Lyn Johnstone

I joined the Department of Politics, International Relations, and philosophy at Royal Holloway University full time in 2024 having previously been a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow here. Before coming to Royal Holloway - where I also completed my PhD in 2016 - I worked for eight years in further education in the cities of Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan and for a number of national and international-focused NGOs in the UK working on issues of child poverty, homelessness, and gender in development.

I hold an MA (distinction) in Human Rights from Kingston University and a BA (Hons) from Aberystwyth University.

My research explores post-colonial relationships between Britain and African states, and African sexualities. On the area of postcolonial relationships, I have researched and published on the question of why African states remain in the Commonwealth and whether Zimbabwe ought to re-join the organisation.

On the area of sexualities, I am particularly interested in the ways in which state and non-state actors attempt to regulate sexualities in Africa and have recently published an article on queer worldmaking in Wanuri Kahiu’s film Rafiki that was banned in Kenya in 2018.

My Leverhulme project explored the everyday realities of life for queer people in a number of states in Southern Africa that have decriminalised homosexuality. Studies of sexuality rarely take Africa as their starting point for theorisation. The project intends to subvert conventional studies of sexuality by moving away from western queer theory to listen to, and work with, the everyday experiences of queer African citizens as a starting point for emphasising knowledge production and theory-building from the ground up.

I am the Lead for the MSc in Gender Studies at Royal Holloway University and also teach a core module on GS5300: Practices of Gender/Gendered Research.

In addition to PGT teaching, I currently convene PR2440 International Relations Theory and P3957 Politics and Government of Africa.