Biography
Rahul Rao is a Reader in International Political Thought in the School of International Relations at the University of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø. Prior to this, he worked at SOAS University of London from 2008–23, where he was promoted to Professor shortly before leaving and where he remains a Professorial Research Associate. Between 2005–08, he was Term Fellow in Politics at University College, University of Oxford. Rahul read for a DPhil in International Relations at Balliol College, University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and has a BA, LLB (Hons.) from the National Law School of India University. He is a member of the editorial collective and used to blog at .
Research areas
Rahul Rao has research interests in international relations, postcolonial and queer theory, and the politics of South Asia. Much of his work to date has explored the global politics of identity – gender, sexuality and, more recently, race and caste. He is the author of three books: (2010), Ìý(2020) – both published by Oxford University Press – and (2025) published by Pluto Press. He is beginning to work on a project that explores the tensions between Marxist and post-Marxist approaches to the more-than-human turn in the humanities and social sciences and welcomes doctoral proposals in this area. His research has been supported by fellowships awarded by the Leverhulme Trust and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and grants provided by the British Institute in Eastern Africa and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Besides writing regularly for academic journals and collections, his work has appeared in The Caravan, , Kafila, Mute, openDemocracy and on the Verso blog.Ìý
PhD supervision
- GrayÌýBlack
- MartaÌýFernandez Albuerne
- AnezkaÌýFerreira
- ZhuangweiÌýLi
- SaraÌýShaltout
- ClaireÌýWilson
Selected publications
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Rao, R., 1 Mar 2025, London; Las Vegas, NV: Pluto Press. 195 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Rao, R., 5 Jun 2020, New York: Oxford University Press. 262 p. (Oxford studies in gender and international relations)
Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Rao, R., 2010, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 275 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Rao, R., 1 Jan 2024, In: South Atlantic Quarterly. 123, 1, p. 79–103 25 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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Open access
Rao, R., 2020, In: Radical Philosophy. 2.07, p. 17–26
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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