Dr Samuel Ritholtz
BSc MSc DPhil
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow - Elect
I am interested in the politics of identity, stigma, and brutality during war and other episodes of violence. My research centres marginalised social groups in both theoretical and empirical studies of contentious politics. My current book project, Waging Stigma during Civil War, investigates collective violence against LGBTIQ+ people during the Colombian civil war and ties these dynamics of violence to wartime social transformation processes. At All Souls, I will begin a new research project, tentatively titled Purity & War, which explores the phenomenon of 'social cleansing' in Latin America through a genealogy of the concept of 'subversion’, and its variations, in the region. I have further research interests in the study of LGBTIQ+ displacement, the semiotics of violence, and aesthetic/artistic practice during contentious politics. In 2026, I will publish, with Rebecca Buxton, The Way Out: Justice in the Queer Search for Refuge (University of California Press), which explores the stakes of LGBTIQ+ inclusion in displacement justice debates and articulates a new relational approach to conceptualizing the drivers of displacement.
- Departmental Lecturer in International Relations, University of Oxford (from 2023 to 2025)
- Max Weber Fellow, European University Institute (from 2022 to 2024)
- DPhil in International Development, University of Oxford (2023)
- International Security Fellow, the Hertie School (from 2021 to 2022)
- Visiting Doctoral Research Fellow, Universidad de los Andes (2020)
- MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, University of Oxford (2018)
- BSc in International Agriculture and Rural Development, Cornell University (2014)
- Political Violence
- Civil War
- Displacement
- Social Processes of War
- Theories of Violence
- Refugee Protection
- Gender & Sexuality
- Social Marginalization
- Humanitarianism
- Art & Politics
Books:
- The Way Out: Justice in the Queer Search for Refuge, University of California Press, 2026 (written with Rebecca Buxton)
- Queer Conflict Research: New Approaches to the Study of Political Violence, Bristol University Press, 2024 (edited with Jamie J. Hagen and Andrew Delatolla)
Articles:
- ‘Brutality on Display: Media Coverage and the Spectacle of Anti-LGBTQ Violence in the Colombian Civil War,’ Third World Quarterly, 2024
- ‘Sanctuary after Asylum: Addressing a Gap in the Political Theory of Refuge,’ American Political Science Review, 117(3), 2023 (with Rebecca Buxton)
- ‘Is Queer-and-Trans Youth Homelessness a Form of Displacement? A queer epistemological review of refugee studies’ theoretical border,’ Ethnic and Racial Studies, 46(9), 2023
- ‘The Ontology of Cruelty in Civil War: The Analytical Utility of Characterizing Violence in Conflict Studies,’ Global Studies Quarterly, 2(2), ksac014, 2022
For more publications: www.samuelritholtz.com/research
- Co-Editor-in-Chief (with Jeffrey T. Checkel, European University Institute, and Lisa Wedeen, University of Chicago), QMMR: Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (2026-2027)
- Missing Peace Initiative on Preventing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Scholars Network
- Advancing Research on Conflict Consortium
Undergraduate:
- International Relations
- International Security & Conflict
- Practice of Politics
Graduate:
- The Development of the International System and Contemporary Debates in IR Theory
- Identities, Norms, and Violence
Methods Training:
- Research Design & Methods in International Relations
- Advanced Qualitative Methods
- Safe & Ethical Fieldwork in Sensitive Environments
Accepting MPhil and DPhil (International Relations) students.
- John Fell Fund (2025)
- Michael Nicholson Thesis Prize, British International Studies Association (2024)
- Elizabeth Wiskemann Thesis Prize, Political Studies Association (2024)
- Green Templeton DPhil Scholarship (2018-2022)
- Rotary Scholarship (2017)
- Cornell University Class of 1964 John F. Kennedy Memorial Award (2014)
- Harry S. Truman Scholarship (2013)