
Connect with the Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest on social media:
Connect with Stellenbosch University on social media:
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
Professor and Research Chair, Stellenbosch University and Director, Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest, Stellenbosch University
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is professor and research chair at Stellenbosch University, she holds the South African National Research Foundation Chair in Violent Histories and Transgenerational Trauma and is also the Director of Stellenbosch University’s Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest (AVReQ). Recently named the 2024 Templeton Prize Laureate, her research interest is in historical trauma and its intergenerational repercussions and exploring what the “repair” of these transgenerational effects might mean. She has published extensively on victims and perpetrators of gross human rights violations, and on forgiveness and remorse. Her books include the critically acclaimed A Human Being Died that Night: A Story of Forgiveness, which was awarded the Alan Paton Prize for non-fiction in South Africa, and the Christopher Award in the United States for “a book that affirms the highest values of the human spirit.” She has edited and co-edited several book volumes on the topics of historical trauma and transgenerational memory, including: Narrating our Healing: Perspectives on Healing Trauma as co-author, Memory, Narrative and Forgiveness: Perspectives on the Unfinished Journeys of the Past, as co-editor; Breaking Intergenerational Cycles of Repetition: A Global Dialogue on Historical Trauma and Memory, as editor; Post-Conflict Hauntings: Transforming Memories of Historical Trauma, as co-editor; and editor of a collection of essays on Jewish-German dialogue titled History, Trauma and Shame: Engaging the Past Through Second Generation Dialogue. Gobodo-Madikizela’s awards include the Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award; the Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellowship; an honorary Doctor of Theology from the Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany; and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Rhodes University.