Lyn Ossome
Marilyn ('Lyn') Ossome is an academic, specialising in feminist political theory and feminist political economics. She is currently Senior Research Associate of at the University of Johannesburg and a member of the advisory board for the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa,[1] amongst other accolades. She is an editorial board member of Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy,[2] and in 2021, she co-edited the volume Labour Questions in the Global South.[3] She serves on the executive committee for the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).[4] She is the author of Gender, Ethnicity and Violence in Kenya’s Transitions to Democracy: States of Violence.[5]
Lyn Ossome | |
---|---|
Born | Kenya |
Occupation | Senior Research Fellow |
Academic background | |
Education | PhD |
Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Political Studies |
Notable works | Gender, Ethnicity and Violence in Kenya's Transitions to Democracy: States of Violence |
Biography

Lyn Ossome was born and raised in Kenya.[6] She holds a PhD in Political Studies from University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.[7] From 2016 to 2021 she was Senior Research Fellow at the Makerere Institute of Social Research, at Makerere University in Uganda.[7] She describes her academic approach as 'a kind of activist-scholarship'.[6]
Career
Ossome's research focusses particularly on gendered labour, queer feminist history and gendered violence, as well as agrarian and land studies.[8] Her work on feminism includes articles on Arab refugee women,[9] Kenyan media and anti-rape discourse,[10] and agrarian movements in Africa.[11]
Her 2018 book Gender, Ethnicity and Violence in Kenya’s Transitions to Democracy: States of Violence examined 'the democratization process and sexual/gendered violence observed against women during electioneering periods in Kenya'.[12] In 2021, she co-edited the volume Labour Questions in the Global South.[3]
She is an editorial board member of Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy,[2] and serves on the advisory board of Feminist Africa.[13]
In 2016, Ossome was a visiting scholar at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.[14] She was also Visiting Presidential Professor in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Yale University from 2016-17.[15]
Ossome serves on the board of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE),[16] and the executive committee of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).[4]
Selected publications
- Ossome, Lyn and Naidu, Srisha C (2021). 'Does Land Still Matter? Gender and Land Reforms in Zimbabwe'. Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy. 10(2): 344–370 https://doi.org/10.1177/22779760211029176
- Ossome, Lyn (2021). 'Land in transition: from social reproduction of labour power to social reproduction of power' Journal of Contemporary African Studies. 39(4): 550-564. https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2021.1895431
- Ossome, Lyn (2021). 'The care economy and the state in Africa’s Covid-19 responses'. Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d'études du développement, 42(1-2), 68-78.https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2020.1831448
- Ossome Lyn (2021). 'Pedagogies of Feminist Resistance: Agrarian Movements in Africa'. Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy. 10(1):41-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/22779760211000939
- Ossome, Lyn and Naidu, Srisha C (2021). 'The Agrarian Question of Gendered Labour' in Labour Questions in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Ossome, Lyn 'African Feminism' in Rabaka, R. (Ed.). (2020). Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429020193
References
- "Bod – Siha". Retrieved 2021-10-22.
- "Our Journal – Agrarian South". Retrieved 2021-10-22.
- Jha, Praveen; Chambati, Walter; Ossome, Lyn, eds. (2021). Labour Questions in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-981-334-634-5.
- "CODESRIA: About Us".
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Ossome, Lyn (2018). Gender, Ethnicity, and Violence in Kenya's Transitions to Democracy: States of Violence. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-1-4985-5830-3.
- ROAPE (2019-11-07). "Talking Back: a conversation with Lyn Ossome". ROAPE. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
- "Lyn Ossome | Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) - Makerere University". misr.mak.ac.ug. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
- "Professor Lyn Ossome". Plaas. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
- Ossome, Lyn (2008). "Locating Arab Refugee Women: Identity and Allegiance in Global Feminist Conflicts". Al-Raida Journal: 25–32. doi:10.32380/alrj.v0i0.154. ISSN 0259-9953.
- Ossome, Lyn (2013). "Locating Kenyan Media in Anti-Rape Discourse: A Feminist Critique" (PDF). Africa Media Review. 21: 109–133.
- Ossome, Lyn (2021-04-01). "Pedagogies of Feminist Resistance: Agrarian Movements in Africa". Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy. 10 (1): 41–58. doi:10.1177/22779760211000939. ISSN 2277-9760. S2CID 234098938.
- Ossome, Lyn (2018-04-02). Gender, Ethnicity, and Violence in Kenya's Transitions to Democracy: States of Violence. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-1-4985-5831-0.
- "Feminist Africa - Editorial Advisory Board". Feminist Africa. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
- "Dr. Lyn Ossome Visiting Scholar at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan | Makerere Institute of Social Research (MISR) - Makerere University". misr.mak.ac.ug. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
- "WGSS Welcomes Visiting Faculty fall 2016 | Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies". wgss.yale.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
- "IAFFE - Lyn Ossome". www.iaffe.org. Retrieved 2021-10-22.