Biography: Dr. Sethunya Tshepho Mosime is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, at the University of Botswana. She has a multidisciplinary background in Sociology, Political Science, Social Anthropology, Media, Communication and Cultural Studies. Her research and teaching interests are around the rights of political and social minorities across ethnicity, gender and sexuality, African Social Thought, Sociological theories and methods, Gender and the Criminal Justice System, Communication for Development and Media-Military Relations. She has been a gender activist member of the Botswana women’s movement since her undergraduate studies at the University of Botswana in the late 1990s, through the mentorship of one of the movement founders, Dr. Onalenna Selolwane. Dr. Mosime has a long history providing research support for rights-based activist organizations like the Africa Gender Institute (AGI), Rainbow Identity Association (RIA) for transgender and intersex people, the Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGABIBO), and Sisonke Botswana Association for Sex Workers and Men for Health and Gender Justice. In 2013, she served briefly as a local consultant for the US-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) to foster dialogue between civil society and women in politics and their political parties. Following a series of dialogue sessions, she partnered with American Embassy, Emang Basadi, the National Democratic Institute and the Democracy and Human Rights Fund to found Letsema Resource Support for Women in Politics. This helped women candidates prepare for the 2014 general elections and provided post-election evaluations and professional emotional support for those that were not successful.
