Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

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Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (2012)

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (born February 15, 1955 in Cape Town ) is a South African psychologist and professor of clinical psychology at the University of Cape Town . She was a member of the Truth Commission investigating the crimes during apartheid from 1996 to 1998 .

Life

Gobodo-Madikizela grew up during apartheid in Langa Township in Cape Town. She studied at the University of Fort Hare , which Nelson Mandela had also attended. With a special permit, she was able to continue her studies at Rhodes University , which was actually reserved for whites, and do her master's in psychology. After the end of apartheid in 1994, she was appointed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, whose task it was to come to terms with the political crimes of that time. As part of this work, she interviewed Eugene de Kock , head of the police death squads of the apartheid regime, in prison. Her doctoral thesis and her book The Legacy of Apartheid - Trauma, Remembrance, Reconciliation were created on the basis of these discussions . The book won the 2004 Alan Paton Award , a South African literary prize for non-fiction, and the American Christopher Award in the category of non-fiction books for adult readers.

In her research, Gobodo-Madikizela focuses primarily on the issues of reconciliation and forgiveness, the perpetrator-victim dialogue and trauma experiences in social and political systems. She has advised on the Northern Ireland conflict and lectured around the world.

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela lives with her son in Cape Town.

Works

  • A Human Being Died That Night. A South African Story of Forgiveness. Houghton Mifflin, Boston MA 2003, ISBN 0-618-21189-6 (German: The legacy of apartheid. Trauma, memory, reconciliation. Budrich, Opladen 2006, ISBN 3-86649-025-9 ).
  • with Chris N. van der Merwe: Narrating Our Healing. Perspectives on Working Through Trauma. Cambridge Scholars Press, Newcastle 2007, ISBN 978-1-84718-208-1 .

Honors

Gobodo-Madikizela has the title of Honorary Doctor of the Theological Faculty of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Award of an honorary doctorate from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena , accessed on November 1, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Cape Town