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. Lyn is a member of the International of for Feminist Economics (IAFFE). 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 also holds visiting positions at the National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. Wits University, and Yale University.Naidu, S. C., & Ossome, L. (2016). Social reproduction and the agrarian question of women’s labour in India. Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, 5(1), 50-76. 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]She also authored African Feminism a book chapter in Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism.^[6]

Lynns scholarship is converged at gender, land rights, labor and development among marginalized women in Africa. She Highlights how women unpaid labor and social reproduction sustains households and economies yet remain ignored.^[7]

Her work critiques capitalist and neoliberal development models for deepening gender inequilities, especially in rural and agrarian communities.^[8] Lyn's explicitly emphasizes the importance of Afrocentric feminist framework, arguing for context specific approaches that account for historical, cultural and structural variables.^[9] Her research work is built on land rights, rural livelihoods, agrarian change, and economic justice themes. all tied to a broader struggle for gender, equity and social inclusion. Her scope of work is in Uganda, South Africa, and Kenya.^[10] Lyn sees her scholarship and work not limited to a single discipline, rather it is interdisciplinary both in methodology and theoretically. Her research is informed from politics and political economy theoretically and methodologically. For Example, in her recent work on Electoral politics and gendered violence in Kenya.^[11] She situates gender violence not as an isolated feature in Kenyan politics but as a structural connected to Kenya's democratic and electoral process. She argues that gendered violence (Physical, sexual, psychological or financial) is embedded in how elections are consented, reflecting broader historical and political inequalities rather than a random act of aggression. This after a critical analysis on Gender, Ethnicity and Violence in Kenya's Transition to Democracy where she notes that political competition often turns into violence, especially for women.^[12] In her work she highlights, four major systemic threats and intimidation women face in Kenyan politics; Physical attacks and harassment, Sexual coercion, online and media based bulling and social stigma and gendered stereotypes-these threats undermine women political participation and discourage their engagement in leadership roles. In her findings she shows how women candidates experience intimidation by their opponents, political parties or sometimes government or members of their families.^[10] Ossome frames electoral violence gender violence within the colonial and postcolonial political structures, ethnicized patronage and liberal state frameworks that have historically marginalized women in Kenyan politics. She further elaborates that violence is not accidental but a product of entrenched patriarchy and political power dynamics that reproduce inequality and constrains women leadership.^[13] She expresses her disappointment on the negative impact of electoral gender violence on women political representation. The fear and trauma associated with threats and violence reduce the number of women willing to run for office and reinforce male dominance in political spaces.^[10]

Beside scholarly work, Lynn activism work is rooted in African feminist thought and global south perspective, focusing on the intersection of politics, political economy and social reproduction. She engages with civil society and regional networks across East and Horn of Africa, confronting legal, cultural and state barriers while emphasizing solidarity and community based activism as protection and support for women. [1]

Lyn Ossome was born on 15th May 1957 and raised in Kenya.^[14] She holds a PhD in Political Studies from University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.^[15] From 2016 to 2021 she was Senior Research Fellow at the Makerere Institute of Social Research, at Makerere University in Uganda.^[15] She describes her academic approach as 'a kind of activist-scholarship'.^[14]

Ossome's research focuses particularly on gendered labour, queer feminist history and gendered violence, as well as agrarian and land studies.^[16] Her work on feminism includes articles on Arab refugee women,^[17] Kenyan media and anti-rape discourse,^[18] and agrarian movements in Africa.^[19]

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'.^[20] 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.^[21]

In 2016, Ossome was a visiting scholar at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.^[22] She was also Visiting Presidential Professor in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Yale University from 2016-17.^[23]

Ossome serves on the board of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE),^[24] and the executive committee of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).^[4] Ossome serves as the president of Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA )[2]

• 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^[25]
• 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^[26]
• 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^[27]
• 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^[28]
• Ossome, Lyn and Naidu, Srisha C (2021). 'The Agrarian Question of Gendered Labour' in Labour Questions in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4635-2_4^[29]
• Ossome, Lyn 'African Feminism' in Rabaka, R. (Ed.). (2020). Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429020193^[30]
• Ossome, Lyn (2022). Introduction: The social reproductive question of land contestations in Africa. African Affairs, 121(484), e9-e24. https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adab032^[31]

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