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{{Short description|South African academic (born 1955)}}
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| birth_date = Pumla Phillipa Gobodo<br />{{Birth date and age|df=yes|1955|2|15}}
| birth_date = Pumla Phillipa Gobodo<br />{{Birth date and age|df=yes|1955|2|15}}
| birth_place = [[Langa, Cape Town|Langa]], [[Cape Town]], [[Western Cape]], [[South Africa]]
| birth_place = [[Langa, Cape Town|Langa]], [[Cape Town]], [[Western Cape]], South Africa
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| region = Clinical [[Psychologist]]
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'''Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela''' (born 15 February 1955) is the Research Chair in Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation at [[Stellenbosch University]] in [[South Africa]]. She graduated from [[Fort Hare University]] with a bachelor's degree and an Honours degree in [[psychology]]. She obtained her master's degree in Clinical Psychology at [[Rhodes University]]. She received her PhD in psychology from the [[University of Cape Town]]. Her doctoral thesis, entitled "Legacies of violence: An in-depth analysis of two case studies based on interviews with perpetrators of a 'necklace' murder and with [[Eugene de Kock]]", offers a perspective that integrates psychoanalytic and social psychological concepts to understand extreme forms of violence committed during the apartheid era. Her main interests are traumatic memories in the aftermath of political conflict, post-conflict reconciliation, empathy, forgiveness, psychoanalysis and [[intersubjectivity]]. She served on the [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] (TRC). She currently works at the University of the Free State in [[Bloemfontein]] as a senior research professor.
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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2012}}
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{{Use South African English|date=December 2012}}

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'''Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela''' (born 15 February 1955) is a senior research professor in trauma, memory and forgiveness at the [[University of the Free State]] in [[South Africa]]. She graduated from [[Fort Hare University]] with a Bachelor’s degree and an Honours degree in [[psychology]]. She obtained her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at [[Rhodes University]]. She received her PhD in psychology from the [[University of Cape Town]]. Her doctoral thesis, entitled "Legacies of violence: An in-depth analysis of two case studies based on interviews with perpetrators of a 'necklace' murder and with [[Eugene de Kock]]", offers a perspective that integrates psychoanalytic and social psychological concepts to understand extreme forms of violence committed during the apartheid era. Her main interests are traumatic memories in the aftermath of political conflict, post-conflict reconciliation, empathy, forgiveness, psychoanalysis and [[intersubjectivity]]. She served on the [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] (TRC). She currently works at the University of the Free State in [[Bloemfontein]] as a senior research professor.


==Life and career==
==Life and career==


===Early life===
===Early life===
Gobodo-Madikizela was born in [[Langa, Cape Town|Langa Township]], the oldest residential area for Black Africans in [[Cape Town]]. The eldest daughter of William Wilberforce Tukela and Nobantu Herman-Gilda Gobodo, she was given the names Pumla Phillipa by her parents. Influenced by the [[Black Consciousness Movement]], which she joined during her high school days, she dropped her English middle name, and formalised the name change later in her adulthood. Gobodo-Madikizela attended [http://enanda.co.za/tag/american-board-mission/ Inanda Seminary], a boarding school for girls near [[Durban]], which was founded and run by the American Board of Missions, and at the time the only private school for black girls in South Africa. She credits her parents with having taught her a deep sense of caring for others, integrity and a strong work ethic. She described her early childhood as “happy, despite apartheid.” Yet she also talks about how she discovered the beauty of Cape Town only in her adulthood when she visited the city after the historic welcoming of [[Nelson Mandela]] from [[Pollsmoor Prison]] in February 1990, and relocating to Cape Town to study for her PhD at the University of Cape Town in 1991.
Gobodo-Madikizela was born in [[Langa, Cape Town|Langa Township]], the oldest residential area for Black Africans in [[Cape Town]]. The eldest daughter of William Wilberforce Tukela and Nobantu Herman-Gilda Gobodo, she was given the names Pumla Phillipa by her parents. Influenced by the [[Black Consciousness Movement]], which she joined during her high school days, she dropped her English middle name, and formalised the name change later in her adulthood. Gobodo-Madikizela attended Inanda Seminary, a boarding school for girls near [[Durban]], which was founded and run by the American Board of Missions, and at the time the only private school for black girls in South Africa. She credits her parents with having taught her a deep sense of caring for others, integrity and a strong work ethic. She described her early childhood as "happy, despite apartheid." Yet she also talks about how she discovered the beauty of Cape Town only in her adulthood when she visited the city after the historic welcoming of [[Nelson Mandela]] from [[Pollsmoor Prison]] in February 1990, and relocating to Cape Town to study for her PhD at the University of Cape Town in 1991.


