton College (MA) and an MSc in gender, development and globalization from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Ms. Azari infuses her academic background with her visions of challenging social, political and economic inequalities both inside and outside formal classroom walls.
Outside of Hunter College, Ms. Azari serves as a storytelling coach and a consultant on diversity and inclusion.