Biography
Ramon Johnson is an interdisciplinary artist and PhD candidate in the department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington. Johnson’s work uses archival and ethnographic methods to explore the concept of “progress” in regards to LGBTQ+ organizing undertaken at single sex historically Black colleges, interrogating how these institutions try to embrace or contain that organizing within institutional cultures that are overdetermined by neoliberalism, anti-Blackness, and respectability politics.
Awards and Honors
Research
Selected Research
- Johnson, R. W. (2024). Book Review: Respectable: Politics and Paradox in Making the Morehouse Man. Men and Masculinities, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X231226116
- Johnson, Ramon W. “In the Wake of Blu Bone’s Wicked Womb.” A Gathering Together, 12 Dec. 2023, www.agatheringtogether.com/in-the-wake-of-blue-bones-wicked-womb/.
- Mobley SD, Johnson RW, Sewell CJP, Johnson JM, Neely AJ. “We Are Not Victims”: Unmasking Black Queer and Trans* Student Activism at HBCUs. About Campus. 2021;26(3):24-28. doi:10.1177/1086482220953221
- Johnson; Dawson and Reyes, R. W. J. (2018, October 15). Beyond The Battleground [Video]. The Bushwick Film Institute.Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIz2v-phTlI&t=30s
Conversations
Pride & Power: The History & Future of LGBTQ+ Politics
his virtual discussion explores the past, present, and future of LGBTQ+ political participation in America. How has the LGBTQ+ community historically been involved in, and excluded from, politics? What avenues are currently available to the LGBTQ+ community to affect sociopolitical change? And what steps must be taken in order to make our democracy more inclusive and safer for the LGBTQ+ community? Featuring Lady Anderson (she/her), Director of Policy, Advocacy and Community Engagement at Gay City; Cristina Ortega (she/her), President of Yakima Pride; Senator Emily Randall (she/her), 26th Legislative District; and Debra Salazar (she/her), Professor of Political Science at Western Washington University. Moderated by Ramon Johnson (they/them), Graduate Student of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies at University of Washington.
Project STAND Symposium: Documenting Student Activism
The following forum in this four part series began with a dialogue that assessed the significance of documenting student activism within contemporary movements of social injustice impacting marginalized communities and with those directly engaging in its work--student activists. Panelists provided context into why they have taken on activist labor, issues of documenting and preserving student activism and the challenges surrounding this role in academic structures.