In a poignant statement, that illustrates how the [[Apartheid]] government’s [[Group Areas Act]] went beyond geographic separation of racial groups according to race-defined residential areas, Gobodo-Madikizela said, “Although [[Table Mountain]] is visible from Langa Township, I never saw this iconic mountain during my childhood. It was a world I did not belong to, and therefore a world whose beauty I could not experience until much later in life.” She experienced the feeling of being a “second-class citizen” in her country of birth most strongly during her first trip to the United States in 1989, when she spent a few months as a research fellow affiliated with the Psychology Department at the [[University of Southern California]] in [[Los Angeles]]. She encountered many Americans who eagerly spoke about the beautiful landscape of a city about which she knew very little.
In a poignant statement, that illustrates how the [[Apartheid]] government's [[Group Areas Act]] went beyond geographic separation of racial groups according to race-defined residential areas, Gobodo-Madikizela said, "Although [[Table Mountain]] is visible from Langa Township, I never saw this iconic mountain during my childhood. It was a world I did not belong to, and therefore a world whose beauty I could not experience until much later in life." She experienced the feeling of being a "second-class citizen" in her country of birth most strongly during her first trip to the United States in 1989, when she spent a few months as a research fellow affiliated with the Psychology Department at the [[University of Southern California]] in [[Los Angeles]]. She encountered many Americans who eagerly spoke about the beautiful landscape of a city about which she knew very little.


===School and university years===
===School and university years===
Like most Black South Africans of her generation who were active in student politics, both her high-school and university years were interrupted by expulsions, student protests and closure of universities. After expulsion from Inanda Seminary (for refusing to divulge the names of fellow strike organisers without the principal’s assurance that divulging the names would not lead to expulsion of the students) her parents sent her to a co-ed school, Shawbury High School ([[Winnie Madikizela-Mandela]] graduated from the same high school). At this school, Gobodo-Madikizela directed her activist energy to drama. She directed and acted in her first play, ''[[A Man for All Seasons]]'', adapted from a book by [[Robert Bolt]] based on the story of Sir [[Thomas More]]. She worked with an all-female student cast, who collaborated and assembled “costumes” for the play, and with the help of the school principal raised funds to travel to perform the play at other schools, including a school in the South Coast of [[KwaZulu-Natal]].
Like most Black South Africans of her generation who were active in student politics, both her high-school and university years were interrupted by expulsions, student protests and closure of universities. After expulsion from [[Inanda Seminary School]] (for refusing to divulge the names of fellow strike organisers without the principal's assurance that divulging the names would not lead to expulsion of the students) her parents sent her to a co-ed school, Shawbury High School ([[Winnie Madikizela-Mandela]] graduated from the same high school). At this school, Gobodo-Madikizela directed her activist energy to drama. She directed and acted in her first play, ''[[A Man for All Seasons (play)|A Man for All Seasons]]'', adapted from a book by [[Robert Bolt]] based on the story of Sir [[Thomas More]]. She worked with an all-female student cast, who collaborated and assembled "costumes" for the play, and with the help of the school principal raised funds to travel to perform the play at other schools, including a school in the South Coast of [[KwaZulu-Natal]].


Throughout her primary and high school education, her academic strength was in the sciences and mathematics, and she obtained distinctions and prizes for mathematics at Inanda Seminary. In her first year at [[Fort Hare University]], she registered for a BSc degree, taking a combination of courses (called “pre-med” at the time) that would allow her to enter into medical school. Her parents wanted her to become a medical doctor, however, an incident in the Zoology laboratory led to her abandoning the idea of a medical degree. She received her BA degree from Fort Hare University in 1977, and completed her Honours in Psychology in 1979. She later went on to train as clinical psychologists at Rhodes University, where she received a Masters in Clinical Psychology in 1984. She worked for a few years at the Psychiatric Clinic in Mtata before taking up a lectureship position in psychology at the university now known as Walter Sisulu Metropolitan University. In this period, she also ran a part-time clinical practice, married Msimang Madikizela (of the Madikizela clan from the rural village [http://ortamboroute.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71&Itemid=76 Mbongweni, Bizana]), and gave birth to her son and only child, Bahle. She divorced in 1987.
Throughout her primary and high school education, her academic strength was in the sciences and mathematics, and she obtained distinctions and prizes for mathematics at Inanda Seminary. In her first year at [[Fort Hare University]], she registered for a BSc degree, taking a combination of courses (called "pre-med" at the time) that would allow her to enter into medical school. Her parents wanted her to become a medical doctor, however, an incident in the Zoology laboratory led to her abandoning the idea of a medical degree. She received her BA degree from Fort Hare University in 1977, and completed her Honours in Psychology in 1979. She later went on to train as clinical psychologists at Rhodes University, where she received a master's degree in Clinical Psychology in 1984. She worked for a few years at the Psychiatric Clinic in Mtata before taking up a lectureship position in psychology at the university now known as Walter Sisulu Metropolitan University. In this period, she also ran a part-time clinical practice, married Msimang Madikizela (of the Madikizela clan from the rural village [[Mbongweni]], [[Bizana, Eastern Cape|Bizana]]), and gave birth to her son and only child. She divorced in 1987.


