Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

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Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela
Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela in 2011
Born	Pumla Phillipa Gobodo (1955-02-15) 15 February 1955 (age 69) Langa, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Awards	Alan Paton Award Official website
Academic work
Main interests	Traumatic Memories, Post-conflict reconciliation, empathy, forgiveness, psychoanalysis and Intersubjectivity
Notable ideas	Empathic 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.