===Professional life===
===Professional life===
She considers working with [http://www.martinluitingh.com/ Martin Luitingh ], who was then a [[South Africa]]n advocate involved in human rights work, one of the highlights of her career. She was invited to join Martin Luitingh’s team as a defence expert witness in a major “Necklace murder” trial. Conducting extensive field research in preparation for presentation of expert testimony in these trials deepened her interest in the psychological aftermath of mass trauma and violence. In 1991, Gobodo-Madikizela decided to pursue a PhD at the [[University of Cape Town]] and to conduct research on “Necklace murders” committed in the context of crowd violence. In 1994-1995, she was spending a year at [[Harvard University]] on a dissertation writing fellowship when she was invited to join the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa (TRC), where she served on the Human Rights Violations Committee until May 1998. In 1998, she returned to Harvard University to take up a fellowship at the [[Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study]]. She completed her doctoral dissertation in November 1999 and graduated at the University of Cape Town in June 2000. She remained in Cambridge for two more years, with affiliations at Harvard’s Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School, and the Center for Ethics at Harvard Divinity School respectively. In this period, she gave lectures and started writing on what she referred to as the “new phenomenon” she witnessed while serving on the TRC’s Human Rights Violations Committee – forgiveness of the unforgivable.
She worked with Martin Luitingh, who was a South African advocate involved in human rights work. She was invited to join Martin Luitingh's team as a defence expert witness in a "Necklace murder" trial. Field research deepened her interest in the psychological aftermath of mass trauma and violence. In 1991, Gobodo-Madikizela started a PhD at the [[University of Cape Town]] on "Necklace murders" committed in the context of crowd violence. In 1994–1995, she was at [[Harvard University]] when she was invited to join the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa (TRC). She served on the Human Rights Violations Committee until May 1998. In 1998, she returned to Harvard University to take up a fellowship at the [[Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study]]. She completed her doctoral dissertation in November 1999 and graduated at the University of Cape Town in June 2000. She remained in Cambridge for two more years, with affiliations at Harvard's Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School, and the Center for Ethics at Harvard Divinity School respectively. In this period, she gave lectures and started writing on what she referred to as the "new phenomenon" she witnessed while serving on the TRC's Human Rights Violations Committee – forgiveness of the unforgivable.
[[File:Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela.jpg|thumb|Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela in 2012]]
[[File:Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela.jpg|thumb|Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela in 2012]]


===Research on Forgiveness ===
===Research on forgiveness ===
Gobodo-Madikizela has meditated on the concepts central to the phenomenon of forgiveness and developed a body of work revolving around the process of reconciliation. She describes her current research as the phenomenological study of empathy and what being moved to offer forgiveness entails.
Gobodo-Madikizela has meditated on the concepts central to the phenomenon of forgiveness and developed a body of work revolving around the process of reconciliation. She describes her current research as the phenomenological study of empathy and what being moved to offer forgiveness entails.


In her award-winning book, ''[[A Human Being Died That Night]]: A South African Story of Forgiveness'', Gobodo-Madikizela argues, and shows, that the TRC overturns [[Hannah Arendt]]’s notion of acts that are unforgivable and unpunishable, and for which no apology can be made. At South Africa’s TRC, precisely the opposite occurred – apology and forgiveness for what Arendt referred to as “radical evil.” In journal articles and other publications, she goes on to examine all the concepts that underlie the process of forgiving in the aftermath of historical trauma, and the potential for dialogue to break intergenerational cycles of repetition. [http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=joap.053.0169a&PHPSESSID=p2c8oq3css1q1ech1d8ptkqla2/ This] is one of her articles discussing the themes of remorse and forgiveness.
In her award-winning book, ''[[A Human Being Died That Night]]: A South African Story of Forgiveness'', Gobodo-Madikizela argues that the TRC overturns [[Hannah Arendt]]'s notion of acts that are unforgivable and unpunishable, and for which no apology can be made. She claims that, at South Africa's TRC, precisely the opposite occurred – apology and forgiveness for what Arendt referred to as "radical evil." In both academic<ref name=AnalPsych53>
{{cite journal
|last=Gobodo-Madikizela |first=Pumla |author-link=Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela |date=2008
|title=Trauma, Forgiveness and the Witnessing Dance: Making Public Spaces Intimate
|url=http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=joap.053.0169a&PHPSESSID=p2c8oq3css1q1ech1d8ptkqla2/
|journal=The Journal of Analytical Psychology |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=169–188 |publisher=The Society of Analytical Psychology
|doi=10.1111/j.1468-5922.2008.00715.x |pmid=18352945 |access-date= 2015-05-16
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}}
</ref> and popular settings<ref name=Guardian20031102>
{{cite web
|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/nov/03/gender.uk |title=Conversation with Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
|first=Rory |last=Carroll |authorlink=Rory Carroll |date=2 November 2003 |work=[[The Guardian]] |accessdate=2015-05-16
}}
</ref> she has examined the concepts that underlie the process of forgiving in the aftermath of historical trauma, and the potential for dialogue, remorse and forgiveness to break intergenerational cycles of repetition.


===Professorship in University of Cape Town===
===Professorship in University of Cape Town===
Gobodo-Madikizela was appointed Associate professor of Psychology at the University of Cape Town in 2003. She became a full professor at the same university in 2010. Her professorial inaugural lecture entitled “The ‘''Face of the Other''’: Human Dialogue at Solms Delta and the Meaning of Moral Imagination, focused on the 320-year-old Solms Delta estate in [[Franschhoek]], home to the [http://www.solms-delta.co.za/heritage/museum-van-de-caab/ Museum van de Caab]. The farm is owned by Professor Mark Solms who has dedicated the museum to honouring the farm’s slave heritage and memorialising the individuals who lived and worked on the farm, from pre-colonial times to the present. In her professorial inaugural address, Gobodo-Madikizela used Solms’ story as a touchstone or representative story for recognizing ‘the other’ in dialogue, and to demonstrate the importance of memory and memorialisation in the aftermath of historical trauma. Read Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela’s [http://www.pumlagobodom.co.za/index.php/professorial-address Inaugural Professorial Address], listen to the [http://www.uct.ac.za/downloads/uct.ac.za/news/multimedia/audio/Pumla_Gobodo_Madikizela_full.mp3 Full speech] (16.4 mb), or [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvJ_3GvsmOs watch video] extracts of the lecture.
Gobodo-Madikizela was appointed Associate professor of Psychology at the University of Cape Town in 2003. She became a full professor at the same university in 2010. Her inaugural lecture, entitled "The 'Face of the Other': Human Dialogue at Solms Delta and the Meaning of Moral Imagination", focused on the 320-year-old Solms Delta estate in [[Franschhoek]], home to the "Museum van de Caab" - a museum of the farm's slave heritage from pre-colonial times. In her address, Gobodo-Madikizela used Solms' story as a representative story for recognizing 'the other' in dialogue, and to demonstrate the importance of memory and memorialisation in the aftermath of historical trauma.<ref>[http://www.pumlagobodom.co.za/index.php/professorial-address Inaugural Professorial Address]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvJ_3GvsmOs video] extracts of the lecture.</ref>


===Senior Research Professor at University of the Free State===
===Senior Research Professor at University of the Free State===
In 2012, she resigned from the University of Cape Town to take up a position as Senior Research Professor for trauma, forgiveness and reconciliation at the [[University of the Free State]].
In 2012, she resigned from the University of Cape Town to take up a position as Senior Research Professor for trauma, forgiveness and reconciliation at the [[University of the Free State]].

===Research Chair in Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation at Stellenbosch University===
In 2017, Professor Gobodo-Madikizela was appointed to the post of Research Chair in Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation at [[Stellenbosch University]] in the Western Cape.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/arts/historical-trauma-transformation/overview | title=Welcome to the Office of the Chair for Historical Trauma and Transformation | publisher=Stellenbosch University | accessdate=2 April 2019 }}</ref> She describes her work as focusing mainly on two strands of research. The first is exploring ways in which the impact of the dehumanising experiences of oppression and violent abuse continues to play out in the next generation in the aftermath of historical trauma. The second research area expands on her earlier work on remorse and forgiveness and probes the role of empathy more deeply by engaging a perspective that makes transparent the interconnected relationship among empathy, Ubuntu and the embodied African phenomenon of inimba.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Academic Staff and Associates|url=https://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/arts/historical-trauma-transformation/people1/researchers/academic-staff-and-associates|access-date=2021-02-02|website=sun.ac.za}}</ref> She currently sits on the International Advisory Board of The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute For Global Peace, Security And Justice at [[Queen's University Belfast]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-10-18|title=International Advisory Board|url=http://www.qub.ac.uk/Research/GRI/mitchell-institute/People/InternationalAdvisoryBoard/index.html|access-date=2021-02-02|website=qub.ac.uk|language=en}}</ref>

===Visiting Professor at University of Uppsala, Sweden===
From August to December 2015, she was a guest professor at [[Uppsala university]] in Sweden. She holds the Claude Ake Visiting Chair, which is co-financed by the [[Nordic Africa Institute]] and the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at [[Uppsala University]].


==Writings==
==Writings==
Pumla Godobo-Madikizela has authored and edited a number of books, including award-winning ''[[A Human Being Died That Night]]''.
Pumla Godobo-Madikizela has authored and edited a number of books, including award-winning ''[[A Human Being Died That Night]]''.<ref name=ucl/>


*''A Human Being Died that Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness'' (2003)
*''A Human Being Died that Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness'' (2003)
*''Narrating Our Healing: Perspectives on Working through Trauma'' (2008, co-author with Chris van der Merwe)
*''Narrating Our Healing: Perspectives on Working through Trauma'' (2008, co-author<ref name=ucl/> with Chris van der Merwe)
*''Memory, Narrative and Forgiveness: Perspectives on the Unfinished Journeys of the Past'' (2009, co-editor with Chris van der Merwe)
*''Memory, Narrative and Forgiveness: Perspectives on the Unfinished Journeys of the Past'' (2009, co-editor with Chris van der Merwe)


Her critically acclaimed book ''A Human Being Died that Night'' received several awards, including the [[Alan Paton Award]] (sometimes referred to as “the [[Pulitzer Prize|Pulitzer]]” of non-fiction writing in South Africa), and the Christopher Award in the United States. The theatre adaptation of the book premiered at the [[Hampstead Theatre]] in [[London]] in May 2013.
Her critically acclaimed book ''A Human Being Died that Night'' received several awards, including the [[Alan Paton Award]] (sometimes referred to as "the [[Pulitzer Prize|Pulitzer]]" of non-fiction writing in South Africa), and the Christopher Award in the United States.<ref name=ucl>{{Cite web|last=UCL|date=2018-09-05|title=Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela Lecture|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/critical-heritage-studies/events/2017/nov/pumla-gobodo-madikizela-lecture|access-date=2021-02-02|website=Centre for Critical Heritage Studies|language=en}}</ref> The theatre adaptation of the book premiered at the [[Hampstead Theatre]] in [[London]] in May 2013.


== Honours ==
== Honours ==
*Carnegie Resident Scholars Fellowship, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011.
*Carnegie Resident Scholars Fellowship, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011.
*Social Change Award. Awarded by Rhodes University for “contribution made by leading psychologists to social change in South Africa,” September 2010.
*Social Change Award. Awarded by Rhodes University for "contribution made by leading psychologists to social change in South Africa," September 2010.
*Eleanor Roosevelt Medal, 2007
*Eleanor Roosevelt Medal, 2007<ref name="groc_Rhod" />
*Honoured among “100 People who made a difference” in Permanent Exhibit of Hall of Heroes in the National Underground Railroad Freedom Centre in Cincinnati, 2005.
*Honoured among "100 People who made a difference" in Permanent Exhibit of Hall of Heroes in the National Underground Railroad Freedom Centre in Cincinnati, 2005.
*The Alan Paton Book Award for ''A Human Being Died That Night: A Story of Forgiveness'', 2004.
*The Alan Paton Book Award for ''A Human Being Died That Night: A Story of Forgiveness'', 2004.<ref name=ucl/>
*The Christopher Award in the United States for ''A Human Being Died That Night'', 2003.
*The Christopher Award in the United States for ''A Human Being Died That Night'', 2003.<ref name=ucl/>
*''A Human Being Died That Night'' nominated for Best Book of the Year by the National Book Critics Circle, 2004.
*''A Human Being Died That Night'' nominated for Best Book of the Year by the National Book Critics Circle, 2004.
*Honorary Doctor of Law awarded by Holy Cross College, May 2002.
*Honorary Doctor of Law awarded by Holy Cross College, May 2002.
*The Dr Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award by Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC), Tufts University, March, 2001.
*The Dr Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award by Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC), Tufts University, March, 2001.
*Peace Fellowship, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Research, Harvard University, 1998-99.
*Peace Fellowship, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Research, Harvard University, 1998–99.<ref name="groc_Rhod" />
*Distinguished Old Rhodian Award in 2017<ref name="ru.a_Puml">{{Cite press release |title=Distinguished Old Rhodian Award: Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela |publisher=Rhodes University |date=10 October 2017 |access-date=7 March 2019 |url= https://www.ru.ac.za/communicationsandadvancement/alumnirelations/theorunion/oldrhodianawards/2017recipients/pumlagobodo-madikizela.html }}</ref>
*In 2019 [[Rhodes University]] in [[Grahamstown]] announced it would award Gobodo-Madikizela an honorary doctorate in laws (LLD, hc)<ref name="groc_Rhod">{{Cite web |title=Rhodes University honours five of Africa's best |work=grocotts.co.za |date=7 March 2019 |access-date=7 March 2019 |url= https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/03/07/rhodes-university-honours-five-of-africas-best/ }}</ref>
*She was awarded the 2024 Templeton Prize Laureate by [[John Templeton Foundation]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=News - Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela named the... |url=https://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/news/DispForm.aspx?ID=10679 |access-date=2024-06-04 |website=www.sun.ac.za}}</ref>


==References and external links==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
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*[http://www.pumlagobodom.co.za/ Official Website]

==External links==
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*{{official|http://www.pumlagobodom.co.za/ }}
*[http://traumareconcil.ufs.ac.za/ Trauma, Forgiveness and Reconciliation Studies University of the Free State ]
*[http://traumareconcil.ufs.ac.za/ Trauma, Forgiveness and Reconciliation Studies University of the Free State ]
*[http://traumareconcil.ufs.ac.za/content.aspx?id=1 Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela at University of the Free State ]
*[http://www.eomega.org/omega/faculty/viewProfile/a5bc3133f91fa7e11401c1da84985725/ Omega Institute profile of Godobo-Madikizela]
*[http://www.eomega.org/omega/faculty/viewProfile/a5bc3133f91fa7e11401c1da84985725/ Omega Institute profile of Gobodo-Madikizela]
*[http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/psychology/staff/gobodo.html Godobo-Madikizela's webpage at the University of Cape Town]
*[http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/psychology/pgobodo/ Pumla's page from University of Cape Town]
*[https://archive.today/20150423213918/http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/psychology.old/staff/people/gobodo.html Gobodo-Madikizela's old webpage at the University of Cape Town]
*[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/theater/review-a-human-being-died-that-night-a-look-at-an-apartheid-assassin-at-bam.html] Review of a play based on Gobodo-Madikizela's novel
*[http://www.pcr.uu.se/collaboration/claude_ake_visiting_chair/current-holder-2015/ Current Holder (2015) of the Claude Ake Visiting Chair at Uppsala University]

{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Research professor
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1955-02-15
| PLACE OF BIRTH = Langa, Cape Town
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
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}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla}}
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:1955 births]]
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[[Category:Rhodes University alumni]]
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[[Category:Harvard University people]]
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[[Category:University of Cape Town academics]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Clinical psychologists]]
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[[Category:Harvard University people]]
[[Category:Reconciliation]]
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[[Category:Rhodes University alumni]]
[[Category:South African psychologists]]
[[Category:South African women psychologists]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Cape Town]]
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[[Category:University of Cape Town alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of the Free State]]

Latest revision as of 22:57, 10 January 2025

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela in 2011
BornPumla Phillipa Gobodo
(1955-02-15) 15 February 1955 (age 69)
Langa, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
AwardsAlan Paton Award Official website
Academic work
Main interestsTraumatic Memories, Post-conflict reconciliation, empathy, forgiveness, psychoanalysis and Intersubjectivity
Notable ideasEmpathic Repair; Making Public Spaces Intimate

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela (born 15 February 1955) is the Research Chair in Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. She graduated from Fort Hare University with a bachelor's degree and an Honours degree in psychology. She obtained her master's degree in Clinical Psychology at Rhodes University. She received her PhD in psychology from the University of Cape Town. Her doctoral thesis, entitled "Legacies of violence: An in-depth analysis of two case studies based on interviews with perpetrators of a 'necklace' murder and with Eugene de Kock", offers a perspective that integrates psychoanalytic and social psychological concepts to understand extreme forms of violence committed during the apartheid era. Her main interests are traumatic memories in the aftermath of political conflict, post-conflict reconciliation, empathy, forgiveness, psychoanalysis and intersubjectivity. She served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). She currently works at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein as a senior research professor.

Life and career

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Early life

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Gobodo-Madikizela was born in Langa Township, the oldest residential area for Black Africans in Cape Town. The eldest daughter of William Wilberforce Tukela and Nobantu Herman-Gilda Gobodo, she was given the names Pumla Phillipa by her parents. Influenced by the Black Consciousness Movement, which she joined during her high school days, she dropped her English middle name, and formalised the name change later in her adulthood. Gobodo-Madikizela attended Inanda Seminary, a boarding school for girls near Durban, which was founded and run by the American Board of Missions, and at the time the only private school for black girls in South Africa. She credits her parents with having taught her a deep sense of caring for others, integrity and a strong work ethic. She described her early childhood as "happy, despite apartheid." Yet she also talks about how she discovered the beauty of Cape Town only in her adulthood when she visited the city after the historic welcoming of Nelson Mandela from Pollsmoor Prison in February 1990, and relocating to Cape Town to study for her PhD at the University of Cape Town in 1991.

In a poignant statement, that illustrates how the Apartheid government's Group Areas Act went beyond geographic separation of racial groups according to race-defined residential areas, Gobodo-Madikizela said, "Although Table Mountain is visible from Langa Township, I never saw this iconic mountain during my childhood. It was a world I did not belong to, and therefore a world whose beauty I could not experience until much later in life." She experienced the feeling of being a "second-class citizen" in her country of birth most strongly during her first trip to the United States in 1989, when she spent a few months as a research fellow affiliated with the Psychology Department at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She encountered many Americans who eagerly spoke about the beautiful landscape of a city about which she knew very little.

School and university years

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Like most Black South Africans of her generation who were active in student politics, both her high-school and university years were interrupted by expulsions, student protests and closure of universities. After expulsion from Inanda Seminary School (for refusing to divulge the names of fellow strike organisers without the principal's assurance that divulging the names would not lead to expulsion of the students) her parents sent her to a co-ed school, Shawbury High School (Winnie Madikizela-Mandela graduated from the same high school). At this school, Gobodo-Madikizela directed her activist energy to drama. She directed and acted in her first play, A Man for All Seasons, adapted from a book by Robert Bolt based on the story of Sir Thomas More. She worked with an all-female student cast, who collaborated and assembled "costumes" for the play, and with the help of the school principal raised funds to travel to perform the play at other schools, including a school in the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal.

Throughout her primary and high school education, her academic strength was in the sciences and mathematics, and she obtained distinctions and prizes for mathematics at Inanda Seminary. In her first year at Fort Hare University, she registered for a BSc degree, taking a combination of courses (called "pre-med" at the time) that would allow her to enter into medical school. Her parents wanted her to become a medical doctor, however, an incident in the Zoology laboratory led to her abandoning the idea of a medical degree. She received her BA degree from Fort Hare University in 1977, and completed her Honours in Psychology in 1979. She later went on to train as clinical psychologists at Rhodes University, where she received a master's degree in Clinical Psychology in 1984. She worked for a few years at the Psychiatric Clinic in Mtata before taking up a lectureship position in psychology at the university now known as Walter Sisulu Metropolitan University. In this period, she also ran a part-time clinical practice, married Msimang Madikizela (of the Madikizela clan from the rural village Mbongweni, Bizana), and gave birth to her son and only child. She divorced in 1987.

Professional life

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She worked with Martin Luitingh, who was a South African advocate involved in human rights work. She was invited to join Martin Luitingh's team as a defence expert witness in a "Necklace murder" trial. Field research deepened her interest in the psychological aftermath of mass trauma and violence. In 1991, Gobodo-Madikizela started a PhD at the University of Cape Town on "Necklace murders" committed in the context of crowd violence. In 1994–1995, she was at Harvard University when she was invited to join the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa (TRC). She served on the Human Rights Violations Committee until May 1998. In 1998, she returned to Harvard University to take up a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She completed her doctoral dissertation in November 1999 and graduated at the University of Cape Town in June 2000. She remained in Cambridge for two more years, with affiliations at Harvard's Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School, and the Center for Ethics at Harvard Divinity School respectively. In this period, she gave lectures and started writing on what she referred to as the "new phenomenon" she witnessed while serving on the TRC's Human Rights Violations Committee – forgiveness of the unforgivable.

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela in 2012

Research on forgiveness

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Gobodo-Madikizela has meditated on the concepts central to the phenomenon of forgiveness and developed a body of work revolving around the process of reconciliation. She describes her current research as the phenomenological study of empathy and what being moved to offer forgiveness entails.

In her award-winning book, A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness, Gobodo-Madikizela argues that the TRC overturns Hannah Arendt's notion of acts that are unforgivable and unpunishable, and for which no apology can be made. She claims that, at South Africa's TRC, precisely the opposite occurred – apology and forgiveness for what Arendt referred to as "radical evil." In both academic[1] and popular settings[2] she has examined the concepts that underlie the process of forgiving in the aftermath of historical trauma, and the potential for dialogue, remorse and forgiveness to break intergenerational cycles of repetition.

Professorship in University of Cape Town

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Gobodo-Madikizela was appointed Associate professor of Psychology at the University of Cape Town in 2003. She became a full professor at the same university in 2010. Her inaugural lecture, entitled "The 'Face of the Other': Human Dialogue at Solms Delta and the Meaning of Moral Imagination", focused on the 320-year-old Solms Delta estate in Franschhoek, home to the "Museum van de Caab" - a museum of the farm's slave heritage from pre-colonial times. In her address, Gobodo-Madikizela used Solms' story as a representative story for recognizing 'the other' in dialogue, and to demonstrate the importance of memory and memorialisation in the aftermath of historical trauma.[3][4]

Senior Research Professor at University of the Free State

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In 2012, she resigned from the University of Cape Town to take up a position as Senior Research Professor for trauma, forgiveness and reconciliation at the University of the Free State.

Research Chair in Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation at Stellenbosch University

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In 2017, Professor Gobodo-Madikizela was appointed to the post of Research Chair in Studies in Historical Trauma and Transformation at Stellenbosch University in the Western Cape.[5] She describes her work as focusing mainly on two strands of research. The first is exploring ways in which the impact of the dehumanising experiences of oppression and violent abuse continues to play out in the next generation in the aftermath of historical trauma. The second research area expands on her earlier work on remorse and forgiveness and probes the role of empathy more deeply by engaging a perspective that makes transparent the interconnected relationship among empathy, Ubuntu and the embodied African phenomenon of inimba.[6] She currently sits on the International Advisory Board of The Senator George J. Mitchell Institute For Global Peace, Security And Justice at Queen's University Belfast.[7]

Visiting Professor at University of Uppsala, Sweden

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From August to December 2015, she was a guest professor at Uppsala university in Sweden. She holds the Claude Ake Visiting Chair, which is co-financed by the Nordic Africa Institute and the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University.

Writings

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Pumla Godobo-Madikizela has authored and edited a number of books, including award-winning A Human Being Died That Night.[8]

  • A Human Being Died that Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness (2003)
  • Narrating Our Healing: Perspectives on Working through Trauma (2008, co-author[8] with Chris van der Merwe)
  • Memory, Narrative and Forgiveness: Perspectives on the Unfinished Journeys of the Past (2009, co-editor with Chris van der Merwe)

Her critically acclaimed book A Human Being Died that Night received several awards, including the Alan Paton Award (sometimes referred to as "the Pulitzer" of non-fiction writing in South Africa), and the Christopher Award in the United States.[8] The theatre adaptation of the book premiered at the Hampstead Theatre in London in May 2013.

Honours

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  • Carnegie Resident Scholars Fellowship, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011.
  • Social Change Award. Awarded by Rhodes University for "contribution made by leading psychologists to social change in South Africa," September 2010.
  • Eleanor Roosevelt Medal, 2007[9]
  • Honoured among "100 People who made a difference" in Permanent Exhibit of Hall of Heroes in the National Underground Railroad Freedom Centre in Cincinnati, 2005.
  • The Alan Paton Book Award for A Human Being Died That Night: A Story of Forgiveness, 2004.[8]
  • The Christopher Award in the United States for A Human Being Died That Night, 2003.[8]
  • A Human Being Died That Night nominated for Best Book of the Year by the National Book Critics Circle, 2004.
  • Honorary Doctor of Law awarded by Holy Cross College, May 2002.
  • The Dr Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award by Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC), Tufts University, March, 2001.
  • Peace Fellowship, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Research, Harvard University, 1998–99.[9]
  • Distinguished Old Rhodian Award in 2017[10]
  • In 2019 Rhodes University in Grahamstown announced it would award Gobodo-Madikizela an honorary doctorate in laws (LLD, hc)[9]
  • She was awarded the 2024 Templeton Prize Laureate by John Templeton Foundation.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla (2008). "Trauma, Forgiveness and the Witnessing Dance: Making Public Spaces Intimate". The Journal of Analytical Psychology. 53 (2). The Society of Analytical Psychology: 169–188. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5922.2008.00715.x. PMID 18352945. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  2. ^ Carroll, Rory (2 November 2003). "Conversation with Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  3. ^ Inaugural Professorial Address
  4. ^ video extracts of the lecture.
  5. ^ "Welcome to the Office of the Chair for Historical Trauma and Transformation". Stellenbosch University. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  6. ^ "Academic Staff and Associates". sun.ac.za. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  7. ^ "International Advisory Board". qub.ac.uk. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d e UCL (5 September 2018). "Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela Lecture". Centre for Critical Heritage Studies. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  9. ^ a b c "Rhodes University honours five of Africa's best". grocotts.co.za. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Distinguished Old Rhodian Award: Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela" (Press release). Rhodes University. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  11. ^ "News - Professor Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela named the..." www.sun.ac.za. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
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